Making illuminated Haggadot in Venetian Candia

Abstract

Two illuminated Haggadot from Venetian Candia that were not thoroughly studied until now are the rarest extant examples of the Hebrew illuminated manuscripts produced in the Romaniot milieu. Their illustrative cycle is a compilation of different models, originated in Sepharad and Ashkenaz, although they incorporate many local Candiot characteristics. The study of these Haggadot reveals the complexity of the Jewish cultural background in Candia in the sixteenth century.1

Keywords:

• Candia
• Hebrew illuminated manuscripts
• Haggadah
• Romaniots

Notes

 1. This essay is based on my MA thesis: Steimann, ‘Shtei Haggadot me'uyarot mi-Candia min ha-me'a ha-16’ [‘Two Illuminated Haggadot from Candia from the Sixteenth Century’].

 2. Goldschmidt, Haggadah shel Pesach, 71–2.

 3. Goldschmidt, ‘Haggadah’, 210–1.

 4. Narkiss, Kitvei yad, 37ff.

 5. Georgopoulou, ‘Late Medieval Crete and Venice’, 479–80; Maltezou, ‘The Historical and Social Context’, 17–47.

 6. A manuscript of a Siddur, formerly in Breslau, Jüdisch-theologischen Seminars, No. 70 (today in a private collection in Tel Aviv) which includes an illuminated Haggadah can be considered the only earlier example, produced possibly in the fifteenth century in Greek-speaking lands which were under strong Italian influence, as for instance Corfu. Loewinger and Weinryb, Catalogue, 127–30.

 7. Constantoudaki-Kitromilides, ‘Cretan Painting’, 83–90. For further information and bibliography on Cretan painting and painters of that period, see Panagiotakes, El Greco, 22, note 8.

 8. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, hébr. 1388, full page: (280–283) x (220–224) mm; text space: (160–175) x (125–130) mm. Quires: I–IV⁸, V⁶, VI²; Garel, Manuscrits hébreux, 21; Narkiss and Sed-Rajna, ‘Greek Haggadah (Paris)’; Italiener, Darmstädter Haggadah, Textband, 267–72; Roth, ‘Haggadat Candia’, 193–6; Schwab, ‘Haggada’, 112–32; Schwab, ‘Haggadahhandschriftillustrationen’, 75–92; Schwab, Manuscrit, 1–25; Sed-Rajna, Manuscrits hébreux, 328–32. The family Bili is mentioned in Arbel, ‘The List of Able-Bodied Jews’, 22–3; Maltezou, ‘From Crete to Jerusalem’, 195; Manoussacas, ‘Mavrogonato’, 365, n. 29. A certain Leon Bili is mentioned in a court decision taken in Candia on 11 December 1570: Archivio di Stato di Venezia (hereafter: ASV), Duca di Candia, b. 36bis, f. 176 (information provided by Benjamin Arbel). In the early seventeenth century, another member of this family, Moshe ben Jehudah Bili, produced by himself two illuminated manuscripts, Pirkei avot and Bakkashot, Jerusalem, Israel Museum, MS 180/102, as well as the New Year Maḥzor, London, British Library, Harley MS 5794.

 9. Artom and Cassuto, Statuta, 146, 150. The earliest extant copy was produced in the seventeenth century. See Jerusalem, National Library of Israel, MS Heb. 28° 7203. The anonymous scribe of the seventeenth century copied original colophons, including those of Mattetiah Spagnolo. The role of the communal scribe in Candia as it is defined in the regulation from 1489 included the writing of regulations and other official documents. Every Condestabulo, the head of the Candiot community, was required to have an available scribe, experienced and loyal, to serve the community. Artom and Cassuto, Statuta, 71.

10. Chantilly, Bibliothèque et Archives du Château de Chantilly, MS 732, full page: (274–280) x (219–224) mm; text space: (148–165) x (119–139) mm. Quires: I², II^2–1, III–VI⁸, VII¹⁰. Catalogue général, 150; Narkiss and Sed-Rajna, ‘Greek Haggadah (Chantilly)’; Libri, Sotheby's Catalogue, 102; Sed-Rajna, Manuscrits hébreux, 323–8; Shaulsky, Haggadat Candia.

11. For further information regarding the patron, and for the reconstruction of the original quires, see Steimann, ‘Shtei haggadot me'uyarot’, 19, 26–7. A certain 'Mose Mesariti' is mentioned in a decision of the court of Candia's governors, pronounced on 5 October 1568: ASV, Duca di Candia, b. 36bis, ff. 78r-78v (information provided by Benjamin Arbel).

12. Markus, ‘Herkev ha-yishuv’, 64ff. See also Starr, ‘Jewish Life in Crete’, 60–1; Tsiknakis, ‘Oι Eβραι´oι’, 225–49.

13. For example, Artom and Cassuto, Statuta, 76.

14. Fleming, ‘Candia-Kahal’, 2. A large collection of the Candiot Hebrew manuscripts is preserved today in the Vatican Library. See Cassuto, Manoscritti palatini, 29–44.

15. Psalms 79:6; 69:25; 69:26; Lamentations 3:66. For Ashkenazi version, see Safrai and Safrai, Haggadah shel pesach, 174.

16. Psalms 79:6; 69:25; 69:26; 69:23; 69:29; 69:28; 2:9; Hosea 9:14; Jeremiah 10:25; Psalms 17:7; 28:4; Lamentations 3:66. The Romaniot version was discussed by Goldschmidt, ‘Maḥzor Romania’, 122–53; Goldschmidt, ‘Kehilot Yavan’, 217–89. Other Romaniot siddurim and maḥzorim from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries which include a haggadah: Cambridge, University Library, Add. 542, fols. 243r–244r; London, Montefiore Library, MS. 220, fol. 72v–73r; Oxford, Bodleian Library, Opp. Add. oct. 19, fols. 48v–49v; Maḥzor minhag Romania 116a.

17. London, British Library, Or. 1404; Margoliouth, Catalogue, II, 198–200; Narkiss, British Isles, I, 93–9; Rosenau, ‘Rylands Haggadah’, 468–83; Roth, ‘Rylands Haggadah’, 131–59.

18. Kogman-Appel, Second Nuremberg Haggadah, 155.

19. Artom and Cassuto, Statuta, 58.

20. Kogman-Appel, Second Nuremberg Haggadah, 66, 73, 77, 81–2, 85.

21. The Barcelona Haggadah, London, British Library, Add. 14761; Margoliouth, Catalogue, II, 197–8; Narkiss, British Isles, I, 78–84. For Ashkenazi examples, see Zurich, Floersheim Collection, Haggadah, no shelf number, fol. 3r; Jerusalem, Israel Museum, MS 180/50, fol. 5r.

22. Finesinger, ‘Custom’, 354.

23. Darmstadt, Hessische Landes- und Hochschulbibliothek, Cod. Or. 28; Heimann, ‘Darmstädter Haggada’, 18–35; Zürich, Floersheim Collection, Haggadah, no shelf number; Heimann-Jelinek, ‘Floersheim-Haggada’, 176–216; Zirlin, ‘Discovering the Floersheim Haggadah’, 92–108.

24. For the text and illustration, see for example, a German thirteenth-century manuscript, Tristan, Gottfried von Strassburg, Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cgm 51, fol. 90r.

25. I am grateful to Rabbi David Ebner for bringing this source to my attention.

26. For a stylistic analysis of both Haggadot, see Steimann, ‘Shtei Haggadot me'uyarot’, 186–7.

27. Planché, Historic Costume, 295.

28. See, for example, the two Hebrew manuscripts produced in Italy in the fifteenth century: Avicenna's Canon, Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria, MS 2197, fol. 78r; and Ya‘aqov ben Asher, Arba‘ah turim, Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cod. Rossiana 555, unnumbered fol. between fols. 292 and 293 v.

29. Capsali, Mea she‛arim, I, 302.

30. Benayahu, Capsali, 4–49.

31. Roth, ‘Haggadat Candia’, 196.

32. Steimann, ‘Shtei Haggadot me'uyarot’, 41–2.

33. Capsali, Mea she‘arim, I, 301–2.

34. Zimmer, Olam ke-minhago noheg, 21–8.

35. Delmedigo , Mitsraf le-ḥokhmah, 74.