Auction 109 Books | Letters and Manuscripts | Megillot and Jewish Ceremonial Art
Work on the Cult of Simon of Trent – Trent, 1765 – Expanded Edition, With Letter of Bishop Johannes Hinderbach and Description of Other Blood Libels in Northern Italy
Opening: $500
Sold for: $688
Including buyer's premium
De Cultu S. Simonis Pueri Tridentini et Martyris apud Venetos [On the cult of Saint Simon, the child martyr of Trent, among the Venetians], by Flaminio Corner. Trent: Joannis Baptistae Monauni, 1765. Latin.
Hagiographical-historical work dedicated to the cult of the child Simon of Trent and its spread in the Venetian Republic, by Venetian historian and senator Flaminio Corner. The author, a prominent 18th-century church historian, dedicated several works to veneration of saints; in the present work he defends the veracity of the story and blood libel against the Jews of Trent.
This is the fourth edition, expanded and corrected by the author, including: a letter of Bishop Johannes Hinderbach of Trent, a central figure in the show trial, torture, and executions, and veneration of the child in 1475; a lamentation by Tommaso Prati; and documentation of further blood libels in the region, including the blood libels of Sebastianus de Portobuffolé and Laurentius de Marostica.
On title page, illustration (woodcut) depicting Simon of Trent as a suffering martyr, holding a flag and shield.
The Trent blood libel is one of the most famous and virulent blood libels in European Jewish history. On March 23, 1475, shortly before Passover, Simon, a Christian child of two and a half years, disappeared from his parents' home in Trent, northern Italy. Several days later, during Easter, his body was found in a water channel below the home of Shmuel of Nuremberg, a moneylender and central figure in the city's small Jewish community. As a result of the body's appearance, local bishop Johann Hinderbach declared the city's Jewish community guilty of murdering the child. The city's Jews were arrested and tortured over a period of weeks and finally executed, and the community was destroyed. Over the centuries, Simon has been considered a martyr, and his cult spread throughout Italy and beyond; only in 1965, after a reviewal of the affair's sources, did the Church retract the accusations against the Jews and the official veneration.
[2] leaves, 90 pages + [1] printed plate. Lacking 2 leaves at beginning of book (dedication to Maria Luisa of Spain and her husband Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor). 24 cm. Good condition. Minor tears and defects. Gilt edges. Old red fabric binding, slightly worn.
Not recorded in NLI catalog.
Regulations, Historical Decrees and Antisemitic Works
Regulations, Historical Decrees and Antisemitic Works