His death was accompanied by unflaggingly indecorous anti-Christian grimaces and a scornful profession of polemical faith. The voluntary sacrifice of Israel Wolfgang, the boy from Brandenburg, counter-balanced, or, more exactly, flanked, the involuntary sacrifice of little Simon, in a holy tragedy in which the basic elements of the plot, cruel and bloody, had been composed centuries before, in Hebrew and Yiddish, in German and in Latin, in the valleys washed by the muddy waters of the Rhine and the Main, the Rhône and the Danube, the Adige and the Ticino, where it was said that the god of the rivers claimed their innocent victims every year.
"Yes, I am perfectly persuaded and convinced that killing Christian children and consuming their blood and swallowing it was a good thing [...] If I could obtain the blood of a Christian boy for our Passover feast, of course I would drink it and eat it, if I could do so without attracting too much attention. Know ye that, although I have been baptized, I, Israel, son of Meir, may he rest in peace, a Jew of Brandenburg, intend, and have established in my soul, that I wish to die a true Jew. I had myself baptized when I saw that I had gotten caught, and in doubt that I might be condemned to death, believing that I could avoid it, as actually happened. Know ye, therefore, that I, Israel of Brandenburg, Jew, do no consider anything believed and observed by the Christian religion to be true at all. I believe with an unshakeable faith that the religion of Israel is correct and holy" [686].
But not everything had gone wrong, at least from Israel of Brandenburg’s point of view. Not a single week had passed since his arrest before the young Saxon Jew, in his cell, was informed that Hinderbach had finally given in, perhaps in part to counterbalance foreseeable criticism of his decision to reopen the trials, and had consented to release the incarcerated women’s children. These were Mosè and Salomone, the children of
p. 221]
of Verona and of Dolcetta; Seligman, Meir of Würzburg’s young boy; Samuele da Nuremberg’s daughter-in-law Anna’s young boy, still in diapers; and the numerous offspring of the late Tobias, whose four children were named Joske, Mosè, Chaim and David. An envoy from the apostolic commissioner appeared at the castle of Buonconsiglio on 2 November and took delivery of the children, who were later taken to Rovereto and entrusted to the Jews [687].
Little is known of their fate. Many of them were probably taken back to Germany and adopted by relatives or persons known by them, and seem to have disappeared from the pages of history. Only Mosè and Salomone, Angelo da Verona’s children, remained safely in Italy, entrusted to the Ashkenazi community which had worked so actively to obtain their release [688]. Following the confessions of Brunetta, Samuele da Nuremberg’s widow, and the other women, followed by their conversion to Christianity, which occurred in January 1477, attempts to return the children to their mothers proved fruitless [689].
Bella, Anna and Sara, who had, at the time, voluntarily entrusted their children to the Jews of Rovereto -- now that they were converted and baptized under the names of Elisabetta, Susanna, and Chiara -- wanted them back urgently, ceding to the pressures of those who wished them to have the children baptized. Pope Sixtus IV himself, by a bull of 20 June 1478, addressed to Hinderbach, exhorted him to take all steps to ensure that they might be returned to the recently converted women, together with their dowries; the children were to be baptized. But his attempts in this direction were too late; it was like closing the barn door when the horse has already been stolen.
"We still wish, and we enjoin you to it with the same authority, that you shall use all diligence to ensure that the children of the condemned Jews be returned to their baptized mothers, together with their dowry, wherever that might be found, compelling any opponent or rebel by means of ecclesiastical censure and other means granted by law" [690].
But the last scene of the drama was yet to be enacted. The drama finally concluded with the solemn appearance at the baptismal font of Salomone, the physician Tobias’s feeble-minded servant. The poor imbecile, deemed incapable of understanding or consenting, had survived the trial for little Simon’s murder because he gave no indication of knowing or remembering anything about it.
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Now, to mark the occasion of the feeble-minded Salamone’s baptism, under the name of Giovanni; in a crowded ceremony in the Chiesa di San Pietro at Trent, it was the common desire of all that he might also recover the light of the intellect [691]. The body of the sainted little martyr Simon was invoked aloud to perform this one last appropriate miracle.
p. 307] DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX
1. Venice
1452, 28 February
1452, l March
The physician Abbe de Mosè del Medigo di Candia, imprisoned in the Carceri Nuove of Venice under the accusation of having crucified lambs at Passover, in comtempt of the Christian religion, is accused together with the money lender Bonomo da Mestre of having attempted to bribe Antonio Priuli, "district mayor in the Levant" of Venice. The Avogaria di Comun condemns Bonomo and acquits Abba del Medigo.
ASV, Avogaria di Comun, Raspe, 3650 (I), cc. 28r-29r.
Die XXVIII februarii. Bonomus ebreus filius Moisi contra quem processum fuit per dominos advocatores comunis et offitium suum in eo, de eo et pro eo quod dum ipse Bonomus alquotiens iret visitatum Abbam ebreum carceratum in carcere novo ad requisitionem dominorum auditorum novorum sententiarum veluti sindicorum levantis et quandoque intercessisset nominem dicti Abbe cum viro nobili ser Antonio de Priolis, uno dictorum auditorum in ipso casu, ausu temerario et non propendens quantum hoc redundabat in infamiam et dedens nobilium huius rei publice, dixit ipsi Abbe falso et contra veritate quod vir nobilis ser Antonius predictus rogabat ipsum Abbam ut sibi mutuo daret ducatos quinquaginta ex quo ipse Abbas, repertis ipsis denariis, etiam ipse mutuo eos dedit ipsi Bonomo ebreo, credens ut ipsos mutuo daret ipsi ser Antonio de Priolis, qui Bonomus ipsos denarios pro se retinuit. Cumque post aliquos menses ipse Abba vellet denarios suos et hoc diceret ipsi ser Antonio de Priolis, ipse ser Antonius turbatus ex hac gulositate, predictum manifestavit dominis advocatoribus comunis ut de omnibus et predictis latius patet per processus camere; ductus et placitatus fuit ipse Bonomus in Consilio de XL, in quo posita fuit pars si videtur vobis per ea que dicta sunt quod procedatur contra Bonomum ebreum filium Moisi qui, postposito omni timore Dei et domini nostri, accepit ab Abba ebreo carcerato ducatos .L. pro subornando virum nobilem ser Antonium de Priolis sindicum levantis et eos pro se retinuit ut est dictum.
Datis atque receptis in ipso consilio ballotis XXXIII fuerunt: non sinceris -10-, de non -1- et de parte -22-. Capto ergo de procedendo, positis diversis partibus, captum fuit quod ipse Bonomus stare debeat uno anno in carceribus et solvat ducatos centum auri et quod sit bannitus per quinque annos de Venetiis et districtu, et si in dicto tempore se permiserit reperiri quod stare debeat uno anno in carceribus et solvat ducatos ducentos auri et iterum banniatur et totiens quotiens se permiserit reperiri; et quod de predictis vel aliquo predictorum non possit sibi fieri gratia, donum, remissio, revocatio vel aliqua declaratio nisi per sex consiliarios tria capita de XL, XL, de XL et quatuor partes Maioris Consilii, nec possit poni de faciendo aliter sub pena contenta in parte nova contrabandorum. Die primo martii. Abba ebreus carceratus absolutus, sed tamen contra quem processum fuit per dominos advocatores comunis et offitium suum et pro eo quod, dum esset carceratus, ad istantiam virorum nobilium ser Antonii Grandonico et ser Antonii de Priolis auditorum et sindicorum levantis, et Bonomus ebreus filius Moisi, qui ipsum quandoque visitabat in carceribus, falso et contra scientiam ipsius ser Antonii sibi dixisset quod prefatus ser Antonius de Priolis rogabat ipsum Abba ut ei mutuaret ducatos quinquaginta; ipse Abbas potius pro subornando quem ad aliud finem dedit ipsi Bonomo ducatos .L., credens quod ipse Bonomus eos daret ipsi ser Antonio, sed ipse eos retinuit pro se, ut latius patet per processus camere ductus et placitatus fuit in Consilio de XL in quo sub die XXVIII februarii proxime elapsi primo posita fuit pars si videtur vobis pro ea que dicta et lecta sunt quod procedatur contra Abbam ebreum, carceratum ad instantiam sindicorum levantis, qui postposito omni timore dominii nostri dedit Bonomo ebreo ducatos .L. auri ut eos daret pro subornatione viro nobili ser Antonio de Priolis sindico ut est dictum.
686
"Quod ipse Wolfgangus tenet et firmiter credit quod sit bene factum interficere pueros christianos et comedere et bibere sanguinem [...] et quod si ipse Wolfgangus posset habere de sanguine pueri christiani in festo Paschae ipsorum Judaeorum, etiam de illo biberet et comederet, dummodo posset illum secrete comedere et bibere; et quod, licet sit baptizatus, tamen intendit et in animo suo statuit velle mori ut realis Judaeus, et ipse Wolfgangus fecit se baptizare, quia vidit se captum et dubitavit ne condamnaretur ad mortem, credens se illam evadere, ut evasit [...] et ipse Wolfgangus nihil credit de his quae fides Christiana tenet et observat et quod tenet pro firmo quod fides Judaeorum sit justa et sancta" [Approximately: “That Wolfgang held and firmly believed that it was a good thing to kill Christian boys and eat and drink their blood […] and that if he could obtain the blood of Christian boys during the Jewish Passover feast, he would eat and drink of it, as long as he could eat and drink of it in secrecy; and that it was lawful to be baptized, but that he intended and wished in his soul to die a real Jew, and that he had himself baptized because he saw he had gotten caught and was afraid he’d be condemned to death, and thinking he could get off, which he did […] and that he didn’t believe there was any truth in the Christian faith and that he firmly held that the faith of the Jews was holy and just.”] (cfr. [Bonelli],
687
In this regard, see Divina,
688
The ritual decisions of the well-known rabbi Israel Isserlein da Wiener Neustadt refer to a compromise relating to the sharing of the inheritance of Angelo da Verona (who here appears under the name of Engel mi-Trient) among the orphan children, in a dispute before a rabbinical tribunal, the judges of which were from Treviso, Verona and Padua (Israel Isserlein,
689
On the conversion of the women detained at Trent, see, in particular, [Bonelli],
690
"Preterea volumus, et eadem tibi auctoritate iniungimus, quod omnem adhibeas diligentiam, ut infantes Iudeorum damnatorum filii, eorum baptizatis matribus, una cum dotibus matrum eorundem, apud quoscumque reperiantur deposite, omnino restituantur; contradictores quoslibet et rebelles per censuram ecclesiasticam, et alia iuris remedia compescendo" (cfr. Simonsohn,
691
"(Comparuit) Joannes Neophytus, alias Salmon in Judaismo denominatus, genua sua humiliter et devote flectens, et manus suas versus eandem capsam, in qua corpus praefati Beati Simonis et Martyris conservatur, tendens [...] in signum contritionis ac votorum suorum Omnipotenti Deo ac Beato Simoni" [“Johann the convert, alias Salamon, his Jewish name, humbly and devoutly (appeared) on bended knee, with his hands extended towards the vault in which the body of the Holy Saint Simon is kept, as a sign of contrition and prayer to the Omnipotent God and Saint Simon”] (cfr. [Bonelli], Dissertazione apologetica, cit., pp. 159-160). See also Divina,