Jewish People During The Renaissance

The Renaissance was a period in history highlighted by the introduction of new humanist ideas. The Jewish people of the Renaissance were highly discriminated during this era in history. The Jewish population had to adapt in many ways in order to lessen the attacks made on them. In William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice the main Jewish character, Shylock, is ridiculed by several of the other main characters. This book reflects how Jewish people were treated as second class citizens during the Renaissance. The Jewish people of the Renaissance were not shown respect the same as other citizens.
The Jewish population of Italy was highly discriminated by the other Christian citizens of the country. The persecution of Judaism began Constantine, the Roman emperor at the time said Jews were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus (Grendler 24). Jewish people were recognized citizens, but still were looked down upon because they were not Christian and they also had fewer rights
The Jews of Spain had to flee as they were not welcomed and the Spanish wanted them out of their catholic country. Jews were hated by most Christians, but the only available homes of Jews was on Christian land and therefore Jews were treated very unfairly. This was despite an announcement by the church that Christians should not mistreat Jews. People hated the Jewish people and wanted them out of their city, but strangely without the presence of Jews their society would collapse (Hammerman 13). The Jewish Ghettos formed in Venice in 1516(Grendler 26). These would be small sections of a city where Jewish people could go to live with their fellow Jews. Jewish people liked living in the ghettos because they had the opportunity to live with people who shared their same belief and ideals. They were able to do more in adapting their culture and this would lead to a safer environment and a stronger sense of