D1 E
BEFORE THE GHETTO
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awn broking was in fact one of the Jews’ main activities, in Venice as elsewhere in Europe; and perhaps precisely because of this occupation, especially throughout the Serenissima’ periods of economic and political difficulties, the acceptance and subsequent settlement of the Jews in the city was justified. A first agreement between the Venetian government and the Jews on loan management, interest rates and their permanence in the lagoon dates back to 1382. Renegotiated in 1385, the charter was to be renewed every 10 years. But even in 1385 the Consiglio dei Rogati (sixty members; founded in the mid-thirteenth century, it was invested with the control of economic affairs, in time assumed all legislative functions and the honorific title of Senate) stipulated an agreement with three moneylenders from Nuremberg—later renewed in 1388—giving them “suitable and sufficient room and habitation” where they could be separated from the others. The obligation to wear a distinctive sign, a yellow circle on their chest (often not respected) dates back to 1394. In 1496 this obligation was replaced with another, determined by the Senate, of wearing a yellow hat (the bereta zala); this sign changed color over time, but until the arrival of Napoleon, was never completely abandoned. Ten years later (1404), the
. Reinhard Mueller, “Les prêteurs juifs de Venise au Moyen Age,” Annales 30 (1975): 1277–1302. . ASV, Sopraconsoli dei Mercanti, 10 October 1388, b. 1, Capitolare, Liber Quartus Iudeorum, fol. 64r (reference to the 1385 decision taken by the consiglio dei Rogeti). 3. ASV, Senato Terra, 26 May 1496 quoted in David Jacoby, “Les Juifs à 11