Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

GHETTO

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 921 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

GHETTO , formerly the See also:

street or See also:quarter of a See also:city in which See also:Jews were compelled to live, enclosed by walls and See also:gates which were locked each See also:night. The See also:term is now used loosely of any locality. in a city or See also:country where Jews congregate. The derivation of the word is doubtful. In documents of the 11th See also:century the See also:Jew-quarters in See also:Venice and See also:Salerno are styled " See also:Judaea " or " Judacaria." At See also:Capua in 1375 there was a See also:place called See also:San Nicolo ad Judaicam, and later elsewhere a quarter San Martino ad, Judaicam. Hence it has been suggested Judaicam became See also:Italian Giudeica and thence became corrupted into ghetto. Another theory traces it to " gietto," the See also:common foundry at Venice near which was the first Jews' quarters of that city. More probably the word is an See also:abbreviation of Italian borghetto diminutive of borgo a " See also:borough." The earliest See also:regular ghettos were established in See also:Italy in the 11th century, though See also:Prague is said to have had one in the previous century. The ghetto at See also:Rome was instituted by See also:Paul IV. in 1556. It See also:lay between the Via del Pianto and See also:Ponte del Quattro Capi, and comprised a few narrow and filthy streets. It lay so See also:low that it was yearly flooded by the See also:Tiber. The Jews had to See also:sue annually for permission to live there, and paid a yearly tax for the See also:privilege. This formality and tax survived till r85o.

During three centuries there were See also:

constant changes in the oppressive regulations imposed upon the Jews by the popes. In 1814 See also:Pius VII. allowed a few Jews to live outside the ghetto, and in 1847 Pius IX. decided to destroy the gates and walls, but public See also:opinion hindered him from carrying out his plans. In 187o the Jews petitioned Pius IX. to abolish the ghetto; but it was to See also:Victor See also:Emmanuel that this reform was finally due. The walls remained until 1885. During the See also:middle ages the Jews were forbidden to leave the ghetto after sunset when the gates were locked, and they were also imprisoned on Sundays and all See also:Christian See also:holy days. Where the ghetto was too small for the carrying on of their trades, a site beyond its See also:wall was granted them as a See also:market, e.g. the Jewish Tandelmarkt at Prague. Within their ghettos the Jews were See also:left much to their own devices, and the more important ghettos, such as that at Prague, formed cities within cities, having their own See also:town halls and civic officials, hospitals, See also:schools and rabbinical courts. Fires were common in ghettos and, owing to the narrowness of the streets, generally very destructive, especially as from fear of See also:plunder the Jews themselves closed their gates on such occasions and refused assistance. On the 14th of See also:June 1711 a . See also:fire, the largest ever known in See also:Germany, destroyed within twenty-four See also:hours the ghetto at See also:Frankfort-on-See also:Main. Other notable ghetto fires are that of See also:Bari in 1030 and See also:Nikolsburg in 1719. The Jews were frequently expelled from their ghettos, the most notable expulsions being those of See also:Vienna (167o) and Prague (1744-1745). This latter See also:exile was during the See also:war of the See also:Austrian See also:Succession, when Maria See also:Theresa, on the ground that " they were fallen into disgrace," ordered Jews to leave Bohemia.

The empress was, however, induced by the protests of the See also:

powers, especially of See also:England and See also:Holland, to revoke the See also:decree. Meantime the Jews, ignorant of the revocation, petitioned to be allowed to return in See also:payment of a yearly tax. This tax the Bohemian Jews paid until 1846. The most important ghettos were those at Venice, Frankfort, Prague and See also:Trieste. By the middle of the 19th century the ghetto See also:system was moribund, and with the disappearance of the ghetto at Rome in 187o it became obsolete. See D. Philipson, Old See also:European Jewries (See also:Philadelphia, 1894) See also:Israel Abrahams, Jewish See also:Life in the Middle Ages (1896); S. See also:Kahn, See also:article " Ghetto " in Jewish Encyclopedia, v. 652.

End of Article: GHETTO

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
GHENT (Flem. Gent, Fr. Gand) 		[next]
GHIBERTI, LORENZO (137$–1455)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries