|
Doña Gracia
Gracia Mendes Nasi (1510 – 1569), also known as Doña Gracia or ''La Señora'' "The Lady", was a Portuguese Sephardic Jewish philanthropist, businesswoman, and one of the wealthiest women of Renaissance Europe. She married Francisco Mendes, whose Hebrew name was Tsemach Benveniste (). She was the maternal aunt and business partner of Joseph Nasi, simultaneously known by his alias João Micas, who became a prominent figure in the politics of the Ottoman Empire. She also developed an escape network that saved hundreds of ''conversos'' from the Inquisition. Like other New Christians, she had a Christianized name, Beatriz (Beatrice) de Luna Miques. Nasi herself was a Crypto-Jew, not a believing Christian. Biography Early life Gracia Mendes Nasi was born in Lisbon, Portugal circa 1510. Her family were ''anusim'' from Aragon, Spain. She had a younger sister, Reyna (d. 1556), just as known by her Christian name, Brianda. In Sephardic contexts, the ''anusim'' were the Spanish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lisbon
Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainland Europe's westernmost capital city (second overall after Reykjavík, Reykjavik), and the only one along the Atlantic coast, the others (Reykjavik and Dublin) being on islands. The city lies in the western portion of the Iberian Peninsula, on the northern shore of the River Tagus. The western portion of its metro area, the Portuguese Riviera, hosts the westernmost point of Continental Europe, culminating at Cabo da Roca. Lisbon is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world and the second-oldest European capital city (after Athens), predating other modern European capitals by centuries. Settled by pre-Celtic tribes and later founded and civilized by the Phoenicians, Julius Caesar made it a municipium ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catholicism
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization.Gerald O'Collins, O'Collins, p. v (preface). The church consists of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites#Churches, ''sui iuris'' (autonomous) churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and Eparchy, eparchies List of Catholic dioceses (structured view), around the world, each overseen by one or more Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishops. The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, is the Papal supremacy, chief pastor of the church. The core beliefs of Catholicism are found in the Nicene Creed. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sephardic Law And Customs
Sephardic law and customs are the law and customs of Judaism which are practiced by Sephardim or Sephardic Jews ( "Jews of Spain"); the descendants of the historic Jewish community of the Iberian Peninsula, what is now Spain and Portugal. Many definitions of "Sephardic" also include Mizrahi Jews, most of whom follow the same traditions of worship as those which Sephardic Jews follow. The Sephardi Rite is not a denomination nor a movement like Orthodox Judaism, Reform Judaism, and other Ashkenazi Rite worship traditions. Sephardim are communities with distinct cultural, juridical and philosophical traditions. Sephardim are the descendants of Jews from the Iberian Peninsula. They may be divided into the families that left Spain during the Expulsion of 1492 and those families that remained in Spain as crypto-Jews, fleeing in the following few centuries. In religious parlance as well as in modern Israel, the term is broadly used for all Jews who have Ottoman or other Asian or No ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Expulsion Of Jews From Spain
The Expulsion of Jews from Spain was the expulsion of practicing Jews following the Alhambra Decree in 1492, which was enacted to eliminate their influence on Spain's large ''converso'' population and to ensure its members did not revert to Judaism. Over half of Spain's Jews had converted to Catholicism as a result of the Massacre of 1391. Due to continuing attacks, around 50,000 more had converted by 1415. Many of those who remained decided to convert to avoid expulsion. As a result of the Alhambra decree and the prior persecution, over 200,000 Jews converted to Catholicism, and between 40,000 and 100,000 were expelled. An unknown number returned to Spain in the following years. The expulsion led to mass migration of Jews from Spain to France, Italy, Greece, Turkey and the Mediterranean Basin. One result of the migration was new Jewish surnames appearing in Italy and Greece. The surnames Faraggi, Farag and Farachi, for example, originated from the Spanish city of Fraga. In 1924 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ferdinand II Of Aragon
Ferdinand II, also known as Ferdinand I, Ferdinand III, and Ferdinand V (10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), called Ferdinand the Catholic, was King of Aragon from 1479 until his death in 1516. As the husband and co-ruler of Queen Isabella I of Castile, he was also King of Castile from 1475 to 1504 (as Ferdinand V). He reigned jointly with Isabella over a Dynastic union, dynastically unified Spain; together they are known as the Catholic Monarchs. Ferdinand is considered the ''de facto'' first king of Spain, and was described as such during his reign, even though, legally, Crown of Castile, Castile and Crown of Aragon, Aragon remained two separate kingdoms until they were formally united by the Nueva Planta decrees issued between 1707 and 1716. The Crown of Aragon that Ferdinand inherited in 1479 included the kingdoms of Kingdom of Aragon, Aragon, Kingdom of Valencia, Valencia, Kingdom of Majorca, Majorca, Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia, and Kingdom of Sicily, Sicily, as well as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isabella I Of Castile
Isabella I (; 22 April 1451 – 26 November 1504), also called Isabella the Catholic (Spanish: ''Isabel la Católica''), was Queen of Castile and List of Leonese monarchs, León from 1474 until her death in 1504. She was also Queen of Aragon from 1479 until her death as the wife of King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Ferdinand II. Reigning together over a Dynastic union, dynastically unified Spain, Isabella and Ferdinand are known as the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Catholic Monarchs. Her reign marked the end of Reconquista and also the start of Spanish Empire and dominance of Spain over European Politics for the next century. After a struggle to claim the throne, Isabella reorganized the governmental system, brought the crime rate down, and unburdened the kingdom of the debt which her half-brother King Henry IV of Castile, Henry IV had left behind. Isabella's marriage to Ferdinand of Aragon in 1469 created the basis of the ''de facto'' unification of Spain. Her reforms and those she ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catholic Monarchs Of Spain
The Catholic Monarchs were Queen Isabella I of Castile () and King Ferdinand II of Aragon (), whose marriage and joint rule marked the '' de facto'' unification of Spain. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being both descended from John I of Castile; to remove the obstacle that this consanguinity would otherwise have posed to their marriage under canon law, they were given a papal dispensation by Sixtus IV. They married on October 19, 1469, in the city of Valladolid; Isabella was 18 years old and Ferdinand a year younger. Most scholars generally accept that the unification of Spain can essentially be traced back to the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella. Their reign was called by W.H. Prescott "the most glorious epoch in the annals of Spain". Spain was formed as a dynastic union of two crowns rather than a unitary state, as Castile and Aragon remained separate kingdoms until the Nueva Planta decrees of 1707–1716. The court of Ferdina ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sephardic Bnei Anusim
Sephardic Bnei Anusim (, , lit. "Children f thecoerced onvertedSpanish ews is a modern term which is used to define the contemporary Christian descendants of an estimated quarter of a million 15th-century Sephardic Jews who were coerced or forced to convert to Catholicism during the 14th and 15th centuries in Spain and Portugal. The vast majority of conversos remained in Spain and Portugal, and their descendants, who number in the millions, live in both of these countries. The small minority of conversos who emigrated normally chose to emigrate to destinations where Sephardic communities already existed, particularly to the Ottoman Empire and North Africa, but some of them emigrated to more tolerant cities in Europe, where many of them immediately reverted to Judaism. In theory, very few of them would have traveled to Latin America with colonial expeditions, because only those Spaniards who could certify that they had no recent Muslim or Jewish ancestry were supposed to be allow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portuguese Inquisition
The Portuguese Inquisition (Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Inquisição Portuguesa''), officially known as the General Council of the Holy Office of the Inquisition in Portugal, was formally established in Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal in 1536 at a long-standing request of King John III of Portugal, John III. It was one of three different manifestations of the wider Christian Inquisition, along with the Spanish Inquisition and Roman Inquisition, that survived in the period after the Medieval Inquisition. The Goa Inquisition was an extension of the Portuguese Inquisition in colonial-era Portuguese India. The Portuguese Inquisition was terminated in 1821. History Background In 1478, Pope Sixtus IV issued the papal bull ''Exigit sincerae devotionis affectus'' that allowed the installation of the Inquisition in Castile, which created a strong wave of immigration of Jews and heretics to Portugal. After these events, the situation of the Jews and Moors in Portugal worsened. Befo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spanish Inquisition
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition () was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile and lasted until 1834. It began toward the end of the ''Reconquista'' and aimed to maintain Catholic Church, Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms and replace the Papal Inquisition in Spain, Medieval Inquisition, which was under Pope, papal control. Along with the Roman Inquisition and the Portuguese Inquisition, it became the most substantive of the three different manifestations of the wider Catholic Inquisition. The Inquisition was originally intended primarily to identify Heresy in Christianity, heretics among those who converted from Judaism and Islam to Catholicism. The regulation of the faith of newly converted Catholics was intensified following Alhambra Decree, royal decrees issued in 1492 and 1502 ordering Jews and Muslims to convert to Catholicism or leave Crown of Castile, Ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forced Conversion
Forced conversion is the adoption of a religion or irreligion under duress. Someone who has been forced to convert to a different religion or irreligion may continue, covertly, to adhere to the beliefs and practices which were originally held, while outwardly behaving as a convert. Crypto-Jews, Crypto-Christians, Crypto-Muslims, Crypto-Hindus and Crypto-Pagans are historical examples of the latter. Religion and proselytization The religions of the world are divided into two groups: those that actively seek new followers (missionary religions) and those that do not (non-missionary religions). This classification dates back to a lecture given by Max Müller in 1873, and is based on whether or not a religion seeks to gain new converts. The three main religions classified as missionary religions are Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, while the non-missionary religions include Judaism, Hinduism, and Zoroastrianism. Other religions, such as Primal Religions, Confucianism, and T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
