Venice was searching for ways to finance anti-Ottoman efforts following a Moldavian victory over the Ottomans and an upcoming truce with the Ottomans. They proposed levying taxes on Jews in Hungary and Moldavia to support these efforts and reduce costs for other Italian states. One intended beneficiary was Stephen III of Moldavia, an ally of Venice. The taxes appear to have led to a conflict between Stephen III and Jewish communities in Moldavia, and according to later sources, triggered an Ottoman campaign against Moldavia in 1476 led by Sultan Mehmed II. New sources substantiate this view of a conflict impacting Jewish communities in Moldavian harbors.
Venice was searching for ways to finance anti-Ottoman efforts following a Moldavian victory over the Ottomans and an upcoming truce with the Ottomans. They proposed levying taxes on Jews in Hungary and Moldavia to support these efforts and reduce costs for other Italian states. One intended beneficiary was Stephen III of Moldavia, an ally of Venice. The taxes appear to have led to a conflict between Stephen III and Jewish communities in Moldavia, and according to later sources, triggered an Ottoman campaign against Moldavia in 1476 led by Sultan Mehmed II. New sources substantiate this view of a conflict impacting Jewish communities in Moldavian harbors.
Venice was searching for ways to finance anti-Ottoman efforts following a Moldavian victory over the Ottomans and an upcoming truce with the Ottomans. They proposed levying taxes on Jews in Hungary and Moldavia to support these efforts and reduce costs for other Italian states. One intended beneficiary was Stephen III of Moldavia, an ally of Venice. The taxes appear to have led to a conflict between Stephen III and Jewish communities in Moldavia, and according to later sources, triggered an Ottoman campaign against Moldavia in 1476 led by Sultan Mehmed II. New sources substantiate this view of a conflict impacting Jewish communities in Moldavian harbors.
POPULATION AND CRUSADING IN MOLDAVIA: THE SPRING OF 1475
(Summary) Keywords: Sultan Mehmed II, Stephen III of Moldavia, Jews, Venice, Trade, Crusading In spring 1475, Venice was searching for solutions to finance the anti-Ottoman fights in order to make the most out the recent Moldavian victory over the Ottoman army of Albania and also out of the very soon to be concluded Ottoman-Venetian six months. Taxes on the Jews were to be levied in order to support these fights and also in order to reduce the financial involvement of the Italian states, very reluctant otherwise to contribute with their own finances to crusading. One of the main beneficiaries of these taxes, to levied namely in Hungary and Moldavia, was to be Stephen III of Moldavia, Venices favorite and eastern spearhead. The taxes seem to have led to a conflict between Stephen III and the Jewish communities in Moldavia. According to a Venetian-Jewish chronicle of the early 1500s, the persecutions in Moldavia triggered Mehmed IIs subsequent Moldavian campaign of 1476. Newly found sources tend to substantiate this view and the conflict whose implications touched the very delicate problem of the Moldavian harbors, apparently inhabited by a significant number of Jewish communities.