Research Catalog

Title

The long journey of Gracia Mendes / by Marianna D. Birnbaum.

Author

Birnbaum, Marianna D.

Publication

Budapest ; New York : Central European University Press, 2003.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

147 p. : ill.; 23 cm

Summary

"Gracia Mendes was a sixteenth-century entrepreneur and one of the wealthiest women in Europe, who, while a practicing Christian, remained for much of her life a secret Jew." "The biography examines her rise to power in the face of immense obstacles - political, religious, economic, and social." "Gracia was born in 1510 in Portugal. At the age of eighteen, she married Francisco Mendes, a successful Jewish spice trader. After her husband's death in 1536 and in response to the religious persecutions of the day, she moved her family from Portugal. Her travels led her through Antwerp, Venice, Ferrara, Ragusa and finally to Constantinople, from where the Ottoman Empire dominated the territories of former Byzantium and offered shelter for the battered Conversos (converted Jews)." "After her arrival in 1553, she became the most prominent businesswoman of the community and a patron of Jewish causes. Her life exemplifies the perseverance of the Jewish culture to survive and triumph even in extremely adverse conditions."--Jacket.

Subject

• Nasi, Gracia, approximately 1510-1569
• Nasi, Gracia
• Crypto-Jews > Iberian Peninsula > Portugal > Biography
• Jews > Portugal > Biography
• Sephardim > Portugal > Biography
• Jewish women > Portugal > Biography
• Jews > Europe > Social conditions > 16th century
• Jews > Europe > Economic conditions > 16th century
• Europe > Ethnic relations

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [128]-140) and indexes.

Contents

Introducing the family -- A short history of the conversos -- Life in sixteenth-century Antwerp -- Gracia in Venice -- Gracia and Jewish patronage in sixteenth-century Ferrara -- In business with Ragusa -- The Ottoman Empire and the Jews.

Call Number

JFE 14-2643

ISBN

• 9639241679 (cloth)
• 9789639241671 (cloth)

LCCN

2003009770

OCLC

52153987

Author

Birnbaum, Marianna D.

Title

The long journey of Gracia Mendes / by Marianna D. Birnbaum.

Imprint

Budapest ; New York : Central European University Press, 2003.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (p. [128]-140) and indexes.

Connect to:

Table of contents

Other Form:

Online version: Birnbaum, Marianna D. Long journey of Gracia Mendes. Budapest ; New York : Central European University Press, 2003 (OCoLC)645899745

Research Call Number

JFE 14-2643