Description

Documents presented here come from three different sources: the archives of Milan, the archives of Simancas, and Joseph Ha-Cohen’s chronicle Emek ha-Bakha. The document from Milan, dated from 1589, is a long defense of the Jews’ right to live in Milan sent to Madrid in response to a request by Philip II of Spain who was pondering whether or not to expel the Jews. The task of writing the report of Jewish life in Milan was given to the Spanish governor of Milan, but it was a collective work put together by the Senate of Milan, based on the opinions of scholars and theologians, and a series of affidavits from officials and magistrates from across the State of Milan vouching for the probity of the Jews of their cities and towns. Nonetheless, in 1591, Philip decided to expel the Jews from Milan. In the second document, Joseph ha-Cohen’s successor (the “Corrector”) described how a Milanese Jew, Simon Vidal Sacerdoti, went to Madrid to plead in front of the King. The third group of documents recorded Simon’s activities in Madrid in 1592. They give us a fuller picture of Simon’s interactions with the King and his administration and allow us to compare what was said in Milan to what the Corrector said, to what happened in Madrid. They also provide insight into document composition, since Simon seems to have had the document from Milan with him, even though he composed his own version of it. Finally, they raise questions on archival preservation and organization, since those six documents from Simancas were preserved together in a file and given a sequence of numbers from 33 to 38, even though they cover a timespan of at least 15 months.

Start Date

17-8-2017 2:00 PM

End Date

14-8-2017 3:00 PM

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Aug 17th, 2:00 PM Aug 14th, 3:00 PM

The Expulsion of the Jews from the State of Milan: Same Event with Views from Different Archives

Documents presented here come from three different sources: the archives of Milan, the archives of Simancas, and Joseph Ha-Cohen’s chronicle Emek ha-Bakha. The document from Milan, dated from 1589, is a long defense of the Jews’ right to live in Milan sent to Madrid in response to a request by Philip II of Spain who was pondering whether or not to expel the Jews. The task of writing the report of Jewish life in Milan was given to the Spanish governor of Milan, but it was a collective work put together by the Senate of Milan, based on the opinions of scholars and theologians, and a series of affidavits from officials and magistrates from across the State of Milan vouching for the probity of the Jews of their cities and towns. Nonetheless, in 1591, Philip decided to expel the Jews from Milan. In the second document, Joseph ha-Cohen’s successor (the “Corrector”) described how a Milanese Jew, Simon Vidal Sacerdoti, went to Madrid to plead in front of the King. The third group of documents recorded Simon’s activities in Madrid in 1592. They give us a fuller picture of Simon’s interactions with the King and his administration and allow us to compare what was said in Milan to what the Corrector said, to what happened in Madrid. They also provide insight into document composition, since Simon seems to have had the document from Milan with him, even though he composed his own version of it. Finally, they raise questions on archival preservation and organization, since those six documents from Simancas were preserved together in a file and given a sequence of numbers from 33 to 38, even though they cover a timespan of at least 15 months.