The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

PIUS V. AND THE JEWS. 335
booty as receivers of stolen goods. Going about the city
in the guise of itinerant pedlars, they act as procurers, and
have thus brought about the ruin of many innocent women.
In general, they hate the name of Christian, and seek treacher-
ously to ruin all who bear it.^
Several of the edicts of Pius V. against the Jews are more
easily understood, both as regards their occasion and their
purpose, if the above-mentioned accusations are borne in
mind. When, in 1569, Cardinal Bonelli caused all their books
to be confiscated in order that a better idea might be formed
of their privileges in the matter of demanding interest,^ and
when, a year later, these privileges were declared void and the
Jews were subjected to the ordinary laws concerning usury.
these measures speak for themselves, and it is equally obvious
why the Jews were forbidden to enter the houses of prostitutes,
or to admit them to their houses, shops, or work-rooms,^
and why licenses to ply the trade of pedlar were only to be
granted for the future to Jews whose moral character was
above suspicion.^ It is also plain that it was useless to expect
from the Jews a conscientious observance of the ecclesiastical
1 BuU. Rom., VII., 740.
2 *Avviso di Roma of January 15, 1569, Urb. 1041, p. 4b,
Vatican Library. Decrees of Cardinals Saraceni and Sirleto of
October 11 and 16, 1567, in Rieger, II., 167.
^ *Avviso di Roma of September 20, 1570, loc. cit. 342 seq. A
Papal decree of October 8, 1566, allowed them an interest, which
according to our reckoning would be 12 % . (Vernet in Universite
catholique, 1895, II., 108 n.). For the enormous charges for
interest among the Jews in the XVth and XVIth centuries cf.
Erler in Archiv fiir kathol. kirchenrecht, LIII. (1885), 5, 11, 37.
Even in 1569 the profits averaged 20 % (Rieger, II., 167). The
Jews, says Sadolet, in 1539, are the masters of the Christians
and every day take away from them their property and force them
to emigrate (Erler, loc. cit. 41).
* Ferraris, Prompta Bibliotheca, IV., s. v. ' Hebraeus
n. 25. Erler, loc. cit. 52.
* *Awiso di Roma of August 17, 1.566, Urb. 1040, p. 273b,
Vatican Library.