Living under the Evil Pope
The Hebrew Chronicle of Pope Paul IV by Benjamin Neḥemiah ben Elnathan from Civitanova Marche (16th cent.), Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2020
Series: Studies in Jewish History and Culture, Volume 58
In Living under the Evil Pope, Martina Mampieri presents the Hebrew Chronicle of Pope Paul IV, written in the second half of the sixteenth century by the Italian Jewish moneylender Benjamin Neḥemiah ben Elnathan (alias Guglielmo di Diodato) from Civitanova Marche. The text remained in manuscript for about four centuries until the Galician scholar Isaiah Sonne (1887-1960) published a Hebrew annotated edition of the chronicle in the 1930s. This remarkable source offers an account of the events of the Papal States during Paul IV’s pontificate (1555-59). Making use of broad archival materials, Martina Mampieri reflects on the nature of this work, its historical background, and contents, providing a revised edition of the Hebrew text as well as the first unabridged English translation and commentary.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations and Bibliographical Notes
Notes on Currency, Measures, and Time
List of Maps and Plates
Transliteration from Hebrew
The Popes of the Roman Catholic Church (16th Cent.)
Introduction
Part 1: The Work and Its Context
1 The Jews in Civitanova Marche (15th–16th Cent.)
1.1 At the Origins of the Jewish Settlement
1.2 Networks of Credit: Moneylending, Trade, and Other Jewish Businesses
1.3 Jewish Life, Jewish Spaces
1.4 Family, Dowry, and Inheritance
1.5 Observant Preaching and the Rise of the Monte di Pietà (1556)
1.6 Crisis and Decline of the Jewish Presence in Civitanova Marche
2 Benjamin Neḥemiah ben Elnathan and His Chronicle of Pope Paul IV
2.1 The Author between Fiction and History
2.2 Narrative Structure
2.3 Sources, Language, and Style
2.4 The Legacy of Amalek and the Writing of History
Part 2: A Reading of Paul IV’s Pontificate (1555–59)
3 Paul IV and Papal Policy towards the Jews
3.1 Marcellus II and the Alleged Blood Libel against the Jews of Rome
3.2 Paul IV’s Election to the Papal Throne (1555)
3.3 “Since It Is Absurd …”
3.4 The Burning at the Stake of the Portuguese Conversos in Ancona (1556)
4 Between the Centre and the Periphery of the Papal States
4.1 The Strengthening of the Roman Inquisition
4.2 The Pope’s War with Spain (1556–57)
4.3 The Exile of the Carafas and the Creation of the Sacro Consiglio
4.4 The Government of the Marca and Its Jews (1557–59)
5 Arrest and Imprisonment of the Jews of Civitanova Marche
5.1 “Dangerous Bonds”: Neophytes, Slanderers, and “Jewish Dogs”
5.2 From Civitanova Marche to Rome
5.3 The Inquisition Prisons at Ripetta
6 From Paul IV “the Evil” to Pius IV “the Merciful”
6.1 Sickness and Death of Paul IV
6.2 The Vacancy of the Holy See
6.3 Pius IV’s Election and the Fall of the House of Carafa
Part 3: The Text
Preface to the Edition and Annotated English Translation
The Manuscript and Isaiah Sonne’s Edition
Notes and Abbreviations
List of Hebrew Abbreviations (רשימת הקיצורים)
Hebrew Text and English Translation
Facsimile of NLI, Ms. Heb. 8°984
Documentary Appendix
Archival Documents
Chronology of the Events Reported in the Chronicle
Bibliography
Archival and Manuscript Sources
Primary Sources
Studies and Reference Works
Index of Names and Places