Printed papal bull: Caeca et Obdurata Hebraeorum perfidia ("The blind and obdurate perfidy of the Jews"), by Pope Clement VIII (1592-1605). Rome: Paolo Blado, 25 February 1593. Latin.
The bull expels all the Jews from the Papal States within three months of its publication, excepting only three cities: Rome, Ancona and Avignon. It reinstates and harshens the anti-Jewish decrees of his predecessors Paul IV (Cum nimis absurdum, 1555) and Pius V (Hebraeorum gens sola, 1569), abrogating the leniencies and permissions granted to Jews under later popes, including the permission to return to the Papal States granted by Pope Sixtus V (Christiana pietas, 1586).
The bulla levels a series of accusations against the Jews, including: ingratitude towards Christianity, moral corruption, financial fraud and injurious usury, deceit and fraud, which it claims reduced many Christians "not only to extreme poverty and beggary, but almost into slavery". It ordains that every Jew found outside of the three permitted cities at the end of the three-month period have their property confiscated and be sentenced to a lifetime of hard labor.
In tandem, and in accordance with earlier decrees of his predecessors Paul IV and Pius V, the Jews inhabiting the permitted cities were to live in a closed quarter outside the walls (the Jewish ghetto); they were required to sell their real estate; they were permitted to have a single synagogue in each city, and they were forbidden from building new synagogues; they were required to wear markings on their dress; they were absolutely forbidden from collecting interest; they were forbidden to hire Christian wet nurses and servants; Jewish doctors were forbidden from treating Christians; and their property and business rights were restricted.
Although the bull's directives were only partially enforced, they brought about significant suffering and deep uncertainty among the Jewish communities of the Papal States. Moreover, it eroded the Jews' sources of income and densely concentrated the population of the Jewish ghettos of Rome and Ancona.
Only three days after the promulgation of the present bull, on 28 February, 1593, Clement VIII published another anti-Jewish bull, Cum Hebraeorum malitia. This bull ordered copies of the Talmud and kabbalistic works to be confiscated and burned (see next lot).
Large papal insignia of Pope Clement VIII at top of first leaf (papal tiara with crossed keys and the Aldobrandini coat of arms).
[1] folded leaf (3 printed pages). 32 cm. Fair condition. Stains, creases and wear. Marginal tears. Worming, affecting text.
See: Attilio Milano, Il ghetto di Roma, Rome: Staderini, 1964, p. 83.
Rare. Not recorded in NLI catalogue.
