The historical biography of a true Jewish heroine in her day, Gracia Mendes. Born in 1510 in Portugal, the book details this woman's extraordinary personality until her death in 1569 in Constantinople. As a young girl, Gracia secretly married successful Jewish spice trader, Francisco Mendes. At age of 27 she became a widow, yet she went on to raise her children and run the family business all on her own. Her travels led her through Antwerp, Venice, Ferrara, Ragusa, and finally to Constantinople, from where the Ottoman Empire dominated former Byzantium territories and offered shelter for the battered Conversos (converted Jews). This is one of the first books to pay equal attention to the lives of the Conversos in Christian Western Europe and in the Muslim East.
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Gracia Mendes was a sixteenth-century entrepreneur and one of the wealthiest women in Europe, who, while a practicing Christian, remained for much of her life a secret Jew. The biography examines her rise to power in the face of immense obstacles—political, religious, economic, and social.
Gracia was born in 1510 in Portugal. At the age of eighteen, she married Francisco Mendes, a successful Jewish spice trader. After her husband’s death in 1536 and in response to the religious persecutions of the day, she moved her family from Portugal. Her travels led her through Antwerp, Venice, Ferrara, Ragusa, and finally to Constantinople, from where the Ottoman Empire dominated the territories of former Byzantium and offered shelter for the battered Conversos (converted Jews). After her arrival in 1553, she became the most prominent businesswoman of the community and a patron of Jewish causes. Her life exemplifies the perseverance of the Jewish culture to survive and triumph even in extremely adverse conditions. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
About the Author
Marianna D. Birnbaum is Professor emeritus of the University of California, Los Angeles where she taught Hungarian and Central European literature and culture. She is a recurring visiting professor in the Medieval Department of the Central European University.
--This text refers to the
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5.0 out of 5 stars
The Long Journey of the Marranos,
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This review is from: The Long Journey of Gracia Mendes (Paperback)
Great book specially if you're a Marrano yourself. Nothing comes easy to us marranos, to the gentiles we're the "Jews" to the Jews, we are the weak link of the race. This book bring forward the great potential of these much suffer group of people, who has suffer so much yet given so much to civilization.
In Holland, in Belgium, in Turkey, in Greece most are unware of how much this group has help in the development of they countries, a must read for Jews and Gentiles like. The Baron of Fulwood
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