Isaac Cardoso (born Fernando Cardoso; 1603 or 1604) was a Portuguese-born

Sephardic Jewish Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

physician, philosopher and polemic writer based in

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

Life

He was born of

Marrano ''Marranos'' is a term for Spanish and Portuguese Jews, as well as Navarrese jews, who converted to Christianity, either voluntarily or by Spanish or Portuguese royal coercion, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but who continued t ...

parents at Trancoso, near Celorico, in the province of

Beira, Portugal Beira () was one of the six traditional provinces or '' comarcas'' of Portugal. The territorial extension is different from that of the area called ''the Beiras'', which refers to three provinces of 1936, Beira Alta, Beira Baixa and Beira Li ...

in 1603 or 1604 and died at

in 1683. He was an older brother of Abraham Miguel Cardoso. After studying medicine, philosophy, and natural sciences at

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

, he settled as physician at

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in 1632, and was soon called as chief physician (''physico mor'') to

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. While there he published in 1632 a lecture on

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and on the causes of the earthquake, and in 1635 a treatise on the color green, which he dedicated to Isabel Henriques, who was celebrated in the academies of Madrid for her intellect, and who lived later in

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. In the latter year he also composed a funeral discourse for

Lope de Vega Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist who was a key figure in the Spanish Golden Age (1492–1659) of Spanish Baroque literature, Baroque literature. In the literature of ...

, which was dedicated to the Duke de Sessa, and a treatise on the uses of cold water, printed in 1637, and dedicated to King

Philip IV of Spain Philip IV (, ; 8 April 160517 September 1665), also called the Planet King (Spanish: ''Rey Planeta''), was King of Spain from 1621 to his death and (as Philip III) King of Portugal from 1621 to 1640. Philip is remembered for his patronage of the ...

. Fernando (his Marrano name) left Spain, probably to escape from the

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, and went with his brother Miguel, who had also studied medicine, to

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, where both openly embraced

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

, Fernando changing his name to "Isaac." After a short stay in Venice he settled in Verona, where he remained until his death.

Works

Aside from the works already mentioned, Cardoso published a comprehensive treatise on cosmogony, physics, medicine, philosophy, theology, and natural sciences, printed at Venice in 1673 under the title ''Philosophia Libera in Septem Libros Distributa'', and dedicated to the doge and senate of that city. In this work, which critically discusses the various philosophical systems, he appears as a decided opponent of the

Kabbalah Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...

and of the pseudo-Messiah Sabbatai Zevi, of whom his brother Miguel was an adherent. Isaac also ridiculed the kabbalistic, Pythagorean doctrine of the transmigration of souls. This "learned, God-fearing physician," as he is designated by the pious Moses Hagiz (''Mishnat Chakamim'', p. 120a) defended his coreligionists in his great work, ''Las Excelencias y Calunias de los Hebreos'', printed in 1679 at Amsterdam, and dedicated March 17, 1678, to Jacob de Pinto. In ten chapters he emphasizes the "excelencias" (distinguishing features) of the Jews, their selection by God, their separation from all other peoples by special laws, their compassion for the sufferings of others, their philanthropy, chastity, faith, etc.; and in ten other chapters he refutes the "calunias" (calumnies) brought against them; viz., that they worship false gods, smell badly, are hard and unfeeling toward other peoples, have corrupted Scripture, blaspheme holy images and the host, kill Christian children and use the blood for ritual purposes. This work, which was celebrated by the rabbi J. Brieli of

Mantua Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...

in a Hebrew sonnet ("Otzar Nechmad," iii. 167), was sent by Cardoso soon after its appearance, July 23, 1679, to the rabbi Samuel Aboab in Venice, asking for an opinion. Aboab answered July 31, thanking him for the splendid gift. In another letter to Aboab, December 24, 1679, he gave his views on the derivation of some Spanish words from persons mentioned in the Bible. According to his contemporary Daniel Levi de Barrios, Cardoso also published ''Varias Poesias'' (Sundry Poems, 1680). Cardoso claims that philosophy and science have a Jewish origin, and that

Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

educated the Egyptians.

References

Bibliography

* Yerushalmi, Yosef Hayim, ''From Spanish Court to Italian Ghetto: Isaac Cardoso: a Study in Seventeenth-Century Marranism and Jewish Apologetics''. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1981.

External links

*
Isaac Cardozo's
entry in the ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' (2007)
Brief biographyIsaac Cardoso, ''Las excelencias de los hebreos'', Chapter on the blood libel (1649), selections in English and Spanish (pedagogical edition) with introduction, notes, and bibliography in ''Open Iberia/América'' (open access teaching anthology)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cardoso, Isaac 1600s births People from Guarda District 1683 deaths Jewish Portuguese writers Jewish philosophers 17th-century Portuguese physicians University of Salamanca alumni 17th-century Jewish Portuguese physicians Portuguese Jews 17th-century Spanish philosophers Conversos