The Jewish Communities in the Social Fabric of Latin Greece 277
partly attested by numerous manuscripts preserved in the Vatican library.117 In
the 15th century some Jewish migration was directed toward territories under
Ottoman rule.118 More than any other ethnic, religious or cultural group, the
Jews easily crossed political and cultural boundaries.
Greek-speaking Romaniote Jews remained dominant within the Jewish
communities of Byzantium and Latin Greece until the late 15th century,
despite growing Spanish immigration. Public proclamations and summons to
court were delivered in Greek, in addition to Venetian, in the Jewish quarter
of Candia and in the Jewish neighbourhood of Modon.119 Some Jewish wills
drafted around 1500 in Greek have been preserved.120 In 1626 a Jew of Candia
declared in his will that he knew only the Hebrew script, in which he signed,
but the will reproduces the local Greek dialect he spoke.121 Still, bilingualism
must have gained ground over time among the Jews who were in frequent
contact with Latins and the Venetian authorities. The Hebrew in which the
ordinances issued by the Jewish community of Candia are drafted is heavily
tainted by Venetian administrative and judicial terms.122
The maintenance of Romaniote linguistic and cultural dominance is
illustrated by the total absence of Sepharadic congregations in the Eastern
Mediterranean until the massive arrival of Jews expelled from Spain in 1492.
The earlier arrivals of immigrants in specific communities were thinly spread
over many years. In addition, the social pressure exerted by the Romaniote
Jews and economic imperatives prevented the immigrants from maintaining
their distinct cultural identity, whether individually or collectively. Their inte-
gration within the existing communities and their acculturation were partly
promoted by intermarriage with Romaniote Jews.123
117 On this topic: Starr, “Jewish Life,” pp. 105–14.
118 See above, p. 271.
119 David Jacoby, “Multilingualism and Institutional Patterns of Communication in Latin
Romania (Thirteenth-Fourteenth Centuries)”, in Diplomatics in the Eastern Mediterranean
1000–1500: Aspects of Cross-Cultural Communication, ed. Alexander D. Beihammer,
Maria G. Parani and Christopher D. Schabel (Leiden, 2008), p. 43; Sathas, Documents, 4:64:
“fo cridado [.. .] in latin et in griego”, “Latin” being in fact the Venetian dialect in which
the proclamation is preserved.
120 Konstantinos N. Sathas, ed., Μεσαιωνική Βιβλιοθήκη [Medieval Library], 7 vols. (Athens,
1872–1894), 6:654–92.
121 Maltezou, “From Crete to Jerusalem,” pp. 188–89, 196–201.
122 Examples in a 15th-century list: Artom et Cassuto, Taqqanoth Qandyah, pp. 40–41, no. 46.
See also Jacoby, “Jews and Christians,” p. 266.
123 For the last three paragraphs: Jacoby, “The Jewish Communities,” pp. 176–80.