It is a little known fact that as early as the thirteenth century, Europe's political and religious powers tried to physically mark and distinguish the Jews from the rest of society. During the Renaissance, Italian Jews first had to wear a yellow round badge on their chest, and then later, a yellow beret. The discriminatory marks were a widespread phenomenon with serious consequences for Jewish communities and their relations with Christians. Beginning with a sartorial study - how the Jews were marked on their clothing and what these marks meant - the book offers an in-depth analysis of anti-Jewish discrimination across three Italian city-states: Milan, Genoa, and Piedmont. Moving beyond Italy, it also examines the place of Jews and Jewry law in the increasingly interconnected world of Early Modern European politics.

'In this fascinating study, instead of focusing on the better-known Venice, Rome, and Florence and their ghettos, Flora Cassen has chosen to concentrate on northern Italy in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and the under-studied areas of Piedmont, the Duchy of Milan, and Genoa, where Jewish communities were small. … a stimulating and informative contribution to Jewish–Christian studies.'

Christopher F. Black Source: Renaissance and Reformation

'Cassen’s book takes us beyond a simplified interpretation of the Jewish badge as a means to make Jews recognizable. … It certainly speaks not only to scholars of Renaissance Italy but also to anybody interested in mechanisms of social inclusion and exclusion in medieval and early modern Jewish history, including graduate students.'

Cornelia Aust Source: H-Judaic

'Cassen’s study will guide students into the rich possibilities and complexities of archival research and will serve as the English point of reference for any future study of the real-life context of the Jewish badge.'

Bernard Dov Cooperman Source: The American Historical Review

‘… convincingly reveals the political precarity of late medieval and early modern Jewish communities.’

Bianca Lopez Source: Comptes Rendus

‘… thought-provoking … An important addition to debates on anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism, the book will appeal to scholars of religion interested in understanding how Christians attempted to place one religious minority apart from the majority during the Italian Renaissance.’

Deborah Kaye Source: Religious Studies Review