Samuel Usque

Consolação às Tribulações de Israel 1553

Samuel Usque (Lisbon, c.1500 - after 1555 in Italy or Ottoman 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 Tribulations of Israel"), Ferrara, 1553. He appears to be the only one of the contemporaries of Solomon ibn Verga to have made use of the latter's Scepter of Judah. Usque makes a connection between forcible conversion and the rise of Protestantism. His work depicts the Inquisition as a monster threatening Europe, indicating common cause between Portuguese Jews and the Netherlands. He bemoans the persecution and expulsion suffered by Jewish communities, and expresses his hope to reach the Holy Land.

He is credited with coining the epithet "Mother of Israel" (Judaeo-Spanish: Madre de Israel) for the Greek city of Thessaloniki.

References

  1. ↑ Meyer M. A. Ideas of Jewish history 1974 p105 "Samuel Usque (sixteenth century) was a Portuguese Marrano, a Jew forcibly converted to Christianity, who after extensive wanderings settled in Ferrara.
  2. ↑ Monge, Mathilde; Muchnik, Natalia (2022-04-27). Early Modern Diasporas: A European History. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-57214-8.
  3. ↑ Diner, Hasia R. (2021). The Oxford Handbook of the Jewish Diaspora. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-024094-3.
  4. ↑ Cohen, Martin A. Samuel: Usque’s Consolation for the Tribulations of Israel (Consolaçam às Tribulaçoes de Israel), translated from the Portuguese (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1977) [1st ed. 1965].
  5. ↑ Usque, Samuel: Consolação ás Tribulações de Israel, Edição de Ferrara, 1553, com estudos introdutórios por Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi e José V. de Pina Martins (Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1989).
  6. ↑ REJ xvii. 270.
  7. ↑ Cohen, Jeremy; Rosman, Moshe (2008-11-27). Rethinking European Jewish History. Liverpool University Press. ISBN 978-1-80034-541-6.
  8. ↑ Carlebach, Elisheva; Schacter, Jacob J. (2011-11-25). New Perspectives on Jewish-Christian Relations. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-22118-5.
  9. ↑ Gallery labels, Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki.