Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.21857/y7v64t506y
Jewish pilgrims on the Croatianadriatic coast
Krešimir Kužić
orcid.org/0000-0003-3201-539X
; Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
The piety of pilgrimage to Jerusalem connects Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Although Jews, living in the Venetian Republic and the other surrounding states, during the 15th and 16th century, were members of marginal social groups and were very often subject to discriminatory and segregational laws, yet some of them managed to make this difficult but joyful journey. Despite the church ban on transporting Jews from 1428 to the 80s of that century, Serenissima used to turn a blind eye to the cases of individual travel contracts, which influential shipping companies were able to exploit. Later Jews travelled in a different context. These were difficult times after the Sephardic exodus and relatively massive emigration to the Levant as a whole. Anyway, a few Jewish travellers sailed along the Croatian Adriatic coast and left a written record of their experiences. The texts available to us make the motives for their writing clear. Rabbi Meshullam of Volterra, humanistminded with connections to the upper classes, created a file very similar to Christian pilgrims travelogues of the time. What distinguished them, just like his text, was their openness to the cultural heritage and natural landmarks of the cities where they anchored. Elia of Pesaro also has such lines, although written at a different time. His work was not written as a travelogue, and it was instead an informative guide for all who later decided to embark on an already arduous voyage to Erec Israel. In formal terms, these are not travelogues in the classical sense of the concept, and their works can be considered as a form of epistolography. Jewish pilgrims recorded data on the pace of merchant ship navigation, but particularly valuable is the information on the cities of Poreč, Pula and Dubrovnik. Poreč was confirmed that its main task was to accept merchant ships and was pilot headquarters. The town did not particularly bimpress the pilgrims. However, Pula left no one indifferent. On the one hand, they recorded the magnificent amphitheatre and the later destroyed theatre (M. of Volterra, E. of Pesaro), and on the other, they witnessed its urban decline and demographic disaster. Dubrovnik was an example of a brilliant growth and magnificent decoration on the other (M. of Volterra). Somewhere in the middle remained the rural coastline and the islands with hermits, vineyards and olive trees. At that time, the Jewish diaspora was not recorded to the extent known to us at the end of the 16th century in Split and Dubrovnik. An exception (short-lived?) were the Jews in Pula, who were adequately treated by their fellow citizens. Our travellers discreetly questioned and authentically recorded all these things, and they also preserved impressive descriptions of the terrible storms and despair arising from the helplessness before elemental forces. The only hope in those moments was saying a prayer to God. Finally, as a supplement, we attached some texts by other travellers about Jews, among which a description of a tragic shipwreck near Rovinj stands out.
Ključne riječi
Jews; pilgrims; Croatia; Poreč; Pula; Dubrovnik
Hrčak ID:
230726
URI
Datum izdavanja:
20.12.2019.
Posjeta: 1.699 *