Society For Crypto Judaic Studies
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THE WOMAN WHO DEFIED KINGS: The Life and Times of Doņa Gracia Nasi, A Jewish Leader During the Renaissance By Andrée Aelion Brooks Reviewed by Arthur Benveniste from HaLapid, Winter, 2003 A remarkable woman lived in the sixteenth century. We know her as Doņa Gracia Nasi. Born in Portugal thirteen years after the forced conversion of the Portuguese Jews and eighteen years after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain she was raised in a family of crypto Jews. In her early life she lived openly as a Christian under her Christian name, Beatrice de Luna and secretly as the Jewess, Gracia or Hannah. In 1528 she married Francisco Mendes (originally Benveniste) who, along with his brother Diogo, ran the House of Mendes, a powerful trading company with agents across Europe and around the Mediterranean. In 1538 Francisco died, leaving Gracia with an infant daughter. Gracia now assumed the management of the Mendes commercial empire. Her enormous wealth put her into a position to influence kings and popes and she used that influence to protect crypto Jews. Crypto Jew were helped to escape Portugal and Spain and letters of credit issued by the Mendes company enabled these Jews to transfer their funds to their new homes. The House of Mendes, under Doņa Gracia, dealt with Henry II of France, Henry VIII of England, Charles V of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, Queen Marie, Regent of the Low Countries, Popes Paul III and Paul IV and Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. These dealings involved commercial activities, loans and bribes. Payments to the Pope delayed the establishment of an Inquisition in Portugal. When it became difficult for her to live in Lisbon, she managed to escape to Antwerp, where her brother-in-law, Diogo ran the Low Countries branch of the House of Mendes. There she continued her efforts on behalf of the secret Jews. In time it became unsafe for her to remain in Antwerp and once again she had to escape. This time to Venice and later another escape to Ferrera. Again, pressure from Catholic authorities made it unsafe for her to remain in Italy. Again she escaped. This time, with the aid of the Sultan, to Constantinople. There she shed her Christian veneer and openly identified with Judaism. While residing in The Ottoman Empire, she called for a boycott of Ancona where Jews had been executed. For the remainder of her life she continued her support of crypto Jews and endowed Jewish centers of learning in Tiberias and elsewhere. Until recently the main resources for one who wanted to learn about Doņa Gracia was Cecil Roths History Doņa Gracia and the House of Nasi or the fictionalized novel The Ghost of Hanna Mendes by Naomi Ragen. Cecil Roth has produced several important books on Sephardic and crypto Jewish history and his book on Doņa Gracis was considered to be the definitive one. Andrée Aelion Brook started from the foundation set by Cecil Roth and expanded on it. She came to the 2002 SCJS in San Diego and delivered a paper on her research for the book, The Woman Who Defied Kings, The Life and Times of Doņa Gracia Nasi. Brooks went beyond the work of Cecil Roth. She found, copied and had translated important documents from all over Europe and the Middle East. Personal letters, commercial contracts, diplomatic reports even Vatican archival papers were found. We now have a more complete view of Doņa Gracia and her times. We learn more about the genealogy of the Mendes and Nasi families. We find that Doņa married her uncle. We have a better understanding of how payments were made to royal houses, how secret Jews transferred their funds and how bribes were paid. Gracia becomes more human. Her personal life, her relations with her sister, daughter, son-in-law and brother-in-law come into better focus though some conclusions are base more on conjecture then research. We even gain a better knowledge of the personalities of the Christian and Moslem monarchs of that time. Brooks who has written for the New York Times and other periodicals, writes in the style of a journalist and, as a result, her book is more readable than that of Cecil Roth. The Woman Who Defied Kings, is a welcome addition to our library. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |