venice and its minorities 479
was to be praised, for granting the Ponentine Jews the same privileges as
the Levantines, with the similar obligation to live in the ghetto and wear
the special head-covering, was for the benefit of Venice and prevented
them from going with their great wealth to the hostile ottoman empire,
as they did annually in great numbers, an argument that later was to be
repeated by Paolo sarpi. Leonardo donà, later to become doge, was to
justify Venetian policy in the face of strong criticism from the papal nun-
cio by claiming that it was better that judaizing new christians reverted
to Judaism and dwelled in the ghetto rather than among christians, fre-
quenting the churches, and taking the sacraments in a spirit of falsehood,
thus bringing dishonor to God and scandal to the city.
the charter was subsequently renewed for further ten-year periods, to
the constant dismay of the papacy. Given the Venetian approach of raison
d’état, especially when its key concern of Mediterranean maritime trade
was involved, and the new attitude of the counter-reformation papacy
toward crypto-Jews and new christians who reverted to Judaism, it is cer-
tainly very understandable that among the differences that arose between
the Venetian republic and the papacy, that of proceeding against Jews and
crypto-Jews certainly would be almost unsurmountable. indeed, a docu-
ment entitled Raccolta di alcuni negocii spettanti alla santa Inquisitione
nelle città e Dominio veneto dal principio di Clemente VIII sino al principio
del mese di luglio MDCXXV, written around 1625, contained a section enti-
tled “on Proceeding against Jews and Marranos” that commenced with
the observation that among the differences which at various times had
arisen between the inquisition and the Venetian republic, almost always
unsurmountable was that of proceeding against Jews and Marranos.
Understandably, non-Venetian christian merchants resented having to
reside in the city continuously for 25 years before they could become citi-
zens de intus et de extra. on one occasion, in 1610, a lengthy and carefully
thought-out memorandum was submitted by Paul santonini, a Venetian
notary who had served various magistracies for 30 years.74 Well aware of
the special status of the Levantine and Ponentine Jewish merchants, san-
tonini referred to them several times, specifically mentioning their charter
of 1589, its renewal in 1598, and several of its provisions. He argued that if
the privileges of trade with the Levant and payment of the customs at the
74 i plan to elaborate further on the following course of events, and also two other
attempts of foreign christian merchants to obtain permission to engage in maritime trade
between Venice and the Levant in my forthcoming history of the Jews of Venice. in the
interim, see Zannini, Venezia città aperta, pp. 116–18.