Awards

• Winner of Dorothy Rosenberg Prize 2020 (United States)

Overview

"An intimate portrait, based on newly discovered archival sources, of one of the most famous Jewish artists of the Italian Renaissance who, charged with a scandalous crime, renounced his faith and converted to Catholicism. In 1491 the renowned goldsmith Salomone da Sesso converted to Catholicism. Born in the mid-fifteenth century to a Jewish family in Florence, Salomone later settled in Ferrara, where he was regarded as a virtuoso artist whose exquisite jewelry and lavishly engraved swords were prized by Italy's ruling elite. But rumors circulated about Salomone's behavior, scandalizing the Jewish community, who turned him over to the civil authorities. Charged with sodomy, Salomone was sentenced to die but agreed to renounce Judaism to save his life. He was baptized, taking the name Ercole ""de' Fedeli"" (""One of the Faithful""). With the help of powerful patrons like Duchess Eleonora of Aragon and Duke Ercole d'Este, his namesake, Ercole lived as a practicing Catholic for three more decades. Drawing on newly discovered archival sources, Tamar Herzig traces the dramatic story of his life, half a century before ecclesiastical authorities made Jewish conversion a priority of the Catholic Church. A Convert's Tale explores the Jewish world in which Salomone was born and raised; the glittering objects he crafted, and their status as courtly hallmarks; and Ercole's relations with his wealthy patrons. Herzig also examines homosexuality in Renaissance Italy, the response of Jewish communities and Christian authorities to allegations of sexual crimes, and attitudes toward homosexual acts among Christians and Jews. In Salomone/Ercole's story we see how precarious life was for converts from Judaism, and how contested was the meaning of conversion for both the apostates' former coreligionists and those tasked with welcoming them to their new faith."

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9780674237537

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Reviews

Enriches our present understanding of apostasy through an interdisciplinary investigation of the artistic, political, social and psychological undertones of the phenomenon...Herzig is able to turn a micro-historical case study into a macroscopic biopic of a self-fashioned virtuoso of the arts and the social life of 16th-century Ferrara...Convincingly succeeds in painting a full-color portrait of an equally raw and embellished life.--Allegra Baggio Corradi Reviews in History (06/01/2020) [An] illuminating microhistory of the Jewish goldsmith and Christian convert Salomone da Sesso, and how far he and his family were truly able to integrate into their 'host' society of Renaissance Mantua and Ferrara.--Simon Ditchfield Times Higher Education (03/12/2020) Reconstructs the complex relations between Christians and Jews in the Renaissance, highlighting a darker side of an era often seen as enlightened.--Ariel David Haaretz (11/30/2019) Herzig's brilliant case study offers captivating new perspectives, not just for the glance it casts on Salomone's apostasy, but also on the profound effects, both negative and positive, his adherence to Christianity had on his family over the long term. A Convert's Tale will increase our understanding of conversion in early modern Italy and move scholarship on Jewish-Christian relations in fascinating new directions.--Konrad Eisenbichler, author of The Sword and the Pen: Women, Politics, and Poetry in Sixteenth-Century Siena A thoroughly researched investigation of the life of one of the most celebrated Renaissance goldsmiths, A Convert's Tale offers a vivid, layered portrayal of the ambiguities inherent in both Jewish-Christian and patron-client relations in Renaissance Italy. Herzig's book is exemplary in its insightful treatment of the familial and gendered implications of conversion to Christianity. Its impressive reconstruction of the often unglamorous vicissitudes of a busy artisan's existence, and its masterful presentation of the complex power dynamics that marked the uneven relations between Jews/Jewish converts and their princely protectors, make A Convert's Tale an unmissable read for Renaissance and Jewish Studies scholars alike.--Francesca Bregoli, author of Mediterranean Enlightenment: Livornese Jews, Tuscan Culture, and Eighteenth-Century Reform A Convert's Tale is an incisive book that with impressive sophistication blends archival research with cultural and social history. Herzig employs a microhistorical approach to thoroughly examine the life of a noted virtuoso goldsmith as a Jew and later as a convert in Renaissance Italy. In so doing she shines a light on the life of converts from Judaism to Christianity, Jewish-Christian relations, patronage, and homosexuality in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Italian cities with her usual, admirable command of primary sources and scholarship.--Federica Francesconi, University at Albany, State University of New York

Reconstructs the complex relations between Christians and Jews in the Renaissance, highlighting a darker side of an era often seen as enlightened.--Ariel David Haaretz (11/30/2019) A Convert's Tale is an incisive book that with impressive sophistication blends archival research with cultural and social history. Herzig employs a microhistorical approach to thoroughly examine the life of a noted virtuoso goldsmith as a Jew and later as a convert in Renaissance Italy. In so doing she shines a light on the life of converts from Judaism to Christianity, Jewish-Christian relations, patronage, and homosexuality in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Italian cities with her usual, admirable command of primary sources and scholarship.--Federica Francesconi, University at Albany, State University of New York Herzig's brilliant case study offers captivating new perspectives, not just for the glance it casts on Salomone's apostasy, but also on the profound effects, both negative and positive, his adherence to Christianity had on his family over the long term. A Convert's Tale will increase our understanding of conversion in early modern Italy and move scholarship on Jewish-Christian relations in fascinating new directions.--Konrad Eisenbichler, author of The Sword and the Pen: Women, Politics, and Poetry in Sixteenth-Century Siena A thoroughly researched investigation of the life of one of the most celebrated Renaissance goldsmiths, A Convert's Tale offers a vivid, layered portrayal of the ambiguities inherent in both Jewish-Christian and patron-client relations in Renaissance Italy. Herzig's book is exemplary in its insightful treatment of the familial and gendered implications of conversion to Christianity. Its impressive reconstruction of the often unglamorous vicissitudes of a busy artisan's existence, and its masterful presentation of the complex power dynamics that marked the uneven relations between Jews/Jewish converts and their princely protectors, make A Convert's Tale an unmissable read for Renaissance and Jewish Studies scholars alike.--Francesca Bregoli, author of Mediterranean Enlightenment: Livornese Jews, Tuscan Culture, and Eighteenth-Century Reform

Author Information

"Tamar Herzig is Director of the Morris E. Curiel Institute for European Studies and Professor of History at Tel Aviv University. She has published extensively on various aspects of the Italian Renaissance, gender history, and religious history. Her books include Savonarola’s Women and ""Christ Transformed into a Virgin Woman"": Lucia Brocadelli, Heinrich Institoris, and the Defense of the Faith."

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