reason is the more strengthened when we see that not onely the Iewish Nation dwelling in Holland and Italy traficq with their owne stocke but also with the richesse of many others of their owne Nation friends kinds-men and acquaintance which not withstanding live in Spaine and send unto them their moneys and goods which they hold in their hands and content themselves with a very small portion of their estate to the end they may be secure and free from danger that might happen unto them in case they should fall under they yoke of the Inquisition whence not onely their goods but oftentimes also their lives are endangered IV. The love that men ordinarily beare to their owne Country and the desire they have to end their lives where they had their begining is the cause that most strangers having gotten richesse where they are in a forain land are commonly taken in a desire to returne to their natif soil and there peaceably to enjoy their estate so that as they were a help to the places where they lived and negotiated while they remained there so when they depart from thence they carry all away and spoile them of their wealth transporting all into their owne native Country But with the Jewes the case is farre different for where the Iewes are once kindly receaved they make a firm resolution never to depart from thence seeing they have no proper place of their owne and so they are alwayes with their goods in the Cities where they live a perpetuall benefit to all payments Which reasons do clearly proove that it being the property of Citizens in populous and rich countries to seeke their rest and ease with buying lands and faire póssession of which they live many of them hating commerce aspire to Titles and Dignities that of all strangers in whose hands ordinarily Trafique is found there are none so profitable and beneficiall to the place where they trade and live as is the Nation of the Iewes And seeing amongst the people of Europe the chiefest richesses they possesse come from Spaine those neighbour Nations where the Iewes shall finde liberty to live according to their owne Iudaïcall Lawes they shall most easily draw that benefit to themselves by meanes of the industry of our Nation and their mutuall correspondance From hence if it please your Highnes it results that the Jewish Nation though scattered through the whole World are not therefore a despisable people but as a Plant worthy to be planted in the whole world received into populous Cities who ought to plant them in those places which are most secure from danger being trees of most savory fruit and profit to be alwayes most favoured with Lawes and Priviledges or Prerogatives secured and defended by Armes An Exemple of this we have in our times His Majesty the Illustrious King of Danemarck invited them with speciall Priviledges into Geluckstadt the Duke of Savoy into Nisa of Provence and the Duke of Modina in Retio allowing them such conditions and benefices the like never were presented unto them by any other Prince as appeareth by the copy of those Priviledges which I have in my hands But supposing it would be a matter of too large extention if I should make a relation of all the places under whose Princes the Iewes live I will onely speaké briefly of the two Tribes Iudah and Benjamin These in India in Cochin have 4 Synagogues one part of these Iewes being there of a white colour and three of a tawny these being most favoured by the King In the yeare 1640. dyed Samuel Castoel Gouvernour of the City and Agent for the King and David Castoel his sonne succeeded in his place In Persia there is a great number of Iewes and they live indifferent freely there are also amongst them that are in favour and great respect by the King and who live there very bravely Some years past there was Elhazar Huza the Viceroy and now there is David Ian if yet he be living In the year 1636. the Saltan Amarat tooke in Bagdad and puting all to the sword he commanded that they should not touch the Iewes nor their houses and besides that he freed them from one half of the tribut they were wont to pay to the Persian But the chiefest place where the Iewes live is the Turkish Empire where some of them live in great estate even in the Court of the Grand Turke at Constantinople by reason there is no Viceroy or Gouvernour or Bassa which hath not a Iew to manage his affaires and to take care for his estate Hence it cometh that in short time they grow up to be Lords of great revenus and they most frequently bend the minds of Great-ones to most weighty affaires in gouvernment The greatest Viceroy of whole Europe is the Bassa of Egypt this Bassa always takes to him by ordre of the Kingdome a lew with the title of Zaraf-Bassa Thresurer viz. of all the Revenus of that gouvernment who receaves purses full of money seals them and then sends them to the King This man in a short time grows very rich for that by his hands as being next to the Bassa the 24 Gouvernments of that Empire are sould and given and all other bussinesses menaged At present he that possesseth this place is called Sr. Abraham Alhula The number of the Iews living in this Kingdome of the Great Turke is very great and amounts to many Millions In Constantinople alone there are 48 Synagogues and in Salaminque 36 and more then fourescore thousand soules in these two Cities alone The first King gave them great priviledges which they enjoy untill this day for besides the liberty they have every-where of trading with open shops of bearing any Office and possessing of any goods both mooveable and immooveable he yet graunted them power to judge all Civill causes according to their own Lawes amongst themselves Moreover they are exempted from going to Warres and that souldiers should be quartered in their houses and that Iustice should take no place upon the death of any one that left no heir to his Estate In all which they are preferred before the naturall Turkes themselves For which cause they pay in some Cities to the King three Patacons and in others two and a half by the pole In this estate some of the Iewes have growne to great fortunes as Joseph Nasino unto whom Amatus Lusitanus dedicated his fifth and sixth Centuriae was by Sultan Solime made Duke of Maccia Earle of Andro Seignor of Millo and the seaven Islands And Iacob Ben-Iaes by Sultan Amurat was made Gouvernour of the Tiberiades so likewise others were exalted to very great and eminent Dignities as was that Selomo Rofe that was sent for Ambassador at Venice where he confirmed the last Peace with Amurat. In Germany there lives also a great multitude of Iews especially at Prague Vienna and Franckfurt very much favoured by the most mild and most gracious Emperours but despised of the people
last of March they made an Edict in the same City in which they expressed That seeing the Iewes in their Countries drew many Christians to turne Iewes and especially some Noble-men of their Kingdome of Andaluzia that for this cause they banished them under most heavy penalties c. So that the cause of their banishment was not any disloyalty at all Now what amongst many others in all Christendom one famous Lawyer in Rome and Osorius an excellent and most eloquent Historian have thought I shall here relate In the year 1492 saith the Lawyer Ferdinand called the Catholick being King of Spaine drove out of his Country all the Iewes that were living there from the time of the Babylonian and Roman Captivity and were very rich in houses and goods and that upon pain if they went not away within the terme of 6 moneths that all their houses and goods should be confiscated unto the Exchequer which as we have said were very great Whereupon they leaving the Kingdome of Castile they went over many of them into Portugal as being the nearest place In the year 1497 there being an Alliance contracted between the Kings of Castile and Portugal the Iewes at the request of the said King Ferdinand were banished out of Portugal but it being against the will of Emauël King of Portugal to have them banished out of his Country he resolved to oblidge them to become Christians promising never to molest them neither in Criminall matters nor in the losse of their goods and exempted them from many burdens and Tributs of the Kingdome This Emanuël being dead Iohn III. succeeded in his place in the Kingdome of Portugal who being excited by others said That what his Father Emanuë had done concerning the not-troubling them was of no valew because they lived not as was convenient and that without the authority of the Pope of Rome his father could not graunt any such thing for which cause he would that for those that lived amish there should be proceeded against as against the Mores in Castile And sending to Rome to disanull the said promises it was not onely not graunted to him but moreover they reprooved his appearance there and praised and approoved the promises made by his Father Emanuël to the Iewes publishing a general pardon to all that were taken which were about 1500 and they all were set free Which Bull was granted by Clement VII by the intervention of all the Consistory of Cardinals Afterwards the said king Iohn sent once againe to desire the former Licence with so many replications and triplications that at length the Pope granted it But a few dayes after it was revoked againe with a generall Pardon to all that were taken which were 12000 with such a determination that the same Licence should never be granted as being against all right and reason This troubled Don Iohn the King very much and withall the Cardinal his brother who came in these last dayes to be King of Portugal himself Great Paul III. of the house of Farnesia succeeding to Clement the VII there was a request tendred to the Pope for power to bring in the Inquisition into this Kingdome The Pope would not grant it saying He could not and that it was a thing against reason and Iustice but on the contrary confirmed the promises made by the King Don Emanuël his Father and pardonned all the delinquents since the time of violence unto that day Don Iohn seeing this sent an Embassadour meerly for that busines to the Pope but could obtaine nothing at all for which cause King Iohn resolved to entreat the Emperour Charles the V. than passing for Rome as Conquerour over the Turks having wonn Tunis and Goleta that in this his Triumph he would take occasion to desire this favour from the Pope that the King of Portugal might set up the Inquisition in his Kingdome it being an old custome that those that triumphed should aske something of the Pope that they most desired The Emperour than having desired this the Pope answered him that he could not do it by reason of the agreement made and the promises of the King Don Emanuël which he had found by an Apostolicall Nuntio in Portugal in the year 1497 at which time the Iewes were forced and compelled to become Christians The Emperour replied Let that sinne fall on him and the Prince his sonne the Apostolicall seat shall be free from it So the Pope granted it because the Emperour Charles the V. was brother in law to King Don Iohn of Portugal and besides they treated at that time to enter further in affinity and to marry their children which since was effected After Paul the III. granted this there was a new Pardon given in generall to all that were taken unto that time amounting the Number unto 1800. But the King refusing to obey the Pardon and to free the Prisonners the Pope tooke it very ill and sent for this onely busines for his Nuntio one Monsegnor Monte Paliciano who since was Cardinal of the Church of Rome And the King for all this not obeying the Pope made the Nuntio to six the Pardon upon the doores of the Cathedral Churches and the Nuntio caused the Prisons to be opened and there were set free about 1800 prisonners He that sollicited this busines at Rome was one Seignor Duarte de Paz a Cavallier of the Order of St. Iohn whom to search out there were appointed at Rome ten men disguised these having found him gave him fifteen wounds and left him for dead thus wounded he was carried to the house of Seignor Philip Estrozi This being reported to the Pope Paul the III. he caused him to be carried to the Castle of S. Angelo where he gave order to have him nobly cured That same Seignor was by the Pope by all the Cardinals and the whole Court in great respect At the same time that this man was hurt the Emperour Charles the V. was at Rome with his Army On the time when he began to treat of this busines with Clement the VII seeing the Kings importunity he made a Bull and gave licence to all the Portugals of that Nation of the Iewes that they might go and live in the Church-Dominions and whosoever will come in the said Dominions that he shall have freedom to live as at the first in his Iewish profession and that at no time they should be enquired into but after the same manner as they were wont to live in Portugal so they should live there The said Bull passed all the Consistory and being confirmed and received by the said Portugals they began some of them to depart to live in Ancona being a sea-port more commodious then others which being known by the King and Cardinal of Portugal they caused to be proclaimed in all the Kingdome that upon paine of death and losse of all their goods no man should dare depart the Kingdome Clement being dead in his place succeeded as we have said Pope Paul
the III. who confirmed the same Priviledges Afterwards in the year 1550. Paul the III. died and Iulius the III. succeeded who ratified the fore-mentioned Priviledges given by his Praedecessours and the whole Apostolike Seat inviolably In those times there were many Doctors that wrote on this matter amongst whom the chiefest were Alciat and the Cardinal Parisius in 2 3 parte Consiliorum pro Christianis noviter conversis shewing by reason and law that considering they were forced and not converted willingly that they had not fallen nor do fall under any Censure These reasons being considered of by the Princes of Italy they graunted likewise the same Priviledges viz. Cosmo the Great Duke of Florence and Hercules Duke of Ferrare and within few yeares Emanuël Felibert Duke of Savoye and were by all his successours confirmed In the yeare 1492 when they were banished from Castile we read in the Chronicles of that Kingdome that the Lords of that place did complain that their Cities and Townes were destroyed and dis-inhabitated and had they beleeved any such thing that they would have opposed the Kings decree and would never have given their consent to it That was the cause that Don Emanuël of Portugal seeing on the one side apparent dommage should he let them depart his Kingdome and on the other side not being able to breake his promise made to the King of Castile he caused them to be compelled to the Faith upon paine of Death that they should not depart out of his Dominions The Catholiq King was blamed of all Christian Princes and especially by the Senate of Venice as Marcus Antonius Sabellicus doth write for having banished a Nation so profitable to the Publicq and Particular good without any kinde of pretence And so the Parlement of Paris likewise did extreamly wonder at such a determination And truely good reason there was to wonder for we see since what the Senat of Venice hath done who never deliberats or puts into execution any thing without great judgement having the advantage of all Republicqs in their gouvernment and leaving behinde them the Romans Carthagenians Athenians and most learned Lacedemonians and that Parlement of Paris which in the gouvernment of affaires was alwayes most prudent Most of those that were banished passed to the Levant who were embraced by the Ottoman-familly al the succeeding Kings wondring at it that the Spanjards who make profession to be a politiq Nation should drive out of their Kingdoms such a people Moreover Sultan Bajazet and Sultan Soliman received them exceeding well the coming of the Iewes to them being very acceptable and so did likewise all their successours considering of how great a profit and benefit their residing in their dominions was And in the yeare 1555. Paul the IV. being chosen Pope of Rome who before was called Cardinal de Chiesi an intimate to the Cardinal of Portugal caused the Iewes to be held in Ancona and other places of the Church according to the Priviledges graunted to them by the Popes his Predecesseurs in the name of the Apostolical Roman seat Licurgus Solon and Draco and all Founders of Common-wealths gave counsell that strangers ought to be loved and much made of as in the Discourses of Se. in 7 de Legibus de Rep. is amply to be seen And by the Divine Law as Moses commandeth us we ought not to trouble a stranger but he sayes Remember you were strangers in the Land of Egypt In summa to the same purpose might be brought many other and more powerfull reasons but because they are out of our consideration we passe them over And here to declare some particulars worthy to be known for advise and exemple that befell our Nation in those bitter banishments part whereof Hieronymus Osorius recites more at large in the first of his elegant two Bookes de Rebus Emanuëlis The first title he giveth to those miserable successes is this which he puts for a Postil in the margent of his booke Iudaeorum Liberi per vim ad Christianismum pertracti and than rehearses how that in the yeare 1496 the King decreed that all the Iewes and Mores that dwelt in his Kingdome and would not become Christians should depart his Dominions in a short time which being past all that should be found in his Kingdome should loose their liberty and become slaves to the King The time being now at hand as Osorius proceeds in which the Iewes that would not turne Christians were to depart the Kingdome and all of them as many as they were had with all their power provided and taken a firme resolution to be gone which the King seeing and not able to endure it thought upon a busines as he saith facto quidem iniquam injustam which to do was realy wicked and unjust and that was to command that all the children of the Israëlites that were not above 14 yeares old should be taken out of the power of their owne Parents and when they had them they should force them to become Christians a new thing that could not be done without a wonderfull alteration of their minds for it was as Osorius speakes a horrid and miserable spectacle to see the tender Infants wrestled out of the arms and brests of their lamenting mothers to dragge along their poore fathers that held them fast and to give them many wounds and blows to draw them out of their handes to hear their cryes that ascend to heaven their groanes lamentations and complaints every-where so that this cruelty was the cause that many of those distressed Fathers threw their children into wells and others killed themselves with their owne hands that they might not see so bitter a thing with their eyes The cruelty of Emanuël ended not here but going on with compulsion and revilings gave cause to his owne Chronographer to make the second title or postil with these words Vis Dolus Iudaeis illata That is The force and deceit used towards the Iewes And so he goes on declaring how he had promised in the condition they had made that he would assigne them three Ports in his Kingdome to embarque at viz. Lisbon Setuval and Puerto and neverthelesse he forbad them afterwards to embarque themselves in any place but Lisbon for which cause all the Iewes of the Kingdome came to that City from whence besides a thousand molestations and extortions he drove them as Vasquo saith as sheep in the stalls and there forced their afflicted bodies to counterfeit that which their soules and thoughts never meant nor approoved of Works of which his owne Chronologer saith Fuit hoc quidem neque ex Lege neque ex Religione factum That is This was done neither according to Law nor Religion Let men of clear minde and free from passion consider for Gods sake if such violences can worke any good impression or character in men or what Law either Humain or Divine National or Moderne can beare that the soules of men which the Most