tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47461761112596294272024-03-18T20:41:24.278-07:00Jews and Magic in Medici Florence: The Secret World of Benedetto BlanisWELCOME! PLEASE CLICK ON ANY OF THE HEADINGS BELOW OR SCROLL DOWN TO READ MY POSTS.Edward Goldberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09157925319005249772noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4746176111259629427.post-89131009525875263592012-07-22T04:37:00.000-07:002012-07-22T05:22:48.573-07:00FLAIANO PRIZE: UPDATE!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Sunday 8 July 2012. At the Teatro Gabriele D'Annunzio in Pescara...</span><br />
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">From left to right: Flaiano Prize winners Alfred Noe from Vienna,</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> presenters Antonella Salvucci and Dario Vergassola.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Antonella's big question: "In the Archivio di Stato di Firenze, you discovered 200 unknown letters from a Jew in the Florentine Ghetto. What is it like making a discovery of that kind?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Why do I look stunned? "Oh, did I really? Go figure!"</span><br />
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Repartee among the winners of the 2012 Prize for Italian Culture.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Meanwhile, everyone in the audience is presumably looking at Alessandro Gassman (an upcoming award winner) on the big screen</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Above, the object of the exercise.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">39th Annual Flaiano International Prizes</span><br />
<span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">for Italian Culture in the World</span><br />
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<span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">to Edward Goldberg for</span><br />
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<span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>Jews and Magic in Medici Florence:</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>The Secret World of Benedetto Blanis</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Pescara, 8 July 2012</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">PHOTOGRAPHS<span style="background-color: black;"> © Lyle Goldberg</span></span></div>
</div>Edward Goldberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09157925319005249772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4746176111259629427.post-17917996037090969082012-06-17T03:07:00.000-07:002012-07-22T05:18:19.302-07:00Just Announced: Flaiano Prize!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i style="color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jews and Magic in Medici Florence </i><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">has been awarded the 2012 Ennio Flaiano Prize for Italian Culture - to be presented at the Teatro Gabriele D'Annunzio in Pescara on 8 July!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">The </span><span style="color: #cc0000;"><a href="http://www.premiflaiano.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=615:39-premi-internazionali-ennio-flaiano-&catid=44:articoli-oggi-e-domani&Itemid=155"><span style="color: #cc0000;">FLAIANO PRIZE</span></a> </span><span style="color: #cccccc;">commemorates Ennio Flaiano (1910-72), one of the most influential figures in Twentieth Century Italian culture - novelist, </span></span></span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">journalist, </span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">theater critic and mordant commentator on post-war Roman life. Flaiano is probably best known as </span></span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Federico Fellini's </span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">artistic collaborator, co-writing the screen plays for many legendary films, including <i>La Strada</i>, <i>La Dolce Vita</i>, <i>I Vitelloni</i> and <i>Bocaccio '70</i> and <i>8 1/2</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Left to Right: Ennio Flaiano, Federico Fellini, Anita Ekberg.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Have you ever asked yourself, "How many degrees of separation between Federico Fellini and Benedetto Blanis?" or "Anita Ekberg and</span></span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Don Giovanni dei Medici?" Probably not, but now you know!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here lived Ennio Flaiano</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"With his feet firmly planted on the clouds"</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">(from <i>The Diary of Errors).</i></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>Edward Goldberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09157925319005249772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4746176111259629427.post-10779556730656359062012-02-25T04:19:00.003-08:002012-02-26T02:08:18.971-08:00LIVE! THE BLANIS STORY<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHfF0UIiKJDy1qPba1N6w_HfYO8jcnU78k_SJS92ffnW5a6ktfAA_0nGZOKtuOt0wNJTi-mtXRjbk-wQwEFzzQkogkvMiCRvgvhOREqZ-jtFCB0nxoz0MO0ceniNfN08xwgPCsVvBV14T2/s1600/EG-archivio1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHfF0UIiKJDy1qPba1N6w_HfYO8jcnU78k_SJS92ffnW5a6ktfAA_0nGZOKtuOt0wNJTi-mtXRjbk-wQwEFzzQkogkvMiCRvgvhOREqZ-jtFCB0nxoz0MO0ceniNfN08xwgPCsVvBV14T2/s320/EG-archivio1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Let me tell you about my search for Benedetto Blanis <em>hebreo</em>! It began with my startling discovery of his letters in the Florentine National Archive. Then it took me to many strange and unexpected places in the now vanished Ghetto and behind the scenes at the Medici Court.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.lib.umich.edu/node/589433"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">CLICK HERE!</span></a></div><a name='more'></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Live at the Hatcher Graduate Library at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (21 November 2011).</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9uwCpFfOHrhfM9sSLrc92iscJUE1nuiXN4vb4TlWS0s2JvPmhONy0rZgUNra69kj37hwTNB8sT_aCgcuLmXromE49qXIblG_vF0Tenj6zRFwLSSqEmrbsVheZs9IDZQSO-nCAhwRiTLOx/s1600/Hatcher+Library+562871405_b91a6a463f%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9uwCpFfOHrhfM9sSLrc92iscJUE1nuiXN4vb4TlWS0s2JvPmhONy0rZgUNra69kj37hwTNB8sT_aCgcuLmXromE49qXIblG_vF0Tenj6zRFwLSSqEmrbsVheZs9IDZQSO-nCAhwRiTLOx/s320/Hatcher+Library+562871405_b91a6a463f%5B1%5D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Edward Goldberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09157925319005249772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4746176111259629427.post-83609925758131574832011-10-02T08:05:00.000-07:002011-11-03T08:52:35.561-07:00IN SEARCH OF BENEDETTO BLANIS...<div class="separator" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnPennn2SsUpsqs3QsRRvJyYnG-Rgu9Q8GbhnEo7GcO8SpAVgHuCmdpHiNz34CbUp4a1iFhxqvHa7MwdCbULbJv2ThLUdU0kvfgqN5q59JX_Vyat-Q1LCevoH2ZFVo4E_rz3FLU47hhC8y/s320/Z+DSC_0415+edit.JPG" width="211px" xaa="true" /></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">It was a late summer night in Florence. And as usual, dinner was delayed and delayed and delayed... </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Then the transatlantic telephone calls started up </span><br />
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">So the bells were ringing midnight, before the table was cleared and the dishwasher whirring away. <span style="color: #cccccc;">And you can't (or at least, shouldn't) go to sleep on a full stomach.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-size: x-large;">Then, more decisively, the <em>gelato </em>factor kicked in...</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh64hRT0Y4GwbPPOhinlZrzrH2HY1SKdWaVrWYKXAU9isuUEVfpKkeGu8vFloNLdmgIfKkMRswymOI-4-qqKrdWHBRkalG2PKTEDq-3ceadbEeaMTlsZxJ0iXBlMShJc2TCqbtke2pZy5h5/s1600/Z+Perche+No.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="400px" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh64hRT0Y4GwbPPOhinlZrzrH2HY1SKdWaVrWYKXAU9isuUEVfpKkeGu8vFloNLdmgIfKkMRswymOI-4-qqKrdWHBRkalG2PKTEDq-3ceadbEeaMTlsZxJ0iXBlMShJc2TCqbtke2pZy5h5/s400/Z+Perche+No.jpg" width="298px" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: orange; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Via dei Tavolini 19 (red number)</span><br />
<a href="http://www.percheno.firenze.it/"><span style="color: orange; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">http://www.percheno.firenze.it/</span></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlpuhOfTEoi2bJYLAHShdz8pGkdb8rDMo2IBkQgXtWqNAbUS1_5nL5SMHWBhy6Lo-sAvUrrXXN3u-Tp1TidhZjcKaLTPg8NHMIFYC85Bo7Q3D8gfplxq3CsTUoLEj-Vr_xuU3ZomdXs-Wi/s1600/Z+perche+no+sign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125px" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlpuhOfTEoi2bJYLAHShdz8pGkdb8rDMo2IBkQgXtWqNAbUS1_5nL5SMHWBhy6Lo-sAvUrrXXN3u-Tp1TidhZjcKaLTPg8NHMIFYC85Bo7Q3D8gfplxq3CsTUoLEj-Vr_xuU3ZomdXs-Wi/s400/Z+perche+no+sign.jpg" width="400px" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">The mythic <em>PERCHÉ NO!</em> Absolutely the best </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><em>gelateria</em></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> in Florence and probably the world. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Florence is at its best late at night and early in the morning - especially during the Tourist Season, which now fills most of the year. And under the influence of shadows and streetlights, we can project ourselves back in time - retracing a Florence that used to be.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">The Jewish Ghetto - home to Benedetto Blanis and his family for many generations - was leveled in the 1ate nineteenth century. (See <em>JEWS AND MAGIC, </em>Chapter One, <em>The Piazza , </em>pp.3-6, and Chapter Six, <em>The Market, </em>pp. 84-116.)</span></span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlkiCBsWxRVQsI4DASMcUzcQAp1gBTAAUUqZ2vZaw_tqBuQ5a8NFy8XdQ7fkPTSrs19G8wm2SRpiorjiErIi42UwB5kpTLfmWobZTWoG9uMLP_mXer9kWgD1SAJA13AIsgFr1SuzqWyMzu/s1600/Z+piazza+della+Repubblica%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300px" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlkiCBsWxRVQsI4DASMcUzcQAp1gBTAAUUqZ2vZaw_tqBuQ5a8NFy8XdQ7fkPTSrs19G8wm2SRpiorjiErIi42UwB5kpTLfmWobZTWoG9uMLP_mXer9kWgD1SAJA13AIsgFr1SuzqWyMzu/s400/Z+piazza+della+Repubblica%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400px" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">The present-day Piazza della Repubblica, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">former site of the Old Market and the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Jewish Ghetto (with special effects for the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">150th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-size: large;">Can we even begin to imagine what </span><span style="font-size: large;">Benedetto</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">would have made of that?!)</span></span></span></div><br />
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">But many of Benedetto's old haunts remain. Most notably, the Bargello Prison where he spent several miserable years. (See <em>JEWS AND MAGIC, </em>Chapter Twelve, <em>Prison, </em>pp.205-231.)</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsrKi3FOIWB_N5PTTo4rwWTwSg6_KJv5Q8rBOR0yMmRXtwlxaZv_-9P8ywEsE3AxE8BLHcmcsGZT2xjRFQRTClVH4KY_69f3OUazfpDXmKv6TprnbuJDo23B0OtG80mz1A6EoLLs8wn-7r/s1600/z+450px-Bargello_by_night%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640px" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsrKi3FOIWB_N5PTTo4rwWTwSg6_KJv5Q8rBOR0yMmRXtwlxaZv_-9P8ywEsE3AxE8BLHcmcsGZT2xjRFQRTClVH4KY_69f3OUazfpDXmKv6TprnbuJDo23B0OtG80mz1A6EoLLs8wn-7r/s640/z+450px-Bargello_by_night%255B1%255D.jpg" width="480px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">The</span><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> Bargello Palace - now the Bargello Museum - was the </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Headquarters of the Florentine Police in Benedetto's day.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Times; font-size: large;">And also the Central Prison. </span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Times; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-size: x-large;">In the warren of back streets and tiny squares behind the Cathedral, we enter Piazza delle Pallottole. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd1ZvbVkwXw1-z7xXH1P4iRp1zrOAlUlmZCshyZIwNHwsszhTlGsdLlJgb1QhNFZv4dVs0gnoDbVMfRLnA9MCohkSykne2Zqk-znRr4JzEjm4PyUU8yIKBkXYU09L7_7FKKy-9G9TAFdJe/s1600/ZZ+DSC_0430.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="cssfloat: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd1ZvbVkwXw1-z7xXH1P4iRp1zrOAlUlmZCshyZIwNHwsszhTlGsdLlJgb1QhNFZv4dVs0gnoDbVMfRLnA9MCohkSykne2Zqk-znRr4JzEjm4PyUU8yIKBkXYU09L7_7FKKy-9G9TAFdJe/s400/ZZ+DSC_0430.JPG" width="400px" xaa="true" /></a></div><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">On 18 June 1619, a Blanis family drama took place on this very spot. Two vagrants entered their Ghetto shop and pocketed a few strings of buttons. </span><span style="color: #cccccc;">David Blanis (Benedetto's younger brother) then pursued the thieves for several hundred feet, as far Piazza delle Pallottole -where they beat him up (and evidently kept the buttons).</span></span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2-JCi-w6lMrCUhaMiqwvnZPveWgYLdDNBDRmQhEMbns2P75Jac8qmnDHfTeFU7g76glOS4DmKhGz5hzYKbL3WqzXes0nGnDEM54Xmz6BMzsg5GYLwT3Mpi_t-fM2AS8iN0i54kI3W4zCR/s1600/Z+DSC_0423+edit.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2-JCi-w6lMrCUhaMiqwvnZPveWgYLdDNBDRmQhEMbns2P75Jac8qmnDHfTeFU7g76glOS4DmKhGz5hzYKbL3WqzXes0nGnDEM54Xmz6BMzsg5GYLwT3Mpi_t-fM2AS8iN0i54kI3W4zCR/s640/Z+DSC_0423+edit.JPG" width="473px" xaa="true" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffe599; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Piazza delle Pallottole at night, looking onto the </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffe599; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.</span></div><br />
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">The people are long-dead, but the piazza is still there. Along with a well-documented court case. (See <em>JEWS AND MAGIC, </em>Chapter Six, <em>The Market, </em>pp.89-90.) </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh01M7RL03-zeZ5QTDe2PHRSm8L-ZUNcre3-_wDWaxRwToAv-VSaBHjVAQXCPeYxBGpdbe8cwI7VeFWYSwL6a5mIpnQJybUpC9DyK-IF7QDHHlSOeA24Iu2N8u0C_pTdXuwCcJyXX0gKYhI/s1600/x.Bottoni.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265px" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh01M7RL03-zeZ5QTDe2PHRSm8L-ZUNcre3-_wDWaxRwToAv-VSaBHjVAQXCPeYxBGpdbe8cwI7VeFWYSwL6a5mIpnQJybUpC9DyK-IF7QDHHlSOeA24Iu2N8u0C_pTdXuwCcJyXX0gKYhI/s400/x.Bottoni.jpg" width="400px" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffe599; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">The record from the Florentine Police Court </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #ffe599;">(now in the Archivio di Stato di Firenze).</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtLktJBzIjB9BbFXPIpkDHK4taAMulpwRQ0wFL6oa1Sb0cYK9YjhoM57AZ4I7rAcQ6luR3piNvaHuXNNiaJBNYm3DTf5RanKQ823LxIKd7xKWjAwj3D2mwubdK4jKQlTlh8dEwktfHaS-9/s1600/Z.Bottoni.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="92px" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtLktJBzIjB9BbFXPIpkDHK4taAMulpwRQ0wFL6oa1Sb0cYK9YjhoM57AZ4I7rAcQ6luR3piNvaHuXNNiaJBNYm3DTf5RanKQ823LxIKd7xKWjAwj3D2mwubdK4jKQlTlh8dEwktfHaS-9/s640/Z.Bottoni.jpg" width="640px" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;">BOTTONI</span><span style="color: #eeeeee;"> </span><span style="color: #ffe599;">= BUTTONS +</span> <span style="color: red;">PIAZZA DELLE PALLOTTOLE </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="clear: left; color: #cccccc; cssfloat: left; float: left; font-family: Times; font-size: large; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkQZfaZevsQLawsyTFfGCH-Zm7tij3gwZ1DJ3PBDSD9XvHJmLA9j6zNFzlABwsdvI6SspAJ8Ji4PZ0OQRzToMNgbPpjUAWSfzyJztplqojy3_G8AqCgFB53VHXS-_vbYi1xyt3m_sMBQE6/s320/Z+San_Benedetto+edit.jpg" width="320px" xaa="true" /></span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Then, just around corner, lies Piazza San Benedetto, where the Blanis family survived another brush with the law.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMtHJhirEfuBGbi4jab__0MGUEumlWdWQDMYc5BvIbjrvZKBBzF7VZct4Eww-Xnr65gRpyRfqBBvHQkFkNB1OvUQGv3G6uR31JHBoUXzXXCGP35vuvrTh5MEGlmr5zmcspsLjJVmNRD8o2/s1600/Z+450px-Piazza_san_benedetto%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMtHJhirEfuBGbi4jab__0MGUEumlWdWQDMYc5BvIbjrvZKBBzF7VZct4Eww-Xnr65gRpyRfqBBvHQkFkNB1OvUQGv3G6uR31JHBoUXzXXCGP35vuvrTh5MEGlmr5zmcspsLjJVmNRD8o2/s400/Z+450px-Piazza_san_benedetto%255B1%255D.jpg" width="300px" xaa="true" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffe599; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">An early morning view of Piazza San Benedetto.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgICYfZvWbPmY0sfBXYQIWGWe6-jSiFWzXgK35Ben-1oVB9qA9s7poC7DNU14tBFdO9qCf-FHXLb6J-4Ny9ySDP5UWbO3oqpM0jNCo0nHpX8aVV0qi2Ry-R37iTAijNapnnNqZqkLLzHOrJ/s1600/Z+San_Benedetto%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgICYfZvWbPmY0sfBXYQIWGWe6-jSiFWzXgK35Ben-1oVB9qA9s7poC7DNU14tBFdO9qCf-FHXLb6J-4Ny9ySDP5UWbO3oqpM0jNCo0nHpX8aVV0qi2Ry-R37iTAijNapnnNqZqkLLzHOrJ/s400/Z+San_Benedetto%255B1%255D.jpg" width="300px" xaa="true" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffe599; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">The ancient Church of San Benedetto, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffe599; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">annexed to the residence of the </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffe599; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Canons of Florence Cathedral.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">In the Spring of 1616, Moisé Lattone (Benedetto's brother-in-law) was taken off to jail - in the wake of a sensational Jewish gambling scandal. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">Benedetto helped him make a break - and the Hebraic fugitive claimed sanctuary in the nearby Church of San Benedetto. (See <em>JEWS AND MAGIC, </em>Chapter Eight, <em>Games of Chance, </em>pp.146-148.) </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg41FmZyCAUOyuc6RP4Pn6ejNcIAnY1bfdpotncbjbZsQeoOoxqIbK3tC76EwmQbM6iBq0nd4Y8tTtzeqFg3bsGZ_kBinZX1yczymFPw7kxthp6H8YXb1KrnWsbh32kJ9pMwvQ4L-Qx85Lr/s1600/Z+via_delle_oche_a_firenze%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191px" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg41FmZyCAUOyuc6RP4Pn6ejNcIAnY1bfdpotncbjbZsQeoOoxqIbK3tC76EwmQbM6iBq0nd4Y8tTtzeqFg3bsGZ_kBinZX1yczymFPw7kxthp6H8YXb1KrnWsbh32kJ9pMwvQ4L-Qx85Lr/s320/Z+via_delle_oche_a_firenze%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Then another turn - into Via dell'Oche. And another surprise...</span></div><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Not that <em>The Paperback Exchange</em> is likely to surprise many English speakers - or English readers - here in Florence. It is an essential part of our daily lives!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2YSDxvhoIK9Zhre65EkdD1_cFHksZv_BNgKBCpA8dT1xbf7a81B_lqMomrcZKoXuUL96Al4AkJMSu5zoxiTXB5CkoC7hFYZ1PrlFfJFGu_KCYBcO2uagsYbIjR_ZBwCkcziQ0pqRT1Oib/s1600/Z+DSC_0418+edit.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2YSDxvhoIK9Zhre65EkdD1_cFHksZv_BNgKBCpA8dT1xbf7a81B_lqMomrcZKoXuUL96Al4AkJMSu5zoxiTXB5CkoC7hFYZ1PrlFfJFGu_KCYBcO2uagsYbIjR_ZBwCkcziQ0pqRT1Oib/s640/Z+DSC_0418+edit.JPG" width="432px" xaa="true" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Florence, The Paperback Exchange </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Via dell'Oche 4 (red number)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.papex.it/"><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: Times; font-size: large;">http://www.papex.it/</span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">And there! In the window! Is </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"><em>JEWS AND MAGIC</em>...</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">So, it's late... And we're getting fanciful... </span><br />
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<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">But what if Benedetto Blanis wandered by?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Some nights, <em>anything</em> seems possible... Give or take four hundred years!</span></div></div><br />
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</div><span style="color: #cccccc; font-size: x-large;"></span></div>Edward Goldberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09157925319005249772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4746176111259629427.post-2526587991404337322011-07-16T02:12:00.000-07:002011-10-10T13:53:38.736-07:00NOW! IN PAPERBACK!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpSyFvGdov7B-AotXFlQrX8p4Nr_erawWQMtdT9uwY8dp9VjZMGB7nO6AHyuSXTk-TIAMjogPRDZgyVjg0nC-JcaUPeOcpm7b3DWytQcEU2ujFE-PdtuyctrUJ0k-J1pcqdw1Vvm0nuleF/s1600/CoverJPG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpSyFvGdov7B-AotXFlQrX8p4Nr_erawWQMtdT9uwY8dp9VjZMGB7nO6AHyuSXTk-TIAMjogPRDZgyVjg0nC-JcaUPeOcpm7b3DWytQcEU2ujFE-PdtuyctrUJ0k-J1pcqdw1Vvm0nuleF/s320/CoverJPG.jpg" width="208px" /></a> <br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Available: 7 August 2011</span></div><div align="left" style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Times; font-size: x-large;"><em>Only $32.95</em></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Times; font-size: x-large;">Publisher's List Price</span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Times; font-size: x-large;"><em>...less online!</em></span></div><div align="left" style="text-align: center;"><a name='more'></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">University of Toronto Press:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.utppublishing.com/_search.php?srchbutton=Search&page=1&q=Jews+Magic+Medici+"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">THE BLANIS LETTERS</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"> </div>Edward Goldberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09157925319005249772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4746176111259629427.post-66610767320886674562011-06-17T00:11:00.000-07:002011-10-04T12:09:14.433-07:00WHO'S THAT GUY?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBn1zJ_uiR7AqF3nzBLN3zdhc_OPne7PB4oweUp55H6yg0u7RWC5s4t2RXLjSMcjj2ja3RE-3pQgO1z1sheHfi4FaGoafyogw8NcBRgU0Q0VhJyu49Ck6wRvSvQGHPteENpJ-e7X7JE7bA/s1600/JMC+cover-jpeg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBn1zJ_uiR7AqF3nzBLN3zdhc_OPne7PB4oweUp55H6yg0u7RWC5s4t2RXLjSMcjj2ja3RE-3pQgO1z1sheHfi4FaGoafyogw8NcBRgU0Q0VhJyu49Ck6wRvSvQGHPteENpJ-e7X7JE7bA/s320/JMC+cover-jpeg.jpg" t8="true" width="209px" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> <img border="0" height="320px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7pb_TLLbLeOr6cgE0HXd8Mfo74ldUuNZ5VQ-A-NH8bVwV1At2XRbnVtG8OSXGeDwFDlw0-xUWa_xTJB-WlSeGF1jT2IST0aQn0sUU12_hZkf95xUUX245ngzid3Lcbmank-lxBxOAu6xw/s320/Maggino+trimmed.jpg" t8="true" width="209px" /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">Maggino di Gabriello: </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: right;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">a contemporary - and probable acquaintance - of Benedetto Blanis.</span></div><a name='more'></a><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">We have almost no portraits of Jews in the days of Benedetto Blanis. Few could afford them. And those who could usually heeded </span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">the injunction against <em>graven images</em>. </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Times; font-size: large;">In this case, we have an astonishing glimpse of a self-proclaimed Jew, </span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Times; font-size: large;">dressed as a Christian gentleman<em>, </em>in an impressively courtly context.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">In 1588, Maggino son of Gabriello, <em>Jew of Venice, </em>published a lavish treatise promoting a new system of silk production. In a remarkable series of engravings, he casts himself as a decisive individual but also a perennial type: the Jewish smooth operator imparting trade secrets to admiring gentiles. </span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Times; font-size: large;"></span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjH3B9B3_vJEc3JNXcwl-rBzosWE_5j8DzEHs20pjnHgnITAouhu39ICnV2nzeZjbhA60PJ_wNflU5duqEDKHdwcosD_GUjWScmZdHcMMGbZjrfbKG-7W2r2urpwXzezkwVVnL5EdxjeNB/s1600/maggab-+portrait-detail2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjH3B9B3_vJEc3JNXcwl-rBzosWE_5j8DzEHs20pjnHgnITAouhu39ICnV2nzeZjbhA60PJ_wNflU5duqEDKHdwcosD_GUjWScmZdHcMMGbZjrfbKG-7W2r2urpwXzezkwVVnL5EdxjeNB/s320/maggab-+portrait-detail2.jpg" t8="true" width="199px" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">"Maggino, Hebreo Venetiano" at the age of 27 - head uncovered and barely bearded. He appears above an emblematic figure of a woman who boils the the cocoons of silk worms and unwinds the filaments.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;">From: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><em>Dialoghi…sopra l’utili sue inventioni circa la seta / Dialogues... explicating his useful inventions regarding silk </em>(Rome, 1588.)</span></span></span></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Maggino di Gabriello (c.1560-?) was an older contemporary of </span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Benedetto Blanis (c.1578-1642). From the late 1580s through the early 1590s, he figured prominently in the Florentine Ghetto while marketing his innovations at the Medici Court. </span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Maggino certainly knew the eminent Blanis family, then the acknowledged leaders of the local community. The young </span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Benedetto might have identified Maggino as a role model - a free agent who made his own way between the Jewish and the Christian worlds.</span></div>Edward Goldberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09157925319005249772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4746176111259629427.post-50459774791439498772011-05-15T05:33:00.012-07:002012-02-24T14:12:05.472-08:00THE BLANIS LETTERS...NOW AVAILABLE!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgFj2ZytK6kWhr4nbpIrLlpz4TOOhwBYpgTWX22Fw_LGDHnexe81NkmCspNbm801fcDMpXqgy-je4AGhFsIKuFfnjwfNPrWv8RaKOGjq7xWQNBvXEjMQB3fOAGKqdFvmdGBkPo1DkIoqxP/s1600/JMC+cover-jpeg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgFj2ZytK6kWhr4nbpIrLlpz4TOOhwBYpgTWX22Fw_LGDHnexe81NkmCspNbm801fcDMpXqgy-je4AGhFsIKuFfnjwfNPrWv8RaKOGjq7xWQNBvXEjMQB3fOAGKqdFvmdGBkPo1DkIoqxP/s320/JMC+cover-jpeg.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><br />
<span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">A JEW AT THE MEDICI COURT:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">THE LETTERS OF </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">BENEDETTO BLANIS <em>HEBREO</em></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">(1615-1621)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">University of Toronto Press</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">ISBN 978-1-4426-4383-3</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">448 pages; Clothbound</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">$85 (Cover Price)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.utppublishing.com/A-Jew-at-the-Medici-Court-The-Letters-of-Benedetto-Blanis-em-Hebreo-em-1615-1621.html"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">CLICK HERE!</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CIAO, TUTTI!</i></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Jew at the <street w:st="on">Medici Court</street>: The Letters of Benedetto Blanis </i>Hebreo<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> (1615-1621)</i> has been released by the University of Toronto Press. This is the essential companion volume to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jews and Magic</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in Medici Florence</i>, featuring Benedetto’s two hundred letters to his great patron Don Giovanni dei Medici, exactly as he wrote them —plus English language summaries and explanatory notes.</span></span> <br />
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<a name='more'></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.edwardgoldberg.net/p/blanis-letters.html"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em>THE BLANIS LETTERS</em></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;">Now you can hear Benedetto Blanis tell his own story. Then, you can draw your own conclusions — which I hope you will share with me at the address below!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ3tQ4xCvmUn96SI0fHZOz1FD5TYgmgcjrH2Qpg4lO5B4xIXjnV2E7vVM7iiU0G92oZtcMUnmd7KhTaqBHEOn94MpZqE4oKdmuJwTzODTQYn4Q88zEL5Kbo3oV2fWVd7PZPkEygDUajK7m/s1600/EG-archivio2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ3tQ4xCvmUn96SI0fHZOz1FD5TYgmgcjrH2Qpg4lO5B4xIXjnV2E7vVM7iiU0G92oZtcMUnmd7KhTaqBHEOn94MpZqE4oKdmuJwTzODTQYn4Q88zEL5Kbo3oV2fWVd7PZPkEygDUajK7m/s200/EG-archivio2.jpg" width="185" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="mailto:archivium@aol.com"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">archivium@aol.com</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;">Some historical figures — like Don Giovanni dei Medici — viewed eternal fame as their birthright. Others — like Benedetto Blanis —were probably grateful to leave this world at a more or less advanced age and then vanish without a trace. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;">In <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Florence</place></city>, however, it is not so easy to disappear, thanks to the millions of documents in the Medici Granducal Archive! My connection with Benedetto began — I am tempted to say "erupted" — many years ago when I discovered his letters to Don Giovanni. Since then, I have been living day by day with a man who died (almost exactly) three centuries before I was born. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;">In a separate post, I describe my work in the Archive and my long — and often fraught — relationship with this lost Jew from the Florentine Ghetto.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.edwardgoldberg.net/2011/05/jew-at-medici-court.html"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em>A JEW AT THE MEDICI COURT</em></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;">As archivists know, the living have a strange and often disquieting advantage over the dead. The grave may be “a fine and private place” (to quote Andrew Marvell) — but this privacy ends where the documents begin!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;">A presto,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;">Edward Goldberg</span></div>Edward Goldberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09157925319005249772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4746176111259629427.post-47016064122397404452011-05-15T03:22:00.000-07:002011-10-04T12:04:32.555-07:00A JEW AT THE MEDICI COURT...<div style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgFj2ZytK6kWhr4nbpIrLlpz4TOOhwBYpgTWX22Fw_LGDHnexe81NkmCspNbm801fcDMpXqgy-je4AGhFsIKuFfnjwfNPrWv8RaKOGjq7xWQNBvXEjMQB3fOAGKqdFvmdGBkPo1DkIoqxP/s1600/JMC+cover-jpeg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgFj2ZytK6kWhr4nbpIrLlpz4TOOhwBYpgTWX22Fw_LGDHnexe81NkmCspNbm801fcDMpXqgy-je4AGhFsIKuFfnjwfNPrWv8RaKOGjq7xWQNBvXEjMQB3fOAGKqdFvmdGBkPo1DkIoqxP/s320/JMC+cover-jpeg.jpg" width="210px" /></a><em><span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">PREVIEW!</span></em><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">A JEW AT THE MEDICI COURT:</span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em>THE LETTERS OF </em></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>BENEDETTO BLANIS</em> HEBREO</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">(1615-1621)</span></span></em><br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">OCTOBER 2011 (Release Date)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #990000;">University of Toronto Press</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #990000;">ISBN 978-1-4426-4383-3</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #990000;">448 pages; Clothbound </span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">$85 (Cover Price) </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: 16pt;">INTRODUCTION: THE BLANIS LETTERS </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlxh1OjmpQoAIlcvyzQfzAs3thfYHAPhtUy8j98TyYwAyThvE4cIWb8YHWC-Gh1ZlQEVGHgorE6wmjB5BtiMt_NhNLv97IkL-R1E5xMk30WgLa9Az92HYgoqTyOqsZ6bFPH3clyXdtxQvV/s1600/archivio-stacks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlxh1OjmpQoAIlcvyzQfzAs3thfYHAPhtUy8j98TyYwAyThvE4cIWb8YHWC-Gh1ZlQEVGHgorE6wmjB5BtiMt_NhNLv97IkL-R1E5xMk30WgLa9Az92HYgoqTyOqsZ6bFPH3clyXdtxQvV/s320/archivio-stacks.jpg" width="284px" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">I. WORDS ON PAPER</span><br />
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">II. CLIENT AND PATRON </span><br />
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">III. THE ACCIDENT OF SURVIVAL</span><br />
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">IV. DATING AND PROVENANCE</span><br />
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">V. NAMES AND REFERENCES</span><br />
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">VI. RELATED DOCUMENTATION</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;">I. WORDS ON PAPER</span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">You are sitting in the vast Reading Room of the Florentine National Archive, one of those indeterminate spaces from the 1970s— office, factory or parking garage? Generically functional desk lamps illumine row after row of sturdy formica-topped tables. On the smooth grey surface in front of you lie two massive volumes—square-edged, sharp-cornered and stiffly bound. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9oINja2Kc8vqPP1LT64ujgo6VvC-zqm0QVPi7XTVWgZg7BHnmJPqtqLw_bO5ZsVB0OZ1T72agul5jFnR2vIChd30ZZCaKNqe33wcOMHxTtErYbiSz0o8sIMaYM9qmJrefMzNGZfSkMkWF/s1600/MdP.5150_01aa+le+due+filze+insieme-resized.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9oINja2Kc8vqPP1LT64ujgo6VvC-zqm0QVPi7XTVWgZg7BHnmJPqtqLw_bO5ZsVB0OZ1T72agul5jFnR2vIChd30ZZCaKNqe33wcOMHxTtErYbiSz0o8sIMaYM9qmJrefMzNGZfSkMkWF/s320/MdP.5150_01aa+le+due+filze+insieme-resized.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Each bright new sheet of acid-free paper holds a manuscript letter, fixed on a hinge like an oversized postage stamp. Some are long and some are short. Some are written with care and some in haste. Some are distinct and some are faded. But most were penned by the same hand and signed with the same name: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Benedetto Blanis hebreo</i>. Benedetto Blanis the Jew.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-q0G0663Bu9UaJkpOrdOcMl9W2K_x56zj4gXGJ2JIdsWqEGjMv43EnxlZH2PSgYWksPOHlAD22KvVVwahkf3tOWSzp_u-0QkdtLwWLId-ZQ_KFL82rFa5PA6C0_d_O0SdG6D4CNiM-GfO/s1600/xyMdP.5150_03+c.32v+filza+rovesciatax-detail5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwA0Jlb800TV6UlBlkSau8Ajr265S3hqLLxbtNb0SyNXL4mRUqQSfdXwf4npciotalYZkuPxSElkx1hktHcI8cKuGok1NTAV0o1VUjSPZQ6ku5mUMKQPNYdrJkmucswk6NpwLkNE2Bk47W/s1600/MdP.5150_03+c.32v+filza+rovesciatax-resized-trimmed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwA0Jlb800TV6UlBlkSau8Ajr265S3hqLLxbtNb0SyNXL4mRUqQSfdXwf4npciotalYZkuPxSElkx1hktHcI8cKuGok1NTAV0o1VUjSPZQ6ku5mUMKQPNYdrJkmucswk6NpwLkNE2Bk47W/s320/MdP.5150_03+c.32v+filza+rovesciatax-resized-trimmed.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">You page through these letters one by one… What strikes you first is their utter normality— as physical objects, that is to say. With their good paper, standardized handwriting and regularized spelling</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">, they could have come from any official at the granducal court— but in fact, they were produced in a one-room apartment in the Florentine Ghetto, then a holding cell in the Bargello Prison.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhosYCTmzpCqnAS_EQ8jL6hkwplfyXGbDLC1JD25xNJ81VStmwvLli64VR4yC1cAxaXgabQP6B7obR0k_k3K3PcMmZzdvESS7EChpOG_aFikgZf4RgW0cHS3tLqs91TWk335h3_zq5665qd/s1600/MdP+5150.I+c.205.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhosYCTmzpCqnAS_EQ8jL6hkwplfyXGbDLC1JD25xNJ81VStmwvLli64VR4yC1cAxaXgabQP6B7obR0k_k3K3PcMmZzdvESS7EChpOG_aFikgZf4RgW0cHS3tLqs91TWk335h3_zq5665qd/s320/MdP+5150.I+c.205.jpg" width="228px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Benedetto did his best to get these things right and he used the same models as the Medici secretaries—indeed, the same models as the Medici themselves. On 22 March 1620, he undertook a relatively mundane task for his patron Don Giovanni dei Medici—tracking down a copy of Marcello Scalino da Camerino’s best-selling manual of calligraphy, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Regole nuove…co’ quali potrà ciascuno senza maestro imparar facilmente a scriuer bene </i>(New Rules By Which Anyone Can Easily Learn To Write Well, Even Without a Teacher).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-align: left;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">On Friday, I was ordered to go to Your Most Illustrious Excellency’s library to look for that book by Marcello Scalini that teaches how to write but I couldn’t find it. I assure you that I know this book very well, since I formerly had one myself but my nephews more or less<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>destroyed it.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn3" name="_ednref3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></b></span></span></span></a></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 2.25in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Benedetto’s nephews presumably destroyed this book in the course of their own lessons —learning to write correct Tuscan in a fine Italian hand in the heart of the Florentine Ghetto. A few decades earlier, Benedetto must have gone through a similar course of instruction himself, using Scalino’s text or one of its predecessors.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn4" name="_ednref4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Benedetto Blanis (c.1580-c.1647) was librarian to Don Giovanni dei Medici (1567-1621), the illegitimate son of Grand Duke Cosimo I (1519-1574). Don Giovanni <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>made a distinguished career as diplomat, courtier and military leader, traveling throughout <country-region w:st="on">Italy</country-region>, the <country-region w:st="on">Netherlands</country-region>, <country-region w:st="on">France</country-region> and central <place w:st="on">Europe</place>. From 1615 through 1620, Benedetto managed the library in his patron’s Florentine palace— organizing and cataloguing its contents, acquiring books from various sources and sharing his patron’s most recondite interests, including alchemy, astrology, and the Kabbalah.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD-i0WJgewQFG8Q1FWEvMFy7_Is6fJxzyvARrWUV68u_DOIwOAMwi3PS3u-oGraovnM9uscj2Eq4X2oufQ_jJ0BVL8VC-5HmI_KFAj9HlnLH2hBUI4CQCPNQOej2uCdhF66Nqi-Cwk5sMM/s1600/MdP+5150.I+c.43-Hebrew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="51px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD-i0WJgewQFG8Q1FWEvMFy7_Is6fJxzyvARrWUV68u_DOIwOAMwi3PS3u-oGraovnM9uscj2Eq4X2oufQ_jJ0BVL8VC-5HmI_KFAj9HlnLH2hBUI4CQCPNQOej2uCdhF66Nqi-Cwk5sMM/s320/MdP+5150.I+c.43-Hebrew.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">There are occasional words of Hebrew (eleven to be precise) in Benedetto’s nearly two hundred letters to Don Giovanni dei Medici.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn5" name="_ednref5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[5]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> He presented these in large square characters with points (vowels), which could be sounded out by anyone who had a smattering of the language.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn6" name="_ednref6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[6]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> Far more frequent are the passages of Latin, mostly Old Testament quotes from the Vulgate Bible—Psalms, Prophets, Proverbs, Deuteronomy, Ecclesiastes and Kings—all in the version that Benedetto’s Christian patron knew best. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">On 20 June 1615, Benedetto Blanis launched his correspondence with Don Giovanni dei Medici —only a few hours after his patron’s departure from <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Florence</place></city>. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-align: left;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">When Your Excellency left… I was so overcome with anguish as to be rendered speechless. Seeing myself deprived of your noble and divine presence, I felt my heart burst from my breast and my soul depart from my body, leaving me drained of my very lifeblood. Aided, however, by imagination and memory, I summoned the glad hope that you would make me worthy of your service and that I would fully experience your favour. That encouraged me to take up my pen and write these few badly composed lines, which do not deserve to be read by Your Excellency unless Your Excellency, in your graciousness and goodness, renders them worthy by reading them. In this way, I hope for a return to life by way of your kind reply, informing me of your happy arrival at your destination.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn7" name="_ednref7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[7]</span></b></span></span></span></a></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Even by the standards of baroque hyperbole, Benedetto’s rhetoric is often feverishly ingenious in tone—but as the Jew knew well, he was playing the old game of princely favour-broking against daunting odds. Few of his neighbours in the Florentine Ghetto could more than dream of an inside connection at the <street w:st="on">Medici Court</street>.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn8" name="_ednref8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[8]</span></span></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Don Giovanni dei Medici was an eminent public figure, supreme commander of the Venetian <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>army during these years. He was also a virtuoso of the arts and sciences, with a strong inclination to “natural magic” and the arcane.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn9" name="_ednref9" style="mso-endnote-id: edn9;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[9]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Benedetto Blanis was a Jew with a traditional rabbinical education and he and his people were perceived as an uncanny race, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>intrinsically connected to the world of the occult. Benedetto tirelessly cultivated this aura of mystic empowerment—proposing “curious and forbidden books”</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn10" name="_ednref10" style="mso-endnote-id: edn10;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[10]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kabbalistic paraphernalia</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn11" name="_ednref11" style="mso-endnote-id: edn11;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[11]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> and privileged access to practitioners from the Jewish side</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn12" name="_ednref12" style="mso-endnote-id: edn12;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[12]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">.</span></div><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Don Giovanni was also an aristocratic consumer of luxury goods, and Benedetto could get him almost anything wholesale, turning yet another Jewish stereotype to his own advantage. Over the years, he produced a constant supply of silk and linen, ribbons and lace, cording and trim, gold and silver thread—all with the best Ghetto discounts.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn13" name="_ednref13" style="mso-endnote-id: edn13;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[13]</span></span></span></span></a></div><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Meanwhile, Benedetto asked and received a great deal in return— a continuing run of favours and special breaks. In Florence, usury was strictly illegal but only sporadically prosecuted and Benedetto was one of the city’s most notorious loan sharks—operating, however, with a unique advantage. He had a member of the granducal family watching his back, for a few short years until his luck ran out.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn14" name="_ednref14" style="mso-endnote-id: edn14;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[14]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"></span><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"></span><br />
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><span style="font-size: large;">III. THE ACCIDENT OF SURVIVAL</span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaqlgcOvRI5evBzdpACPHGUDqKFgjSuhtNsfI3f1May6MHrqLOl79-Ag41e6ymQ0EahPv4e_cE-cP8t6KkCy4HuOjrK9FOi6TAZdjTPXHMy309A5Ub_ntg13ShYo_eB-H-Qm5fPc-h8QnG/s1600/xMdP.5150_03+c.32v+filza+rovesciatax-detail4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy6oqNL_7CNKmnEN2xz-qug-e_gXydqJSMBJ9g9jA4roP4KyyY2fHqy5_yxeCQ2ueOpOzTORSrD-gwXhwb7REf8oI57NEmp8zMGR2_ztl_2V6LjoDR0C80_nKZHw0riVF1GQ6DY-u084HW/s1600/JewPortrait-smaller.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">On 3 February 1620, Benedetto Blanis announced the latest incursion of the Florentine police in his home in the local Ghetto.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">For the love of God, I am on my knees once again, imploring Your Most Illustrious Excellency to render me whatever essential help you can. As you see in the enclosed memorandum, I am being injured by a Jew who has become Christian. Now it is four hours after sunset </i>[around 9pm] <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">on Monday night</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and my house is full of constables… They<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are searching through all of my writings and letters and taking them away …including the letters that I was keeping for reference from Your Most Illustrious Excellency and from Your Most Illustrious Lady<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn15" name="_ednref15" style="mso-endnote-id: edn15;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[15]</span></b></span></span></a></span></span></i></span></div><br />
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Only one of Don Giovanni’s many letters to Benedetto Blanis survive, returned<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to sender on 11 July 1620. “Messer Benedetto Blanis is in secret solitary confinement, so I am sending the letters for him back to Your Excellency.”</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn16" name="_ednref16" style="mso-endnote-id: edn16;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[16]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> Meanwhile, we have a nearly complete run of letters in the other direction, 196 in all.</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">What impelled Benedetto to put so many compromising matters in writing and send them through the mail? Week by week, he recorded his latest adventures in alchemy, astrology and the Kabbalah, his trafficking in “curious and forbidden books”, his illegal usury and his skirmishes with the Inquisition. On 20 June 1615, when Don Giovanni left <city w:st="on">Florence</city> for <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Venice</place></city>, Benedetto faced a stark choice—he could let his Medici connection dwindle and die or he could build a whole new relationship on paper. The Jew was a gifted writer with a sharp eye and a well-tuned ear, so his letters are always vivid and engaging, designed to seize his patron’s attention at every turn of post. Along the way, Benedetto never lost sight of the business at hand—what he could do for Don Giovanni and what Don Giovanni could do for him.</span><br />
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</span><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">How could these letters have been allowed to survive, with their bizarre revelations from inside the <street w:st="on">Medici Court</street> and their dramatic evidence of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don Giovanni’s complicity? When Don Giovanni died on 19 July 1621, his estate was hastily purged by Niccolò Sacchetti, the Tuscan Ambassador in <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Venice</place></city>. Sacchetti dispatched box after box of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>troublesome material—military and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>political, heretical and occult— to <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Florence</city></place>, where it was presumably destroyed. On 28 August, the ambassador warned Granducal Secretary Curzio Picchena, “I am sending you a long sheet of vellum full of figures and mysterious Hebrew characters. This can only be a curious item of some kind.”</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn17" name="_ednref17" style="mso-endnote-id: edn17;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[17]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> A few weeks later, he unloaded<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“a quantity of superstitious writings… having to do with the Kabbalah or magic or perhaps both… These are distressing items that could contaminate anyone who comes in contact with them.”</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn18" name="_ednref18" style="mso-endnote-id: edn18;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[18]</span></span></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Much was destroyed, but much else was overlooked—including Don Giovanni’s letters from Benedetto Blanis. These were subsumed into the vast Medici Granducal Archive, where they remained out of sight and out of mind for nearly four centuries.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><span style="font-size: large;">IV. DATING AND PROVENANCE</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl3dTwEzEVBm1HtXMeB1io2lS8idNpps0ibdida4m6xzBWG-xic2xjwV2MBL21tBFC0PUva4SfQgQ51XWS8Om9CKDaWsRQ_-zcmV1c2KHbVunypduIkqqD70W1oZ4FoYO0ln5OCaIPrSTd/s1600/10aa.BlanisLetter%2528salutation%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="70px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl3dTwEzEVBm1HtXMeB1io2lS8idNpps0ibdida4m6xzBWG-xic2xjwV2MBL21tBFC0PUva4SfQgQ51XWS8Om9CKDaWsRQ_-zcmV1c2KHbVunypduIkqqD70W1oZ4FoYO0ln5OCaIPrSTd/s320/10aa.BlanisLetter%2528salutation%2529.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><br />
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">There are 220 documents in the Blanis series in Mediceo del Principato 5150: 196 letters from Benedetto Blanis to Don Giovanni dei Medici, one from Don Giovanni to Benedetto Blanis, two from Benedetto Blanis to Don Giovanni’s consort Livia Vernazza, fourteen from Salamone Blanis (Benedetto’s younger brother) to Don Giovanni, five from Salamone Blanis to Attanasio Ridolfi (Don Giovanni’s Secretary) and one from Israel Hebreo (a Jewish businessman in Venice) to Don Giovanni. There is also a commercial petition forwarded by Benedetto to Don Giovanni on behalf of a third party</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn19" name="_ednref19" style="mso-endnote-id: edn19;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[19]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><br />
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">These letters were organized by an early archivist who evidently failed to decipher Benedetto’s dates. The Jew wrote well but his numbers are sometimes problematic, especially his 8s and 9s, which are often indistinguishable.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn20" name="_ednref20" style="mso-endnote-id: edn20;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[20]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> The original sequence was further disturbed in 1978-79. For centuries, the Blanis letters—mostly on bifolios—had been nested in quires in a single volume.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn21" name="_ednref21" style="mso-endnote-id: edn21;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[21]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> Then, in the course of restoration</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn22" name="_ednref22" style="mso-endnote-id: edn22;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[22]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>they were separated out, attached by hinges to new supports and rebound in two parts with a single call number.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn23" name="_ednref23" style="mso-endnote-id: edn23;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[23]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><img border="0" height="50px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5vJqBNkpYNykIt3OZwtm6H0xalBHz8lieIuHUo4rpSYK0e4MwP_k5Ofy-hryQxMD2EM0OopJzG5Gv_9LeNlBMnDEwvo8FZEoor20YAKF-nJhX9uiVB66B6dMrl0vrQchWcnUTdJQkSK7_/s200/Copy+of++MdP+5150.I+c.205-signaturetrimmede.jpg" width="200px" /></span></div><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> </span><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> </span><br />
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;">V. NAMES AND REFERENCES</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0oIPDlPtYXgVLK_dxpaYBNuiYMY0eBX9k8L8vZroK_DEKdTavzeP4rLnVfeNgfzpj0CcII40D56wJ2r264LKIcPWm48ytBd4mcwsPlojmNoXdhyphenhyphenxpAiCffEA7_VnepSEdF7JIj2jAQIww/s1600/09.SuttermansCosimoIIMaMaFII--trimmed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0oIPDlPtYXgVLK_dxpaYBNuiYMY0eBX9k8L8vZroK_DEKdTavzeP4rLnVfeNgfzpj0CcII40D56wJ2r264LKIcPWm48ytBd4mcwsPlojmNoXdhyphenhyphenxpAiCffEA7_VnepSEdF7JIj2jAQIww/s320/09.SuttermansCosimoIIMaMaFII--trimmed.jpg" width="237px" /></a></div><br />
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><em>Quando si sa, basta sapere. </em></span><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">“When you know, knowing suffices”—this is the direct translation of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>an old Tuscan proverb. “It’s damned obvious, once you figure it out!” better conveys the ironic sense.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><city w:st="on"><place w:st="on"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Reading</place></city> through the letters of Benedetto Blanis is a strange and often bewildering experience—we are hearing only one side of an intense conversation, full of fleeting references to people, places and events. Benedetto and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don Giovanni already knew what they were talking about. Meanwhile, we are snatching clues from an essentially private exchange.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">In Benedetto’s letters, there is also a thick layer of intentional obfuscation, particularly when it comes to naming names.The Jew combined astounding frankness with calculated opacity, exacerbated by the epistolary conventions of his time. In early seventeenth century <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Italy</place></country-region>, it was bad style to indicate people directly—especially grand people in public life. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoGtN6Vc0gpH9PgIn2OEnX97-eAiju1t7sDNHAau8IoMe3v3D52GIH7E3l10yzXflLHwKWlNHs9uk8IEZJptHm0LG-xr-uokaPjnWPcmXsl5bOq4zztRgAhSBX49MymwQrEZx0qTzXyaOF/s1600/Callot-FerdinandoChristine.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoGtN6Vc0gpH9PgIn2OEnX97-eAiju1t7sDNHAau8IoMe3v3D52GIH7E3l10yzXflLHwKWlNHs9uk8IEZJptHm0LG-xr-uokaPjnWPcmXsl5bOq4zztRgAhSBX49MymwQrEZx0qTzXyaOF/s320/Callot-FerdinandoChristine.bmp" width="320px" /></a></div><br />
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Some identifications are simple and straightforward, as explained in the footnotes to the present edition:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I Padroni</i> (“The Bosses”) refers to the granducal family, the Medici rulers of <state w:st="on">Tuscany</state>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Il Padrone</i> (“The Boss”), without further qualification, is the reigning Grand Duke, Cosimo II dei Medici.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Madama Serenissima </i>(“Most Serene Madame”) is Dowager Grand Duchess Christine de Lorraine dei Medici, widow of Ferdinando I and mother of Cosimo II.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">L’Arciduchessa </i>(“The Archduchess”) is Grand Duchess Maria Magdalena von Habsburg dei Medici, wife of Cosimo II.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Other identifications are more or less problematic, since they involve initials and abbreviations. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PDC </i>for example, can be construed in context as “Principe Don Carlo”—a younger brother of Cosimo II.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn27" name="_ednref27" style="mso-endnote-id: edn27;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[27]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Fo</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bo</i> both indicate Bartolommeo da Filicaia, a prominent murder suspect—derived from “Il Filicaio” and “Bartolommeo”, respectively.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn28" name="_ednref28" style="mso-endnote-id: edn28;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[28]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a long and puzzling run of references to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lro</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lzo</i>, complicated by Benedetto’s inconsistent formation of the letters “r” and “z”. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lro</i> is Lessandro (Alessandro) da Cesena and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lzo</i> is Lorenzo Ettorri da Cesena—two criminal conspirators often cited in the same letters.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn29" name="_ednref29" style="mso-endnote-id: edn29;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[29]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEShRPYCyu21rMSNZGy53g2fT82B307t23cZ2TKzUxvdkimtXpXB3oDBO-x5_uFjZy8AZAECgF5UKxrI_hu2rbu1IrIHPCmoigcrmW34qNi8M7I0M62-uv3Ar3UC3LcQ-YUjyqA_tGAZOH/s1600/Callot-FestArno-1619.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEShRPYCyu21rMSNZGy53g2fT82B307t23cZ2TKzUxvdkimtXpXB3oDBO-x5_uFjZy8AZAECgF5UKxrI_hu2rbu1IrIHPCmoigcrmW34qNi8M7I0M62-uv3Ar3UC3LcQ-YUjyqA_tGAZOH/s320/Callot-FestArno-1619.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><br />
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Titles and epithets are frequently used in place of proper names—l’<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Amico</i> (“the Friend”), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">il Gentilhuomo </i>(“the Gentleman”), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">il Cavaliere </i>(“the Knight”), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">il Capitano </i>(“the Captain”) and so on… Five anonymous <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Amici</i> figure prominently in Benedetto’s correspondence: State Secretary Camillo Guidi (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Amico </i>but also <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">il Cavaliere</i>)</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn30" name="_ednref30" style="mso-endnote-id: edn30;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[30]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">; Cosimo Ridolfi, an aristocratic adept of the arcane (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Amico)</i></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn31" name="_ednref31" style="mso-endnote-id: edn31;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[31]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">; Doctor Samuel Caggesi from <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Fez</place></city>, a Jewish magus (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Amico)</i></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn32" name="_ednref32" style="mso-endnote-id: edn32;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[32]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">; Antonio Maria Milani, Chief Constable of Florence (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Amico</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">il Capitano</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">il Bargello</i>)</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn33" name="_ednref33" style="mso-endnote-id: edn33;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[33]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">; Don Orazio Morandi, Father General of the Vallombrosans (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Amico</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">il Generale</i>)</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn34" name="_ednref34" style="mso-endnote-id: edn34;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[34]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;">VI. RELATED DOCUMENTATION</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtVNBgHeCAcBcmmQsM3pZEY8J_439AgbjJ2XnQ0aNtH09I1Yt3CwcMhcxBcHlH91kWknk90HPvSqBHVSUJPXjZeoR_An7lHn9nuDaRdnmkPnoButfMaYOXyn_4s-XDAMtTeunpUp1yEhCX/s1600/x.Albizi-BenedettoBlanis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="69px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtVNBgHeCAcBcmmQsM3pZEY8J_439AgbjJ2XnQ0aNtH09I1Yt3CwcMhcxBcHlH91kWknk90HPvSqBHVSUJPXjZeoR_An7lHn9nuDaRdnmkPnoButfMaYOXyn_4s-XDAMtTeunpUp1yEhCX/s320/x.Albizi-BenedettoBlanis.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><br />
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">On 26 September 1620, Salamone Blanis—Benedetto’s younger brother— added an urgent postscript to his letter to Don Giovanni dei Medici. “While I was writing, I received a note from Messer Benedetto. I enclose it here and I commend it to Your Excellency’s attention.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> </span></i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn35" name="_ednref35" style="mso-endnote-id: edn35;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[35]</span></span></span></a></span></span><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">After Benedetto’s arrest and imprisonment in the last days of June 1620, Salamone struggled to maintain this essential channel of communication while forwarding whatever “notes” they managed to smuggle out of jail. Unfortunately, many of these missives ended up in the hands of the Florentine authorities and eventually the Inquisition—becoming part of the case against the ill-fated Jew. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin3ddIYJG7WKSa4UFvBRUKPlFsxiSrv6gqehKzPZDcRL7NpyA9ln7Ll_qOZQ7hHA5oIgokl560JVxNwc3q993kshXrfdNAw9ULd93zp9UDBQD-N51zeMlXupp75-8qanEwkqT3TRyL5Ji0/s1600/x.Albizi-trimmed-cut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="83px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin3ddIYJG7WKSa4UFvBRUKPlFsxiSrv6gqehKzPZDcRL7NpyA9ln7Ll_qOZQ7hHA5oIgokl560JVxNwc3q993kshXrfdNAw9ULd93zp9UDBQD-N51zeMlXupp75-8qanEwkqT3TRyL5Ji0/s400/x.Albizi-trimmed-cut.jpg" width="400px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">On 8 August 1620, Canon Francesco Maria Gualterotti—one of Benedetto’s most virulent enemies—addressed this matter with Don Giovanni dei Medici.</span></div><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-align: left;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">I am quite well informed regarding the Blandes case, and I do not understand how Your Most Illustrious and Excellent Lordship can declare him innocent. They found the terms of his agreement with that baptized Jew written out in his own hand and various letters regarding the execution of their plan. He might have tried to argue against this evidence but they intercepted other letters that he wrote in prison. I know this, the entire city knows this and Their Most Serene Highnesses have held the very documents in their own hands.</span></i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn36" name="_ednref36" style="mso-endnote-id: edn36;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[36]</span></span></span></span></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">The Blanis letters are exceptional—perhaps unique—in the context of surviving Jewish documentation.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn37" name="_ednref37" style="mso-endnote-id: edn37;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[37]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> They bring us extraordinarily near to some aspects of Benedetto’s life during a few crucial years, but they do not tell the entire story. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyDWNHqWPfsojZ5_AcMDHoxMJ8hI-Vv94NMyrizfgOjlp_POFPHLo6EWyrdIZU5PvQ9aDdjIlokkwNxgSi2pPhQpZ_NONHfl0ay45Joy8_dBCP0Xy9eCS4yCixlhxdSPRnvzPvKIzHe-OR/s1600/x.Albizi-trimmed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyDWNHqWPfsojZ5_AcMDHoxMJ8hI-Vv94NMyrizfgOjlp_POFPHLo6EWyrdIZU5PvQ9aDdjIlokkwNxgSi2pPhQpZ_NONHfl0ay45Joy8_dBCP0Xy9eCS4yCixlhxdSPRnvzPvKIzHe-OR/s320/x.Albizi-trimmed.jpg" width="225px" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">While writing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jews and Magic in Medici Florence: The Secret World of Benedetto Blanis</i> (<place w:st="on"><placetype w:st="on">University</placetype> of <placename w:st="on">Toronto Press</placename></place>, 2011), I came upon a varied range of supporting material. In the Florentine National Archive, I discovered letters to and from Don Giovanni and other members of the Medici family, administrative records of various kinds and—perhaps most intriguing of all— the local police files, which are full of references to Jews and Jewish affairs. In the Archepiscopal Archive in <city w:st="on">Florence</city></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn38" name="_ednref38" style="mso-endnote-id: edn38;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[38]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> and the Archive of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (i.e., Inquisition) in <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Rome</city></place></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_edn39" name="_ednref39" style="mso-endnote-id: edn39;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[39]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">, I found remnants of the official documentation from the Blanis case. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">In the notes to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jews and Magic, </i>I track my archival peregrinations step by step. Readers, I hope, will revisit these sources and then widen the search. Many surprises still await us, regarding the life and times of Benedetto Blanis—and other Jews in other ghettos, in <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Italy</place></country-region> and abroad.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWtdRdb0c65Sa08QiVmbN6bYLU03Z3PJL7txkB2sA31KKcCgaQp502zME6i3QFuqzE-C7qhReB5MK986l2G0yT8taHagfHcbf2Cdx082Ibq7taXihyphenhyphenltL0ETTllu5t62DfctfhjWgjmEOm/s1600/MercatoVecchioStradano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWtdRdb0c65Sa08QiVmbN6bYLU03Z3PJL7txkB2sA31KKcCgaQp502zME6i3QFuqzE-C7qhReB5MK986l2G0yT8taHagfHcbf2Cdx082Ibq7taXihyphenhyphenltL0ETTllu5t62DfctfhjWgjmEOm/s320/MercatoVecchioStradano.jpg" width="313px" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;">NOTES</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote-list; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> The Blanis series fills the first two-thirds of ASF, MdP 5150. The remaining third consists of letters to Don Giovanni from the actor and theatrical impressario Flaminio Scala.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> Benedetto’s spelling is that of an educated Tuscan writer of his time, with a relatively narrow range of variations and inconsistencies (perhaps most evident in names). Jewish writers often adopted a hybrid Italian that incorporated Spanish, Portuguese, French, Venetian, Piedmontese and other usages. For examples of more eccentric spelling in contemporary letters, see Documents 39 and 109 in the present edition. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> Archivio di Stato di Firenze (ASF)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mediceo del Principato (MdP) 5150, f. 347 (Document 186). On 16 March 1620, Don Giovanni requested this book from Benedetto, by way of his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">maestro di casa</i> Cosimo Baroncelli (ASF Alessandri 2: f.424).</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref4" name="_edn4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> Scalino’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Regole Nuove </i>first appeared in <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Venice</place></city> in 1584. Before that, there were other writing manuals like Giuliantonio Hercolani’s <i>Lo scrittor utile et brieue</i> (<city w:st="on">Bologna</city>, 1574) and Giovanni Francesco Cresci’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Il Perfetto Scrittore</i> (<place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Rome</city></place>, 1570).</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref5" name="_edn5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[5]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> Words in Hebrew occur in Documents 19, 55, 82, 84 and 120.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref6" name="_edn6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[6]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> Don Giovanni seems to have had a fair knowledge of Hebrew, as Benedetto testified before the court of the archbishop of <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Florence</place></city> on 19 January 1621/22 (ASF MdP 5159, f.681r).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref7" name="_edn7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[7]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> ASF MdP 5150, f. 9 (Document 2). </span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref8" name="_edn8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[8]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> In his letters to Don Giovanni, Benedetto Blanis plays heavily on his Jewish identity. He combines exagerrated (perhaps orientalizing) courtesies with frequent quotations from the Old Testament and mysterious references to the occult. His basic mode of expression is unmistakably Florentine but generally closer to spoken Florentine than cultivated or literary Florentine. Within this idiom, Benedetto was an easy and accomplished writer, developing long and effective passages of first person narration. Sometimes, however, he felt the need to rise to occasions with laboriously constructed set-pieces, like the one cited above.</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref9" name="_edn9" style="mso-endnote-id: edn9;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[9]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> Don Giovanni’s was also highly influential in the realm of the theatre. From c.1613 until his death in 1621, he was the mainstay of the Compagnia dei Comici Confidenti, an important acting troupe.</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref10" name="_edn10" style="mso-endnote-id: edn10;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[10]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> Benedetto often uses the expression “libri curiosi”. In<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Document 181, he refers to “libri curiosi e prohijbite”. </span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref11" name="_edn11" style="mso-endnote-id: edn11;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[11]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> For example, Document 28 and following.</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref12" name="_edn12" style="mso-endnote-id: edn12;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[12]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> The most striking case was his promotion of Doctor Samuel Caggesi from <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Fez</place></city> in 1616 (Documents 30-47).</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref13" name="_edn13" style="mso-endnote-id: edn13;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[13]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> For example, Documents 59, 168, 198 and 217.</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref14" name="_edn14" style="mso-endnote-id: edn14;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[14]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> Benedetto often discusses his crypto-usury with Don Giovanni with notable frankness, (for example Document 19). Don Giovanni played an important role in Benedetto’s moneylending activity, using his authority and influence to pull the Jew’s debtors into line (for example, Document 22). </span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref15" name="_edn15" style="mso-endnote-id: edn15;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[15]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> ASF MdP 5150, f.364, (Document 176). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On this particular occasion, Benedetto’s “letters and writings” were returned to him (Document 180).</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref16" name="_edn16" style="mso-endnote-id: edn16;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[16]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> ASF MdP 5147, f.600, 11 July 1620 (Cosimo Baroncelli to Don Giovanni). This presumably refers to Don Giovanni’s letter to Benedetto of 4 July 1620 (Document 201) which responds to Benedetto’s letter of 28 June (Document 199) (ASF MdP 5150, f.420). On Benedetto’s letters, there are rare notes for Don Giovanni’s replies (Documents 83, 90, 94 and 102).</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref17" name="_edn17" style="mso-endnote-id: edn17;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[17]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> ASF MdP 3007, f.325r, (28 August 1621). Presumably, this was the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tree of the Sephirot </i>that Benedetto copied from an original belonging to an uncle in Lippiano (Document 28 and following).</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref18" name="_edn18" style="mso-endnote-id: edn18;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[18]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> ASF MdP 3007, f.388r; 18 September 1621 (Niccolò Sacchetti to Andrea Cioli). </span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref19" name="_edn19" style="mso-endnote-id: edn19;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[19]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> Document 152.</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref20" name="_edn20" style="mso-endnote-id: edn20;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[20]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> This is a recurring challenge for the researcher, because<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Benedetto composed many of his letters in 1618 and 1619.</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref21" name="_edn21" style="mso-endnote-id: edn21;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[21]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> The Blanis series fills the first two-thirds of ASF MdP 5150. The remaining third consists of letters to Don Giovanni from the actor and theatrical impresario Flaminio Scala.</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref22" name="_edn22" style="mso-endnote-id: edn22;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[22]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> The restoration protocol is described on the inside front cover of each of the two volumes of ASF MdP 5150.</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref23" name="_edn23" style="mso-endnote-id: edn23;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[23]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> This is described on the first fly-leaf of each of the two volumes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Durante la fase di restauro <place w:st="on"><state w:st="on">del</state></place> registro, pur lasciando invariato l’ordine delle lettere, sono state riunite per ciascuna di esse le carti comprendenti il testo, l’indirizzo, gli eventuali allegati, i quali nella antica legatura erano, nella maggior parte dei casi separati l’uno dall’altro. A seguito di tale operazione la vecchia numerazione risulta alterata.”</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref24" name="_edn24" style="mso-endnote-id: edn24;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[24]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> After many false starts, I printed microfilms of the entire series and laid them out on the floor of my living room in evident chronological order—with hundreds of post-its noting the developing storyline. It took many months of sorting and resorting before the last pieces fell into place.</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref25" name="_edn25" style="mso-endnote-id: edn25;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[25]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> See Document 58.</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref26" name="_edn26" style="mso-endnote-id: edn26;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[26]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> Cosimo Baroncelli was major-domo in Don Giovanni’s Florentine palace; his letters are mostly found in ASF Alessandri 2. </span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref27" name="_edn27" style="mso-endnote-id: edn27;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[27]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> Document 10.</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref28" name="_edn28" style="mso-endnote-id: edn28;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[28]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> Documents 110 and 111.</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref29" name="_edn29" style="mso-endnote-id: edn29;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[29]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> Beginning in Document 73.</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref30" name="_edn30" style="mso-endnote-id: edn30;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[30]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> For example, Documents 8 and 10.</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref31" name="_edn31" style="mso-endnote-id: edn31;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[31]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> Document 21. The identification of Cosimo Ridolfi is highly probable but not certain. </span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref32" name="_edn32" style="mso-endnote-id: edn32;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[32]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> For example, Document 30.</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref33" name="_edn33" style="mso-endnote-id: edn33;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[33]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> After Benedetto’s trip to <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Venice</city></place> in 1618, his code name for Antonio Maria Milani shifted from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">l’Amico</i> to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">il Capitano</i> (See Document 110).</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref34" name="_edn34" style="mso-endnote-id: edn34;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[34]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> For example, Documents 161 and 190.</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref35" name="_edn35" style="mso-endnote-id: edn35;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[35]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> ASF MdP 5150, f.391 (Document 210). </span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref36" name="_edn36" style="mso-endnote-id: edn36;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[36]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> ASF MdP 5141, f.991 (8 August 1620). </span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref37" name="_edn37" style="mso-endnote-id: edn37;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[37]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> I am not aware of other similarly extensive runs of letters from Jews in early modern <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Italy</place></country-region> (or elsewhere), particularly letters that form a regular series from a single writer to a single recipient.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref38" name="_edn38" style="mso-endnote-id: edn38;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[38]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> A document in the Archivio Arcivescovile in <city w:st="on">Florence</city> is probably a remnant of the Blanis case file, which is now lost: TIN 17.10 , 6 January 1623, “Lettera del commissario <place w:st="on"><state w:st="on">del</state></place> S. Uffizio, Filippo Maria: Comanda che non si rilasci Blanes ebreo”.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4746176111259629427#_ednref39" name="_edn39" style="mso-endnote-id: edn39;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[39]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> We can track the progress of the Blanis case through the findings of the Cardinals General of the Inquisition: <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Rome</place></city>, Archive of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Decreta 1621; Decreta 1621/22; Decreta 1622; Decreta 1623; Decreta 1624. However, the supporting documentation is apparently lost.</span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: endnote; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">ILLUSTRATIONS: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">- Archivio di Stato di <place w:st="on">Firenze</place>, storage facility.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">- The two volumes that contain the letters of Benedetto Blanis to Don Giovanni dei Medici: Archivio di Stato di <place w:st="on">Firenze</place> (ASF) Archivio Mediceo del Principato ( MdP) 5150, parts 1 & 2. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">- Sketches on the outside of a letter from Salamon Blanis including the head of a bearded Jew; ASF MdP 5150, f. 32 verso.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">- Letter from Benedetto to Don Giovanni, including the name of God in Hebrew; ASF MdP 5150, f. 205 recto.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">- Extract from the Psalm 20 in Hebrew, written by Benedetto Blanis; ASF MdP 5150, f.43 recto.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">- <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Jewish Pedlar</i> rendered in water color by Giovanni Grevembroch, from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Abiti dei Veneziani</i>…; Museo Civico Correr, <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Venice</place></city>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">- <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Portrait of Don Giovanni dei Medici</i>, attributed to Ludovico Cardi “il Cigoli”; Luigi Koelliker Collection, <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Milan</city></place>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">- <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Alchemical Laboratory of Grand Duke Francesco dei Medici</i> by Giovanni Stradano; Palazzo Vecchio, <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Florence</city></place>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">- Embroidery, gold thread on silk; early seventeenth century, probably Florentine; Museo Pecci, <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Prato</place></city>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">- detail from ASF MdP 5150, f. 32 verso.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">- detail from ASF MdP 5150, f. 32 verso.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">- detail of annotation from Joseph Abraham Gikatilla’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Portae Lucis</i>; Biblioteca Marucelliana, <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Florence</place></city>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">- detail from ASF MdP 5150, f.205 recto.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">- detail from ASF MdP 5150, f.205 recto.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">- detail from ASF MdP 5150, f.205 recto.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">- Grand Duchess Maria Maddalena von Habsburg and Grand Duke Cosimo II dei Medici with their son Grand Duke Ferdinando II dei Medici, by Justus Suttermans, Uffizi Gallery, <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Florence</place></city>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">- <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Marriage of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ferdinando I and Christine de Lorraine</i> (etching) by Jacques Callot.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">- The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Festa dell’Arno</i> of 1619 (etching) by Jacques Callot.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">- Detail from ASF Otto di Guardia e Balìa 252, f.39 recto.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">- Detail from ASF Otto di Guardia e Balìa 252, f.39 recto.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">- ASF Otto di Guardia e Balìa 252, f.39 recto.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">- The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mercato Vecchio</i> in <city w:st="on">Florence</city> (fresco) by Giovanni Stradano; Palazzo Vecchio, <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Florence</place></city>.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><br />
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</div>Edward Goldberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09157925319005249772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4746176111259629427.post-39975372770973901822011-02-03T02:22:00.000-08:002011-10-04T11:54:45.135-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">JEWS AND MAGIC...</span></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ZVqREFg8hDik8lGcb820AeF-wK0nN02-a1Mh9fJNvjbNL91JUkWXzF0yVzbemqLIxTTvGoj4Nl_qMZXugD0JYbgeYEIUUVPQaVuYJHEuzSQcmk0uX2XdVBSr4_hU4Kfb4QtsgGllR-BX/s1600/EG-tapestry-closeup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200px" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ZVqREFg8hDik8lGcb820AeF-wK0nN02-a1Mh9fJNvjbNL91JUkWXzF0yVzbemqLIxTTvGoj4Nl_qMZXugD0JYbgeYEIUUVPQaVuYJHEuzSQcmk0uX2XdVBSr4_hU4Kfb4QtsgGllR-BX/s200/EG-tapestry-closeup.jpg" width="175px" /></a></div><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">CIAO, TUTTI!</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Jews<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> and Magic in Medici <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Florence</city></place>: The Secret World of Benedetto Blanis </i>is coming off the press – now as we speak – after many years and many adventures. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">It all began with a breathtaking discovery in the Medici Granducal Archive. I found a cache of two hundred letters from Benedetto Blanis (a Jew in the Florentine Ghetto) to his great patron Don Giovanni dei Medici (the illegitimate son of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cosimo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany). This is the largest <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><strong><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">body of surviving correspondence from any Jew in early modern <place w:st="on">Europe</place>.</span></strong></span></span></span><br />
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<a name='more'></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Now that publication is drawing near, friends and colleagues are asking me a lot of questions: “What was the biggest challenge that you faced along the way?”, “What was the biggest surprise?” And so on… </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">No one, however, asks me the most essential question of all: “If you knew what you were getting into, back at the beginning, would you have had the nerve to jump in and get started?!”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">The Blanis project occupied me for five years – four more than I expected – and at the end, I had two books rather than one (both produced by the University of Toronto Press): <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jews and Magic</i>, a narrative account of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Benedetto’s tumultuous life and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Jew at the Medici Court: The Letters of Benedetto Blanis</i> Hebreo, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1615-1621</i>, a critical edition of these essential documents.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Week after week, Benedetto wrote his Medici confidant – telling his astonishing story in his own words. He recorded his secret intrigues at the <street w:st="on">Florentine Court</street>, his illicit business deals, his commerce in banned books, his skirmishes with the Inquistion and his adventures in the occult – including astrology, alchemy and Kabbalah.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">For thirty years, I had been working my way through the Medici Granducal Archive and imagining myself behind the scenes in granducal <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Florence</place></city>. Then suddenly, I found the ultimate inside source – a brilliant but reckless individual who put everything on paper, a compulsive risk-taker in an unimaginably dangerous world.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">From the moment of impact, Benedetto pretty much took over my life – so the question of forging ahead (or not) never arose! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">You can learn the whole story here at: </span></span><a href="http://www.edwardgoldberg.net/"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">www.edwardgoldberg.net</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Edward Goldberg</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><place w:st="on"><city w:st="on"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Florence</city>, <country-region w:st="on">Italy</country-region></place> </span></span></span></div>Edward Goldberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09157925319005249772noreply@blogger.com0