Lost in Migration? : Zur verschwindenden Ambiguität der Neuchristen aus Apulien im Venedig der Renaissance
Der Artikel untersucht die Migration der Neuchristen aus Apulien in die adriatische Metropole Venedig während des 15. Jahrhunderts und versucht, die Wechselbeziehungen zwischen der geografischen Mobilität der Neuchristen aus Apulien in der Adria und ihrer Wahrnehmung als Personen und/oder Gruppe mit einer mehrdeutigen religiösen Identität und Zugehörigkeit aufzuzeigen.
This article investigates migrations of New Christians from Puglia into the Adriatic metropolis of Venice during the 15th century and strives to highlight the interrelations between the geographical mobility of the New Christians from Puglia in the Adriatic and their perception as persons and/or a group with an ambiguous religious identity and affiliation. The New Christians of Puglia were
descendants of Jews who had been baptized at the end of the 13th century in the context of a mass conversion. They can be traced in the sources from that time on as Neofiti, Christiani Novi, Cristiani Novelli and, from the end of the 15th century, also as Marrani. Research on the migration of converted Jews and/or their descendants to Venice has so far focused on Sephardic Jews and Conversos, leaving the New Christians of Puglia mostly disregarded. Prosopographical research based on
archival documentation from Puglia and Venice shows that there was a continuous presence of New Christians from Puglia in Venice during the first half of the 15th century and that their community there had a significant size. Yet, the degree to
which the New Christians of Puglia were perceived as persons and/or a group with an ambiguous religious identity and affiliation in Venice was rather low. Designations that labelled them as religiously ambiguous can be found only rarely in the sources from Venice. Generally, their contemporaries there seem to have perceived their religious conduct and identity as unambiguously Christian.
descendants of Jews who had been baptized at the end of the 13th century in the context of a mass conversion. They can be traced in the sources from that time on as Neofiti, Christiani Novi, Cristiani Novelli and, from the end of the 15th century, also as Marrani. Research on the migration of converted Jews and/or their descendants to Venice has so far focused on Sephardic Jews and Conversos, leaving the New Christians of Puglia mostly disregarded. Prosopographical research based on
archival documentation from Puglia and Venice shows that there was a continuous presence of New Christians from Puglia in Venice during the first half of the 15th century and that their community there had a significant size. Yet, the degree to
which the New Christians of Puglia were perceived as persons and/or a group with an ambiguous religious identity and affiliation in Venice was rather low. Designations that labelled them as religiously ambiguous can be found only rarely in the sources from Venice. Generally, their contemporaries there seem to have perceived their religious conduct and identity as unambiguously Christian.
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