A forgotten page on the massacre of the Jews in Modica (1474)
One of the most important manuscript sources on the massacre of Jews that took place in Modica (a town in the south-east of Sicily) in August 1474 is an arrest warrant issued on 23 December 1474 by the viceroy, Lope Ximénez d’Urrea, for two individuals involved in the massacre. The document, preserved in the Archivio di Stato of Palermo, was published for the first time in 1890. However, recent research by Francesco Pellegrino has revealed that only one sheet of this important document was transcribed and published, until today. A second page was omitted, which was the front (recto) of the next sheet and contained some arrest warrants issued against nine individuals. Most of these individuals belonged to the elite and notarial class in Scicli, a town near Modica, as well as in some other towns: Chiaramonte Gulfi, Noto, Lentini, Sant’Angelo di Brolo and Gozo (Malta). It is quite surprising that such an important page has been omitted, especially since Pellegrino hypothesises that many of the new names in question, particularly those from Scicli, were part of the group that instigated the massacre.
In this paper, Francesco Pellegrino provides a full analysis of the document in his entirety and includes the complete transcription and photographic reproduction in the Appendix. The paper is preceded by a Preface by Paolo Militello.