History of The Jews in Italy - Middle Ages

Middle Ages

There were many expulsions, including an expulsion from Trani in 1380, as well as all other Jewish communities south of Rome and a brief expulsion from Bologna in 1172. A nephew of Rabbi Nathan ben Jehiel acted as administrator of the property of Pope Alexander III, who showed his amicable feelings toward the Jews at the Lateran Council of 1179, where he defeated the designs of hostile prelates who advocated anti-Jewish laws. Under Norman rule the Jews of southern Italy and of Sicily enjoyed even greater freedom; they were considered the equals of the Christians, and were permitted to follow any career; they even had jurisdiction over their own affairs. Indeed, in no country were the canonical laws against the Jews so frequently disregarded as in Italy. A later pope—either Nicholas IV (1288–1292) or Boniface VIII (1294–1303)—had for his physician a Jew, Isaac ben Mordecai, nicknamed Maestro Gajo.