Jewish settlement in Corfu in the aftermath of the expulsions from Spain and southern Italy, 1492–1541

Abstract

The migration and resettlement of Jewish exiles after 1492 and the successive expulsions of the early sixteenth century was a long and drawn-out process. In fact, the majority of the exiles did not go directly to the Ottoman Empire, and even those who finally reached it as first-generation immigrants did so by staggered waves of migration. The Venetian colonies in the Mediterranean played an important role in this process, both as relatively safe destinations and as ports of transit on the way eastward. Nevertheless, Venetian attitudes towards the arrival of Sefardi, Sicilian, Apulian, and Portuguese Jews in the Stato da Mar have rarely been considered in this context, independently from the topic of Jewish presence in the colonies in general. Corfu offers the opportunity for a case study.

The present article examines Venetian policies towards Jewish refugees, immigrants, and conversos who came to Corfu in the aftermath of the expulsions from the Iberian Peninsula and southern Italy. It also attempts to tackle some questions related to the chronology of the successive waves of Jewish settlement on the island in this period.

Keywords:

• Venice
• Naples
• Calabria
• Apulia
• Ottoman Empire
• Venetian colonies
• Isaac Abravanel
• Sefardi
• Portuguese
• Sicilians
• expulsion
• Jewish immigration
• conversos
• Mediterranean

Notes

 1. For a discussion of the process of migration, see Ray, ‘Jewish Settlement’, 45–65.

 2. Bonfil, Jewish Life in Renaissance Italy, 59–61. See. however, Bonfil, ‘Italia. Un triste epílogo’, where the author discusses these very problems somewhat differently.

 3. For the situation in North Africa, see the testimonies of Judah Hayyat and Abraham Mi-Torrutiel: Hayyat, Minhat Yehudah, Introduction, 2v–3r; Mi-Torrutiel, Ha-Shlamat Sefer ha-Kabbalah, 38–9. On the settlement of the Sefardi exiles in North Africa in this period, see Gerber, Jewish Society in Fez; Hirschberg, History of the Jews in North Africa, I, 362ff.

 4. Zeldes, ‘Diffusion of Sicilian Exiles’, 302–32.

 5. Since the number of studies on this topic is truly vast, it is impossible to provide here a comprehensive bibliography. The essay of Benjamin Ravid provides a good general introduction: Ravid, ‘Les séfarades à Venise’, 283–94. Among recent publications of general interest, see Segre, ‘Sephardic settlements in sixteenth-century Italy’, 112–37; Segre, ‘Cristiani novelli e medici ebrei a Venezia’, 381–400; Yoli Zorattini (ed.) Processi del S. Uffizio di Venezia contro Ebrei e Giudaizzanti; Yoli Zorattini, ‘Jews, Crypto-Jews, and the Inquisition’, 97–116; Arbel, ‘Jews in International Trade’, 73–96; Del Bianco Cotrozzi, ‘“O Señor guardara miña alma”’, 254–5; Ravid, ‘Venice, Rome, and the Reversion of New Christians to Judaism’; Ruspio, ‘La nazione portoghese a Venezia’, 371–404.

 6. Pullan, The Jews of Europe, 146–7; Ioly Zorattini, Processi, XIV, Introduction, 9.

 7. This observation is true even for recent studies. See for example: Baroutsos, ‘Privileges, Legality and Prejudice’, 295–330; Arbel, ‘Jews and Christians’, 281–94.

 8. There is as yet no comprehensive work on the history of the Jews in Corfu. The short list given here covers most modern studies: Adler, ‘The Jews in Southern Italy’; Romanos, ‘Histoire de la communauté de Corfou’; Kaufmann, ‘Contributions à l'histoire des Juifs de Corfou’; Roth, Venice, 310–31; Milano, Storia, 64–6; Baron, ‘Jewish Immigration’; Benvenisti and Mizrahi, ‘Rabbi Yehudah Bibas’; Dafnis, Oι Ισραηλίτες της Kέρκυρας; Preschel, The Jews of Corfu (unpublished doctoral thesis); Lelli, ‘L'Influenza’; Baroutsos, ‘Privileges, Legality and Prejudice’.

 9. On the status of the Jews in Venetian colonies, see: Jacoby, ‘Venice and Venetian Jews’, 35–6; Jacoby, ‘Citoyens, sujets et protégés de Venise’, 159–61.

10. In 1524 Venice approved the demand presented by Corfu's envoys to relegate the Jews to a separate quarter, as they had been before the construction of the new fortifications: ‘Item che li Judei sempre et ab antiquo era quivi la loro stantia separatim da li Christiani, et al presente per fortification di questa vostra Cita fo necesario de ruinar le case et habitattion loro per rispecto de contrafosso fatto dentro de la terra, ita et taliter che li ditti Judei sono sparpagnati per tutta la terra et habitano fra christiani et appresso le chiesie nostre … [The Senate' answer:] ... noi scriveremo al Rezimento nostro de li che l'sii provisto de habitatione ad essi Hebrei in uno loco dicto Catto Cafero che e da la banda del Turrion del amiraglio ove stavano bene uniti e securi.’ Sathas, Documents, V, 261–2. The destruction of the former Jewish quarter is confirmed by the testimony of Moses Basola who visited the island in 1521: Basola, In Zion and Jerusalem, 50 (Hebrew text: 10).

11. In 1406, in response to a petition addressed by the Corfiots demanding that the old custom of stoning the Jews be continued, the Venetian authorities offered instead that the Jews be constrained to wear a distinctive badge: ‘Nolumus quod dicti Judei lapidentur pro bono illius terre nostre … Sed loco lapidationis volumus quod dicti Judei de cetero debeant portare unum O zelum in pectore ad mensuram unius panis, a quatuor denariis, ut cognoscantur a christianis.’ Sathas, Documents II, 150–1; Romanos, ‘Histoire’, 69–70, note 1.

12. Jewish executioners in Venetian Crete: Assaf, ‘Talyanim’, 224–6; Starr, ‘Crete Under the Rule of Venice’, 74–6. The need to provide executioners by the Jews of Corfu and the exemption from this duty are mentioned in a privilege dating from 1324, which was kept in the archive of the synagogue of Corfu. In his article published in 1891, Romanos gave a summary of the contents, based on a copy of the original document: ‘Parmi les autres documents conservés dans la synagogue des Juifs à Corfou, il se trouve une lettre de Philippe, prince de Tarente. Dans cette pièce, addressée aux autorités de Corfou, Philippe se plaint… que par lui en faveur des Juifs… ne sont pas exécutés. Les fonctionnaires… forçaient les Juifs d'exécuter les condamnations à mort et les autres peines infligées aux malfaiteurs.’ Romanos, ‘Histoire’, 65. As Venice tended to confirm most of the privileges that preceded its acquisition of Corfu, it is likely that this article remained in force during Venetian rule.

13. ‘…zonse a Corphù 7 barze di Spagna carge de Zudei vegneva di Reame, armade benissimo, et voleva metter in terra; et el zeneral non volse lassar dismontar, e loro andò su la Turchia, et ivi le discargò: era de teste n^o 1000 in suso.’ Sanuto, La spedizione, 350.

14. Abravanel, Perush ‘al nevi'im aḥaronim, 296; Abravanel, Perush ha-Torah, 5.

15. The Benvenisti family's sojourn in Corfu is mentioned by Michele Luzzati: Luzzati, ‘La marcha hacia la Italia’, 174.

16. Hacker, ‘qevutsat igrot’, 96–7.

17. The decision is mentioned by Marino Sanuto: ‘A di 13 ditto [November 1497], nel consejo di pregadi, fo preso parte che tutti li marrani spagnoli che erano in questa terra, in termene de mexi do dovesseno partirsi et andar ad habitar altrove e fuora di li terre di la Signoria. […] Questo nostri feno perchè questi marrani, per vadagnar, tramava con il vicerè di Sicilia che non fusse averto le trate di forment…’. Sanuto, I Diarii, I, col. 819; Pullan, The Jews of Europe, 170. This affair may have been related to the monopolization of the grain trade in Sicily by the banker and financier Aloysio Sánchez, who was of converso origins. For more, see Zeldes, The Former Jews of this Kingdom, 44–7. This detail may explain the ‘marrano’ connection. On the affairs of Sánchez, see Trasselli, ‘I banchi delle città minori del Cinquecento siciliano’, 129–39. For exportation of Sicilian grain, see Trinchera, Codice Aragonese, II, 34.

18. Zeldes, ‘Incident in Messina’; Zeldes, ‘Spanish Attitudes Toward Converso Emigration’.

19. ‘…bolvyendo la dicha nave de las mares de Corpho y de Turquya donde hubo dexado los xpianos? nuevos y reconciliados que traya, en unos gripos de turcos…’. Archivo Historico Nacional (Madrid), Inquisición, Libro 243, fols. 420r–420v.

20. The Spanish term ‘reconciliados’ refers to those who had already been tried by the Inquisition and forced to recant.

21. ‘Item, esser zonte lì a Corphù 3 barze grosse portogese, con judei, quali smontano a la Valona’. Sanuto, I Diarii VI, Coll. 519–20.

22. Arbel, ‘Jews in International Trade’.

23. Pullan, The Jews of Europe, 189, note 87.

24. Pullan, The Jews of Europe, 146. On the toleration of foreigners, see Pullan, The Jews of Europe, 190.

25. Sathas, Documents, I, 294.

26. ‘…et nelli subsequenti tempi del 1598 essendo stati condoti ad habitare nel stato di Vostra Serenità alcuni Hebrei Ponentini da Portogallo vennero bona parte ad habitare in quella città, li quali essendo poderosi et denarosi cominciorno [sic] con loro solito ardire voler ancor loro far una terza sinagoga.’ Steiner, ‘ketav kaqashah’, 83. On forcing Spanish and Portuguese Jews to join the Italian congregation, see also note 37 below.

27. Capsali, Seder Eliyahu Zuta, I, 213, 218.

28. Capsali, Seder Eliyahu Zuta, I, 213.

29. The Queen was concerned because the Syracusan Jews used to be her subjects before the expulsion: De La Torre, Documentos, IV, no. 32, 417. For Hebrew accounts of piracy, see for example the biographical note of Judah Hayyat: ‘Introduction’ to Minhat Yehudah.

30. On the history of the Jews in the Kingdom of Naples, see: Ferorelli, Gli ebrei; Bonazzoli, ‘Gli ebrei del Regno di Napoli’; Abulafia, ‘Insediamenti, diaspora e tradizione ebraica’; Abulafia, ‘Il mezzogiorno peninsulare’; Abulafia, ‘The Aragonese Kings of Naples and the Jews’; Colafemmina, Per la storia degli ebrei in Calabria; Colafemmina, Documenti per la storia degli ebrei in Puglia. An invaluable contribution to the history of the Jews in this area are the documents published by Colafemmina and others in the periodical Sefer Yuhasin, as well as Colafemmina's documentary collections regarding the various Neapolitan provinces: Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, and so on. On the expulsions, see Ruiz Martin, ‘La expulsión de los judíos’.

31. For a bill of divorce brought from Apulia to Corfu, see Binyamin Ze'ev, Sefer Binyamin Ze'ev, I, Section 107, 175r.

32. Setton, The Papacy and the Levant, IV, 292–300. But in this period there were also the raid of Andrea Doria on Coron and Patras in 1532, the Tunisian campaign of Charles V in 1535, and the Turkish attack on Corfu in 1537, and smaller skirmishes. Any of these wars and raids could have disrupted travel between Corfu and Italy.

33. Regarding halakhic status of converts and former converts to Christianity, see: Assaf, ‘Anusei Sefarad u-Portugal’; Orfali, Los conversos españoles; Meyuhas Ginio, ‘La actitud de los rabinos sefardíes’.

34. HaCohen, Ze Sefer, Section 20.

35. In the responsum the city's name is spelled ‘Istrogilu’. I thank Prof. Colafemmina for his help in identifying it as Strongoli, which in the local dialect is pronounced Stro`nciulu. This form may explain the Hebrew rendering of the name.

36. Basola, In Zion and Jerusalem, 50 (Hebrew text: 10).

37. See, for example, Adler, ‘The Jews in Southern Italy’, 114–5; Milano, Storia, 75–8; Lelli, ‘L'influenza’, 204.

38. Pesaro: Ya‘ari, Masa‘ot Erets Yisra'el, 182; Shatzmiller, ‘Travelling in the Mediterranean’, 243. In 1534, just before the great siege, the total population of Corfu numbered 14,246. See Sathas, Documents, VI, 296.

39. On the Sicilians’ settlement in southern Italy after the expulsion, see Zeldes, ‘Sefardi and Sicilian Exiles’.

40. In a petition addressed to Doge Domenico Contarini (seventeenth century), the Italian Jewish congregation of Corfu claimed that all immigrants coming from the Iberian peninsula and other foreigners had to join the Italian synagogue: ‘Ma con occasione di esser capitati da circa anni 60 in quà ad habitare in quel Paese diversi Hebrei Ponentini, Spagnoli et altri forestieri… li quali per non haver sinagoga particolare si sono uniti alla Sinagoga di Noi Italiani’. Baron, ‘Jewish Immigration’, 173–8; Steiner, ‘Ketav baqasha’, 83.

41. ‘And all this has happened to you because the coming of new people unknown to your forefathers […] and who would say that the customs of the other communities were better than the customs of the holy community of Candia…’. Letter of Moises Capsali (1410–97), in Artom and Cassuto, Statuta iudaeorum, no. 47. On the composition of the Jewish population of Crete during Venetian rule, see Marcus, ‘Herkev’; Arbel, ‘List of Able-Bodied Jews’, 26–33.

42. Binyamin Ze'ev, Sefer Binyamin Ze'ev, I, Section 101, 165v.

43. ‘Circa hore III de zorno zonseno cinque barze spagnole carge de zudei et mazani [sic], scapati dela Puglia et Calabria andavano quivi, et altri per la Turchia’. Ceruti, ‘Viaggio di Francesco Grassetto’, 14.

44. Colafemmina, Documenti per la storia degli ebrei in Puglia, 252–3, no. 273.

45. Adler, ‘The Jews in Southern Italy’, 114–5. On the Pugliese dialect, see Sermoneta, ‘La cultura linguistica’; Lelli, ‘L'influenza’.