Who are “The Pope’s Jews”?

In 1269, the Jews who were living in Carpentras were expelled by the Bishop of Carpentras. In 1275, a papal enquiry was carried out to find out what happened. The conflict apparently arose when certain lords of the Comtat tried to force these Jews to contribute to the levy of a subsidy to finance the Crusade, which they refused to …

Sinagoga di Cherasco

This is the orthodox Jewish synagogue in Cherasco, one of sixteen in the Piedmont region which remain. The Piedmont region was chosen by a number of Jewish families when they were expelled from France in 1394. Many of the same families came to Nice. The history of the Piedmont synagogues is little known, but their history is fascinating and their …