Reniassance Ergo Essays - Religious Persecution, Anti-Protestantism

Reniassance Ergo The cities of Ancona and Pesaro were each a place of refuge for Marrano Jews in the early sixteenth-century. The Marranos (formally Sephardic and Portuguese Conversos) who settled in the cities of Ancona and Pesaro fled the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) in the late fifteenth-century as result of the Spanish Inquisition. Many Jews sought refuge in Renaissance Italy, and initially found ?acceptance? by many of its local inhabitants. Cohabitation was tolerated on a marginal scale upon the arrival of the Sephardic Jews. The two cities Ancona and Pesaro located in Central Italy were similar in that mercantile commerce was the main source of revenue. Large Numbers of Marrano Jews in Ancona and Pesaro had established themselves as competent businessmen. During the sixteenth-century, the Catholic Church underwent a significant change. Accompanying this new change was conflict with the relatively new Converso (Jewish) population. The cities of Ancona and Pesaro experienced the effect s of Counter Reformation that led to Inquisition or ?Acts of Faith in the summer and spring of 1556. The political and economic reasons behind leaders and the pope acting the way they did against the Jews, was to prohibit Jews from being an economic power in Italy, and to force Jews in to a subservient role. The Spanish Inquisition forced Sephardic Jews of Spain and Converso Jews living in Portugal to relocate to Italy. ?The Spanish Inquisition was established with papal approval in 1478 at the Request of King Ferdinand V and Queen Isabella I. This Inquisition was to deal with the problems of the Marrano Jews, who through coercion or social pressure had insincerely converted to Christianity?. Many Catholics in Spain felt that the end (Second Coming of Christ) was coming soon and did not want any ?non believers? to have a negative effect on the coming of their Messiah. As a direct result, thousands of Sephardic and Converso Jews were expelled from Spain and Portugal. Many of these Jewish families had lived in either Spain or Portugal for hundreds of years, but still faced the total eviction from their homes and personal property. We began to see Jews relocating to Italy in about 1492. The cities of Ancona and Pesaro like many cities in Italy, served as a place of refuge for many of the expelled Jews. These two cities were different from most, because they each possessed harbors, and had relatively small populations. This was beneficial to the small Jewish communities because they had the opportunity to participate in the business realm. Initially, upon the arrival of the Marrano Jews they were accepted with little discretion. At the time, the Catholic Church had tolerant attitudes towards the Jewish community. ?Pope Paul III adhered to the opinion of his counselors, who considered forced baptism null and void, and he allowed the settlement of conversos in the territories of the State of the Church, particularly at Ancona, where the newcomers were expected to make a positive contribution to the development of the economy?. We must understand that the Church was an elite power during the Renaissance. The Catholic Church dictated political policy, imposed taxes, rais ed armies, punished criminals, and held trials throughout the sixteenth- century. In essence, the Church's premise in allowing Jews to occupy various regions of Italy that were under Papal control was financially motivated. Many of the Jews who now found themselves living in Italy had a relatively easy time reestablishing the type of lives and positions that they held in their former homeland. A direct example was Marrano, ? Dr. Francisco Barboso, who had acquired riches and fame?and treated the governor of the city, and prior of local Dominican convent?. In addition, many Jews were involved in the money lending industry and pawnshops. Many Jews were also involved in trade with Levantine merchants. The Jewish population was prospering and things looked to be going well. The events that occurred throughout the latter half of the sixteenth- century, in Ancona and Pesaro were the effects of Counter Reformation. This began at the turn of the century with the expulsion of Jews from Spain and later Portugal. The desire of the Catholic Church to enforce its presence in Italy led to the Inquisitions in the 1530's, initially against