Metadata: Gonzaga Archive, Church Issues
Collection
- Country:
- Italy
- Holding institution:
- Mantua State Archive
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archivio di Stato di Mantova
- Postal address:
- via Roberto Ardigò 11, 46100 Mantova
- Phone number:
- +39 376324441
- Web address:
- http://www.asmantova.beniculturali.it
- Email:
- as-mn@beniculturali.it
- Reference number:
- Inventario Luzio e Torelli, P
- Title:
- Gonzaga Archive, Church Issues
- Title (official language):
- Archivio Gonzaga. Materie ecclesiastiche
- Creator/accumulator:
- Gonzaga family
- Date(s):
- 945-1784
- Date note:
- Jewish-related material dates from 1572-1736
- Language:
- Italian
- Latin
- Extent:
- 102 boxes
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- This fonds contains documents produced by ecclesiastical institutions in Mantua, and used by the Chancellor of the Gonzaga government (until 1707) and by the House of Habsburg (after 1707, when Mantua became part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) for internal purposes. A section regarding the documents produced by the Holy Office includes folder no. 3279, which includes some documents related to the Jews, such as: a copy of the papal bull issued by pope Julius III against the Talmud (12 August 1553); several decrees of the Holy Office of Mantua and Cremona against heretics and prohibited books, in which Jews are prohibited from cursing against Catholic religion, Jesus and the Virgin Mary, denying the uniqueness of God or Jesus as the real Messiah, possessing or reading Talmud, preventing other Jews from converting to Christianity, possessing or hawking Christian images, relics or holy objects (1572-1637). There is also a file with petitions asking for the release of the rabbi Salamon Basilea, old and ill, imprisoned in the jails of the Holy Office of Mantua (1733-1734; the file of the trial against rabbi Basilea is said to be kept in Rome). Similar documents may be found in folder no. 3319, concerning part of the Mantuan territories that were inside the Cremona diocese, such as Viadana and Gazzuolo, of which the Holy Office of Cremona was in charge: here there are several orders prohibiting innkeepers to allow Jews to play cards or to eat together with Christians, and the description of the removal made by a Catholic priest of a painting representing Jerusalem from a place where Jewish merchants used to spend their time (1617; 1712-1722). Folder no. 3322 contains documents related to Mantuan territories part of the Verona diocese, such as Ostiglia, where Jews were said to have stayed for too much time without a regular permit (1736).
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
The Gonzaga Family ruled Mantua and the province of Mantua from 1328 to 1708. The "Archivio Gonzaga" is the old, so called "secret" Archive of the Marchesato (Marquisate, 1433-1587), later Ducato ( Duchy, 1531-1708) of the Gonzaga Family in Mantua. It includes papers dated before the coming to power of the family in 1328 and later than the date of their fall in 1708. Important sections of the archive were destroyed during two fires in 1413 and 1448.
In 1785 the entire archive of the Gonzagas was concentrated in the lower rooms of the castle of San Giorgio, where it took the name of "Archivio governativo" (Archive of Government). In 1865 the Archivio governativo was delivered to the Municipality of Mantua and in 1883 it was moved to the Palazzo degli Studi - now State Archive of Mantua - where it is currently located.
The "Archivio Gonzaga" is one of the seven archives included in the macro-area named "Antichi Regimi - Periodo Gonzaga" (Ancient regimes - Gonzaga Period) into which the State Archive of Mantua is organised. It also includes Archivio del Monferrato (1155-1605); Magistrato ducale (1573-1736), Gridario del magistrato ducale (1578-1787); Archivio degli instrumenti (1345-1770); Magistrature di sanità (1555-1817).
A detailed description of this archive was supplied by Pietro Torelli in 1920. This inventory is still the only available complete finding aid. The "Guida generale degli Archivi di Stato", published in Rome in 1966-1969 - now also available online (http://www.guidageneralearchivistato.beniculturali.it/) - provides information about the Gonzaga Archive, the inventory edited by Pietro Torelli and bibliographic information. For historical information about the holding institution, the State Archive of Mantua, see http://guidagenerale.maas.ccr.it/document.aspx?uri=/istituticonservatori/IC0460022101
- Access points: persons/families:
- Basilea, Solomon Aviad Sar-Shalom, approximately 1680-1743
- Subject terms:
- Conversion to Christianity
- Jewish-Christian relations
- Legal matters
- Talmud
- Finding aids:
- Guida Generale degli Archivi di Stato. Archivio di Stato di Mantova
- Yerusha Network member:
- Contemporary Jewish Documentation Center - Milan
- Author of the description:
- Samuela Marconcini; Centro di documentazione ebraica contemporanea; 2017
