_1239._ _Pope Gregory IX_ orders the burning of all copies of the _Talmud_. Graetz states that the antagonism of the authorities was at the outset directed against the Babylonian _Gemara_, and against the _Mischna_ only when this was associated with the _Gemara_.[31] As a result of a denunciation by the converted Jew, Nicholas de Rupella, Gregory sent, in 1239, letters to the kings and archbishops of France, England, Spain, and Portugal, ordering that, on a specified day, all copies of these books were to be delivered to the Dominicans and the Minorites, and that if they were found to contain the heresies described by Nicholas, they were to be burned. Reusch says that this order was carried out only in France. _1244._ _Innocent IV_ orders Louis IX to burn all copies of the Talmudic writings to be found in his kingdom. Later, on the protest of the Jews of France, the Pope directed Cardinal Odo to make a fresh examination of the texts, and in so far as it could be done without injury to the Christian faith, to permit copies to be retained by the Jews themselves. In 1248, after a further investigation by Odo and forty scholars (including Albertus Magnus), Odo again orders the destruction of the books. _1254._ _Louis IX_ issues renewed orders for the burning of copies of the _Talmud_ and of other Hebrew books containing blasphemies. _1267._ _Clement IV_ sends, by the hand of the Dominican Paulus Christianus, a converted Jew, letters to the Archbishop of Tarragona, ordering the destruction of the books of the Jews, and especially _librum quem vocant Talmutz_. _1415._ _Benedict XIII_ orders all copies of the Talmudic books to be delivered to the bishop of the diocese and by him to be preserved, subject to the instructions of the Curia. The Jews are forbidden to possess copies of any works which contain assaults on the Christian faith.[32] In the quarter-century between 1495 and 1520 (a term which included the Papacy of Leo X), on the other hand, there was in Italy a keen interest in Cabbalistic studies. Editions of the _Mischna_ and of the Jerusalem _Talmud_ were printed in Venice and in Florence; the Babylonian _Talmud_ was printed by Bomberg in Venice in 1520, 1522, with a papal privilege, and the demand proved sufficient to call for a reprinting in 1546.[33] _1555._ _The Inquisition of Rome_ orders the confiscation of copies of the Talmudic books from the houses of the Jews, and the investigation of the texts by theologians. The rabbis were themselves interrogated as to the purport of the books. As a result of this investigation, the books were burned on the 9th of September (the Jewish New Year’s day). _1555._ _Julius III_ publishes an edict directing all princes, bishops, and inquisitors to confiscate and destroy by fire all copies of the “Talmuds” of Jerusalem and of Babylon. Christians are forbidden, under pain of excommunication, to possess or to read these books, or to aid the Jews in producing copies by script or by printing.[34]