Jews as citizens in late medieval and Renaissance Italy: the case of Isacco da Pisa

Our essay begins with an acknowledgment of the seminal contributions of Vittore Colorni and Ariel Toaff but then criticizes their narrow focus on demonstrating that the citizenship status of Jewish inhabitants in central and northern Italy, apart from holding public office and admission to the liberal professions, was basically on par with that of nonJewish citizens. We argue, instead, that not all Jews became citizens of the localities in which they resided; and, moreover, that Jewish inhabitants (habitatores) enjoyed a robust bundle of rights, privileges, and protections under the ius commune, local statutes, and Capitoli, whether or not they acquired citizenship. Even when Jews like members of the da Pisa family acquired local citizenship, they continued to be identified as habitatores. As a matter of law, the status of cives and that of long-term noncitizen habitatores were treated as virtually identical. Citizenship, assuredly a valuable status, was nevertheless only one of the potential sources of the legal rights and obligations of Jews in late medieval and Renaissance Italy. By reconsidering the civic status of Jews within an expansive jurisprudential framework and drawing on untapped sources, our paper provides fresh perspectives that shifts the debate into more productive terrain.