Jewish Patronage in Sixteenth-Century Ferrara

Author(s): Marianna D. Birnbaum

Source: Mediterranean Studies, Vol. 7 (1998), pp. 135-141
Published by: Penn State University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41166866
Accessed: 12-11-2015 15:00 UTC
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JewishPatronage in
Sixteenth-Century Ferrara
MariannaD. Birnbaum

^Beginningin February1493,whenErcoleI Esteadmitted

twenty-one
SpanishJewishfamiliesto Ferrara,untilthestatefellunderthedirectdominionof the
Churcha century
later,a largenumberofJewsfromEuropefounda havenin Ferrara.1Theircommunitydevelopedrapidlyunderthedukes,who neededcredit
fromJewish
thefirst
Jewsto havebeenadmitted.
Later,Jewswere
moneylenders,
also activeas manufacturers,
traders,and retailers.2
Similarly,
PortugueseJews
werewelcomed,fortheEsteshoped thatthroughtheirtradewiththecolonies
and withIndia,Ferrara'scommercewouldflourish.3
The Jewsweregivenautonomyto livewherever
theywished,butmostofthemchoseto inhabitstreets
lying
closeto one another.4
It wasn'tuntil1626thattheywereconfined
to a ghetto.
in 1550,when
Prosperousnewcomersjoined thecity'sJewishcommunity
BeatrixMendes-Nasi,
alias GraciaLuna,arrivedtherewithherfamily.
Graciawas
bornin Portugal,
about 1510,to theSpanishfamily
Her
(Nasi).5
Miques
parents
probablyfoundasylumin PortugalaftertheirexpulsionfromSpain,butwhen,a
fewyearslater,the same fatethreatened
themin Lisbon,theychoseto convert
1It is interestine
to notethatone ofthefamilies'
nameswas Franco.
2AsWerner
L. Gundersheimer,
Ferrara:TheStyleofa Renaissance
Princeton
(Princeton:
Despotism
frePress,1973),202, put it,Ercole,in orderto covertheexpensesofhis lavishlifestyle,
University
bankers.
quentlyborrowedfromJewish
5Yet,underErcoleI,
in public"religious
withmonks,
Jewswereforcedtoparticipate
disputations"
andin 1507,a monteai pietawas established
to counteract
Jewish
Also,AlfonsoI decreedthat
banking.
thatorderwas
Jewsweara badge,an "O" withan orange-yellow
stripe"as wideas a palm."However,
neverfullyenforced.
The locals
gavethecollectivename"La Zuecca"to thestreets.
5 1 am
ofGraciaMendes-Nasi.The onlyscholarly
presently
workingon a biography
monographof herlifeis Cecil Roth,Dona GraciaNasi oftheHouseofNasi (Philadelphia:The
lengthtreatment
Publication
intothe
Jewish
1977).Thisarticlewillbe incorporated
SocietyofAmerica,1948;reprinted
chapteron herlifein Ferrara.
135

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136

Marianna D. Birnbaum

rather than flee again. Thus, when their daughter Beatrix married Francisco
Mendes (Benveniste), a wealthy spice trader and banker in Lisbon, two "new
Christian"familiesunitedtheirfortunes,a frequentpracticeamong the Marranos,
manyof whom had secretlyremainedJews.
Afterthe prematuredeath of her husband in 1536, Beatrix6moved with her
young daughter, Reyna, and her yet unmarried younger sister, Brianda, to
Antwerp,in orderto join her brother-in-lawDiogo, the head of the firm'soffices
in the Lowlands.Contraryto Jewishtradition,Diogo did not marrythe widow of
his brother,but chose the youngerand probablyprettierBrianda as his wife.Yet
Diogo was aware of Gracia's talentsand competence in administeringtheirvast
common fortune;in his testamenthe made her the executorof his will and the
legal guardianof his youngdaughter'sinheritance.
Diogo's unexpecteddeath in 1545 coincided with the family'sincreasingdifficultiesin Antwerp.The Habsburgs- Charles V and his sister,Mary of Hungary,
regentof the Netherlands- in tryingto get possession of familyholdings used
everymeans, fromheresycharges to forcinga marriage on Reyna, in order to
reach theirgoal.7 The latterthreatmade Gracia leave Antwerpsecretlyand move
south,thougha part of the familyfortuneremained investedin Antwerpand in
France.
Aftera long and dangerous journey, the two women and their daughters
reachedVenicein mid-1546. Meanwhile,Emperor Charles repeatedlytriedto have
them arrested,returnedto Antwerpto be triedas secretJudaizers,and have their
wealth confiscated.In Venice, Gracia and her familycontinued to live as Christians.But her sister,Brianda,wantingto administerher own inheritance,betrayed
Gracia to the local authoritiesas a secretJudaizer,alleging that Gracia was planning to flee to Turkey,and openly embrace Judaism. Brianda also engaged a
Frenchmanwho was to denounce Gracia to the Frenchgovernmentin orderto get
her hands on the family'sinvestmentsthere. Consequently, Henri II of France,
who owed major sums to the Mendes banks, confiscatedthe Frenchholdings of
the sisters.Venice impounded theirfortune;Gracia was temporarilyimprisoned
in Veniceand her daughterplaced in a convent.
The Turkishsultanwas indeed interestedto have Gracia settlethere;he dispatched a chaussto negotiateforGracia's release. She, however,arrangedher own
6 Beatrixwas herChristianname,whilein
familycirclesshewas calledGracia,usinghersecret
name,theLatinformofHanna.The nameLunais stillofunresolved
Jewish
origin.
7 Formoreon this,see also M. F.Braudel,"Les
surla placed*Anvers,"
de Charles-Quint
emprunts
"Marie de
in Charles-Quint
et son Temps(Paris: CNRS, 1972), 191-201, and ErnestGinsburger,
Hongrie,Charles Quint,les veuves Mendes et les no-Chrtiens,"Revue des tudesjuives 89
(1930):179-88.

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Jewish Patronage in Sixteenth-Century Ferrara

137

escape and moved to Ferrara,whereon February12, 1550,Ercole II proclaimed a

generalsafe-conductforSpanish and PortugueseJews("natione hebraica lusitana
et spagnola.") Gracia receiveda special briefthatpermittedher and those accompanying her "venire, habitare, conversare,haver synagoga particulare per sua
comodita,negotiareed esercitarsuoi trafichiet mercanzie. . . securie senza impedimento"8 [to move about freely,live and speak freely,
join the synagogue of her
choice, negotiateand carryon business.. .safely,withoutimpediment]. Therefore,
her finalemigration,to the Porte,came later,aftera three-yearsojourn in Ferrara.
Althoughshe had moved about in sophisticatedcirclesand even visitedwith
royalty,until she arrived in Ferrara,Gracia had never thoughtof followingthe
example of her Christian acquaintances in becoming a patron of the arts.
Althoughwe know frominventoriesthatthe Mendes householdswereluxuriously
appointed,thereare no identifiedartistsor artisanswho had workedforthem,nor
has any book collection been recognizedamong belongingsthatwere seized after
theirflightfromAntwerp.
The Mendes-Nasi family,theirimmense fortunenotwithstanding,
were merchant bankers. Their wealth served a single purpose: to achieve security.They
almost certainlyalwayspaid forprotection.In Ferrara,Gracia soon became a popular hostess,her house patronized by Jewishscholars and Talmudists. One may
claim that Ferrara was her intellectualbirthplace.Gracia's stayin Ferrara is the
focus of this paper, in which I hope to identifythe manner and means by which
she adjusted to her new environmentas a memberof the Jewishpatricianclass.
Gracia's name firstappears in the dedication of two importantworks. One is
the famous FerraraBible,publishedin 1553. It appeared in two versions,one dedicated to Duke Ercole,the otherto Gracia.9Such dedication suggeststhatshe covered, at least partially,the expenses of the Jewishpublication.10 Both editions
received ducal permission and the fiatfrom the Inquisition's censor. With the
8Maria
oweroun portoplcidoe sicurotaXV e XVI secolo,"Vita
"Ferrara,
GuiseppinaMuzzarelli,
e culturaEbraicanellostatoEstense:Attidel I convegnointernazionale
di studiNonantolana16-17
1993),esp.252. She received
maggio1991,ed. EurideFregniand MauroPerani(Bologna:Fattoadarte,
a personalinvitationfromthe duke,and theirJewishnameswerefirstused publiclyin thistext.
to Roth,Dona GarciaNasi,63-64,thedocumentwasissuedinthenamesof"Donna Vellida
According
and Donna Reina(wife)ofDon MeirBenveniste,
withall theirfami(wife)ofDon SemerBenveniste
liesand households."
9 The
was AbrahamUsque,a Portuguese
who had movedto Italy,
wherehe was knownby
printer
hisChristianname,DuartePinei(or Pinhel).Afterhis arrivalin Ferrara(1543),he calledhimselfby
hisJewish
name.He foundeda printing
and Portuguese
pressin Ferraraand printedJudeo-Spanish
texts.Between1551and 1557he publishedtwenty-seven
books.His mostimportant
publicationwas
the Ferrara Bible ("Biblia en Lengua Espanola traducita palabra por palabra de la verdad
de Yllustrissimo
SenorDuque de Ferrara").
Hebrayca...conPrivilegio
1UThe Bible,a revisionof an earlier
was issuedat theexpenseofYom-Tobben Levi
translation,
Athias(lvaroVargasbyhisMarranoname),and as statedabove,possiblywitha financialcontributionfromGracia.

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138

Marianna D. Birnbaum

exception of the dedications, there are few differencesin the two translations.
Wordssuch as "virgin,"in the Christianversion,appear as "maiden" in the Jewish
one.11
A secular volume published during the same year points even more significantlyto Gracia's patronage.Samuel Usque dedicated his greatwork Consolation
fortheTribulationsofIsrael [Consolaam as Tribulaesde Israel] to Gracia.12As
the titlesuggests,Usque's book examines the trialsand misfortunesof the Jewish
people's troubledhistory.A typicalRenaissance piece, it is writtenin the formof a
dialoguewiththreepatriarchsrepresentingthe issues: Icabo (Jacob),who appears
as a shepherdand is the alterego of the author,bemoans the fateof his children.
The otherprotagonistsare the patriarchsNumeo (Nahum) and Zicareo (Zechariah).
The firsttwo dialogues chroniclethe storyof the destructionof the Second
Temple and Jewishsufferingsunder the Romans. The third section,where the
author describes in thirty-sevenchronological segments the martyrdomof the
Jewsin the diaspora (in France,Spain, Persia, Italy,England, and Portugal),also
includesthe storyof theirexpulsion fromthe Iberian Peninsula. All threepatriarchsofferconsolationsderivedfromthe Bible.
As can be culled fromhis oeuvre,Usque, a poet and historian,was thoroughly
versedin the Bible (hoto he learned Hebrew remains a mystery).He wroteelegant
Portuguese,knew Spanish and Latin,and was familiarwithcontemporaryphilosophy.13Usque's intendedreaderswereMarranos; his purpose was to urgethemto
returnto Judaism.His dedicationto Gracia abounds in praise of hervirtues:she is
called "the heart in the body of her people" (37). Moreover,in the textitself,her
existenceis counted among the major consolations of the Jewsin exile. She is
claimed to have inheritedMiriam's innate compassion, Deborah's prudence,and
Esther'sboundless virtues.Her chastityand generosityare compared to Judith's:
11PninaNaveLevinson,Waswurdeaus Saras Tchtern?
FrauenimJudentum
Mohn,
(Gtersloh:
Jewish
1989),112.ThisBiblewasnotthefirst
byanymeans.In additionto a largenumber
publication
holdthouandbookskeptintheEstensilibraryin Modena,theItalianarchives
ofJewish
manuscripts
manuand bindingsforwhichtheJewish
takenfromregisters
sandsofHebrewmanuscript
fragments
centuries.Formoreon this,see Vitae Cultura
and seventeenth
wereutilizedin thesixteenth
scripts
1991
di studiNonantolana.16-17maggio,
internazionale
AttidelI convegno
statoEstense.
Ebraicanetto
(Bologna,n.p. 1992).See also CecilRoth,"The MarranoPressat Ferrara,1552-1555,"ModernLanReview38 (1943):307-17.
guage
u
SamuelUsque'sworkwaspublishedbyAbrahamUsque,thereis no proofthatthetwo
Although
ofMartinA.
menwerecloselyrelated.The quotationsin thisarticleare fromtheEnglishtranslation
PublicationSocietyofAmerica,
Cohen,Consolation
ofIsrael(Philadelphia:Jewish
fortheTribulations
13Fidelino
que honraa
FigueiredocallsSamuelUsque's Consolaam:" uma obra nobilssima,
clasica(Lisbon:A. M. Teixeira,
Histriada literatura
1922),1:297;quotedfromthe
linguaPortuguesa."
33.
ofCohen,Consolation,
Englishtranslation

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Jewish Patronage in Sixteenth-Century Ferrara

139

TheLordhas sentyousucha womanin ourowndaysfromthesupremechoirof

all thesevirtuesin a singlesoul.To yourhappyforhishosts.He has treasured
tune,he chose to infusethemin thedelicateand chastepersonof theblessed
Jewess[Gracia]Nasi.(230)
The vigorous intellectualand social ambience of Ferrara certainlyaffected
Gracia's attitudes,but to mymind therewas one particularperson who served as
her immediatemodel: BenvenidaAbravanel,wifeand laterwidow of Samuel, the
youngerson of the famedJewishphilosopherIsaac Abravanel.14Their family,too,
was of Spanish origin; however,afterthe expulsion in 1492, theymoved to Italy
insteadof Portugal.The difference
betweenthemand theMendes-Nasi familywas
thattheAbravanelswere not just wealthybut also famouslylearned.
Benvenida was praised forher religiosity,
wisdom, and benevolence. She was
celebratedby Immanuel Aboab, her family'schronicler,as "one of the noble and
matronswho haveexistedin Israelsincethetimeof our dispersion.,
high-spirited
.patternof chastity,of piety,of prudence and of valor." (This text is so similar to
Usque's eulogy that Gracia's name could be simplysubstitued for Benvenida's.)
While theAbravanelswere residingin Naples, Samuel servedas the financialadvisor of ViceroyDon Pedro.Welcomed at court,BenvenidabefriendedLenora, Don
Pedro's daughter.Even afterLenora marriedCosimo de' Medici, she remained in
touch with Benvenida,calling her her second mother.15When Charles V ordered
the Jewsto eitherwear a "Jewbadge" or leave Naples, Benvenida and her husband
moved to Ferrara.There herhome became the meetingplace of Jewishand Christian scholars,but also of the poor and the orphaned. She died in 1554, surviving
herhusband by threeyears.During those threeyearsshe managed the familybusiness on an even granderscale than Gracia and also retainedthe role her husband
had played in scholarshipand patronage.Her friendshipwiththe youngerwidow,
Gracia, is well documented. I am convinced thatin addition to the general ambience of Ferrara,it was the directinfluenceof the much-admiredBenvenida that
motivatedGracia to become a patronessof literature.
Withall thepraise heaped upon Gracia,it is noteworthythatno one mentions
her beauty. Perhaps its lack was why Diogo married her younger sisterinstead.
While thereis no identifiabledepiction of Gracia, a medal exists,struckin 1558,
14The
nameis also spelledas Abrabanel,
and in somesourcesBenvenida's
nameis foundas
family
Bienvenida.
ThereweretwootherladiesinFerrara,
PomonaandBathshebaoftheModenafamily,
who
wereversedin Jewish
studies.Butat thatpointofherlifeGraciawas notactively
involvedin studying
theTalmudor thecabala.
15
Die jdischenFrauenin derGeschichte,
Literatur
undKunst(Leipzig:BrockMeyerKayserling,
whenCharlesV wantedto expelthe
haus,1879;rpt.,NewYork:ArnoPress,1980),76-79.Allegedly,
JewsfromNaples,Benvenida,
supportedbyherfriendLenoreand otherladiesofthelocal aristocracy,
appearedbeforetheemperorand pleadedforhercoreligionists.

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Marianna D. Birnbaum

140

The
whichfora longtimewas mistakenly
thoughtto havebeen herportrait.16
one ofthemorebeautifulmembersofherfamily,
Gracia
unifacemedalportrays
to SamuelNasi,
junior("La Chica"),Gracia'sniece,at thetimeofherengagement
beforesheleftforConstantinople,17
a cousin.SinceGraciaarranged
thatmarriage
of Christians
of
the
and becausethemedalis a further
peacefulsymbiosis
proof
I
will
discuss
it.
andJewsin sixteenth-century
Ferrara,
briefly

Courtesyof Skirball Museumin Los Angeles

A fewscholarsclaimthatthemedal'sdesignerwas GiovanniPaolo Poggini,

butI agreewiththosewho believeit was Pastorinodi Pastorini.18
However,the
likeness
of a young
fact
that
the
than
the
of
the
model
is
less
important
identity
coswomanappearson a medal,wearingthesameelegant,lace-trimmed
Jewish
ladiesof the
Christian
tume,coif,and jewelrythatwerewornbythearistocratic
period.
16Earlier,
in complicated
calcuitGracia'sprofileandbecameinvolved
severalscholarsconsidered
or that
lationsto accountforthefactthatthemedalwas struckseveralyearsafterGracialeftFerrara,
in 1558Graciawouldnothavebeeneighteen
butratheraboutforty-eight
yearsold.ForthebesttreattotheFallofNapoMedalsfromtheRenaissance
mentofthesubject,seeDanielM. Friedenberg,
Jewish
MuseumbyC. N. Potter,
leon(1503-1815)(NewYork:PublishedfortheJewish
1970),43-45,128.
17Kayserline,
Die jdischen
Frauen,84.
18Pastorinodi Pastorini
andcoinand
stuccoartist,
(1508-1572)was activeas painter,
glasspainter,
laterhailedby
medalengraver.
He workedin Siena,butduringErcoleII's rulehewasactivein Ferrara,
"P" usuallyappearson thearm
medalsin paintedstucco.Pastorino'ssignature
Vasariforhisportrait
thatletteramongthefoldsofGraciajunior'ssleeve.
ofthegarb.Somescholarsclaimtohavediscovered
itto Pastorino.
Medals,128,also attributes
Jewish
Friedenberg,

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JewishPatronage in Sixteenth-CenturyFerrara

141

The textsurrounding
theportrait
is in bothHebrewand Latin.It is possible
thateventheHebrewlettersweredone byPastorino.The transliteration
reads:
"GratziaNasi"(theHebrewlettertzadiis rendered
z insteadofc). The artistwould
not need to knowtheHebrewalphabet;he could merelyhavecopied it froma
as wasthehabitofmanyRenaissance
sampleor an exemplar,
painters.
The existenceofthemedalis remarkable
sinceJudaismdoes notpermitthe
depictionofhumanimages.YetitisknownthatJewswhohadbeenMarranosearsomeChristian
ritesintotheirservices.
Thiswaspartially
lier,incorporated
owing
to theirlackofknowledge
ofthelaws,butalso to theprestige
oftheirimmediate
Christiansurroundings.
one mayalso claimthatGraciaand herfamily
However,
werenotmerelyinfluenced
in theirnewlyfoundJudaism
bythevigorousJewish
of
but
also
the
Renaissance
cultural
lifeofthecityto
Ferrara,
community
by lively
whichtheyhadbeengivenfreeaccess.
In 1553 the Inquisitionwas again permittedto functionin Ferrara;the
Talmudand rabbinicaltextswerepubliclyburned.LaterPope Paul IV prevailed
newanti-Jewish
Andbythistime,Graupon ErcoleII to introduce
legislation.19
seen
the
on
the
the
of
cia,having
wall,accepted repeatedinvitations
handwriting
thePorte,and continuedherpatronageofJewsand Jewish
studiesfromthesafety
ofConstantinople.

19The
was,evenas cardinal,a fierceenemyoftheJews.Duringhis
pope,GiovanniPietroCaraffa,
and expandedtheactivities
oftheInquisition.
papacy(1555-59) he reorganized

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