Proces zbog „ritualnog ubistva“ u Dubrovniku 1502. i tragična smrt lekara Moše Maralija

Abstract

U životu Mošea Maralija iz Barlete možemo izdvojiti dva jasna perioda. Onaj koji je proveo u Barleti, ne zna se otkada, i koji se završava pri kraju 1494. godine njegovim prelaskom u Dubrovačku Republiku. U ovoj maloj republici on provodi drugi deo svog života u uspešnom obavljanju lekarskog poziva, sve do 5. avgusta 1502. godine kad je s desetoricom Jevreja optužen za navodno ritualno ubistvo neke starice koja je nađena zaklana i izvađena srca: on je noću 10. avgusta svirepo ubijen u svojoj tamničkoj ćeliji. U ovom radu nastojaćemo da rasvetlimo poslednja zbivanja iz Mošeovog života u Barleti, da prikupimo najvažnije podatke o njegovom bavljenju u Dubrovniku do hapšenja i najzad, da reprodukujemo tok procesa prema originalnom kancelarijskom protokolu, napisanom prilikom pojedinačnih iskaza optuženih.

Basing himself on the documents preserved in the Historical Archives of Dubrovnik and the State Archives of Naples, the author reconstructs the trial which had taken place at Dubrovnik, from the 5th to the 10th of August 1502, against ten Jews on account of the pretended “ritual murder”. Among these ten accused was also the physician Moshe Maralio - Maestro Moyses who had come to Dubrovnik from Barletta in Italy in 1494. The author first quotes documents concerning the physician Moshe from the time of his sojourn at Barletta, and after that those concerning his medical practice in Dubrovnik. An interesting document is the letter of the Senate of Dubrovnik, addressed on the 24th of May to the archbishop of Dubrovnik who was at the moment in Rome, by which he was required to procure the permission of the pope that the Jewish physician Moshe be allowed to treat the Cristian patients in the same way as he did it at Barletta, for the Christians of Dubrovnik are very satisfied with his medical interventions. As it seems, the pope declined to give the required permission and Moshe was not nominated to the post of the official physician in the service of the Republic but he continued to be a private physician, esteemed by the whole population including the highest functionaries of the Republic of Dubrovnik and, beyond the limits of that Republic, among the Turkish dignitaries and leaders in Bosnia who invited him very frequently.

Quite unexpectedly and for some unknown reasons - the author presumes that they could be competitive motives of other physicians or a consequence of the general hatred of the Jews - Moshe was accused, together with nine other Jews of Dubrovnik that they, allegedly, had killed an old woman, which was found slain with her heart taken out. The trial was conducted contrary to the criminal procedure codified by the Republic of Dubrovnik. It was led in haste and secretly.

The author quotes the text of the statements given by the accused in the course of the trial, but he points out the fact that many essential details have remained unexplained, for the first two pages of the hearing are lacking and they probably contained the declaration of the physician Moshe. On the preserved pages his statements do not appear and it would have been very strange if they had not existed at all - but he is only mentioned by the other accused. The names of three accused are also lacking.

The documents of this trial are a testimony of the cruel tortures to which the accused were put in order to make them "confess" what their judges wished. They were raised up to the ceiling on ropes with repeated jerks that broke their bones. Those who agreed to "confess", suffered less torture. Thus, the accused Havi, after the torture had been repeated, agreed to "confess" how the old woman had been killed. The accused Isaac, menaced with new tortures, also "confessed", declaring that after the murder had been performed, he told everything to Moshe who retorted that "these are only imputations". Characteristical is the statement of one of the accused, Mamulino, who was asserted to have proposed first to attack the old woman. He declared to the judges that he knew nothing to tell about it, but if they wanted him to confess what he had not done, he would tell it. He was tortured three times by the jerks of the rope until he died. It is known that of the ten accused three were tortured to death and their dead bodies were thrown into the sea. Four of them were burnt alive on the coast on August 11, 1502. The physician Moshe Manalio was murdered in prison during the night of August 10, because the judges suspected that his release might be asked by the Turks and in the following morning his body was burnt at the stake with those four who were burnt alive. Two accused remained in life and they left Dubrovnik in direction of the Turkish frontier.

The author emphasizes that the trial against the physician Moshe Maralio and the other nine Jews of Dubrovnik belongs to the category of those sinister trials for the pretended “ritual murders" which have taken place in various countries both in previous and in later centuries.