Dr. HectOR NUñES, PORTUGUESE PHYSICIAN,

MERCHANT AND CRYPTO-JEW

IN ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND 1547 -1591

BY cHARLES mEYERS.

 

From HaLapid  Winter, 1999

 

Dr. Hector Nuñes, lying in the throes of approaching death in September of 1591, commended “ unto God and to his protection his honor Lord Burghley and all his noble familie." In the same breath, he also sought Burghley's aid "to protect and assist my poore wife in all needful and reasonable causes." These comments can be found in his last will and testament dated 1 September 1591, nine days before he died.

What caused Nuñes, a Portuguese physician and merchant, resident in England since approximately 1546, to utter a plaintive plea to the Lord Treasurer of England, Burghley, concerning his wife and executrix, Elinor? Why did Nuñes see fit to ask God to protect Burghley and his family? What kind of relationship did they have that would warrant these words on his deathbed?  This paper will attempt to explore and explain why Nuñes, a Portuguese denizen of England as of 1579, would have the temerity to seek the direct intervention of the Lord Treasurer of England, Lord Burghley, on behalf of his wife after his death. Furthermore, the paper will seek to explain why Nuñes' aspirations were never realized.

Surviving documentation does not explain when and where Nuñes and  Burghley met. Further, we have no idea when his service to Lord Burghley began and why. What is easier to ascertain are the reaso