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Armen-Gurgen Movsesyan
Reuven Firerstone
JS 100g, Essay 4
December 2, 2013
Italian Jewry of the Middle 16th Century:
The Auto-de-f of Solomon Molkho
Jewish financiers and merchants from Rome generally prospered and experienced
great cultural achievement during the Italian Renaissance. However, Christianity still
dominated Renaissance society, which meant continuing hostility toward the Italian
Jewry. After the ritual-murder libel in Trent in 1475, anti-Jewish sentiments festered. Jews
were forced out of Sicily and Sardinia in 1492 and Naples in 1510. The Edict of Explosion,
extended to the New Christians and their descendants in 1515, ordered all Jews,
influential or otherwise, to exit the Spanish Kingdom or convert. In a struggle to regain
control of Christendom from the Holy Roman Emperors, the popes began to include the
Jews in their attack on religious deviancy. In Reading 5-7 from the Heritage Source Reader,
contemporary Jewish historian, Joseph ha-Cohen describes the journey of David Reuveni
and his follower Solomon Molkho to Italy in an effort to acquire further support for their
cause. The demise of David Reuveni and Solomon Molkho was inevitable because they
expanded their campaign to Italy after the exposition of the expulsion, reformation and
other anti-Jewish policies adopted by the Catholic Church.
Pushed by the expulsion from Spain in 1492 and the forced conversions in Portugal
in 1497, communities of Jews began to appear in major cities of the Italian peninsula.
Martin Luther, rather than encouraging tolerance toward Judaism, heightened anti-Jewish
attitudes among the Christian clergy, endorsing the expulsion of Jews from various
German states after his critique of the Church and its persecution of the Jews failed to
win them over to Christianity. As a reaction to the heavy influx, Jews were pushed out of

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Sardinia, Sicily, and the Kingdom of Naples to outskirts and ghettos around Italy. Several
ghettos were built in major cities including Genoa, Florence and most notably in Venice
where it was constructed in 1516. Living in ghettos and segregated corners around Italy
became a norm for Jews, first in the papal territories of Italy and Provence then in the
majority of the major Italian cities.
During the incubation of this reactionary climate and the discriminatory policies of
Renaissance Italy, Solomon Molkho goes to Rome and manages to win the support of
Pope Clement VII who, against the desire of his intimates, extended every kindness to
him, according to ha-Cohen. This meeting occurs a few years after Pope Clement VII
receives David Reuveni who comes seeking Christian aid against the Muslims in the Holy
Land, claiming to be a prince of a Jewish kingdom of the lost tribes. Whatever support
Molkho attains from the Pope, following the footsteps of his mentor, proves
inconsequential when Molkho attempts to extend his efforts and attain support from the
Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. Charles reaction following a meeting with Molkho in
Ratisbon in 1532 exemplifies the political programme vis--vis the Italian Jewry. The
emperor was unresponsive to Solomons beliefs and faith and commanded that he
[Molkho] be clapped into prison, he and his friend Prince David and their followers. The
incarceration of Reuveni and Molkho doesnt come as a surprise. During this time, the
inquisition begins in Portugal, overseen by the King, which targeted mainly Marranos
accused of secretly practicing Judaism. Molkho could not plausibly have attained Charles
support while his neighbors in the Iberian Peninsula targeted Jews and expulsions
continued in Italian cities. The political situation and social climate mandated that an
influential Jew and his counterpart be snuffed. Returning to Italy, Charles discussed the
fate of Molkho and Reuveni with his advisors, finding him guilty and condemning him to
death by auto-de-f. Charles shipped Reuveni to a prison house in Spain where he died
after many years.

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The Italian Jewry continued to take severe blows. Pope Paul IV ordered the Jews of
Rome and other papal territories to be segregated into ghettos in 1555. Jews in the papal
territories had to wear a distinctive badge and yellow hate, were forbidden to own land
and expelled from areas where they had lived for generations. Molkho sealed his fate
when he tried at winning the favor of the Holy Roman Emperor. His execution
foreshadowed an even more oppressive atmosphere surrounding the Jews during the
second half of the 16th century.