Venetian pragmatism and Jewish subjects (fifteenth and sixteenth centuries)

The term ‘pragmatism’ has been used to describe Venetian policies regarding Jews residing in the Republic's eastern Mediterranean territories.1 My intention is to show that there was not a distinct pragmatism directed to Jewish affairs, but a uniform system of governance affecting all subjects, regardless of their ethnic or religious affiliation. It is an approach that requires a point of origin, in which the emphasis is given to political and not social aspects. The first issue to be examined is the system of governance, and the ways in which it affected the Jews. In sequence, a view on the Jewish legal status and economic activities is needed. Finally, attention will be drawn to the correlation between the restructuring of the state during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and the state of Jewish subjects.