Verisoph public archive

Pope Paul IV

1476 – 1559 Italian Pope, established the Roman Ghetto

Pope whose 1555 bull forced Rome's Jews into a walled ghetto and imposed harsh restrictions.

Religion
Roman Catholicism
Affiliations
Papacy; Roman Inquisition

Paul IV issued the bull 'Cum nimis absurdum' in 1555, confining the Jews of Rome to a locked, walled quarter that became the Roman Ghetto. The decree forced Jews to wear identifying marks, barred them from most trades, and limited them to dealing in used goods and moneylending. His policies rolled back protections earlier popes had granted and set a pattern of confinement that lasted for centuries.

In the timeline