AHC: medieval Jewish Serene Republic of Venice

This is quite a difficult feat... only thing that comes to mind is a surviving WRE, sees the sleepy fishing village settled by Jews as a refuge. Venice was built in a swamp by refugees fleeing foreign invsion, and said swamp being almost impossible to take by storm, so it's not utterly implausible.
 
This is quite a difficult feat... only thing that comes to mind is a surviving WRE, sees the sleepy fishing village settled by Jews as a refuge. Venice was built in a swamp by refugees fleeing foreign invsion, and said swamp being almost impossible to take by storm, so it's not utterly implausible.

That’s sort of what I was thinking.

Maybe there’s an invasion of Italy by sort kind of radical Christianity that seeks to wipe out the Jews? And the Byzantines keep them safe on the lagoon?
 
A Jewish Republic could work, but I think you'd need it to be somewhere else. Catholic Kingdoms would be just waiting for any excuse to attack Venice if they came out as Jewish.

Malta might be a good spot. It's far enough away and limited in enough resources that conquering it isn't a priority for any power in particular. It would have to contend with Piracy however and wars will still probably happen. It would need a large enough fleet to defend itself while also not threaten the regional powers.
 
I think for a Jewish autonome community a city state is the way to go. But I it's wrong area of Europe for to survive. Instead I think Danzig would be much better idea. Maybe the Deluge end with the city completely destroyed. The Poles decide to rebuild it, but lacking in money and not trusting the Protestants to refund it. The Poles offer that Danzig can be a Jewish free city against them rebuilding the city. The offer is taken by a group of rich Sephadic Jews in Hamburg, who fund it, and let their poorer Askhenazim co-religionist settle in the new city.
 
Well Poland would work fine, as in OTL it was for hundreds of years the safest country for Jews.
Malta is a cool idea but piracy combined with slavery is highly organized there.
 
Having Venice, the city that hystorically developed in the lagoon, mostly out of refugees from the Aquileia area and then developed as a merchant republic, become majority Jewish seems highly implausible to me.
Or at least needing a strange and very early POD like having a sizeable part of the diaspora be forcibly relocated by the Romans in the lagoon area. But this begs the question of why would they do so and also how could it keep its identity after the advent of Christianity and the decline of the empire.
Finally, such a city would neither be called Venezia, nor be likely to have the same sociopolitical asset as the historical city...

That said I think it could be possible (although very unlikely) to have a Jewish majority city develop in Europe during the middle or modern ages. Either in @Jürgen's scenario or if some king decided to concentrate all Jews in an area, rather than expelling them. Iberia, with an big Jewish population looks like a possibility.

What makes me think that this is feasible is the OTL's example of Lucera in Apulia. In the early xiii century Emperor Frederick II deported all or most Sicilian Muslims to Lucera, where they lived autonomously and under his protection, in exchange for military service as archers and payment of a poll tax. The city lasted until 1300, when it was destroyed and its population enslaved on orders of Charles II the Lame of Anjou.

In the end is like the idea of a ghetto, but on a greater scale.
 
A bit of a random PoD, but what if we have 1204 go differently?

So a bit more stable Roman Empire (perhaps via a Jewish community effort for the sake of this scenario).

However, the 4th Crusade still goes after Constantinople, only to be defeated in large part due to that Jewish Roman community.

The Romans manage to muster the forces required to retake Venice, and grant the city to the Jews of the Empire, as thanks for their efforts that saved the Emperors city.

The Jews then own Venice, and are in a position where the ERE protects them.

In more detail, an initial PoD where Jews are granted protections after incidents during the First Crusade - a basic law stating that religious discrimination against Jews, Latin and Orthodox Christians. Larger community builds up as a result.

Throw in a Samuel HaNagid figure, major advisor for Alexios III, and a Jewish Merchant Fleet, and you've got the basics of a plausible "Jewish-Roman Venice".

Sure, you've got some butterfly nets in place, but the rise of a strong, largely apolitical Jewish community in the Roman Empire doesn't strike me as something to throw history in the bin.
 
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