Person 28 Jun 1476-18 Aug 1559 · 83 years old
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Pope Paul IV (Gian Pietro Carafa)
As cardinal, Gian Pietro Carafa built up the Roman Inquisition and, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, was "for a generation the terror of all heterodox". As Pope Paul IV (1555 to 1559) he shut the Jews of Rome into a walled ghetto that they had to pay for themselves, forced them to sell their property outside it far below its value and prescribed yellow hats for them. In Ancona he had Jews who refused baptism sent to the stake: 24 people died. He enriched his nephews with property he had taken from opponents. After his death the Romans toppled his statue.
Deaths
24(counted, Jews of Portuguese origin hanged and burned in Ancona in 1556, 23 men and one woman)Evidence: Jewish Encyclopedia, Bd. 1 (1901)
„Twenty-three men and one woman, whose names have been handed down in chronicles, preferred death to apostasy, and these were all hanged together and afterward burnt on the Piazza della Mostra“
Carlo Carafa (nephew, made a cardinal by him) Kardinal Morone (cardinal, imprisoned on suspicion of heresy)
The ghetto in Rome established by Paul IV: Ettore Roesler Franz, Via Rua, around 1880
Image: Ettore Roesler Franz,
Public domain,
Source
What happened to the people
Who was affected? Victims and numbers
On 26 July 1555 all the Jews of Rome were driven into a single street, which was walled in two months later; they had to pay for the wall themselves. All synagogues but two were closed. Jews had to wear yellow hats, and Christian patients were no longer allowed to call in Jewish doctors.
Evidence: Jewish Encyclopedia, Bd. 10 (1905), Artikel Rome, Abschnitt Paul IV.
„On July 26, 1555, all the Jews were herded into one street; and two months later this street was enclosed by walls, for which the Jews were compelled to pay 100 scudi“
Rome, Artikel Rome, Abschnitt Paul IV..
OriginalEvidence: Jewish Encyclopedia, Bd. 10 (1905), Artikel Rome, Abschnitt Paul IV.
„All synagogues, except two, were condemned“
Rome, Artikel Rome, Abschnitt Paul IV..
OriginalEvidence: Jewish Encyclopedia, Bd. 10 (1905), Artikel Rome, Abschnitt Paul IV.
„ordered them to wear the yellow cap and hood, forbade trading in rags, and prohibited also the employment by Christians of Jewish physicians“
In Ancona Paul IV had the Jews of Portuguese origin, many of whom had fled the Spanish Inquisition, imprisoned by a commissioner; those who were not baptised were to go to the stake. 63 gave up their faith out of fear. 23 men and one woman refused; they were hanged together and then burned. Many Jews fled the city.
Evidence: Jewish Encyclopedia, Bd. 1 (1901), Artikel Ancona, Persecution under Pope Paul IV.
„he sent an inhuman commissioner, a certain Cesare Galuaba, to Ancona with orders to incarcerate all who did not accept baptism and to condemn them to the stake“
Ancona, Artikel Ancona, Persecution under Pope Paul IV..
OriginalEvidence: Jewish Encyclopedia, Bd. 1 (1901), Artikel Ancona, Persecution under Pope Paul IV.
„Thus terrorized, sixty-three renounced their faith“
Ancona, Artikel Ancona, Persecution under Pope Paul IV..
OriginalEvidence: Jewish Encyclopedia, Bd. 1 (1901), Artikel Ancona, Persecution under Pope Paul IV.
„Thoroughly alarmed, many of the Jews fled“
Ancona, Artikel Ancona, Persecution under Pope Paul IV..
OriginalEvidence: Jewish Encyclopedia, Bd. 10 (1905), Artikel Rome, Abschnitt Paul IV.
„Paul IV. was exceedingly harsh in his treatment of the Maranos, whom he, on April 30, 1556, ordered to be burned at the stake in Ancona“
Already as cardinal he reorganised the Inquisition in Italy on the papal model and was for a generation the terror of those of other faiths. As pope he made it an instrument of power; he even had Cardinal Morone brought before the tribunal and imprisoned on suspicion of heresy.
Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 11 (1911), Hauptteil
„He reorganized the Inquisition in Italy on papal lines and for a generation was the terror of misbelievers“
Pope Paul IV, Hauptteil.
OriginalEvidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 11 (1911), Hauptteil
„He made the Inquisition a powerful engine of government“
Pope Paul IV, Hauptteil.
OriginalEvidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 11 (1911), Hauptteil
„The great Cardinal Morone was brought before the tribunal on suspicion of heresy and committed to prison“
To this day a lament for the martyrs of Ancona is recited in synagogues every year.
Evidence: Jewish Encyclopedia, Bd. 1 (1901), Artikel Ancona, Persecution under Pope Paul IV.
„Prayers for the dead are still said, and the elegy composed by Jacob de Zano is still recited annually in the synagogues for these martyrs“
Ancona, Artikel Ancona, Persecution under Pope Paul IV..
Original
After his death the crowd toppled his statue, attacked the palace, mistreated the officials and broke down the gates of the ghetto.
Evidence: Jewish Encyclopedia, Bd. 10 (1905), Artikel Rome, Abschnitt Paul IV.
„As soon as Paul was dead his monument was torn down, the palace attacked, the officials maltreated, and the gates of the ghetto battered down“
Rome, Artikel Rome, Abschnitt Paul IV..
OriginalEvidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 11 (1911), Schluss
„lived to see it thrown down and mutilated by the hostile populace“
Gian Pietro Carafa was born near Benevento on 28 June 1476, elected pope on 23 May 1555 and died on 18 August 1559.
Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 11 (1911), Einleitung
„Born near Benevento, 28 June, 1476; elected 23 May, 1555; died 18 Aug., 1559“
Why? Justification and motives (according to the sources)
The Jewish Encyclopedia sees in the cruelty against the Portuguese Jews also his hatred of the Spaniards, which shaped his policy; the Catholic Encyclopedia mentions his abhorrence of Spanish rule over his homeland Naples.
Evidence: Jewish Encyclopedia, Bd. 1 (1901), Artikel Ancona, Persecution under Pope Paul IV.
„As a means of satisfying his feeling of hatred against the Spaniards, Paul IV. practised cruelty toward the Portuguese Jews“
Ancona, Artikel Ancona, Persecution under Pope Paul IV..
OriginalEvidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 11 (1911), Hauptteil
„that detestation of Spanish rule in his native land which characterized his public policy during his pontificate“
The Jews had to sell all their property outside the ghetto walls; despite the low prices this brought in 500,000 crowns. They had to continue paying taxes for the closed synagogues. The pope rejected an offer of 40,000 scudi to revoke the orders.
Evidence: Jewish Encyclopedia, Bd. 10 (1905), Artikel Rome, Abschnitt Paul IV.
„the Jews were forced to sell all their property that was situated outside the walls. In spite of the low prices paid, this sale brought 500,000 crowns“
Rome, Artikel Rome, Abschnitt Paul IV..
OriginalEvidence: Jewish Encyclopedia, Bd. 10 (1905), Artikel Rome, Abschnitt Paul IV.
„the Jews were required to pay taxes for the synagogues that had been closed“
Rome, Artikel Rome, Abschnitt Paul IV..
OriginalEvidence: Jewish Encyclopedia, Bd. 10 (1905), Artikel Rome, Abschnitt Paul IV.
„the Jews' offer of 40,000 scudi for the revocation of this order was rejected“
He made his nephew Carlo Carafa, an entirely unsuitable man without any clerical training, a cardinal; he enriched other relatives with benefices and estates he had taken from supporters of the Spaniards.
Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 11 (1911), Hauptteil
„Paul IV elevated to the cardinalate his nephew Carlo Caraffa, a man utterly unworthy and without any ecclesiastical training, and enriched other relatives with benefices and estates taken from those who favoured the Spaniards“
Kirchenakte
