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Description

As is well known, the Archivio di Stato di Venezia (ASV; Venetian State Archives) is among the largest in Europe, and contains much material dealing with the Jews of Venice. This includes inventories of the estates of Jews compiled for the purposes of implementing the will of the deceased, and very fortunately two inventories of the estates of arguably the two most prominent Jews of the first half of the sixteenth century, representing two completely different types of Jews, both of whom have been the subject of considerable scholarly attention, have been located and published in the original Italian. One of these is that of the great commercial entrepreneur Daniel Rodriga (d. 1603), who was the key figure in obtaining the first charter which enabled Levantine and Ponentine Jewish merchants to settle in Venice with unique commercial privileges, while the second individual is Rabbi Leon Modena (1571-1648), arguably the most prolific author of his times, concerning whom much information has been preserved. My intention is to examine these two inventories in the contexts of the lives and professional activities of Rodriga and Modena, the situation of the Jews of Venice, and the Venetian material culture of the times to see whether any tentative conclusions can be drawn that shed new light on the condition of the Jews of Venice. I realize that two serious questions immediately arise: first, how typical were Rodriga and Modena, and second, certain items - presumably of economic value - could have been removed from the estate before the inventory was compiled. Nevertheless, it is to be hoped that the proposed investigation will be of some value and most importantly, lead to further research along these lines.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

  • Inventory of the Property of Leon Modena (1648)
  • Inventory of the Property of the Late Daniel Rodrigha (1603)

Comments

The texts were prepared by Benjamin Ravid; presented by Bernard Cooperman.

Start Date

20-8-2007 3:00 PM

Location

University of Maryland, College Park, MD

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Aug 20th, 3:00 PM

The Estates of a Jewish Merchant and of a Rabbi in Seventeenth Century Venice

University of Maryland, College Park, MD

As is well known, the Archivio di Stato di Venezia (ASV; Venetian State Archives) is among the largest in Europe, and contains much material dealing with the Jews of Venice. This includes inventories of the estates of Jews compiled for the purposes of implementing the will of the deceased, and very fortunately two inventories of the estates of arguably the two most prominent Jews of the first half of the sixteenth century, representing two completely different types of Jews, both of whom have been the subject of considerable scholarly attention, have been located and published in the original Italian. One of these is that of the great commercial entrepreneur Daniel Rodriga (d. 1603), who was the key figure in obtaining the first charter which enabled Levantine and Ponentine Jewish merchants to settle in Venice with unique commercial privileges, while the second individual is Rabbi Leon Modena (1571-1648), arguably the most prolific author of his times, concerning whom much information has been preserved. My intention is to examine these two inventories in the contexts of the lives and professional activities of Rodriga and Modena, the situation of the Jews of Venice, and the Venetian material culture of the times to see whether any tentative conclusions can be drawn that shed new light on the condition of the Jews of Venice. I realize that two serious questions immediately arise: first, how typical were Rodriga and Modena, and second, certain items - presumably of economic value - could have been removed from the estate before the inventory was compiled. Nevertheless, it is to be hoped that the proposed investigation will be of some value and most importantly, lead to further research along these lines.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

  • Inventory of the Property of Leon Modena (1648)
  • Inventory of the Property of the Late Daniel Rodrigha (1603)