Jacob Curiel of Coimbra

Captain Jacob Curiel of Coimbra
Born	1514 Coimbra, Portugal
Died	1577 Coimbra, Portugal
Allegiance	Spain
Rank	Captain
Children	Abraham Curiel, physician
Relations	Fernão Nunes (brother)

Jacob Curiel of Coimbra (1514-1576), ^[1] also known as Jacob Curiel or Duarte Nunes of Coimbra, was a prosperous Portuguese cloth merchant and navy commander. ^[2]

Life and career

Curiel was born into a family of crypto-Jews, the brother of Fernão Nunes, and grandson of Jeronimo de Saldanha y Bovadilha, who was a Portuguese nobleman. Curiel rose to become a captain in the Spanish Navy, commanding two fleets. Upon discovering that Curiel was Jewish, his sailors freed him because they had respected him. ^{[3] [4]} He was the father of Abraham Curiel. ^{[5] [6]} Historian Jonathan Israel described him as one of the most influential merchants of the sixteenth century. ^[7]

References

1. "Family tree of Dr. Abraham Curiel". Geneanet. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
2. "Yaakov Curiel (Duarte Nunes Da Costa) (1514 - 1576)". www.ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
3. "Pirates of the Carribbean [sic] ...Who Kept Shabbos!". Jew In The City. 2017-06-05. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
4. schoolchanger (2018-02-09). "Jewish Pirates". foodhistoryreligion. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
5. Costa, Isaäc da; Brewster, Bertram; Roth, Cecil (1936). Noble Families Among the Sephardic Jews. Oxford University Press, H. Milford.
6. Israel, Jonathan (1990-01-01). Empires and Entrepots: Dutch, the Spanish Monarchy and the Jews, 1585-1713. A&C Black. ISBN   978-1-85285-022-7.
7. Israel, Jonathan (1990-01-01). Empires and Entrepots: Dutch, the Spanish Monarchy and the Jews, 1585-1713. A&C Black. ISBN   978-1-85285-022-7.