The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara

Picador, UK, 1997. Trade Paperback. Good. Trade Paperback. 350 pages. *** PUBLISHING DETAILS: Picador, UK, 1997. *** CONDITION: This book is in good condition. More specifically: Covers have light creasing. Spine has moderate reading creases. . Edges of pages are reasonably browned. Pages are lightly tanned. *** ABOUT THIS BOOK: Out of seemingly small events are sometimes born great historical moments. The case of young Edgardo Mortara is one. In 1858 the 6-year-old Jewish boy was taken from his parents' home in Bologna, Italy, by agents of the Papal inquisition. The year before, seriously ill, Edgardo had been secretly baptized, by the Mortaras' Catholic servant (or so she claimed); it was against the law for baptized Christians to be raised by Jews, and so, in the eyes of the Church, the kidnapping was entirely justified. Secular Italians did not agree, and thus was set in motion a series of reforms that ended the Church's temporal power in Italy and forged the creation of a liberal, near-democratic state. For his part, young Edgardo became a priest and lived in a Belgian abbey until 1940--just before the invading Germans began to deport and execute all those tainted with Jewish blood. David Kertzer has shaped a remarkable narrative from almost forgotten events. *** Quantity Available: 1. Category: True Crime; ISBN: 0330348787. ISBN/EAN: 9780330348782. Inventory No: 20110026.. 9780330348782