The pope severely punished a Christian Shylock, because he claimed a pound of flesh from a Roman Jew as the result of a wager. This Christian, named Seche, had wagered with a Jew, named Ceneda, that St. Domingo would be conquered, and on winning his bet he claimed the penalty. On hearing of this, Sixtus condemned him to death, but afterwards mitigated the punishment to banishment, and allotted the same fate to Ceneda for wagering his body, the property of his sovereign.

The favorable attitude of Sixtus towards Jews encouraged them in the hope—to them a matter of conscience, of life itself—that the prohibition directed against the Talmud and the Hebrew Scriptures would be removed forever. Under the last two popes no copies of the Talmud had been allowed to appear without causing the possessor to incur the dangers of the watchful Inquisition. Nor was the possession of other perfectly harmless Hebrew works without risk, for as the Inquisitors and clerical authorities did not in the least understand them, they condemned all without exception as inimical to the church, a category which afforded ample room for denunciation. Whether the possessor of a Hebrew book should be condemned to lose his property, or be sent to the galleys, depended, in the last instance, upon the decision of baptized Jews acquainted with rabbinical literature. To escape these annoyances the communities of Mantua, Ferrara, and Milan addressed a request to Sixtus V to allow the Jews to possess copies of the Talmud and other books, provided these works were previously expurgated of the passages objectionable to Christianity. They referred to the decision of Pope Pius IV that the Talmud could not be entirely condemned, but that it contained passages worthy of censure, which were to be struck out by the censor's marks. A Jewish delegate, Bezalel Masserano, had gone to Rome, provided with 2,000 scudi, in order to lay the request of the Jews at the feet of his Holiness. It was granted in the bull of October 22d, 1586. Sixtus allowed the reprinting of the Talmud and other writings, though only after censorship. For this purpose two commissions were appointed, in which baptized Jews were naturally included as experts. The Italian Jews began to rejoice at being allowed to possess even a mutilated Talmud. But scarcely had the commission arranged the conditions of the censorship (August 7th, 1590), when the wise pope died, and the undertaking, just begun, of reprinting the mutilated Talmud was at once discontinued.

The regard paid Jews by Sixtus V arose not from any sentiment of justice, but from his passionate desire to amass treasure. "This pope bled Christians from the throat," says his biographer, "but he drew the blood of Jews from all their limbs." They often found themselves compelled to pay immense sums into the papal treasury.

With Clement VIII, however (1592–1605), the system of intolerance, practiced by Paul IV, Pius V, and Gregory XIII, once more came into vogue. He repeated the edict of expulsion against the Jews in the Papal States (February 25th, 1593), and allowed them to dwell only in Rome, Ancona, and Avignon. If a Jew were caught in any other papal city, he was to expiate his offense by the loss of his property and the penalty of the galleys. Clement re-imposed the old restrictions upon the Jews in the three cities mentioned, forbidding them either to read or possess the Talmud and other rabbinical writings. The Jews, expelled from the Papal States, seem to have been received by Ferdinand, Duke of Tuscany, who assigned Pisa to them as a dwelling-place (July, 1593). He allowed them to possess books of every kind and of all languages, including the Talmud, but the copies first had to be expurgated according to the regulations of the commission instituted by Sixtus V. So great was the fanaticism of the apostolic throne that even noble princes, like Ferdinand de Medici, of Tuscany, and Vicenzo Gonzago, of Mantua, did not venture to relax it. Even in places where, as a favor, the Jews were allowed to possess expurgated books, they were exposed to all kinds of annoyances and extortions. They had to pay the censors, mostly baptized Jews, for the mutilation of these writings, nor were they assured that even then their books would not again be confiscated, and the owners punished, merely because some obnoxious word or other had remained unobliterated. Woe to those who rubbed out one of the censors' marks! To avoid being exposed to vexation, Jews themselves laid hands upon their sacred literature, and expunged not only everything that referred to idolatry, but also everything that glorified the Jewish race, or made mention of the Messiah and his future advent. As Italy, at that time, was the chief market for printed Hebrew works, the Jews in other countries received only mutilated copies, from which open or covert protests against Rome were completely obliterated.

Expulsion of the Jews from all Italian cities was the order of the day in the reign of this pope. Thus the Jews were expelled (in the spring of 1597) from the Milan district, i.e., from the cities of Cremona, Pavia, Lodi, and others, to the number of about a thousand. They were forced to beg for shelter in Mantua, Modena, Reggio, Verona, and Padua. During their migrations, they were robbed by heartless Christians. The sword of the church hovered for a time also over the Jews in Ferrara, a town that had always been a safe refuge for them, and even for the new-Christians from Spain. The ducal race of De Este, whose representatives vied with the Medici in magnanimity and culture, had died out. The Jews of Ferrara felt themselves so identified with the fortunes of this princely house, that they offered public prayers in the synagogue on the occasion of the severe illness of the thoughtful Princess Leonore, whom two great poets have immortalized by placing her in the glorified heaven of poetry. She herself was a benefactress of Jews, and frequently protected them. But now the last representative of the race, Alfonso II, had died without heirs (1597), and, in opposition to his last wishes, Ferrara was incorporated into the Papal States by Clement VIII. The Jewish community, consisting chiefly of Marrano refugees, was prepared to endure banishment, as it could expect no mercy from this pope. They only asked Aldobrandini, the pope's relative, who had taken possession of Ferrara, to grant them a respite that they might make preparations for departure. As Aldobrandini saw that a great portion of the trade of the town was in the hands of Jews, he had sufficient consideration not to injure it, granted them permission to remain for five years, and had this decree carried out in spite of the fanatical wishes of Clement VIII, who had hoped to banish them. No fugitive new-Christian, however, could now stop in Ferrara without falling into the clutches of the bloody Inquisition. Thus the last refuge in Italy for this class of Jews was destroyed, and there was no longer any place of safety for them in all Christendom.

It seems providential that the Jewish race, which, at the end of the sixteenth century, had no longer a footing, properly speaking, in Europe or Asia, under Christianity or Islam, should have taken firm root in the empire of their obstinate foe, Philip II, of Spain, and should have been able from that vantage ground to gain a position of equality. Indeed, in the chain of causation it was the bloody Inquisition itself which helped gain them freedom. Holland, a land wrung from the sea, became for the hunted victims of a horrible, refined fanaticism, a resting-place where they could settle down, and develop their national characteristics. But what changes and vicissitudes they had to undergo before this almost undreamed of possibility could become reality! The northwest corner of Europe had hitherto been inhabited by only a few Jews. They suffered, as did their brethren, under the extravagances of excited fanaticism, were hunted down, and massacred at the time of the crusades and the Black Death, bearing all in silent obscurity and patience. When the country, under the name of the Netherlands, beneath the far-reaching scepter of Charles V, was united to Spain, the Spanish principle of hostility to Jews was transferred to it. The emperor issued command after command that the Jews in the cities of the Netherlands, small though their numbers were, should be expelled. Every citizen was required to make known to the royal officers the presence of Jews contrary to law. In consequence of the introduction of the Inquisition into Portugal, several Jewish families had betaken themselves, with all their wealth, industry, and skill, to the flourishing cities of the Netherlands, Brussels, Antwerp, and Ghent, in order to lead a religious life secure from danger. The severe edict of Charles V, and his repeated command not to allow their presence, extended to them. The magistrates duly fulfilled the commands of their ruler in this matter, because they feared that the presence of new-Christians would cause the Inquisition to be introduced—an evil which seemed to their anxious hearts to forebode great danger for themselves.

The people of the Netherlands could not escape the Inquisition. Although an appendage of Spain, were they not surrounded by Lutheran heretics, and did not these dwell in their very midst? So this institution was to be introduced among them also. This was one of the main causes of the revolt of the Netherlands, and of that long-continued war, so small in its beginnings, and so great in its results, that rendered powerless the might of Spain, and raised the tiny land of Holland to a power of almost the first rank. It seemed as if from every head that Alva struck off in the Netherlands, hundreds of others sprang, as from the Hydra of old. It was a matter of course that in this sanguinary struggle which transformed the whole land into an arena of battle, there was no place for Jews. Upon the advice of Arnheim and Zütphen, Alva had issued an edict that if Jews were found there, they were to be kept in custody until such time as he should pass judgment upon them. It was well known what this meant from his mouth.

The Portuguese Marranos, or new-Christians, who, even in the third generation, could not forget, and would not repudiate, their Jewish descent, turned their eyes towards the Netherlands, now wrestling for freedom, the more as the Inquisition was raging more furiously than ever, and dragging them to the dungeon or the stake. Since the first symptom of the decline of Spain's fortunes, since the collapse of the invincible Armada, by means of which Philip II had thought to carry the chains of actual and spiritual bondage not only to England, but, if possible, to the ends of the earth, there had arisen in the hearts of the pseudo-Christians, under the iron rule of this tyrant, an eager desire for freedom. As Italy was closed to them by the persecuting policy of the reactionary popes, their only hope of refuge was in the Netherlands.

An eminent Jew, Samuel Pallache, sent by the king of Morocco as consul to the Netherlands (about 1591), proposed to the magistrate of Middelburg, in the province of Zealand, to receive the Portuguese Marranos, and allow them religious freedom. In return, they would develop the city into a flourishing, commercial center by means of their wealth. The wise city fathers would willingly have agreed to this plan, but the war for religion and freedom, so passionately waged against the two-fold despotism of Spain, had made even the reformed preachers fanatical and intolerant. They were opposed to the admission of Jews into Zealand.

But the Portuguese new-Christians did not abandon the idea of seeking security in the provinces of the Netherlands already freed from the Spanish yoke. They felt themselves drawn towards this republic by mighty bonds; they shared its fierce hatred against Spain with its thirst for human sacrifices, and against its fanatical king, Philip II. The great Protector, William of Orange, the soul of the struggle for independence, had uttered the idea of mutual toleration and friendly intercourse between different religious parties, creeds, and sects. Although this first germ of genuine humanity at first fell to the ground, the Marranos clung to it as affording hope of release from their daily torments. A courageous Marrano woman, Mayor Rodrigues, appears to have formed the plan of seeking a refuge for her family in Holland. She, her husband, Gaspar Lopes Homem, her two sons and two daughters, and several other members of this rich and respected family, were devotedly attached to Judaism, and weary of the pretense of following Christian customs, a pretense, after all, powerless to protect them from the horrors of the Inquisition. When a ship sailed from Portugal with a load of fugitive Marranos, under the leadership of one Jacob Tirado, Mayor Rodrigues intrusted to this vessel her charming and beautiful daughter, Maria Nuñes, and also her son. The mother appears to have relied upon the magic of her daughter's charms; the extraordinary beauty of Maria Nuñes was to serve as an ægis to these wanderers, surrounded by dangers on all sides, and secure to them a place of refuge. As a matter of fact, her beauty was successful in averting the first danger that threatened the party of refugees, consisting of ten persons, men, women and children. They were captured by an English ship making raids upon vessels sailing under the Spanish-Portuguese flag, and were taken to England. Maria Nuñes so bewitched the captain, an English duke, that he offered her his hand, thinking that she belonged to the rank of the Portuguese grandees; but she refused this honorable offer, because she wished to live as a Jewess. The beauty of the fair Portuguese prisoner made so great a sensation in London, that the virgin queen, Elizabeth, was curious to make the acquaintance of this celebrated beauty, inaccessible even to the love of a duke. She invited her to an audience, and drove with her in an open carriage through the streets of the capital. Probably owing to the mediation of Maria Nuñes, the fugitive Jews were allowed to leave England unharmed, and set sail for Holland. After enduring a most stormy voyage, they were able to make for the harbor of Emden, where, as in the rest of East Friesland, some few German Jews lived.

As soon as the Marranos became aware, by Hebrew letters and other signs, of the presence of brethren in this city, Jacob Tirado, the most eminent among them repaired to Moses Uri Halevi, who had the reputation of being a learned man, and on whose house Hebrew characters had been noticed. He discovered to him his own and his companions' intention to give up pseudo-Christianity, and to be received fully and, if possible, immediately into Judaism. But Moses Uri had scruples about taking such a decisive course, the apparent conversion of Christians to Judaism, in a small town, where nothing could long remain hidden. He, therefore, advised the fugitives to betake themselves to Amsterdam, where greater toleration was enjoyed, and promised to come to them with his whole family, to remain with them, and instruct them in Jewish doctrines. Accordingly, the Marranos, led by Tirado, arrived at Amsterdam (April 22d, 1593), sought an abode which would allow of their remaining together, and were received back into Judaism as soon as Moses Uri and his family came to them.

Moses Uri and his son arranged a house of prayer for the Marranos, and officiated as conductors of the services. Great zeal was shown, not only by Jacob Tirado, but also by Samuel Pallache, the consul, and a Marrano poet, Jacob Israel Belmonte, come thither from Madeira, who depicted the tortures of the Inquisition in verse, giving his poem the appropriate title of "Job." The youthful community was strengthened in numbers and in standing by fresh arrivals. An English fleet, which, under the Earl of Essex, surprised the fortress of Cadiz, and inflicted serious injuries upon the Spaniards (in the summer of 1596), conveyed several Marranos to Holland, amongst them a man of great originality, not without importance for posterity. Alonso de Herrera was descended from Jewish and ancient Spanish families. His ancestor was the great Gonsalvo de Cordova, the conqueror of Naples for Spain. He himself was the Spanish resident in Cadiz, and on the capture of this city was taken prisoner by the English. On being liberated he went to Amsterdam, became a Jew, and adopted the name of Abraham de Herrera (wrongly called Irira).

The Marranos in Amsterdam did not find the practice of their religion altogether easy. When this first Portuguese community was secretly celebrating its fourth Fast of Atonement (October, 1596), their Christian neighbors were surprised at the secret meeting of disguised figures in one house; they suspected treacherous assemblies of Catholic conspirators, and denounced them to the magistrates. Whilst the Jews were engaged in prayer, armed men suddenly rushed into the house, and spread terror amongst the assembled worshipers. As most of them, mindful of the cruelties of the Inquisition, and fearing a similar fate in Amsterdam, tried to save themselves by flight, the suspicions of the Amsterdam officials were increased. The latter searched for crucifixes and wafers, and led Moses Uri and his son, the leaders of the service, to prison. However, Jacob Tirado, who was able to make himself understood in the Latin language, succeeded in convincing the authorities that the assembly was not one of papists, but of Jews who had fled from the Moloch of the Inquisition. Moreover, that they had brought much wealth with them, and finally that they would induce many co-religionists to come from Spain and Portugal with their riches, and thus give an impulse to the trade of Amsterdam. Tirado's speech made a great impression. The prisoners were released, and the terrified Portuguese Jews were able to conclude the service of the Fast of Atonement. Now that their religion was made known, they ventured upon the step of petitioning the magistrate to allow them to build a synagogue in which to hold their religious services. After much consideration the request was granted. Jacob Tirado bought a site, and in 1598 built the first Jewish temple in the north of Europe, called the "House of Jacob" (Beth Jacob). It was consecrated amid the enthusiasm of the little community.

The favorable news about the Marrano colonists, carried secretly to Spain and Portugal, afforded additional inducement to emigration. Mayor Rodrigues Homem, the first promoter of this course, also found an opportunity of escaping from Portugal and joining her beautiful daughter, Maria Nuñes (about 1598). She brought her younger son and daughter with her; her husband had probably died before this time. Simultaneously, barely escaping the Inquisition, another eminent family arrived from Portugal, that of Franco Mendes, including the parents and two sons, Francisco Mendes Medeïros, a cultured literary man, who took the Hebrew name of Isaac, and Christoval Mendes Franco, rich and benevolent, who called himself Mordecai. Both played important parts in the Amsterdam community, but subsequently caused a division.

Philip II lived to see the two races whom he had most savagely hated and persecuted, the Netherlanders and the Jews, in a measure join hands to destroy what he had created, for Holland derived advantage from the Jewish settlers from Portugal. Previously it had been one of the poorest states, and the bitter, destructive wars had made the land still poorer. The capital brought by the Marranos to Amsterdam was very acceptable, and benefited the whole country. The Dutch were now enabled to lay the foundations of their prosperity by taking the Indian trade out of the hands of the Portuguese, who had been connected with Spain in an unprofitable alliance. The capital of the fugitive Jews made it possible to found great transmarine companies and fit out trading expeditions, in which they participated. The connections, too, of the Portuguese Jews with their secret co-religionists in the Portuguese possessions in the Indies assisted the undertakings of Dutch merchants.

Philip II died in September, 1598, a terrible warning to obstinate, unscrupulous despots. His body was covered with abscesses and vermin, which made him such an object of horror that his trembling servants approached him only with disgust. The great empire which he bequeathed to his feeble son, Philip III, was likewise diseased. It was succumbing to its infirmities, and no longer possessed influence in the councils of Europe. The reins of government were loosened, and thus the new-Christians found it still easier to escape the clutches of the Inquisition. They now had a goal to which to direct their steps. An extraordinary occurrence in Lisbon had excited the most lukewarm apostate Jews to return to Judaism. A Franciscan monk, Diogo de la Asumção, of an ancient Christian family, had become convinced of the truth of Judaism and the falsity of Christianity by reading the Bible—Bible reading has its dangers—and had openly expressed his convictions to the other monks of his order. For what purpose had the Inquisition been instituted, if it were to let such crimes go unpunished? Diogo was thrown into a dungeon; but it was not necessary to extort confession, for he openly and without reservation admitted his offense, love for Judaism. The tribunal needed to put him to the rack only to induce him to denounce his accomplices, he having asserted that several of his fellow-monks shared his convictions. Certain learned theologians were charged to dissuade the apostate Franciscan from his belief, and remove so dark a stain from the order and Christendom in general; but in vain. Diogo remained true to his belief in the truth of Judaism. After he had spent about two years in the dungeons of the Inquisition, he was finally burnt alive at a solemn auto-da-fé in Lisbon, in the presence of the regent (August, 1603).

The fact that a Christian by birth, a monk to boot, had suffered for the sake of Judaism, and had died steadfast in faith, made a powerful impression upon apostate Portuguese Jews, and impelled them to return publicly to the faith of their fathers. The Inquisition lost its terrors for them. They reverted to Judaism, without heeding whether or not they were rushing upon death. David Jesurun, a young poet, a favorite of the Muses since his childhood, on this account called "the little poet" by his acquaintances, celebrated the burning of the martyr, Diogo de la Asumção, in a fiery Portuguese sonnet:

This eager young poet was fortunate enough to escape the Inquisition, and hastened to Amsterdam. He composed a powerful poem in Spanish on seeing this city, which seemed to him a new Jerusalem. Another young Marrano poet also reverted to Judaism through the tragic death of Diogo, the Franciscan. Paul de Pina, a man of some poetic talent, was inclined to religious enthusiasm, and was on the point of becoming a monk. This step caused great sorrow to his relative, Diego Gomez Lobato, at heart faithful to Judaism, and he wished to hinder him from apostasy. When he was about to make a journey to Italy, Diego, therefore, gave him a letter, addressed to the celebrated Jewish physician, Elias Montalto, known as Felix Montalto when professing Christianity. The letter was as follows: "Our cousin, Paul de Pina, is going to Rome to become a monk. Your Grace will do me the favor to dissuade him."

If this letter had fallen into the hands of the Roman or Portuguese Inquisition, it would have cost both the writer and his correspondent their lives. Elias Montalto endeavored to dissuade young De Pina from his purpose and win him back to the religion of his fathers. He seems to have succeeded only in so far that De Pina abandoned his journey to Rome, went off to Brazil, and then returned to Lisbon. The martyrdom of Diogo de la Asumção appears to have finally decided him against Christianity. He hastened to Amsterdam with the sad news (1604), became an eager convert to Judaism, and adopted the Hebrew name of Rohel Jesurun. He became a most enthusiastic Jew, an ornament to the Amsterdam community.

The loyalty to Judaism manifested by the Portuguese Marranos regardless of consequences naturally swelled the numbers of the victims of the Inquisition. Not long afterwards, one hundred and fifty of them were thrown into gloomy dungeons, tortured, and forced to confess. Even the regent of Portugal hesitated to burn so large a number. Moreover, the new-Christian capitalists had a certain amount of power over the Spanish court, to which, since the union of the two kingdoms, Portugal now belonged. The court owed them large sums which it could not pay in consequence of the increasing poverty of both countries. The Marranos offered to release Philip III from this debt, and give in addition a present of 1,200,000 crusados (£120,000), if the imprisoned Jews were pardoned. They also spent 150,000 crusados to persuade the councilors to make the king grant this favor. Hence the court manifested an inclination to mercy, and applied to Pope Clement VIII to empower the Inquisition to deal mildly with the sinners on this occasion. The pope remembered, or was reminded, that his predecessors, Clement VII and Paul III, had granted absolution to Portuguese Marranos. He did the same, and issued a bull pardoning the imprisoned Jews (August 23d, 1604). The Inquisition contented itself with the hypocritical repentance of its prisoners. Several hundred of them, clad in the garb of penitents, were led to the auto-da-fé at Lisbon (January 10th, 1605), not, however, to mount the stake, but to make public confession of their guilt, and be condemned to deprivation of all civic rights. All, or a large proportion, of those set free, repaired to their new place of refuge. Among them was Joseph ben Israel, who had thrice suffered torture, and escaped with shattered health and the loss of his property. He took with him his son Manasseh—or whatever his name may have been as a pseudo-Christian—then a child, subsequently destined to fill a distinguished rôle in Jewish history.

Moses Uri (born 1544, died 1620) at different times received into the Hebrew faith two hundred and forty-eight men, so greatly did the numbers of the community at Amsterdam increase. They sent to Salonica for a rabbi of Sephardic descent, by name Joseph Pardo, who well understood the character of the semi-Catholic members of the community. He put into their hands a book written in Spanish, Christian rather than Jewish in tone. The synagogue Beth Jacob, built by Tirado, no longer sufficed for the accommodation of its worshipers, and a new one had to be built in 1608, called "Neve Shalom." It was founded by Isaac Francisco Mendes Medeïros and his relatives. As the discoverers of a new country regard every step they take in it, every new path into which they strike out, and every person prominent in the enterprise, as important and worthy of remembrance, so the young Amsterdam community joyfully recorded everything that occurred in their midst at the commencement of their career.

The arrival of Isaac Uziel (died in 1620) was a piece of good fortune for this unique community. Apparently of a family of refugees, this rabbi could thoroughly sympathize with his companions in misfortune at Amsterdam. He was a poet, grammarian, and mathematician, but, above all, a preacher of rare power and influence, the first who dared arouse, with his mighty voice, the consciences of his hearers, lulled to sleep by the practice of Catholic customs, and warn them not to believe that they had purchased indulgence or remission for their sins, follies, and vices, by religious observances thoughtlessly practiced. Isaac Uziel did not spare even the most respected and powerful in the community, although he thereby drew upon himself their hatred, which went so far as to cause a split; on the other hand, he gained devoted followers, who celebrated him in spirited verse.

In this manner religious union was encouraged and faith strengthened among the Portuguese fugitives, who had so degenerated in religious matters. But as yet no arrangements had been made for the proper burial of their dead. They were compelled to bury them far away from the city, at Groede, in northern Holland. By the endeavors of the leading members of the community, they succeeded in obtaining a burial-ground, not too far from Amsterdam, in Ouderkerk, near Muiderberg (in April, 1614), at which they rejoiced greatly. The first person buried there was Manuel Pimentel, or, by his Jewish name, Isaac Abenacar, called "king of players" by the French king, Henry IV, who was in the habit of playing with him. Two years later, the body of an eminent and noble man, Elias Felice Montalto, was brought from far off to be buried in this peaceful spot. He had formerly professed Christianity, but afterwards became a faithful Jew, was a clever physician and elegant author, and lived in Livorno, Venice, and finally in Paris as private physician to Queen Maria de Medici. He died in Tours while on a journey with the French court, on February 16th, 1616. The queen caused his body to be embalmed, and taken to the cemetery at Ouderkerk, accompanied by his son, his uncle, and his disciple, Saul Morteira.

The Jews of Amsterdam were long compelled to pay a tax, for every corpse, to the churches past which the body was carried. On the whole, they were at first not tolerated officially, their presence was only connived at. They were distrusted as Catholic spies in the service of Spain, plotting treason disguised as Jews. Even when the authorities and the population in general had become convinced of their genuine hatred of Spain and Portugal, they were still far from being recognized and tolerated as an independent, religious body. For a short time the synagogues were closed, and public worship prohibited. Jewish refugees from the Spanish peninsula, on arriving in Havre, were thrown into prison. This intolerance in the country destined to be the first where religious freedom was to raise its temple, was chiefly caused by the passionate conflict between two parties of Reformers—the Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants. The former were more gentle in their exposition and practical application of Christianity than their opponents, the gloomy Calvinists, Dutch Independents. In Amsterdam the latter party predominated and persecuted their opponents, considered secret, treacherous adherents of Spain. Although the Remonstrants had cause to try to effect toleration for all sects, it was they who came forward as the accusers of the Jews. They complained to the chief magistrate of Amsterdam that all kinds of sects, even Jews, were tolerated in the capital of Holland, they being the sole exception.

The governor, Prince Maurice of Orange, was certainly favorable to Jews, but he could do nothing against the spirit of intolerance, and the independence of the cities and states. Consequently, even in Holland the Jewish question came up for discussion, and a commission was appointed for its settlement. Finally it was decided (March 17th, 1615) that every city, as in the case of Amsterdam, could issue a special regulation about Jews, either to tolerate them, or to expel them; but in those cities where they were admitted, they were not to be forced to wear a badge. Upon the repeated complaints of the Remonstrants, the burgomaster, Reinier Pauw, laid before the council (October 15th, 1619) the question as to what was to be done in the case of the numerous fugitive Portuguese Jews who had intermarried with the daughters of the land, thereby causing great scandal and annoyance. Hereupon it was decided (November 8th), that intercourse between Jews and Christian women, even prostitutes, was to be strictly forbidden. On the other hand, permission was granted to Jews freely to acknowledge their religion.

As Amsterdam was not so wealthy as it afterwards became, it could not do without Jews, who had transferred to it their riches and their knowledge of affairs. The old-established prejudices against them disappeared more and more upon closer acquaintance. The Jews from Portugal betrayed neither by their cultured language, their demeanor, nor their manners, that they belonged to a despised caste; on the contrary, their carriage was that of people of rank, with whom it was an honor for many a Christian burgher to be acquainted. They were, therefore, treated with a certain amount of consideration. Their number soon increased to four hundred families, with three hundred houses in the city, and before long, a Hebrew printing press was set up in Amsterdam, without fear of the Argus eye of the censor.

The prosperity of Amsterdam, caused by the influx of Portuguese Jews, excited the envy of many Christian princes, and they invited the Jews into their dominions. Christian IV, king of Denmark, addressed a letter to the Jewish Council of Amsterdam (November 25th, 1622), asking them to encourage some of their members to settle in his state. He promised them freedom of worship, and other favorable privileges. The Duke of Savoy invited Portuguese Jews to come to Nice, and the Duke of Modena offered them the right of residence in Reggio, both granting them extensive privileges. Thus, in the midst of the gloomy persecution of Christendom, whose two religious factions were drawing the sword against each other in the Thirty Years' War, the Jews found pleasant little oases, as it were, from which they could recover their lost liberty, and gradually raise themselves from their heavy bondage.

CHAPTER XX.
THE DUTCH JERUSALEM AND THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR.

The Amsterdam Jewish Community—Its Wealth, Culture, and Honored Position—Zacuto Lusitano—Internal Dissensions—The Talmud Torah School—Saul Morteira, Isaac Aboab, and Manasseh ben Israel—The Portuguese Congregation in Hamburg—The First Synagogue—Lutheran Intolerance—John Miller—Jewish Colony in Brazil—The Chief Communities in Germany—Persecution in Frankfort—Dr. Chemnitz—The Vienna Congregation—Lipmann Heller—Ferdinand II's Zeal for the Conversion of Jews—Influence of the Thirty Years' War on the Fortunes of the Jews.

1618–1648 C.E.

The Jewish race during its dispersion of nearly two thousand years may fitly be compared to a polyp. Though it was often wounded and cut to pieces, the parts severed from the whole did not die, but began an independent existence, developed organically, and formed a new rootstock. Driven from their original Palestinian home, the scattered members of this peculiar national organism assembled on the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris and in the palm district of Arabia. Doomed to ruin there, they emigrated to Spain with the Arabs, the most cultured people of the Middle Ages, and became the teachers of Europe, then plunged in barbarism. Expelled thence, weakened in heart and numbers, they proceeded eastwards, and, as again they found no resting-place, they settled in the north, always following advancing civilization. The admission of Jews to Holland was the first quivering dawn of a bright day after dense gloom. Amsterdam, the northern Venice, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, had become a new center for Jews; they rightly named it their new, great Jerusalem. In time this city became an ark of refuge for the Jewish race in the new deluge. With every trial conducted by the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal on account of the Judaizing practices of the Marranos, with every burning pile set ablaze for convicted or suspected persons, the numbers of the Amsterdam community increased, as if the fanatics aimed at depopulating and impoverishing the Catholic countries to render the heretical states of the Netherlands populous and wealthy. The Amsterdam Portuguese community, consisting of more than four hundred members, already possessed three hundred stately houses and palaces in this city, raised by them to a flourishing seat of commerce. Their capital enabled them to carry on trade, for the most part on a large scale, and they were interested in the East and West India Companies, or conducted banking houses. But to usury, which made the Jews of other countries so hated, they were sworn foes. The synagogue dues imposed upon themselves give an approximate idea of the extent of their capital and trade. For every pound of goods exported or imported by them they were accustomed to pay a doit, and these taxes, exclusive of those on the receipts of merchants interested in trading companies, amounted to 12,000 francs annually.

Not on account of their wealth alone did they occupy a distinguished position in the new Batavian seat of commerce. The immigrant Marranos belonged for the most part to the educated class; in Spain or Portugal, their unnatural mother country, they had occupied positions as physicians, lawyers, government officials, officers, or clergymen, and were familiar with the Latin language and literature no less than with belles-lettres, and were accustomed to the usages of society. In the Netherlands, then the most civilized part of Europe, humanistic culture was in itself a recommendation. Hence, in Holland, cultivated Jews had intercourse with educated Christians on terms of equality, and obliterated the prejudices against the Jewish race. Some of them obtained a European reputation, and were connected with personages of high rank. Abraham Zacuto Lusitano (born 1576, died 1642), great-grandson of Zacuto, the historian and astronomer, was one of the most celebrated physicians of his time. He corresponded with Frederick, prince of the Palatinate, and his learned wife, the unfortunate couple that occupied the throne of Bohemia for a brief space, and was the cause of the Thirty Years' War. Zacuto's praise was sounded in poetry and prose by Christian as well as Jewish professional brethren. The Stadtholders of the Netherlands, princes of the house of Orange-Nassau, Maurice, Henry, and William II, like the founder of their race, William I, were well disposed towards Jews, and treated them as citizens with full rights. Even the Spanish and Portuguese kings, the persecutors of the Marranos in their own countries, condescended to show respect to the descendants of their hunted victims, to confer appointments upon them, and to intrust them with consular functions for their states.

The attachment of the Amsterdam Jews to their re-adopted religion, purchased with so many dangers, was deep, and was renewed at every accession of fresh fugitives, and every report of the martyrdom of their brethren on the burning pile of the Inquisition. This devotedness was reflected in their conduct, and embodied in verses composed in the language of their persecutors.

Paul de Pina, or Rëuel Jesurun, the poet, who had once been on the point of becoming a monk, composed for a sacred festival part songs in Portuguese, performed by seven youths to do honor to the first synagogue (Beth-Jacob) in 1624. The mountains of the Holy Land, Sinai, Hor, Nebo, Gerisim, Carmel, and Zethim (Mount of Olives), in melodious verses celebrated the excellence of the Jewish religion, the Jewish Law, and the Jewish people. They praised the thousand merciful ways in which God had led His people from the earliest times to the present. The unity of God, the holiness of the Law, and the expectations of the Messianic age of grace, the more deeply felt by the Sephardic Marranos because they were newly acquired and dearly gained convictions—these were the inexhaustible themes of their poetry. But in the background of the splendid picture there always lowered the dreadful dungeon, the priests of Moloch, and the blazing flames of the Inquisition.

In this mood, exalted by the recollection of sufferings and torture endured, the members of the Amsterdam community, with full heart and bountiful hand, founded benevolent institutions of every description, orphan asylums, benevolent societies (brotherhoods), and hospitals, such as were not in existence in any of the older communities. They had the means and the disposition. Their piety was shown in charity and generosity. But, exalted though their mood was, they were men with passions, and dissensions arose in the young community. Many members, born and brought up in Catholicism, brought with them and retained their Catholic views and customs; they thought that they could combine them with Judaism. "Can one carry coals in his bosom without singeing his clothes?" From childhood the Marranos had heard and seen that one is allowed to sin, if from time to time he is reconciled with the church. Catholic priests of all ranks were at hand to effect the reconciliation, and by ecclesiastical means ward off future punishment from the sinner. In the eyes of most Marranos, the rites and ceremonies of Judaism took the place of the Catholic sacraments, and the rabbis of father-confessors. They believed that he who conscientiously observes Jewish rites, and in addition does a few other things, may yield to his desires without forfeiting his soul's welfare. At any rate, the rabbis could give him absolution. Hence the Marranos led a life far from perfect, especially in point of chastity. The first two rabbis of the Amsterdam community, Joseph Pardo and Judah Vega, in consideration of the circumstances were indulgent to these weaknesses and shortcomings. But the third, Isaac Uziel, did not restrain himself; with inexorable rigor he scourged the evil habits of semi-Jews and semi-Catholics from the pulpit. This severity wounded the attacked, but, instead of mending their ways, they were angry with the preacher, and several left the community and the synagogue, and combined to found a new one (the third) in 1618. At the head of the seceders was David Osorio; possibly he felt most deeply wounded by Uziel's severe sermons. For the new synagogue (Beth Israel) which the seceders erected, they chose David Pardo, the son of Joseph Pardo, as rabbi and preacher. He defended the acceptance of this office in the new body, founded to some extent in defiance of Isaac Uziel, by alleging that he wished to lessen dissension. However, the tension lasted for twenty years (1618–1639).

Meanwhile German Jews, whom the ravages of the Thirty Years' War had driven out of their Ghettos, sought the asylum of Amsterdam, and were admitted to its shelter. If the Amsterdam Council had at first merely connived at the immigration and settlement of Jews, at a later period it decidedly furthered their admission, because it perceived the important advantage which they brought the state. The immigrant German Jews naturally could not unite closely with the Portuguese community, because they differed, not only in language, but also in demeanor and manners. A wide chasm divided the Portuguese and the Germans of the same race and religion from each other. The former haughtily looked down upon the latter as semi-barbarians, and the latter did not regard the former as genuine Jews. As soon as a sufficient number had assembled, the German Jews formed a synagogue, with a rabbi of their own. Their first chief was Moses Weil. The breach within the Portuguese community was painfully felt. Jacob Curiel, a distinguished man, afterwards resident of the Portuguese court in Hamburg, by the greatest exertions brought about a reconciliation, and not till the union of the three synagogues in one single corporate body, in April, 1639, did the Portuguese community, by the harmonious co-operation of its powers, stand forth in all its splendor, and surpass all its elder sisters in the three divisions of the globe. The Amsterdam community in some points resembled the ancient Alexandrian Jewish congregation. Like the latter, it possessed great wealth, cultivation, and a certain distinction of character; but, like it, suffered from insufficient knowledge of Jewish religious and scientific literature. Nearly all Marrano members had to commence to learn Hebrew in advanced age!

On uniting the three communities, for which statutes were passed, the representatives took pains to obviate this ignorance of Hebrew. They founded an institute (Talmud Torah) in which children and youths might have instruction in the useful branches of Jewish theology. It was, perhaps, the first graded institution of the kind among Jews. It consisted, at first, of seven classes. Students could be conducted from the lowest step, the Hebrew alphabet, to the highest rung of the Talmud. It was at once an elementary school and a college for higher studies. Thorough Hebrew philology, elocution, and modern Hebrew poetry were also taught there, which was not usual in other Jewish schools. In the highest departments, the first rabbis, or Chachamim, at that time Saul Morteira and Isaac Aboab, gave instruction. These two men, with Manasseh ben Israel and David Pardo, formed the first rabbinical college. This richly endowed institute became a nursery for the training of rabbis for the Amsterdam community and its daughters in Europe and America. From it pupils went forth who labored in wider spheres; among whom may be mentioned, for the sake of contrast, the confused Kabbalist Moses Zacuto and the clear-headed Baruch Spinoza.

It was a misfortune for the Amsterdam community that its first spiritual guides, who exercised remarkable influence, were possessed of only mediocre talents, in some degree lacked mental poise. With the vast resources which this first Dutch community had at command, with the fund of culture characterizing its members, and their devotion to Judaism, its leaders might have brought about remarkable results, if they had possessed more independence, profounder intellect, and greater genius. The first Amsterdam rabbinical college had nothing of all this. David Pardo appears to have been of very little importance. Saul Levi Morteira (born about 1596, died 1660) was not even a distinguished preacher; his colleagues, Aboab and Manasseh ben Israel, far outshone him. His sermons, the only printed productions of his literary activity, have a philosophical complexion, but no depth of thought. Morteira followed the broad, beaten paths, repeating what had been thought and pointed out before him. Even in rabbinical learning he had no mastery, and was not considered an authority by contemporary Talmudists. His colleague, Isaac Aboab de Fonseca (born 1606, died 1693), was even less distinguished. He, also, was a Portuguese by descent, and, it seems, came to Amsterdam as a child with his mother, who was fifty years old at his birth. He was trained under Isaac Uziel, and acquired from him pulpit eloquence, if that can be learnt. Aboab became an excellent and beloved preacher. His style of speaking has been very well described by Antonio Vieira of Lisbon, a wise Jesuit, possessed of goodwill towards Jews. When once in Amsterdam, he heard Aboab and Manasseh ben Israel preach, and when asked how he liked them, he replied: "The one (Manasseh) says what he knows, and the other knows what he says." But a well-arranged, impressive, attractive sermon is not always the fruit of solid knowledge and clear conviction. At any rate, it was not with Aboab. In character he was vacillating, submissive to the influence of others, open to flattery, hence not independent. To this man was given the control of the Amsterdam community for nearly seventy years. Aboab was superstitious like the multitude, and, instead of leading, was led.

Far more distinguished was Manasseh ben Israel (born 1604, died 1657), a child of the Amsterdam community, to which his father had come broken down by the torture of the Inquisition, and robbed of all his property. Young Manasseh, eager for learning, was trained under Isaac Uziel, and while his knowledge of the Bible and the Talmud did not attain to perfect mastery, it was extensive and ready. Directed by his personal circumstances to the study of ten languages—including Portuguese as his mother tongue, and Latin as the literary language—Manasseh learnt to express himself in speech and writing with more or less perfection in all these languages and in an elevated style. A ready speaker by nature, he educated himself as a preacher, displaying all the lights and shadows of his profession. He became a prolific writer, and, though he died young, performed incomparably more than his colleagues. In the case of this amiable man, who rendered essential service to Judaism, we should not take the part of severe critics, nor inquire how large a share enthusiasm and a certain vanity had in his work. But history is a stern judge. What his contemporaries admired in Manasseh was not his profound intellect, nor his overpowering, far-reaching greatness, but his quiet, yielding, modest behavior, and his simple nature. He correctly and briefly described himself without under- or over-estimation: "I rejoice in the modest though happy talent of being able to describe, with a certain degree of order, the objects that the will presents to the mind." He brought no great and fruitful thoughts into the world, but fostered the intellectual offspring of others, treating them as his own. He knew rather than thought much. Although familiar with profane literature and Christian theology, he clung firmly not only to traditional Judaism, as represented by the rabbinical system, but also to the Kabbala, and, like his less educated colleagues, regarded every word in the Talmud and the Zohar as a profound truth. Like others, Manasseh ben Israel was subject to superstitions, which had a strong influence over him, and spurred on his will.

Such was the character of the men called to guide and instruct the young, ignorant, catholicizing, and tractable Amsterdam community. Great power was in their hand. Important affairs were discussed and decided at the public sittings of the rabbis (Maamad) with the trustees elected by the members. In religious matters the Chachamim alone decided, because the laity did not trust their own judgment. The decisions of the rabbis were binding on the members. Nobody might oppose them, because the government had a despotic character. The authorities allowed the board of trustees and the college of rabbis full liberty to inflict spiritual penalties on disobedient members. Of this liberty and this power the leaders made only too extensive a use. They had brought from Spain mischievous zeal in maintaining the faith pure and uprooting heresy. The Amsterdam rabbis introduced the innovation of bringing religious opinions and convictions before their judgment-seat, of constituting themselves a sort of inquisitional tribunal, and instituting autos-da-fé, which, even if bloodless, were not less painful to the sufferers. The character and organization of the largest Portuguese community in Europe had a powerful influence on the course of Jewish history. Branch communities were formed, which took for their model not only the organization, dignity, devoted piety, and benevolence, but also the follies and perversities, of their mother. The second community on Dutch soil was gradually formed at Rotterdam. Two brothers, as pious as wealthy, Abraham and David Pinto, laid the foundation of this community, and elected as Chacham and principal of the institute which they founded (Jesiba de los Pintos), a young man, Josiah Pardo, son of David Pardo, and son-in-law of Morteira, who, however, did not distinguish himself.

In Haarlem, also, the Jews were on the point of obtaining permission to settle. The Humanists and favorers of toleration, like Joseph Scaliger, the prince of philologists, were already rejoicing; but, in the end, intolerance prevailed, and nothing came of the movement. Instead, Portuguese communities arose in North Germany beyond the sea, and gradually in other cities of the Netherlands.

In Hamburg an important colony of the Amsterdam community was next formed. But there were difficulties in overcoming German prejudices and German pedantry. Against the advantages arising from the settlement of wealthy and intelligent Jews, which the Amsterdam people had quickly comprehended, the Hamburg citizens struggled hand and foot. For the fierce Lutherans it was an abomination to have Jews in their midst. A Jewish jeweler named Isaac, from Salzuflen, in Lippe, with twelve of his co-religionists, who were compelled to go in search of a new home, made an attempt to settle in Hamburg. He presented a petition to the senate to receive them for twelve years, offering the sum of 9,000 marks and a yearly tax of 400 marks. The negotiator, Isaac, exhaustively set forth all possible reasons for the reception of Jews, and declared that they were willing to submit to any conditions. He adduced that Jews were tolerated not only in Catholic, but also in evangelical countries, both in the West, at Frankfort and Worms, and in northern Germany, in Hanover, Minden, Hildesheim, Göttingen, Norden, Dortmund, Hamm, Lippe, and Emden. All was in vain. Hamburg, then delighting in popish quarreling about orthodoxy and heresy, refused a home to Jews.

It is curious that Hamburg, at the very time when it so strongly opposed the temporary admission of Jews, harbored some in its midst without being aware of it. With these, under the mask of Portuguese papists, orthodox Christians had daily intercourse. Marrano fugitives had escaped from the Inquisition, settled in the North German free Hanse town, and passed as Portuguese "traders." Hearing that their brethren in Amsterdam, with whom they were in communication, openly professed Judaism, and were tolerated, they also lifted their mask, and wished to be recognized as Jews, but continued to have their children baptized. The strict Lutheran citizens raised a loud outcry, and demanded of the senate that the wealthy Jews who had been driven from Portugal and other places should be got rid of, and not be tolerated. But to this the senate did not like to accede; they felt shame at treating these Portuguese of noble demeanor and intelligent character as vagrants or Jews. To the secret Jews of Hamburg there belonged at that time the beloved and much-sought physician, Rodrigo de Castro (born about 1560 at Lisbon, died 1627 or 1628), who, in the violence of the pestilence, hastened with self-sacrifice to the bedsides of those stricken by the plague, and saved the lives of many. De Castro was also a skillful physician for women, and won the favor of the weaker sex, strong in sympathy and antipathy. Able physicians were not numerous, especially not in North Germany. Other "Portuguese," as the disguised Marranos in Hamburg called themselves, and were called, possessed capital, or, as agents, conducted important business for Spanish or Portuguese houses. In short, it did not seem practicable to send these Portuguese away. The senate, therefore, at first put off the citizens with an official denial that there were Jews among them; and afterwards admitted the presence of a smaller number than was correct—about seven Portuguese Jews "who have fire and smoke here," i.e., households. But the Lutheran clergy in Hamburg behaved most intolerantly, excited people against the Portuguese Jews, and charged the senate with neglect of duty. That body, which guarded only the commercial interests, did not care to dispense with the Jews, but being unwilling to burden its conscience, or rather to incur the reproach of unchristian feeling, turned from the Hamburg clergy—the ministry—to a higher court, the theological faculties of Frankfort-on-the-Oder and Jena. The theological grounds of which the senate availed itself for the toleration of Jews are very ridiculous, and prove the ossification of Lutheranism at that time. The judgment of the Frankfort faculty proceeds upon these grounds, and indulges the hope that the Portuguese Jews—who for the sake of their convictions had given up honors, fortune, and a beloved home—would be converted to Christianity in Hamburg. The decision of the Jena faculty looks as if a professor of Dominican theology of a century before, in the time of Hoogstraten, had written it, and as if the index on the dial of history had stood still. Like the intolerant papists, the Lutheran theological faculty wished to compel Jews to listen to Christian preaching.

The senate, sufficiently protected on the ecclesiastical side by these two judgments, in February, 1612, with restrictions growing out of the German spirit or the German narrow-mindedness of that time, granted the Portuguese Jews free residence in Hamburg, avoiding a consideration of the consequences on both sides with pedantic scrupulousness. They really became protected Jews (Schutz-juden), who had to pay an annual charge or protection fee of 1,000 marks. They were not allowed to have synagogues, or private religious service according to Jewish customs, or to practice circumcision, but they might bury their dead in a cemetery of their own at Altona. There were then in Hamburg 125 adults of Marrano descent, among whom were ten capitalists, two physicians, and three artisans. It was an important article in the agreement that new-comers might obtain admission, "if the high and wise council found their qualifications of such a nature that it had no objection to take them under its protection." Thus the young, semi-tolerated Hamburg community grew from year to year, and within a decade several capitalists were added. The increase of the community through the accession of such settlers, admitted openly as Jews, no longer disguised as Portuguese, in 1617 rendered necessary a fresh agreement with the senate, enlarging their privileges in commercial respects, but diminishing them in point of citizenship. They could not possess houses or land, and had to dispose of any they might own. Exception was made in favor of the physician, Rodrigo de Castro, in consideration of his faithful services of many years, but even he could not bequeath his house to an heir.

The more the Portuguese Jews, by their capital and business connections, gained weight with commercial men in the senate, the more they broke through the boundaries drawn by narrow-minded legislation. When the bank at Hamburg, to which this city owed its commercial prosperity, was founded (1619–1623), no less than twelve Jewish capitalists supported it with their funds and efforts, as the Amsterdam Portuguese had done at the formation of the Dutch companies trading beyond the sea. The Portuguese Jewish settlers alone founded the important trade of Hamburg with Spain and Portugal. Hence they might assume that the senate, which held the reins of government, would connive at violations of the articles. They were especially anxious to be permitted to assemble for public worship, and this was directly forbidden. Relying on their indispensability, they quietly erected a synagogue in about 1626. It was Elihu Aboab Cardozo who risked this venture. They named it Talmud Torah, and appointed as Chacham, Isaac Athias, of Amsterdam, a disciple of Isaac Uziel.

This probably simple synagogue, consisting of two large rooms, caused wide dissension, and produced much bitterness. Emperor Ferdinand II, the terror of the Protestants, indignant that the arch-Lutheran city on the Elbe would not allow Catholics to build a church, sent a threatening letter to the senate, July 28th, 1627, because for the sake of trade a synagogue was openly permitted to Jews, while Roman Catholics were forbidden the exercise of their religion. Nothing more was needed to excite the Lutheran fanatics. If free exercise of their religion was granted to Jews, it must also be granted to Catholics, and even to Calvinists, they said. A frightful consequence indeed! When the ministry, or spiritual assembly, which had great power in Hamburg, reproached the senate on account of the violation of articles in the agreement with the Jews, and that body in turn arraigned the Jews, the latter declared that they had no synagogue, merely a place of meeting to read the Law of Moses, the Psalms, the Prophets, and other books of the Old Testament; if they prayed there, it was only for the welfare of the city and the government. The senate proceeded no further, because the Jews threatened that, in case they were denied the worship of God, they would leave Hamburg in a body, and transfer their capital and business connections to a neighboring place. That argument prevailed. But the clergy demanded nothing less than that a Christian rabbi be appointed to preach Christianity to Jews in the synagogue, or elsewhere. The physicians also viewed with indignation the popularity of their Jewish colleagues, and sought to bring not only them, but Jews generally, under suspicion, and stirred up the people against them.

But the community grew in prosperity from year to year, and the senate gladly received those who came with capital and business connections. Even if the descriptions by John Miller, the arch-foe of the Jews, appear exaggerated, yet an idea may be gathered from them of the wealth of the Portuguese Jews of Hamburg. "They strut along adorned with gold and silver, costly pearls, and precious stones. At their weddings they eat and drink from silver ware, and drive in such carriages as become only persons of exalted rank, and, moreover, have outriders and a large following." The extremely rich Texeira family, settled in Hamburg, lived in princely luxury. The founder of this banking house, Diego Texeira de Mattos, was called in Hamburg, like Joseph of Naxos in Constantinople, "the rich Jew." He was of Portuguese descent, bore a title of high nobility, and had previously been Spanish resident in Flanders. Over seventy years of age, he underwent the operation of circumcision in order to become a Jew in reality. By means of his wealth, and his connections with both the nobility and capitalists, Diego Texeira could play the aristocrat. He drove in a carriage lined with satin, and had liveried servants.

The Portuguese Jews already had three synagogues, the second built by Abraham Aboab Falero, the third by David de Lima. A German community, also, had gradually assembled at Hamburg, and built a house of prayer. And were the faithful followers of Luther to behold it calmly, although almost on his death-bed he had ordered the Jews to be treated as gypsies, and the tongues of the rabbis to be cut out? The Hamburg pastors could not endure it, they pressed the senate, and stirred up the citizens to withdraw even this small amount of religious toleration. Among them stood forth an arch-bigot, John Miller, senior at St. Peter's church, a Protestant inquisitor and chief persecutor, an abusive man given to scandal, who cast aspersions upon his reverend brethren from the pulpit and in libelous writings. With this virulent pastor, who considered himself a pillar of Lutheran orthodoxy, it was a matter of conscience thoroughly to hate and humiliate the Jews. In writing and in talking, in the pulpit and in the circle of his disciples, in private conversation and in official addresses, his favorite theme was the Jews and their humiliation. Everything in the Jews vexed him: their joy and feasting on Purim, their mourning on the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple, their dress, their friendship with Christians, and their funerals. The bigot was not wrong on some points, as, for instance, his censure of the hereditary failing of the Portuguese Marranos, as illustrated in their misconduct with Christian women, and of the way in which some of them challenged Christianity. A Jewish author (Jacob Jehuda Leon?) had composed a work entitled "Colloquium Middelburgense," a Latin dialogue between a rabbi and a Christian on the value or worthlessness of Christian doctrines, the gospels, and the ecclesiastical writings, in which the weak points of Christianity were laid bare. Miller composed a defense, or rather a libel, entitled, Judaism, or the Jewish Doctrine, a full account of the Jewish people's unbelief, blindness, and obduracy (1644). This was dictated neither by the Holy Ghost nor by Christian love. Luther's virulent language against Jews seemed an undeniable revelation to the pastor. Out of it spoke Lutheranism, pure and unadulterated, which had as little heart as the popery attacked by it, and the essence of which consisted of dry formulas of belief. Miller's absurdity and uncharitableness are not his own; they are part and parcel of the corrupt Lutheran church of the time. Three theological faculties, the arch-Lutheran faculty of Wittenberg, and those of Strasburg and Rostock, in reply to Miller's inquiry, decided that Jewish physicians should never be admitted to Christian patients. Thus, in the face of the seventeenth century, when the Thirty Years' War was teaching toleration with an iron rod, the leaders of Lutheranism were issuing a new edition of the decrees of the Visigothic councils against Jews. But, after all, times had changed. Christian IV, king of Denmark, Schleswig and Holstein, next to Gustavus Adolphus the champion of the Protestants, to whom Miller dedicated his book, had appointed Benjamin Musaphia, a Jewish physician, his medical attendant.

Even in Hamburg Miller's fanatical zeal did not meet with great success. The citizens gradually got accustomed to Jews, and learnt to respect them. Some of them were appointed business agents or residents even by high Catholic potentates. The king of Portugal first appointed Duarte Nuñes da Costa, and then Jacob Curiel, as his agents, and his Catholic majesty, Philip IV, elevated Immanuel Rosales, a Jewish author of Portuguese descent, to the dignity of count palatine. The Portuguese Jews, in general more favorably situated than their German brethren, felt so happy at Hamburg, that they called it their "little Jerusalem."

A colony of the Amsterdam mother-community was formed in Brazil, South America, discovered and peopled by Portuguese, and a number settled in the town of Pernambuco. Thither the Portuguese government had often transported Jewish offenders, i.e., Marranos, whom it did not wish to deliver to the burning-pile, together with prostitutes, and other rabble. These disgraced Marranos assisted the Dutch in conquering Brazil, which became a Dutch colony, with a Stadtholder of its own, the intelligent John Maurice, of Nassau (1624–1636). Connections were immediately established between the Amsterdam and the Brazilian community, which threw off the mask of Christianity, and was almost spoilt by the favor of the Dutch. The Jews at Recife, near Pernambuco, called themselves "the holy community" (Kahal Kados), and had a governing body consisting of David Senior Coronel, Abraham de Moncado, Jacob Mucate, and Isaac Cathunho. Several hundred Amsterdam Portuguese, either by invitation, or of their own accord, sailed to Brazil to form business connections with the colony, and took with them the Chacham Isaac Aboab. He was the first Brazilian rabbi, settling probably at Recife. At Tamarica a community was formed, which had its own Chacham, Jacob Lagarto, the first Talmudical author in South America. Of course, the Brazilian Jews enjoyed perfect equality of rights with other citizens, for they rendered the Dutch essential services as advisers and warriors. When the native Portuguese, who bore the yoke of the Dutch impatiently, formed a conspiracy to get rid of the Dutch authorities at a banquet in the capital, and attack the colony bereft of government, a Jew gave warning, and saved the colony from certain destruction. Later, in 1646, when open war broke out between the Portuguese and the Dutch, and the garrison of Recife, exhausted by famine, was on the point of surrendering unconditionally, the Jews encouraged the governor to brave resistance.

A fanatical war of race and religion between the Portuguese and the Dutch devastated fair Brazil, and a famine ensued. The Jews vied with the Dutch in suffering and bravery. Isaac Aboab, the Chacham of the Brazil community, paints the sufferings of the war, which he himself endured, in lurid colors:

Volumes would not suffice to relate our miseries. The enemy spread over field and wood, seeking here for booty and there for life. Many of us died, sword in hand, others from want; they now rest in cold earth. We survivors were exposed to death in every form; those accustomed to luxuries were glad to seize mouldy bread to stay their hunger.

At last, the States-General were compelled by European wars to surrender the colony to the Portuguese. The devoted zeal of the Jews for the political welfare of the Dutch was a firm bond, never afterwards dissolved, between them and the republic. The toleration and equal position of Jews in the Netherlands were ensured for ever.

Whilst the first ray of a better time glimmered in Holland, the rest of Europe was still full of darkness for Jews. In Germany especially, the Jew even in the seventeenth century continued to be an outcast for whom there was no sympathy. He was pelted with mud, his beard was singed, and he was treated almost worse than a dog. There were only three or four important communities in Germany: Frankfort-on-the-Main, with over 4,000 souls; Worms, with 1,400; Prague, with 10,000 at most; and Vienna, with 3,000: the rest did not number many. Hamburg was still a young community. In the West German free cities of Frankfort and Worms, almost stronger antipathy to Jews prevailed than in Hamburg, having its root in the narrow-mindedness of the Philistine citizens and the guilds rather than in religious antipathy. Both cities treated the Jews within their walls as their "servi cameræ," and appealed in all seriousness to a deed of Emperor Charles IV, declaring that they had been sold to them in person and property. When Portuguese Marranos, wishing to remove from the Netherlands to Frankfort, and raise it to a commercial center of the first rank, like Amsterdam and Hamburg, asked permission to build a house of prayer there, the council roundly refused. The Jewish capitalists then addressed themselves to the lord of Hanau, and obtained very favorable terms.

The bitterness of the people of Frankfort against their Jewish neighbors was crystallized in a most revolting and absurd legislative enactment, entitled "the permissive residence of Jews" (Judenstättigkeit), and defining under what conditions or restrictions Jews might breathe the Frankfort air, or rather the pestilential atmosphere of the Jewish quarter. The city, chiefly Protestant, retained all the canonical restrictions introduced by the papacy for the purpose of branding Jews, such as, prohibiting them from having Christian servants or nurses, and requiring them to wear an opprobrious badge. They were treated exactly like criminals. Jews might not go outside their quarter except for necessary business, and two might not walk together, certainly not in the neighborhood of the town-hall, and especially not during Christian festivals or weddings, or if princes were staying in the city. They were also required to observe silence in their Ghetto, avoid offending Christian ears with any shrill sound, and see that strange Jews visiting them went to bed in good time. In fact, they might not harbor any strangers without the knowledge of the magistracy, nor even admit a patient into their hospital. They might not purchase food in the market at the same time as Christians. Though their business was jealously restricted, they were forced to pay more taxes than the Christian inhabitants. As they were obliged to wear special badges on their clothes, so they were required to have on their houses shields, with strange figures and names, such as "the garlic," "the ass," "the green or white shield," "red shield," "black shield." After these shield figures the inhabitants were named, "The Jew N of the ass," "the Jew N of the dragon." On the admission of a Jew, he was obliged to promise on oath to obey these stupid and heartless directions. Even this wretched existence depended on the favor of the magistrate, for in one paragraph the council reserved the power of depriving a Jew at any time of the right of residence. In such case the individual or family had to leave the city within a fixed space of time.

As the magistrate was empowered to deprive a single Jew of the right of residence, he could banish all from the city. This was inferred and demanded by the citizens or the guilds at variance with the council. They aimed at enlarging their liberties by limiting the aristocratic power of patricians in the magistracy, and they began with the Jews. The reason was that the councilors, in return for the substantial gratitude of the Jews, were indulgent in the administration of the laws issued against them; else they would not have been able to exist under the pressure of opprobrium and the "permissive residence." But this indulgence of the magistracy towards Jews was doubly hateful to the guilds. Hence they strove by all possible means to bring about the expulsion of the Jews from Frankfort. The Jews had obtained assurance of their safety as a community by charter from the emperor, but the decrees and threats of the emperor were little heeded at that time. At the head of the discontented guild-members stood the pastry-cook, Vincent Fettmilch, who, with his workpeople, belonged to the Reformers, a sect excluded from civic honors, and who sought to sate his fury against the Lutheran authorities by taking vengeance on the Jews. He was a daring man, who kept the councilors in awe, and openly called himself "the new Haman of the Jews." He was chosen by the citizens as their spokesman and ringleader, and deserved this leadership, for he executed his plans with much circumspection.