Keywords: Roman Inquisition, Jews, Modena, Jurisdiction, Inquisitorial Correspondence, Inquisitorial Trials.
The events relating to the management of Jewish communities – as can be seen
both from the correspondence of the inquisitors and from the inquisitorial trials
– offer a closer look at the conflicts of jurisdiction between Inquisition courts
and political authorities. At the beginning of the Seventeenth Century, in a duel
often favouring the ecclesiastical authority, the Government of the Duchy of
Modena used to claim its own prerogatives on Jewish issues, in order to safeguard
its jurisdictional rights and its economic interests. This was in spite of the fact
that the courts of faith were meanwhile extending their control over everything
that concerned relations between Jews and Christians, with growing difficulties
in the territories furthest away from the capital.