Legal Document on Parchment – Jewish Community of Ancona – Rome, 1710

Legal Document on Parchment – Jewish Community of Ancona – Rome, 1710

Handwritten legal document on parchment: ruling of Cardinal Giuseppe Renato Imperiali in favor of the Jewish community of Ancona, in a proceeding held regarding it. Rome, 1710. Latin.
Official document reporting the ruling of Cardinal Giuseppe Renato, in a suit involving the representatives of the city of Ancona and the city's Jewish community. Held in Rome, on July 19, 1710, signed with an official wax seal and signature of a notary.

The city of Ancona (Marche region, Italy) was annexed to the Papal States in the 16th century. The city had an active port which was a center of commerce with Ottoman lands, and it contained a diverse Jewish community which was centered in a ghetto by force of papal decree. Various taxes, decrees and restrictions were imposed on the Jews of Ancona, while they nevertheless exerted a heavy influence on the city's economy, due to their commercial ties between the port and the Levantine regions.
According to the present document, in 1652 the representative of the Congregazione del Buon Governo (the church's governing body which supervised the financial conduct of local authorities in the Papal States) prescribed that whenever the papal military would pass through Ancona, the city authorities would pay for three-fourths of the total maintenance costs of the soldiers, while the local Jewish community, as part of its particular restrictions and taxes, would pay for one fourth of the total cost, in money or merchandise.
On February 13, 1710, representatives of Ancona applied to the Congregazione del Buon Governo to increase the Jewish community's share of the costs of upkeep of the soldiers in the above case, and to decrease the city's share. The Jewish community opposed the move, and the issue was brought to the authorities. The present document cites the ruling of Cardinal Giuseppe Renato, determining: "quo ad utensilia Communitatem teneri pro nunc ad satisfactionem pro tribus ex quatuor partibu", i.e. the status quo would remain unchanged – the city of Ancona would continue to bear three-fourths of the total maintenance costs of the soldiers, while the Jewish community would pay one fourth.
Cardinal Giuseppe Renato Imperiali (1651-1737; in the Latin appearing at the beginning of the document: Ioseph Renatus), a senior clergyman, born in Francavilla Fontana (Kingdom of Naples) to the famous Imperiali family; an avid bibliophile and founder of the Imperiali Library. A candidate for pope, he lost the election by a single vote.

26X35 cm. Good condition. Several holes, slightly affecting text. Folding marks to height and width.