Few words will suffice to relate what befell the Spanish and Portuguese Jews during this century. Beyond the fact, already recorded, of their oft-recurring migration from both countries to the friendly shelter offered by Holland, there is little to tell. Those who lingered behind, unable or unwilling to quit the land of their birth, continued to practise the old deception, and, when discovered or suspected, to undergo the same merciless severities as their fathers had endured. There is no need to repeat the hideous and monotonous tale of their sufferings. The awe and terror with which the Inquisition was regarded were ever on the increase; until notoriously not the common people, not the grandees and nobles only, but the sovereigns themselves, became little better than its instruments. Early in the century Philip III. is related to have been present at the burning of a Jewish girl, and to have been unable to repress some token of natural horror at the sight. This was noticed by the Grand Inquisitor, who, not satisfied with reproving the monarch for his weakness, ordered some of the coward blood to be drawn from his veins, and burned by the public executioner! Later in the century, in 1680, M. Villars, Louis XIV.’s ambassador at the Court of Spain, describes an Auto da Fé which he witnessed at Madrid, where twenty Jews were publicly burned, with attendant circumstances of revolting barbarity. He relates how the king, Charles II., was present, but occupied a lower seat than that assigned to the Grand Inquisitor.

If we are curious to know what were the sufferings inflicted at the examinations held in the dungeons of the Inquisition, we may learn them from the narrative of Orobio, an eminent Portuguese philosopher and physician. He was suspected of Judaism, and thrown into prison. After some preliminary inquiries, having refused to confess, he was carried, he tells us, into a subterranean vault, dimly lighted, where two officials were seated—the judge and secretary of the Holy Office. He was stripped, strong cords were tied to his hands and feet, the other ends being passed through iron rings in the walls. These were then drawn tight, so that he remained suspended by the cords, which the executioner kept drawing tighter and tighter, until the surgeon certified that further pressure would destroy life. The cords cut into the flesh and made the blood burst from under the nails. He was then told that this was only the beginning of his sufferings, which would be increased in intensity until he confessed. This scene was frequently repeated during three years, at the end of which time, perceiving that his resolution was invincible, they healed his wounds, and permitted him to depart. He fled to Toulouse, and afterwards to Amsterdam, where he threw off his mask, and professed himself a Jew.

Manasseh Ben Israel was another celebrated Portuguese Jew, who was mainly instrumental in the restoration of the Jews to England, from which they had been banished for more than three hundred and fifty years. His father had escaped from the dungeons of the Inquisition at Lisbon, and settled with his family at Amsterdam. He was distinguished as a poet, a philosopher, a physician, and a theologian. His high reputation doubtless was the reason why he was chosen by the Jews at Amsterdam to proceed to England and endeavour to obtain from Oliver Cromwell,—who at that time (A.D. 1656) swayed the destinies of England,—permission for the Jews to return thither. Manasseh presented an address, skilfully drawn, in which he argued that, as regarded both the spiritual and temporal interests of England, it would be to their advantage to grant readmission to the Jews. He asserted that the restoration of Israel was close at hand, and that they who showed kindness to the people of God would be surely rewarded for it in that day. In a secular point of view also, those nations had always been found to flourish most in their undertakings who had sheltered the Jews. He also exploded the calumnies, so often raised against his nation, of crucifying children, and using Christian blood for ritual purposes.[194]

Cromwell received him favourably; but, aware probably of the difficulties with which the question was beset, referred the matter to an assembly of twenty-three persons, whom he appointed to consider the question. Of these, seven were merchants, two lawyers, and the remaining fourteen divines. He himself presided, and opened the debate with an address which those who heard it declared to be one of the ablest and most eloquent he had ever delivered. They had first to consider, he said, whether the admission of the Jews would be legal, and secondly, whether it would be expedient. The lawyers present having at once decided that there would be no illegality, he proceeded to the other question. But here there was much difference of opinion. The citizens were divided as to the alleged commercial advantages, while the theologians disputed so long and so hotly as to the religious aspect of the question, that Cromwell grew weary, and adjourned the consideration of the matter, so far as the council was concerned, sine die. Meanwhile he connived at their resettlement, granting them a kind of special protection. Nearly at the same time a piece of land was granted them as a burial-ground, on a nominal lease of 999 years. Whether this action on the part of the Protector gave offence, or whether it was the effect of mere gossip, the wildest and most ridiculous rumours were circulated on the subject. It was said that the Jews had sent a deputation to England to ascertain whether Cromwell was not himself the Messiah, and that they went to Huntingdon to search out his pedigree; also, that they had made an offer of £500,000, to purchase St. Paul’s Cathedral for their synagogue, Henry Martin and Hugh Peters being the persons who were to conduct this negotiation. It may be mentioned, in connection with these strange rumours, that Harrington, in his Oceana (A.D. 1656), gravely proposes to relieve the Government of the difficulties which the management of Ireland caused them by selling that island to the Jews.

It does not appear that any public measures were taken respecting the Jews during the remainder of Cromwell’s government. We have seen that, though their residence in England was a breach of a law still in force, it was not likely that it would be very rigidly insisted on, unless where persons were obnoxious on other grounds; and Cromwell’s friendly feeling towards them would of course render their position more secure. It is likely that they came back singly or in small numbers, and were allowed to establish themselves without molestation during the next few years. Then, in the sixth year after the Restoration, some agitation having been raised respecting their presence in England, formal permission was given them by Charles II. to reside in Great Britain, together with liberty of commerce and worship. It is not unlikely that this concession was made to gratify Antonio Mendez, physician to the King of Spain, and his brother Andrea, chamberlain to the Infanta Catherine of Portugal, Charles’s queen. It is certain that the brothers about this time came to England, where they settled, resuming their real name of De Costa. Some years afterwards, during the reign of James II., the Jews obtained a remission of the alien duty, which had been imposed on their traffic. This was, however, again exacted in the ensuing reign.

At the accession of William III., when money was wanted for the prosecution of the war in Ireland, it was proposed to require a subsidy of one hundred thousand pounds from the Jews, taking a leaf out of the book of the old Norman kings. But the times were changed. The Jews protested, with an eye, doubtless, to similar exactions to follow, that they would rather leave the country than comply; and they could not now be shut up in prison, and put on the rack, and suffer the daily extraction of their teeth until they paid it. The statesmen of the day perceived that it was simple pillage, and withdrew the proposal.

The days of barbarous and cruel violence had indeed passed away, and happily for ever. It is perhaps a fortunate circumstance,—grave as were the injuries resulting to both parties from it,—that the Jews were absent from England for so long a period. The tradition of persecution had, in consequence, long been broken off. In Spain, in Portugal, in Germany, even in Holland and Italy, people still living had themselves witnessed,—or had heard from their fathers,—the imprisonments, the expulsions, and the massacres of the Jews on the occasion of some religious excitement. But the fires of persecution had been cold for centuries in England, and no one was inclined to rekindle them now, even had it been possible to do so.[195]

In Italy, throughout the seventeenth century, the condition of the Jews seems to have been fairly prosperous. Little is related of them, and that is the best evidence that they were exempt from injustice and persecution. Of the ten occupants of the papal chair during this century, the only one who seems to have interfered much in their affairs was Innocent XI., and his dealings with them, as we shall presently see, were lenient and friendly. It is said that at the outset of the century there were more than a hundred synagogues of the Jews in the Italian cities. In those situated on the sea-coast the commerce was, to a great extent, in the hands of the Hebrews, and their wealth was continually on the increase. Jews also continued to be employed in diplomatic missions by the Italian governments—by the Republic of Venice, the Dukes of Ferrara, and even by the Emperor. The same, indeed, was the case all over Europe. The kings of Denmark, Sweden, and Prussia,—nay, even of Spain and Portugal, notwithstanding their implacable persecution of the Jewish nation,—were in the habit of employing Jews as their emissaries. Sir William Temple, who was English ambassador at the Hague in 1668, expresses his astonishment at this fact. The Baron de Belmont was the Spanish minister in Holland during the whole of the latter half of the seventeenth century, and Nunez da Costa held a similar office under the crown of Portugal, though both these were notoriously Jews.

In literary eminence the Italian Jews of this century are said to be inferior both to the generations which preceded and those which followed them. This is attributed to the severe censorship of the press, which is always unfavourable to literature. The famous Leo of Modena, head of the synagogue of Venice, and author of many works, both in Italian and Hebrew, on antiquities and theology, is an instance of this. He was on the point, we are told, of making a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Italian, which would have been beyond doubt a valuable work, but the Inquisition commanded him to desist.

But if their writings were handled with severity, the same cannot be said of their persons. It is mentioned, indeed, that in Rome, during the pontificate of Innocent XI., they were in such favour with the people that their synagogues were frequented by the latter, and in such numbers that the Pope was obliged to threaten his subjects with excommunication, and a fine of twenty crowns every time they resorted to a place of Jewish worship.

The same pontiff was very earnest for their conversion. He built seminaries where Jews might receive instruction in the Christian faith, and houses where such as had become converts might be maintained. He caused sermons to be preached, in which it was proved from the Hebrew Scriptures that Jesus Christ was the Messiah whom they expected. In order to encourage still further proselytes to the Christian faith, some person of high rank, a nobleman or a cardinal, stood godfather to them on the occasion of their baptism. A handsome present in money also was made them: they were dressed in white satin, and carried about Rome in fine coaches for a fortnight afterwards, receiving everywhere the congratulations of the spectators. At the same time it was very plainly intimated to them, that if they relapsed into Judaism they would straightway be burnt alive.[196]

It is certainly strange that under such circumstances conversions were not effected. Innocent evinced not only the controversial zeal which many before and after him have shown, but also an amount of real charity and goodwill which must, one would have thought, have had a very potent influence with the Jews of that day. When the Venetians, in 1685, after their successful war in the Morea, brought back a large number both of Christian and Jewish captives, they gave the former their freedom, but retained the latter in servitude. Innocent, however, interfered, and insisted on their liberating the Jews also. But we learn that, notwithstanding all his generous exertions on their behalf, he failed in making any considerable number of real converts. Cardinal Barberini who had spent large sums and used great exertions in endeavouring to accomplish this work, was compelled to own that the conversions had been for the most part insincere. It is not, indeed, by such means as those employed that converts can be made.

As regards the distinguished literary men of this period, it has already been remarked that there were fewer of these than in previous and subsequent generations; and, in the majority of European nations, such as there were do not contrast favourably with either their predecessors or successors. There were, however, writers of genius and learning; among them Solomon Norzi, of Mantua, is the author of a celebrated Massoretic work which, though it was not published till a century after his death, has attained a great reputation. The two Aboabs, both residents in Venice, were celebrated for their writings: the former, Emmanuel by name, being the author of an able work on tradition; the latter chiefly remarkable for his exposure of the impious impostures of the pretended prophet, Sabbathai Sevi. Judah da Modena produced many greatly admired works, and, in particular, a Hebrew lexicon, and a System of Artificial Memory. Solomon Medigo, physician to Prince Radziwill at Wilna, and Moses Luzzato, of Venice, should also be mentioned.