Q by Luther Blissett (most recommended books txt) 📖

against the authority of the clergy and ecclesiastical property. They say he won the sympathy of the ordinary people thereabouts, who always welcome any opportunity for imposture and turmoil.

Venice, 18th March 1551

Report from the Inquisitor of Ferrara.

He confirms that the name of Titian the Baptist is known in certain circles in this city.

Venice, 21st March 1551

The whole night was spent reflecting on the strategy to be adopted towards the Jews. There may be a way.

Write to Carafa.

Letter sent to Rome from Venice, addressed to Gianpietro Carafa, dated 22nd March 1551.

To the most illustrious and honourable lord Giovanni Pietro Carafa

My most respected lord, the three months of my stay in this vast, bizarre city have been enough to suggest to me what I believe is the only practicable strategy against the Jews. I am therefore hurrying to give Your Lordship an account of it, so that you can express your most wise opinion upon it, and grant me the privilege of once again serving our common goals.

The balances of power in Venice are as intricate and complex as its streets and waterways. There is no information or event, secret or not, that will not somehow reach the eyes or ears of a spy, an outside observer or a mercenary in the pay of some powerful man in the course of his movements about the city. I myself, in order to get hold of underground information, have had to adopt much the same method. The business constantly being carried out in broad daylight is matched by an equal, or perhaps even greater, volume of schemes, illicit trafficking and shady agreements affecting every area of life in La Serenissima. The Sultan has his spies in the Rialto, as do the English king and the Emperor Charles. Gonzaga had his own informers among the very ranks of the Venetian clergy, as Your Lordship is well aware. The big merchants do their manoeuvring in the shadows, to prevent information about commercial agreements from trickling out, and avoid seeing their best financial opportunities going up in smoke. No one, be they princes or merchants, could survive in Venice if they did not have at their disposal a network of skilful spies, capable of reporting quickly on the power games both within and without St Mark’s Republic.�

The Jews do not play a secondary role in these relations, indeed, the fact that they only half-belong to Venice, their role as bankers and financiers, and their double religion, all make them one of the cornerstones of the commercial and political life of the city. This position makes them appear impregnable, while at the same time showing us their weak point.

Many Jewish families have converted to the Christian faith in order to remove all possible obstacles to their affairs, and to defend themselves against attacks of any kind. This dissimulation could be thrown back in their faces, and could itself become a source of widespread loathing towards them. To this we might add the fact that in many cases the Turk himself is able to call upon the skills and advice of the Jewish financiers in order to represent his own interests in Venice. One very fine example of this is the Mendesi family, already responsible for the diffusion of The Benefit of Christ Crucified, who are in commercial and diplomatic relations with the Sultan. If one could trace the network of Turkish spies active in the territories of La Serenissima back to the great Jewish families, it would not be difficult to expose them to the authorities as being responsible for a conspiracy that threatens the interests of Venice.

Because the Jews are great experts at persuading people that their ruin would mean the ruin of all, it is vitally important that everyone should understand the advantages of such a vast operation against them. If we were to attribute all intrigues to the Jews, everyone else could conduct intrigues of their own to their heart’s content. No one could fail to see the usefulness of such a ruse.

The charge of false conversion would allow the Venetians to confiscate the wealth of the Jews, fattening the coffers of the state; the charge of conspiring with the Sultan would rule out possible intervention in their favour on the part of the Christian powers.

I confidently await Your Lordship’s advice, imploring Your continued benevolence.

Venice, the 22nd day of March 1551

Your Lordship’s faithful servant,

Q.

Q’s diary.

Venice, 2nd April 1551

The operation’s under way.

Michele Ghislieri is in Bergamo. The local bishop, Soranzo, is charged with agreeing to the diffusion of The Benefit of Christ Crucified in his own diocese. A copy of the excommunicated book has been found in his private library.

Ghislieri will torture him until he falls.

Venice, 21st April 1551

The bishop of Como has also come under investigation. The Benefit has met with no obstacles in that diocese, either.

The spirituali are aghast. They weren’t expecting a direct attack.

Ghislieri, the Dominican, is roused.

As one might expect, Carafa has waited for the resumption of the Council in Trent before launching his final offensive.

Venice, 16th May 1551

The bishops of Aquileia and Otranto are falling as well.

The charge is the same.

One by one: Carafa’s strategy is proceeding unhindered. There is a double advantage: cleansing the Church of its internal enemies and at the same time blocking the plans of the Emperor, who was calling all the tunes around the time of the resumption of the Council.

Venice, 25th June 1551

The biggest rock of all, Morone, the bishop of Modena, a member of the Congregation of the Holy Office and trusted adviser to Reginald Pole, an impregnable figure until a few months ago, has crumbled beneath the blows of Ghislieri the Dominican, the new hammer of Christendom.

All those people currently under investigation will have to defend themselves from now on. And the rest will be quaking in their shoes. When heads such as these start falling it is a warning that no one is safe. No one touched by the poison of The Benefit of Christ Crucified escapes unscathed.

The ripe fruits of my work are dropping one by one. I should be dead already, taking to the grave the secrets of an operation conceived ten years ago.

An act of rashness, or perhaps an excess of confidence or even the burning desire to annihilate the enemy. I still have a little time, enough to impale the crucifix in the heart of the Jews.

Venice, 10th July 1551

New letter from the Inquisitor of Romagna. The presence of a German by the name of Titian was reported in the town of Bagnacavallo, between Imola and Ravenna.

Venice, 29th July 1551

In the city everyone is talking about the investigation of the spirituale cardinals. The report is unambiguous: with the bishop of Bergamo, Soranzo, facing charges, Rome has planted its flag within the borders of la Serenissima, and it has been brought there by Ghislieri, one of Carafa’s men, via the Venetian Inquisitor.

Meanwhile my anonymous letters to the local Inquisition have borne their first fruits: the Jews are already being treated with some diffidence; there is talk of the persistence of certain old religious practices on the part of the Marrani, and of the shady interests of the biggest Jewish families. The merchant community of Venice lends no credibility to these rumours: its affairs are too closely tied up with the Jewish bankers. The trials under way are feeding a hostility that looks as though it might spread. But we need a spark to make the flames flare up.

I have my eye on certain louche Levantines who might be useful in the current circumstances. If properly instructed, a Turk confessing to the Venetian authorities that he was a spy of the Sultan, in the pay of a powerful Jewish family, would provoke the reaction we are waiting for.

Venice, 8th August 1551

The Inquisitor of Ferrara writes to report the presence of Pietro Manelfi in the cities of the Este.

Venice, 21st August 1551

Carafa has appeared in person. Speaking to the Council, he has accused the spirituali of negligence, of never having done anything to prevent the diffusion of The Benefit of Christ Crucified. He maintains that Pole and his friends had no wish to admit the heretical scope of Fontanini’s book because of their shady desire for reconciliation with the Lutherans. He is accusing them of allowing themselves to be taken in by Protestant ideas. The charge is a very serious one.

Never before had the old Theatine gone into to battle in person. If the spirituali cannot react in time, they are destined for defeat.