Sale of the House of Obadiah Sforno

(SFORNO, OBADIAH)

Bologna

6th March, 1553

ff. 4. 32 lines per page. Latin text. Brown ink on vellum. Signature of Joannes de Puizonibus (who drew up the document) and Joannes de Beroaidis; notary mark

Obadiah Sforno (known in Latin as Salvadeus), (ca. 1470-ca. 1550), a physician by profession, achieved great reknown through his commentary to the Bible, a favorite to this day. After his death, the house where Sforno resided in Bologna, was inherited by his two sons, Jacob and Florius, who subsequently sold it, acting together with their paternal uncle Chananel (Gratiadeus). The present document records that transaction. See Severio Campanini, “Un intelletuale ebreo del Rinescimento” in: Verso l’epilogo di una convivenza: gli ebrei a Bolgna nel XVI secolo (Florence, 1996) pp. 99-128