Dissimulation and Deceit in Early Modern Europe

Professor (Emerita) Miriam Eliav-Feldon taught early modern history at Tel Aviv University, Israel, for several decades and served as Chairperson of its history department in the years 1996-2000. Her publications include several books and many articles in Hebrew, English and French, on Renaissance utopias, pacifism and peace plans, origins of racism and invented identities. Tamar Herzig is Associate Professor of early modern history at Tel Aviv University, Israel, where she also serves as Director of the Morris E. Curiel Institute for European Studies. Her publications include Savonarola's Women: Visions and Reform in Renaissance Italy (2008; published in Italian 2014) and 'Christ Transformed into a Virgin Woman': Lucia Brocadelli, Heinrich Institoris, and the Defense of the Faith (2013), as well as numerous articles.

“The volume under review groups eleven studies, most of which were originally presented as contributions to an international conference held at Tel Aviv University in 2012. … its reader has gained a view of a surprisingly wide panorama of deceit cases, and thus been given a broad insight into the history of early modern dissimulation as such.” (Benedek Láng, Magic Ritual and Witchcraft, Vol. 12 (1), 2017)“This volume is a true milestone in tracing, mapping, and conceptualizing the culture of lying and dissimulation in the premodern era. … This seminal book will be of enormous value and interest not only to early modernists but also to intellectual and religious historians in general.” (Maria Ivanova, The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 102 (4), 2016)

• 1. Introduction; Miriam Eliav-Feldon 2. Superstition and Dissimulation: Discerning False Religion in the Fifteenth Century; Michael D. Bailey 3. 'Mendacium officiosum': Alberico Gentili's Ways of Lying; Vincenzo Lavenia 4. Dissimulation and Conversion: Francesco Pucci's Return to Catholicism; Giorgio Caravale 5. The Identity Game: Ambiguous Religious Attachments in Seventeenth- Century Lyon; Monica Martinat 6. From 'Marranos' to 'Unbelievers': The Spanish Peccadillo in Sixteenth Century Italy; Stefania Pastore 7. Recidivist Converts in Early Modern Europe; Moshe Sluhovsky 8. A Hybrid Identity: Jewish Convert, Christian Mystic and Demoniac; Adelisa Malena 9. Beyond Simulation: An Enquiry Concerning Demonic Possession; Guido Dall'Olio 10. Genuine and Fraudulent Stigmatics in the Sixteenth Century; Tamar Herzig 11. Real, Fake or Megalomaniacs? Three Suspicious Ambassadors, 1450-1600; Giorgio Rota 12. Between Madrid and Ophir: Eredia, a Deceitful Discoverer; Jorge Flores