Jews in Corfu's economy (from the late fifteenth to mid-sixteenth century)

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to examine Jewish entrepreneurship in Corfu in the first half of the sixteenth century, a transitional period in the history of Jews in the Venetian state, which coincides with the beginning of their establishment in the Levant following their expulsion from the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, and the Kingdom of Naples. The main issues of my analysis are the make-up of the Jewish entrepreneurial group in Corfu, the main sectors of the economy in which they were involved, and the differences identified in their entrepreneurship.

Keywords:

• maritime trade
• shipping
• syntrofies
• prostichi
• Apulia
• Portugal
• notarial documents
• kermes
• Adriatic Sea

Notes

 1. Regarding Jews in Corfu, see among others Roth, ‘Corfu’; Preschel, The Jews of Corfu; Mueller, ‘The Status and Economic Activity of Jews’; Vivante, La Memoria dei Padri; Baroutsos, ‘The Jews of Corfu’; Arbel, ‘Gli ebrei corfioti e il commercio internazionale’.

 2. Pagratis, ‘Θαλάσσιο Εμπόριο στη βενετοκρατούμενη Κέρκυρα’.

 3. Karydis, ‘Noταρικές πράξϵις Koρυϕών (1488–1489)’, 69–116. In spite of its title, this work contains a table with the names of all the notaries who worked in Corfu from the fifteenth century up to the middle of the sixteenth century whose registries survive or who are indirectly mentioned in the various archival sources.

 4. Zeldes, ‘Jewish Settlement in Corfu’.

 5. With regards to the Corfiot Jews of Arta see Arbel, ‘Jews of Corfu and the International Trade’.

 6. Pagratis, ‘Θαλάσσιο Εμπόριο στη βενετοκρατούμενη Κέρκυρα’, 225.

 7. Zeldes, ‘Jewish Settlement in Corfu’.

 8. Mizrachi, Iστoρικαί σημϵιώσϵις της ισραηλιτικής κoινότητας Kϵρκύρας, 6; Vivante, La Memoria dei Padri, 25–7.

 9. Preschel, The Jews of Corfu, 23–5.

10. Pagratis, ‘Θαλάσσιο Εμπόριο στη βενετοκρατούμενη Κέρκυρα’, 68 ff.

11. Pagratis, ‘L'emporio di Corfù nel 16° secolo’.

12. See, for example, the case of Abraam Zamuli of Otranto. Aρχϵία Noμoυ´ Kϵρκυ´ρας [Archives of the Corfu Prefecture] (hereafter: ANK), Notaries, Antonios Metaxas (Corfu), b. M180, fol. 32v.

13. For example, Dadis Koem. ANK, Notaries, Yeoryios Moschos (Corfu), b. M245, fol. 86v (1497).

14. Pagratis, ‘L'emporio di Corfù nel 16° secolo’, 252.

15. See, for example, the case of Moxias further on. Pagratis, ‘L'emporio di Corfù nel 16° secolo’, 250–2.

16. ANK, Notaries, Antonios Metaxas (Corfù), b. M180, fols. 195v, 280r–v.

17. Mueller, The Venetian Money Market, 288–355.

18. ANK, Notaries, Antonios Metaxas (Corfù), b. M180, fol. 165r. [1547]

19. ANK, Notaries, Antonios Metaxas (Corfù), b. M180, fol. 83r. [1548]

20. ANK, Notaries, Emmanouil Parastathis (Corfù), b. P186, fol. 21r. [1555]

21. Regarding the syntrofies, see Pagratis, ‘Trade and Shipping in Corfu’, 205–13.

22. Pagratis, ‘Θαλάσσιο Εμπόριο στη βενετοκρατούμενη Κέρκυρα’, 138.

23. Regarding prostichi see Michelon, ‘La peste dei prosticchi’; Baroutsos, ‘The Jews of Corfu’, 307–10.

24. See for example in ANK, Notaries, b. Antonios Metaxas (Corfù), b. M180, fol. 171v (1548). In the sources it is not specified whether it is wine produced in the ‘Jewish manner’; that is without any involvement of non-Jews. For more details see Arbel, ‘The “Jewish Wine” of Crete’.

25. ANK, Notaries, b. Antonios Metaxas (Corfù), b. M180, fols. 171r–v (1548).

26. Yotopoulou-Sissilianou, ‘Considerazioni sulle classi sociali corfiotte’, 108.

27. See also Baroutsos, ‘The Jews of Corfu’, 307–10.

28. Arbel, Trading Nations, 178.

29. ANK, Notaries, Antonios Metaxas (Corfù), b. M180, fol. 36v.

30. ANK, Notaries, Emmanouil Parastathis (Corfù), b. P186.

31. ANK, Notaries, Emmanouil Parastathis (Corfù), b. P186, fol. 141r. Alessandro was the brother of Matteos Vergìs, a merchant and shipowner residing in Venice. The two brothers collaborated in shipping enterprises, as well as in investing their profits in fiefs or in collecting duties. See Pagratis, ‘Mατθαίoς Bϵργής’, 589–93.

32. See for example Mueller, ‘The Status and Economic Activity of Jews’, 85: ‘[they] had rights tantamount to full citizenship and economic freedoms that were nearly complete’.

33. Romanos, ‘H Eβραϊκή Koινότης της Kϵρκυ´ρας’, 392 (containing an error in the dating of the document). Romanos and others reproduce his error and treat Maycha as if he were a Jew, based on his name and surname. With regards to the name' Jonoma', it was quite widespread in Ottoman Epirus, where it was often transformed into Goumas (see for example Pagratis, ‘Γιαννιώτες Έμποροι στη Βενετία’, 172–3). In the Corfu city council in the same period we find other people with this same name (Xotina or Varvezi) who, however, were not Jewish. Jonoma (Jonama) Maica was part of the Corfu city council from 1496 to 1524. Members of his family were elected to the same council until at least 1556. ANK, Eνϵτoκρατία, b. 5.

34. Sathas, Documents inédits, 249.

35. ANK, Eνϵτoκρατία, b. 5.

36. ANK, Notaries, Leonardos Fortsigos (Corfù), b F21, fol. 73. Cfr. Baroutsos, ‘The Jews of Corfu’, 309–10. Regarding Italian surnames of Jews emigrated to the Levant see Milano, Storia degli Ebrei italiani nel Levante, 17–9.

37. Pagratis, ‘Trade and Shipping in Corfu’, 203–5.

38. For Moustakis' involvement in prostichi, see ANK, Notaries, Antonios Metaxas (Corfù), b. M180, fol. 158v. For his lease of the barony, see above, p. 193.

39. Of the 28 lending contracts identified in our sources, 25 were made from 1538 onwards.

40. ANK, Notaries, Antonios Metaxas (Corfù), b. M 180, fols. 82r, 83r, 280v.

41. Pagratis, Oι Eκθέσϵις, 422.

42. Pagratis, ‘Venice, the Sea and the Greeks’.

43. Fusaro, ‘Greek merchants and shipowners between Venice and England’.

44. Pagratis, Oι ναυτιλιακές ϵπιχϵιρήσϵις της Kέρκυρας, ch. 3.