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The
Medici Granducal Archive:
Documents for Jewish History, Religion and Culture
Duke
Cosimo expresses support for Ventura di Moise, a Jew from Perugia
studying at Pisa University (1565)
Citation:
Archivio di Stato di Firenze, Mediceo del Principato 226, f. 37
File
copy of letter from Duke Cosimo de'Medici (Florence) to Duke Guglielmo
Gonzaga (Mantua)
Date:
23 April 1565
DOCUMENT
Al Duca di
Mantova, dal dì detto
Potrebbe
facilmente esser nota all'Eccellenza Vostra la causa di Ventura
di Moise hebreo di Perugia per essere durata tant'anni, rispetto
al travaglio, che gli da il suo suocero hebreo in Venezia. Questo
povero giovene è scolare nello studio mio di Pisa, e
come virtuoso m'astrigne ad amarlo. Però se bene egli
vive in quella sua cecità, la compassione non di meno
mi fa venir a raccomandarlo all'Eccellenza Vostra, pregandola
caramente a provedere per la molta bontà sua, che la
potenza dell'aversario non habbia da soffocare l'innocenza,
et giustitia di costui; che lo riceverò per accettissimo
piacere da lei. Da Fiorenza.
TRANSLATION
To the Duke
of Mantua, on the above mentioned day.
Since it has now gone on for many years, Your Excellency might well
have heard about the legal suit of Ventura di Moise, a Jew from
Perugia, and the trouble caused him by his father-in-law, a Jew
in Venice. This unfortunate youth is a student in my University
at Pisa, and it is incumbent on me to wish him well, since he is
a man of talent. Though he remains stubborn in his blindness, I
am moved by compassion to recommend him to you. Therefore, I fondly
beg Your Excellency to encourage his great goodness, and see that
his adversary's power does not overwhelm this youth's just innocence.
I would consider this a most pleasing favor from you. From Florence.
NOTES
- Duke
Cosimo de'Medici also expressed his support for Ventura di
Moise in letters to the Florentine Ambassadors in Rome and
Ferrara, to the Duke of Ferrara, to the Duke and Duchess of
Mantua, to Cardinals Este, Niccolino, Savello and Vitelli.
Duke Cosimo noted to Cardinal Vitelli, "Vegga Vostra
Signoria illustrissima, s'io piglio sicurtà di lei,
poi che non solo le raccomando le cause de gli amici, et Christiani,
ma degli Hebrei ancora." (Your Lordship sees how much
I confide in you, since I press the claims not only of friends
and Christians but of Jews as well.)
- This
ducal correspondence concerning Ventura di Moise da Perugia
adds a fascinating new dimension to the story of this controversial
young man, who was previously known only from rabbinic sources.
Ventura (called Shemuel in the Hebrew documents) was betrothed
to marry a young woman named Tamar in Venice, daughter of
the eminent Jewish medical doctor Yosef Tamari. Several months
after the betrothal, an argument ensued between Shemuel and
his father-in-law. Shemuel then left Venice, abandoning the
woman he was engaged to marry and leaving her unable to marry
anyone else under Jewish law. Many prominent rabbis involved
themselves in the case, issuing writs of excommunication and
requesting the support of sovereign rulers in enforcing them.
(See Shlomo Simonsohn, History of the Jews in Mantua, 501-504
et passim.)
- It
is not yet to be learned how Shemuel/Ventura gained the protection
of Cosimo I de'Medici, but other archival documents suggest
that he had many relatives living in Tuscany at the time of
his difficulties in Venice. After years of study in Pisa,
he settled in Florence, where, according to Umberto Cassuto,
he served as a librarian in the Biblioteca Laurenziana.
- The
Jewish presence at the University of Pisa remains to be defined.
Jews were occasionally permitted to study there by special
dispensation and sometimes even allowed degrees, particularly
in medicine. Somewhat surprisingly in the historical context,
Jews were freely admitted to the University of Siena from
1543 to 1695, and took degrees in medicine and philosophy.
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