Immanuel the Roman (Manuello the Jew)

IMMANUEL THE ROMAN (MANUELLO THE JEW). - Poet, b. in Rome ca. 1268-72; d. after 1328. He belonged to the circle of Jewish scholars and poets of Rome. For reasons that are little known he left Rome and lived as a teacher in the households of wealthy families in Perugia, Fabriano, Fermo, Camerino, Ancona and Verona.

A patron in Fermo encouraged him to compose his poetic work Molphdrōth (maṇāmāt). This work was printed in Brescia in 1491, in Constantinople in 1515, in Berlin in 1796, in Lvov in 1870. A critical edition was undertaken by Hermann Brody. Individual parts of the work were translated into Latin and into various European languages. As regards style, I. follows Solomon ibn Gēbhīrōl, Judah Halevi (v.) and in particular Judah al-Ḥarīzī. The content of I. R.'s work is jesting and sometimes frivolous, yet always witty and rich in puns; riddles and epigrams occur, but also lamentations and religious hymns.

He was the first to introduce the Italian sonnet into Hebrew literature. Once he refers directly to Dante, another time he imitates the «Sirventese del maestro di tutte l'arti». The last maṇāmāh represents his passage through Hell and Paradise, in dependence on Dante's Divine

Comedy. The opinion according to which I. R. was a friend of Dante is certainly unfounded; what is certain is that he maintained ties of friendship with Cino da Pistoia and Bosone da Gubbio. He is also the author of Italian sonnets, of a work of biblical hermeneutics and of commentaries on several biblical books, partly published, partly preserved in manuscript.

Eugenio Zolli