[2] Pirri, Sicilia Sacra, p. 910 (Panormi, 1733).—Llorente, Hist. crít. de la Inquisicion de España, Append. No. III.
[3] La Mantia, op. cit., pp. 20-1.—Franchina, Breve Rapporto del Tribunale della SS. Inquisizione in Sicilia, pp. 23, 108-16 (Palermo, 1744).
If we may believe an inscription of 1631, Ranzano had been inquisitor in 1482.—Jo. Mariæ Bertini Sacratissima Inquisitionis Rosa Virginea, I, 385 (Panormi, 1662). He died in 1492.
[4] Zurita, Añales de Aragon, Lib. XIX, cap. xiv.—Giov. di Giovanni, L’Ebraismo della Sicilia, pp. 190-1 (Palermo, 1748).
[5] Giovanni, pp. 21, 96.
Isidor Loeb considers the ordinary computations to be grossly exaggerated and, from the statistics of several places, assumes the total to have been not more than from twenty to thirty thousand.—Revue des Etudes Juives, 1887, p. 172.
[6] Giovanni, p. 210.—This celeste benefizio, as the pious author terms it, proved so destructive to the commercial prosperity of the island that, in 1695, the Jews were invited to return, under certain rigorous restrictions. As they manifested no readiness to avail themselves of the permission, the invitation was repeated in a more attractive form in 1727 and, this proving unavailing, still further inducements were offered in 1740. Even this, however, did not produce the desired effect and the edict was revoked in 1747.—Ibidem, pp. 239-42.
[7] Giovanni, pp. 233-5.
[8] The Sicilian onza was nearly equivalent to 23/10 ducats.
[9] Archivo general de Simancas, Consejo de la Inquisicion, Libro 1.