Four 15th century documents related to Jews, Italy:1476, 1481, 1498

3 leaves on paper and 1 vellum bifolio, various sizes,  written in Latin and Italian.

1. A letter on paper, dated April 18, 1476, written in Trent with references to the events surrounding the death of Simon of Trent. (On Easter Sunday 1475, the dead body of a 2-year-old Christian boy named Simon was found in the cellar of a Jewish family's house in Trent, Italy. Town magistrates arrested eighteen Jewish men and five Jewish women on the charge of ritual murder. In a series of interrogations that involved liberal use of judicial torture, the magistrates obtained the confessions of the Jewish men. Eight were executed in late June, and another committed suicide in jail.)

2. Legal document on paper; a notarial summons issued in Bologna on February 6, 1481, against Giovanni (Nanni) Francesco Lasagna, who is accused of having severely beaten Guglielmo, son of the late Elia  da Mestre. Failure to appear would result in three years banishment from Bologna. With notarial signatures and seal. Guglielmo was a banker and patron of the arts from a well known and respected Jewish family, based in Florence.

3. Legal document on parchment. This parchment bifolio, issued on February 21, 1481, also in Bologna reflects the resolution and formal disposition of the events of #2 (above). A much more formal document than the summons issued two weeks earlier, this official court document states that insofar as Giovanni (Nanni) Francesco Lasagna has died in the intervening two week period since the above summons was issued, Guglielmo, son of the late Elia da Mestre agrees to forgive the offense and hold harmless his assailant's heirs. Interestingly, this official dissolution of the case calls for the present document to be translated into Hebrew, presumably for the benefit of the Jewish victim Guglielmo. 

4. Memorandum on paper, with losses, dated July 30, 1498, sent from Francisco Gualterotto, to the Florentine Ambassador in Rome concerning the possible reinstatement of Jewish loan bankers' licences. The Jews had been forced to cease banking activities in the wake of Savanarola's introduction of monti di pieta to Florence.