Popes and Jews, 1095-1291

(Frankie) #1

The City of Rome 237


scriptural confrontation between Judaism and Christianity.81 When the Pontifical


of the Roman Curia attributed to that rite the explicit intention that the pope wor-


ship the Torah it pointed to this Eastertide perspective. The Pontifical was followed,


in this matter, by the Ordo Romanus XIII of Gregory X (c.1272–1276), and by a


considerable number of prescriptive and descriptive sources from the next three


centuries.82 As papal power grew, this change of emphasis in the late twelfth and


thirteenth centuries can be observed in the altered order and relative weights of


the  ceremonies attached to the Lateran and Vatican basilicas, in the ritual-cycle


of accession, and in the modified composition of the coronation procession. Hence


the Roman secular and clerical officers of the palace were relegated to second place


in the pope’s immediate cortège and replaced by representatives of the Church uni-


versal such as cardinals, patriarchs, and archbishops.83


Popes used what was originally an imperial adventus ceremony as a way of


asserting their authority, whether by a newly-elected pope or by an exiled pope


returning to Rome. so whether or not the evidence suggests that the papal adven-


tus had been celebrated in the city since at least the eighth century, in the twelfth


century it gained new meaning as politics brought frequent chaos and instability


to the city.84 Boniface Viii was the last pope to be presented with the Torah scrolls


by the Jews of Rome before the papal exile to Avignon in the early fourteenth


century.85


THE PAPACY AnD THE JEWisH SCHOLA


Rome was divided into scholae, or societies, of which the Jewish schola was one.86


These scholae were associations of craftsmen whose duty it was to supply goods


and services to the papacy.87 Like the other scholae, the Jewish community was an


essential participant in adventus ceremonies, using them as occasions to reaffirm


its place as a particular religious minority in civic life.88 not only did the popes


encounter the seventeen Roman scholae at various places along the processional


route, but representatives of the Jewish schola played a vital part in the broader cere-


monial structure, performing carefully scripted acclamations and actions to indicate


the unique social, political, and doctrinal relationship between Jews and pope.89


some historians have suggested that from the mid-twelfth century the Jewish


schola would have participated in papal adventus not only on the day of election,


81 Linder, ‘The Jews too were not Absent... Carrying Moses’ Law on their shoulders’, 359.
82 Linder, ‘The Jews too were not Absent... Carrying Moses’ Law on their shoulders’, 359–60.
83 Linder, ‘The Jews too were not Absent... Carrying Moses’ Law on their shoulders’, 360–1.
84 Champagne, ‘“Treasures of the Temple” and Claims to Authority in Twelfth-Century Rome’,
p.116.
85 Berliner, Storia degli Ebrei di Roma, dall’antichità allo smantallamento del ghetto, p.117.
86 Champagne, The Relationship between the Papacy and the Jews in Twelfth-Century Rome, p.142,
p.145, p.151.
87 Champagne, ‘Walking in the shadows of the Past’, p.465.
88 Champagne, ‘Walking in the shadows of the Past’, pp.487–8.
89 Champagne, ‘Walking in the shadows of the Past’, pp.488–9.

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