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MEDICI, Ferdinando I de' (1549-1609, Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1587). Document inviting Jewish merchants to settle in Livorno and Pisa and defining their rights and privileges, in Italian. CALLIGRAPHIC MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM. Florence, 10 June 1593.
257 x 200 mm. 12 leaves: 62. Blind-ruled with two vertical and 22 horizontal lines, 22 lines of large italic script written in black ink, justification: 190 x 125 mm. Seven-line heading on f. 1v, closing line on f. 12r, chapter numbers and major initials in roman script. Pen-and-ink rendition of the Medici arms on f. 1r, inhabited initial on f. 1v, spray of flowers on f. 12r. (Minor fraying to blank edges of last 3 leaves.) Contemporary Italian blind-ruled brown goatskin over pasteboard, two pairs of red linen ties (leather covering of uppermost spine compartment split, some worming to paper endleaves, lacking one pair of ties.)
Provenance: Pietro Ginori-Conti (bookplate).
AN IMPORTANT DOCUMENT IN THE HISTORY OF ITALIAN JEWRY
By this act of 10 June 1593, the Grand Duke of Tuscany invited foreign merchants, and especially Jews, including Marranos from Spain, to settle in Livorno (Leghorn) and Pisa. Earlier in the sixteenth century, the government of Tuscany had made a first, largely unsuccessful, effort to establish a port at Livorno. The promulgation of the present document marked a new initiative, one that led directly to the development of the city as a major Italian port and an important center of Italian Jewish life through several centuries.
Addressed to "Levantines", Spaniards, Portuguese, Greeks, Germans, Italians, "Hebrews", Turks, Moors, Armenians, Persians and others, this document was in reality addressed to the Jews of these nations, and concerns itself with the safeguards and privileges to be granted to the Jews who responded. Upon moving to Livorno, Jews are to receive amnesty for offenses committed previously and freedom from debts incurred elsewhere. Jews living in Livorno are granted safe-conduct and the right to conduct business throughout Tuscany; in foreign trade they are to enjoy the same rights and privileges as other Tuscans. Although they are to pay the usual taxes on the business they do, they are to be protected from extraordinary levies, and are specifically exempted from the regulations which apply to Jews living in Florence and Siena. The Jewish community of Livorno is granted considerable powers of self-government, under the general jurisdiction of an official appointed for that purpose, and disputes with members of other faiths are to be adjudicated by the official responsible for the Jewish community. The community may build and maintain a synagogue and a cemetery, and may observe Jewish holidays. Jews may own books of any kind, printed or manuscript, provided these have been reviewed by the Inquisition, and they are entitled to be educated and to obtain doctorates. Jewish doctors may practice without restriction and may care for Christians, and Jews may employ Christian servants and wet-nurses. Jews are permitted to own real estate, heads of households have the same right to bear arms as other Tuscans, and the Jews of Livorno are not required to wear identifying insignia.
The Jewish community of Livorno rapidly became the most important of the foreign "nations" which were largely responsible for carrying on business in the city, a major entrepôt for trade between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic until from the seventeenth century until well into the nineteenth. With some fluctuations under individual rulers, the Jewish community of Livorno continued to enjoy the protection of the Medici, and under Duke Leopold I (1765-1790) of the House of Lorraine, the rights of the Jews of Livorno were extended to all the Jews of Tuscany.
257 x 200 mm. 12 leaves: 6
Provenance: Pietro Ginori-Conti (bookplate).
AN IMPORTANT DOCUMENT IN THE HISTORY OF ITALIAN JEWRY
By this act of 10 June 1593, the Grand Duke of Tuscany invited foreign merchants, and especially Jews, including Marranos from Spain, to settle in Livorno (Leghorn) and Pisa. Earlier in the sixteenth century, the government of Tuscany had made a first, largely unsuccessful, effort to establish a port at Livorno. The promulgation of the present document marked a new initiative, one that led directly to the development of the city as a major Italian port and an important center of Italian Jewish life through several centuries.
Addressed to "Levantines", Spaniards, Portuguese, Greeks, Germans, Italians, "Hebrews", Turks, Moors, Armenians, Persians and others, this document was in reality addressed to the Jews of these nations, and concerns itself with the safeguards and privileges to be granted to the Jews who responded. Upon moving to Livorno, Jews are to receive amnesty for offenses committed previously and freedom from debts incurred elsewhere. Jews living in Livorno are granted safe-conduct and the right to conduct business throughout Tuscany; in foreign trade they are to enjoy the same rights and privileges as other Tuscans. Although they are to pay the usual taxes on the business they do, they are to be protected from extraordinary levies, and are specifically exempted from the regulations which apply to Jews living in Florence and Siena. The Jewish community of Livorno is granted considerable powers of self-government, under the general jurisdiction of an official appointed for that purpose, and disputes with members of other faiths are to be adjudicated by the official responsible for the Jewish community. The community may build and maintain a synagogue and a cemetery, and may observe Jewish holidays. Jews may own books of any kind, printed or manuscript, provided these have been reviewed by the Inquisition, and they are entitled to be educated and to obtain doctorates. Jewish doctors may practice without restriction and may care for Christians, and Jews may employ Christian servants and wet-nurses. Jews are permitted to own real estate, heads of households have the same right to bear arms as other Tuscans, and the Jews of Livorno are not required to wear identifying insignia.
The Jewish community of Livorno rapidly became the most important of the foreign "nations" which were largely responsible for carrying on business in the city, a major entrepôt for trade between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic until from the seventeenth century until well into the nineteenth. With some fluctuations under individual rulers, the Jewish community of Livorno continued to enjoy the protection of the Medici, and under Duke Leopold I (1765-1790) of the House of Lorraine, the rights of the Jews of Livorno were extended to all the Jews of Tuscany.