Samuel Abravanel HaNasi also spelt Abarbanel (1473-1551) was a prominent

Sephardic 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 ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

financier, academic, and supporter of Italian Jewry. He is best known as the chief financier of viceroy Don Pedro de Toledo.

Biography

Born in

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 mainlan ...

, Portugal, into the

Abravanel family The Abravanel family ( ''ʾAbravanʾēl'' or ''ʾAbarbənʾēl''), also spelled as ''Abarbanel'', ''Abrabanel'', ''Avravanel'', ''Barbernell'', or ''Barbanel'' literally meaning ''Ab'' ("father") ''rabban'' ("priest") ''el'' ("of God") is one of ...

, Samuel was the youngest of three sons; his father

Isaac Abarbanel Isaac ben Judah Abarbanel (;‎ 1437–1508), commonly referred to as Abarbanel (; also spelled Abravanel, Avravanel or Abrabanel), was a Portuguese Jewish politician, statesman, philosophy, philosopher, Rabbinic commentaries, Bible commentator ...

was a notable Portuguese Jew. In his early years, his father sent him to

Salonica Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

to pursue his Talmudic studies where he became the pupil of

Joseph Nasi Joseph Nasi (1524 – 1579), known in Portuguese as João Miques, was a Portuguese Sephardi diplomat and administrator, member of the House of Mendes and House of Benveniste, nephew of Doña Gracia Mendes Nasi, and an influential figure in th ...

. He later moved to

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, Italy, where he was employed as the chief financier of viceroy Don Pedro de Toledo. It was during this time that Samuel amassed a great fortune, becoming richer than anyone in his immediate family. Samuel later married his first cousin Benvenida Abrabanel, however, the two had to move to

Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...

in 1541 when the Neapolitan government banned Jews from the city. It was in Ferrara that the couple began to support several Jewish institutions. Their house became a favorite resort for Jewish and Christian scholars alike, such as David ben Yahya and Baruch of Benevento. The poet

Samuel Usque Samuel Usque (Lisbon, c.1500 - after 1555 in Italy or Palestine) was a Portuguese converso Jewish author who settled in Ferrara. Usque was a trader. His major work is the ''Consolação às Tribulações de Israel'' ("Consolation for the Tribulat ...

famously said that Samuel bravaneldeserved the surname "Tremegisto," meaning, "thrice great": because Samuel was great in scholarship, great in name (ancestry), and great in wealth. Stating that "he generously employs his wealth in promoting the welfare of his coreligionists. He enables many orphans to marry, supports the needy, and endeavors strenuously to free captives so that in him are combined all the great qualities which make one fitted for the gift of prophecy." Samuel died in 1551 in Ferrara.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abravanel, Samuel 1473 births 1551 deaths Italian Sephardi Jews Abravanel family 16th-century Italian philosophers 16th-century Italian male writers People in finance 16th-century Italian Jews 16th-century Sephardi Jews Medieval Jewish philosophers