15th–17th centuries
Decree expelling marranos from the territory of the Republic
8 juill. 1550·Venise
The toll is reproduced exactly as the source states it — never rounded, never added to another. Tolls overlap from one event to the next.
The Republic of Venice, which had established the first ghetto a generation earlier, drew a careful distinction between Jews recognized as such and Marranos, Portuguese-born Christians suspected of judaizing. A decree of the Senate ordered the expulsion of the latter from the territory of the Serenissima and prohibited all commerce with them.
The measure was applied intermittently, commercial interest prevailing as these merchants proved their usefulness to the Levantine trade. Venice would ultimately admit them officially under the name of *ponentins*, and the ghetto would come to comprise three distinct communities — German, Levantine, and Ponentine — each with its own synagogues.
- Period :
- 15th–17th centuries
- Type :
- Expulsion
- Region :
- Western Europe
- Country :
- Italie
Benjamin Ravid, *Economics and Toleration in Seventeenth Century Venice* ; Brian Pullan, *The Jews of Europe and the Inquisition of Venice* ; Cecil Roth, *The History of the Jews of Italy*.