Sopra l’imputatione del delitto di sodomia con christiano. The Proceedings against Lazarro de Norsa (Modena, 1670)

At the heart of the sodomy trial against Lazarro de Norsa in 1670 before the Modenese Inquisition lies a relationship between the Jewish tailor Lazarro and the son of the household, Cesare Cinicelli. Lazarro sleeps, not in the servants’ quarters, but with Cesare Cinicelli. There is nothing unusual or sinister about two men sharing a bed, but when two men of different faiths and status do so it gives rise to gossip and suspicion. Jews and Christians are never supposed to be intimate with each other unless the Jew converts to Christianity and Lazarro has recently rejected the idea of doing that. Jealousies arise in the household. The coachman Gioseppe does not like the privileged treatment accorded to the Jew. He shrinks from actually accusing or involving Cesare Cinicelli, so he puts forward what he hopes will be a more plausible story to the effect that the Jew has sexually abused the coachman’s eleven-year-old son, Giovanni. Medical evidence clearly indicates that the boy has been sodomized by somebody: there are two Christian suspects, Galvano and Romagnolo, and out of malice the coachman adds the name of the Jew and gets his son to incriminate him. This chapter examines this case in detail considering important questions about early modern identity, the transgression of religious boundaries caused by daily interactions, illicit sexuality between Jew and Christian, and cultural hybridity.