Venice

Italian city; formerly capital of a republic embracing northeastern Italy and some islands in the Mediterranean. The first Venetian document, so far as known, in which Jews are mentioned is a decree of the Senate, dated 945, prohibiting captains of ships sailing in Oriental waters from taking on board Jews or other merchants—a protectionist measure which was hardly ever enforced. According to a census of the city said to have been taken in 1152 (Galliccioli, "Memoria Antiche Venete," 2:279), the Jews then in Venice numbered 1,300, an estimate which Galliccioli himself believes to be excessive. An event which must have increased the number of Jews in Venice was the conquest of Constantinople by the allied Venetians and French in 1204, when the former took possession of several islands in the Levant, including Eubœa, where the Jews were numerous. At that time Jewish merchants went to Venice for the transaction of business, and some of them settled there permanently.

Early Jewish Settlement.

The first lasting settlement of Jews was not in the city itself, but on the neighboring island of Spinalunga, which was called "Giudeca" in a document dated 1252. For some unknown reason this island was afterward abandoned. For several centuries the ruins of two ancient synagogues were to be seen there (comp. Ravà in "Educatore Israelità," 1871, p. 47). At the beginning of the thirteenth century many Jews went to Venice from Germany, some seeking refuge from persecution, others attracted by the commercial advantages of this important seaport. A decree of the Senate, dated 1290, imposed upon the Jews of Venice a duty of 5 per cent on both imports and exports (Galliccioli, c. 2:280). R. Simeon Luzzatto (1580-1663) speaks in his noteworthy "Discorso Circa il Stato degli Hebrei di Venetia" (p. 18) of the Jew who was instrumental in bringing the commerce of the Levant to Venice.

An ordinance of 1541, issued by the Senate on the advice of the Board of Commerce, to provide Jewish merchants with storehouses within the precincts of the ghetto, observes that "the greater part of the commerce coming from Upper and Lower Rumania is controlled by itinerant Jewish Levantine merchants" (Schiavi, "Gli Ebrei in Venezia e nelle Sue Colonie," p. 493). When the "Cattaveri" were commissioned in 1688 to compile new laws for the Jews, the Senate demanded that "the utmost encouragement possible should be given to those nations [referring to the various sections into which the whole Jewish community was divided] for the sake of the important advantages which will thus accrue to our customs duties" (comp. Ravà, c. 1871, p. 334).

Besides engaging in commerce, the Jews conducted loan-banks; and in the ancient decrees of the Senate in regard to them it is repeatedly declared that the operation of these banks, which was prohibited by the canonical law, was the chief reason for admitting Jews into Venice. Therefore, in deference to some remnant of scruple, it was ordained, at least at first, that contracts relative to these transactions should not be drawn up in the city itself, but in the neighboring Mestre (Galliccioli, c. 2:281). The interest on the loans was at first fixed by a decree of 1366 at 4 per cent, but it was raised afterward to 10 or 12 per cent, according to whether the loans were made on substantial security or on written obligations. The original object of these banks was solely to help the poor, but it soon became evident that it was necessary to provide for greater loans, some of which were made to the government itself. These banks, as well as Jewish affairs in general, were placed under the surveillance of special magistrates whose titles varied according to the times, as "consoli," "sopraconsoli," "provveditori," "sopraprovveditori," etc. (see Soave in "Corriere Israelitico," 1879, p. 56).