Beatrice was by no means at ease in Antwerp. Affection for the religion in which she had been born, and which she was compelled to deny, and horror of the Catholic faith forced upon her, made Flanders just as hateful to her as Portugal. She longed for a country where she could freely follow the impulses of her heart, glowing with love to Judaism. She, therefore, importuned her brother-in-law, the head of the banking business, who had married her sister, either to go to Germany, or elsewhere, with her, or pay over her share of the property. Diogo Mendes fixed a time for this removal, but died before it arrived (1540–1546); he also left a widow and a daughter, Gracia the younger. This was the beginning of sorrowful days for Mendesia. She was recognized by her brother-in-law's will as the head of the widely-extended business, but could not settle the affairs of the house quickly enough to enable her to follow the wish of her heart, and betake herself to some tolerant land, where she could openly confess herself a Jewess. Besides, Charles V, in his covetousness, cast an eye upon the large property of the house of Mendes. An accusation was made by the imperial attorney-general that the deceased Diogo Mendes had secretly practiced Judaism. It may also have become known that he had supported the antagonists of the Inquisition by word and deed. It was, therefore, decreed that the whole of his property, being that of a heretic, should be forfeited to the exchequer. The order was issued that the goods and account-books of the house of Mendesia be seized and sealed. But the widow Mendesia succeeded in satisfying the avarice of the officials for the moment by bribes and the advance of a large loan. But it was impossible for her to leave Antwerp without exciting suspicion against herself and endangering her property still more. Thus she was obliged to remain there in great distress of mind for more than two years, until the loan was repaid by the emperor.
At length the hour of deliverance seemed to be at hand, when she might leave Antwerp, and proceed to Venice. A story circulated that her nephew, João Miques, had fled to Venice with her daughter Reyna, for whose hand several Christian noblemen had sued. Perhaps this was a story sedulously spread by the Mendes family so as to afford a pretext for their journey to Venice, and that no hindrance might be interposed. But this precaution was not successful. After her departure, Charles V again gave orders that her property, so far as it lay within his dominions, should be seized, because the sisters were secret Jewesses, and Mendesia the elder (as she was called) was compelled to pay large sums to avert this fresh calamity.
But misfortune, greater than any that she had yet experienced, was in store for her at Venice, from a quarter whence she least expected it, namely, from her younger sister. The latter, as reckless and scatter-brained as the elder was prudent and sedate, demanded her share of the property and her daughter's, to do with as she pleased.
But Donna Mendesia neither could nor would agree to this, she having been made sole manager of the property, and also guardian of her niece, still under age. Chafing at this guardianship, and probably guided by evil counselors, the younger sister took a step which turned out to her own disadvantage. She informed the Venetian government that her sister was about to emigrate to Turkey, and take with her all her wealth, there to resume her adherence to Judaism, while she herself and her daughter desired to remain Christians; and she asked the Venetian authorities to assist her in obtaining possession of her property, in order that she might use it as a good Christian in Venice. The rulers of Venice, seeing the prospect of a rich prize, did not hesitate to take up the accusation, cited the accused to appear before the legal authorities, and arrested her to prevent her flight. Her ill-advised or worthless sister also sent an avaricious, Jew-hating messenger to France, to take possession of the property there belonging to the Mendes family. This envoy, thinking himself insufficiently paid for his errand, denounced the younger sister also as a secret Jewess, and the French court confiscated the Mendes property in France. King Henry II also held himself exempt from repaying his debt to the family. The unfortunate Mendesia was meantime endeavoring to divert these blows aimed at herself and her property. Her nephew, João Miques, gave liberal assistance to prevent losses and to set his noble relative free. Either he or his aunt found a way to induce Sultan Solyman to embrace their cause. Such immense riches were about to be brought into his dominions, and the Venetian Republic, which existed only by his forbearance, dared deprive him of them? That roused his fury. His private physician, Moses Hamon, a Jew who hoped to win the hand of the rich heiress Reyna for his son, had disposed the sultan in favor of the Mendes family. A special messenger of state (Tshaus) was sent by the Porte to Venice, with instructions that the imprisoned Marrano was at once to be set free and allowed to depart unhindered for Turkey with all her property. In consequence of this a difference arose between the court of Turkey and the Republic of Venice, which afterwards led to animosities. An important part was thus thrust upon this poor lady against her will.
In the meantime she succeeded – no one knows how – in finding a place of refuge in Ferrara under the protection of the liberal-minded Duke Hercules of Este, where she resided for several years (about 1549 to 1553) under her Jewish name, a blessing and a comfort to her fellow-sufferers for their faith. Here she was able for the first time to exercise openly and freely her sublime virtue, her lively sympathies, her generosity, her genuine piety – in a word, all the nobility of her heart. Her wisdom and prudence were of great service to the Marranos in Italy. The poet Samuel Usque, who dedicated his beautiful work to her, spoke of her with enthusiasm and deep respect. He makes his Numeo, who plays the part of consoler in the dialogues, utter among other grounds of consolation for the sufferings of the Israelites, that they had met with unexpected help from this good woman:
"Who has not seen Divine Mercy reveal itself in human form, as it has shown, and still shows itself to thee a shield and defense against thy wretchedness? Who has not seen the heartfelt compassion of Miriam over again in the sacrifice of her own life to save that of her brethren? Or the great wisdom of Deborah in ruling her fellow-men? Or the infinite virtue and holiness of Esther in protecting the defenseless? Or the memorable exertions of the chaste widow Judith in order to deliver the besieged from terror? The Lord hath sent her down in our days from the midst of His holy angels, and united every virtue in one person, and for thy happiness it is that He hath placed this soul in the lovely form of the blessed Jewess Nassi. She it was who, at the beginning of the dispersion (of the Marranos), gave strength and hope to thy perishing sons, made hopeless by their want of means to escape the fire, and encouraged them to go forth on their pilgrimage. With bountiful hand did she succor those who had already set out on their wanderings in Flanders and other parts, and who, weakened by poverty and overcome by the perils of the sea passage, were in danger of getting no further, and strengthened them in their need. She did not withhold her favor even from her enemies. With her pure hand and her heavenly will has she freed most of this nation (of Marranos) from the depths of endless misery, poverty, and sin, led them into safe places, and gathered them together into obedience to the precepts of the true God. Thus did she become thy strength in thy weakness."
The two editors of the Ferrara Spanish Bible, Abraham Usque and Athias, who dedicated it to "Her Highness the Señora Donna Gracia," described her invaluable services in a few words:
"We desire to dedicate the translation to your Grace, as the person whose deserts among our people will always occupy the foremost place. May you be pleased to accept it, to favor and protect it with the spirit which has always favored those who have asked help of you."
As she protected all three of the Usques, this eulogy may sound partial from their lips; but all, even the most conscientious rabbis of the time, were full of her praise, and wrote with equal enthusiasm, if not elegance, of her virtues:
"The noble princess, the glory of Israel, the wise woman who builds her house in holiness and purity, with her hand sustains the poor and needy, in order to make them happy in this world, and blessed in the world to come. Many are they whom she has rescued from death, and lifted up from the abasement of a worthless life, when they were languishing in a dungeon, and were given over to death. She hath founded houses wherein all may learn the law of God. She has given to many the means whereby they may not only live, but live in plenty."
After Donna Gracia Nassi had become reconciled to her sister, who probably saw that she endangered herself by assuming an antagonistic attitude towards Gracia, after she had seen her sister's child, the beautiful young Gracia, betrothed to her nephew Samuel Nassi in Ferrara, and after she had provided like a mother for all the members of her family, she carried out her long-cherished intention, and betook herself to the Turkish capital to escape the many annoyances to which she was subject in Christian territory. Her gifted nephew, João Miques, who was betrothed to her daughter Reyna, and who had undertaken long journeys to Lyons, Marseilles, Rome, and Sicily on business affairs, had by his adroitness prepared a good reception for her in Constantinople. With skillful diplomacy, acquired by intercourse with Christian statesmen, he obtained a hearty recommendation to Constantinople from M. de Lansac, the ambassador at the French court, with whom the Mendes-Nassi family had been at enmity, and so met with a favorable reception there. In Constantinople, João Miques made open avowal of Judaism, assuming the name of Joseph Nassi, and marrying his wealthy cousin Reyna. He did not go thither alone, but took with him a great following of 500 persons, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian Jews. He made his appearance there as a prince; his tact, his knowledge of European affairs, and his wealth, procured him an entrance into the court circle, and secured the favor of Solyman. But his noble mother-in-law remained the principal manager of the large property of the family.
The Jewish inhabitants of Constantinople soon felt the beneficent hand of Donna Gracia and her son-in-law. They assisted the poor, established houses of prayer and schools, and made endowments for teachers of the Talmud. But their benevolence was not limited to Spaniards and Portuguese, it extended to Germans and beyond the city of Constantinople.
When the news came that Pope Paul IV had imprisoned the Marranos of Ancona with the intention of burning them sooner or later, the heart of Donna Gracia felt a terrible pang, as a mother when her children are in misfortune, for she had taken them all into her heart as her sons and brothers. She did not give herself up to useless lamentation, but at once joined with her son-in-law in taking active steps for their relief. She first addressed herself to Sultan Solyman, entreating him to demand that at least Marrano Jews from Turkey, in Ancona on business, be surrendered to him, and had the happiness of seeing this request fulfilled. Sultan Solyman addressed a letter to the pope (March 9th, 1556) in the haughty tone which Turkish rulers, in the consciousness of their power, assumed towards the Christian princes, weakened by disunion. He complained that his Jewish subjects had been unjustly imprisoned, whereby his treasury had suffered the loss of fully 4,000 ducats, besides a still greater diminution of revenues on account of injuries to Turkish Jews. The sultan insisted that the pope should at once set at liberty all Turkish Marranos in Ancona, and hinted that, in case his representation meet with an unfavorable reception, reprisals would be made upon Christians dwelling in his dominions. Paul IV was most unwillingly compelled to submit, set free the Turkish Jews, and allow them to depart uninjured. The remainder, who had no powerful partisan, were, as has been said, burnt. The Jews resolved to be revenged on the pope, and hoped for the active aid of Donna Gracia and her son-in-law in accomplishing this purpose.
Duke Guido Ubaldo, of Urbino, had received the Marranos from Ancona in Pesaro, only because he thought by this means to bring the Levantine trade of the Jews to his own port. The community of Pesaro, therefore, sent a dispatch to all the Turkish communities which had commercial relations with Italy, requesting that they no longer send their goods to Ancona, but to Pesaro. The commerce of the Turkish Jews was very considerable; everything passed through their hands, they competed with the Venetians, and sent out their own ships and galleys. The Jewish Levantine merchants had hitherto made Ancona the staple port for the wares shipped from Turkey to Europe, in order to lessen the pre-eminence of Venice. In the first ebullition of indignation at the shameful deed of Pope Paul IV, many of the Levantine Jews agreed to the proposal of the Jews of Pesaro (Elul – August, 1556), and resolved to punish him severely by entirely cutting off the important source of revenue arising from the commerce of the Levant. But as this measure was practicable only if all Jews trading with Italy were privy to it, the participators in the arrangement at first only agreed not to carry on trade with Ancona for eight months (till March, 1557).
The Jews of Pesaro and the Marranos formerly in the Turkish dominions, of course, made every effort to effect a general movement to place the pope and his seaport under ban. But the resident Jews of Ancona, not Marranos, were afraid that their interests would suffer injury by the removal of the trade of the Levant to Pesaro, and they lost no time in sending letters to the Jewish communities in Turkey, entreating them not to make any binding agreement, because they would incur great danger, owing to the passionate disposition of the pope, who would certainly drive them into misery if he learnt that the Jews intended to be revenged on him.
All eyes were, therefore, directed towards Constantinople, for thither the representatives of the commercial towns of Salonica, Adrianople, Broussa, Ancona, and the Morea had sent letters requesting that the matter be well weighed, and their interests regarded. Donna Gracia and Joseph Nassi, of course, had the principal voice, and they were resolved from the beginning to punish the inhuman pope severely. They had instructed their agents to send the goods belonging to their house to Pesaro. The Portuguese and some of the Spanish communities in Turkey agreed to make a decided stand and prohibit trade with Ancona under threat of exclusion from Jewish commercial circles. But some opposition was made in Constantinople itself, many of the merchants fearing that their interests would be endangered by the preference given to Pesaro. The matter was, therefore, in the hands of the rabbis of Constantinople. If they unanimously considered that the port of Ancona was to be avoided out of regard for the danger which threatened the Marranos of Pesaro, their authority would fall into the balance, and settle the question. Gracia and Joseph, therefore, influenced the rabbis, so that they decided to pronounce against the pope.
Two rabbis, however, were opposed to this decision. As no unanimous decision was made in the chief community of Constantinople, the Jewish merchants of the other Turkish communities were spared the imposition of restrictions upon their trade with Ancona. In vain Donna Gracia, who regarded the question as of the deepest interest, demanded an opinion from the rabbis of the community of Safet, which enjoyed the highest authority among the Jews of the East, in the persons of its two representatives, Joseph Karo and Moses di Trani. The ban of the rabbis against Pope Paul IV was not put into action. Whilst the rabbis were still consulting, that which Donna Gracia and her adherents had been fearing to their great grief came to pass. Duke Guido Ubaldo, disappointed in his expectation of seeing his port of Pesaro become the center of the Jewish Levantine commerce, and attacked by the pope for his favor towards Jews, ordered the Marranos to depart from Pesaro (March, 1558). It must be accounted a great merit in him that he did not surrender them to the officers of the Inquisition. Most of the exiles sailed eastward in hired ships; but the pope's naval police lay in wait for them, and they escaped with difficulty. Some were taken prisoners, and treated as slaves. The skillful and humane physician, Amatus Lusitanus, a Marrano, who had resided for a short time in Pesaro, and then in Ragusa, restoring many Christians to life and health, was also obliged to quit Christian territory and take refuge in the town of Salonica, almost entirely peopled by Jews (1558–1559). This same year seems to have brought misfortune also to the Marranos of Ferrara, and the duke withdrew his protection from them, for the printing press of Abraham Usque was closed, and Joseph Nassi's brother, Don Samuel Nassi, was so badly treated by the duke, that he was obliged to call in the intercession of the Turkish court to enable him to remove to Constantinople in peace. One threatening glance from the infidel sultan had more effect upon Christian princes than the voice of justice and humanity.
The nearer Paul IV approached the grave, the more did he become incensed against the Jews. Two baptized Jews, named Sixtus Senensis, and Philip or Joseph Moro, at his command traveled through the Jewish communities situated in the Papal States and annoyed the Jews with their seditious sermons. The latter once forced his way into the synagogue at Recanate on the Day of Atonement (1558) with a crucifix, which the Jews regarded as an idolatrous image, and with violence placed it in the ark where the sacred Torah was kept. When the Jews turned him out for this insult to their sanctuary, he collected the furious mob round the house of God, and two Jews who had laid hands on him were seized and scourged by order of the chief magistrate. Pope Paul IV was most enraged against the Marranos and the Talmud. He tried to drive the former out of their most secret hiding-places Many pseudo-Christians of Spain and Portugal, unable to save themselves by flight, entered the orders, and, so to speak, howled with the wolves to escape being attacked by them. Paul IV, to whom complaints were made that Jewish Christians had joined the orders of monks, forbade them to receive Jews as members.
He went yet more thoroughly to work with the Talmud, of which not a copy was left in the Papal States or throughout the greater part of Italy, owners thereof being exposed to the heaviest penalty. The schools, for the most part, were closed. Had this condition of things become universal, great ignorance and stagnation would have spread among Italian Jews, and facilitated the great object of the pope – their conversion. But at this time a large school and an asylum for the persecuted Talmud arose in Cremona, a town of northern Italy, belonging to Milan. A Talmudist, Joseph Ottolenghi, from Germany, opened a school under the protection of the governor of Milan, teaching the Talmud and having rabbinical works printed. Every owner of a copy of the Talmud sent it secretly to Cremona, and thus very many were collected there, and thence exported to Germany, Poland, and the East. This scanty religious freedom the Jews retained also under the Spaniards, who were compelled to carry on war with Paul IV. After the pope had been obliged to submit to a disgraceful peace, he planned to have the Jewish writings in Cremona burnt. The Dominicans, who acted as the papal police, influenced the people, so as to be able to exert pressure upon the governor. Inflammatory papers were distributed in Cremona calling upon the people to kill the Jews (April 8th, 1559). A few days afterwards the governor was urged by two Dominicans, one of whom was Sixtus Senensis, a baptized Jew, to erect a pyre on which to burn copies of the Talmud, because it was said to contain nothing but blasphemies of Jesus. The governor did not choose to give credence to the accusations against the Jews without further confirmation, so two witnesses stood up against the Talmud (April 17th), a baptized Jew, Vittorio Eliano, grandson, by a daughter, of the Jewish grammarian Elias Levita, and a worthless German Jew, Joshua dei Cantori. By them the Spanish governor of Milan was convinced of the injuriousness of the Talmud, and gave orders to his soldiery to make a house to house search among the Jews of Cremona and in the printing offices, to collect all the copies they could find, and make a great fire of them. Ten or twelve thousand books were burnt on this occasion.
Vittorio Eliano, the malicious proselyte, very nearly came to grief by this burning of the Talmud, for the Spanish soldiery, having received orders to wage war upon the writings of Jews, troubled themselves but little whether the contents were Talmudical, or otherwise, and they very nearly burnt the Zohar, the Kabbalistic text-book, the especial favorite of the papacy. Since the enthusiasm of Pico di Mirandola, still more of Reuchlin, Cardinal Egidio de Viterbo, and the Franciscan Galatino, for mysticism, the most orthodox of the Fathers and Princes of the church believed firmly that the Kabbala contained the mysteries of Christianity. The order of extinction issued against the Talmud, then, did not touch the Zohar. In fact, it was precisely under Pope Paul IV that it was first printed, with the consent of the Inquisition, in Mantua. The Kabbala was to rise out of the ruins of the Talmud. Thus the printing of the book which caused more permanent injury to Judaism than any blow hitherto aimed at it was aided. From envy of the Mantuan publishers, a Christian publisher, named Vincent Conti, of Cremona, printed the Zohar at the same time, because the sale promised very large profits in Italy and the East, and he even offered to furnish a larger book in order to cast suspicion upon the Mantuan edition. The baptized grandson of Elias Levita, the venomous canon Vittorio Eliano, had charge of this Cremona Zohar, and he did not hesitate to write a boastful Hebrew preface to attract buyers, and to have his own name mentioned in connection with it. Whilst it was being printed, the Spanish soldiers were searching for Jewish writings in Cremona, and found two thousand copies of the Zohar, which they were about to cast into the burning pile. Vittorio Eliano and his partners very nearly lost their outlay and their profits, but another convert, the above-named Sixtus of Siena, commissioned by the papal Inquisition to help in destroying the Talmud in Cremona, restrained the fury of the Spanish soldiery, and rescued the Zohar. Thus the Talmud was burnt, and the Zohar spared for the time being. It was a wise instinct of the enemies of the Jews which led them to spare this poisonous spring in the hope that adherents of the Zohar would the sooner renounce Judaism.
Spread abroad by the press, the Zohar came to be considered a canonical book, and for some time was as much quoted as verses from the Bible, and treated on an equality with the Holy Scriptures in all Hebrew works not strictly Talmudical. But the love of the papacy for the Kabbala did not last long. A few years later the Kabbalistic writings were included in the catalogue of books to be burnt (Index expurgatorius).
Paul IV's hatred of Jews and their writings was not confined to Italy, but, nourished by the fanatical spirit aroused by him, extended far and wide. Baptized Jews were always the tools employed in these persecutions. One named Asher, from Udine, brought accusations against Jewish works in Prague, and the authorities confiscated them one and all, even prayer-books, and sent them to Vienna (1559). The Jewish ministers were obliged to repeat the prayers in the synagogue by heart. A fire which broke out at about this time in the Jews' quarter of Prague, and by which a great number of their houses were reduced to ashes, displayed the fanatical hatred of Christians towards them still more clearly. Instead of hastening to the assistance of the unfortunate people, and joining in their rescue, they threw helpless women and children into the flames, and plundered the goods of the Jews. And as if the measure of misfortune were not full enough, Ferdinand I, chosen emperor about a year before, commenced the expulsion of the Jews from Bohemia and Prague in real earnest.
Emperor Ferdinand was, in reality, a mild prince, who sincerely desired to maintain peace between Catholics and Protestants, but he had an invincible dislike to Jews. It was he who first introduced the tickets of notification, or permits, for the Jews of Austria. He made a regulation by which every Jew resident in Austria who went on business to Vienna, should at once on his arrival announce himself to the marshal of the district, and state what was his business, and how long he intended to remain in the place. To this restriction Ferdinand added others, and at length commanded the expulsion of the Jews with their wives and children, their servants and all their goods and chattels, from Lower Austria. This decree of banishment was delayed for two years, but they were finally compelled to withdraw from the country.
Emperor Ferdinand destined the ancient community of Prague to the same fate. What may have been the reason is either easy or difficult for us to conceive, according to our way of thinking. The congregation of Prague was in very evil repute among other Jewish communities, being considered low, unprincipled, violent, and quarrelsome. Such fierce disputes arose regularly about the appointment of rabbis and the choice of the president, that the chief rabbis of Germany and Italy, at the instigation of the emperor, were obliged to arrange a system of election for the community of Prague. The reason of this sad state of things was no doubt that, on the recall of the Jews after the expulsion of twenty years previously, only the worst, none of the well-disposed, members had returned. Christians were, no doubt, very much overreached by this rabble, but Christians of the lower class were probably not better nor more conscientious. Christians treated their own brethren with the greatest leniency, but required the practice of the strictest virtue and uprightness from Jews. Discussions about the second expulsion of Jews from Prague were long carried on, for even the archdukes then in the land were opposed to it; yet the banishment took place (1561). The exiles were attacked, and plundered by robber knights. But it was clear then, as after the first expulsion, that the Christians of Prague, or at all events the nobility, longed for the Jews. Scarcely were they driven out when steps were taken to recall them, and this policy was favored by the princes.
But Emperor Ferdinand refused the request to allow the Jews to return, on the ground, genuine or assumed, that he had sworn to expel the Jews from Prague, and could not break his oath. Thereupon a noble Jew of Prague undertook a journey to Rome to procure from the new pope, Pius IV (the Jew-hating Paul IV was dead), the absolution of the emperor from his oath.
This noble man was Mordecai Zemach ben Gershon, one of the noted Soncin family of prin