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. ^[1] Usque was a trader. ^[2]

His major work is the Consolação às Tribulações de Israel ("Consolation for the Tribulations of Israel"), Ferrara, 1553. ^{[3] [4] [5]} 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. ^[6] Usque makes a connection between forcible conversion and the rise of Protestantism. ^[7] His work depicts the Inquisition as a monster threatening Europe, indicating common cause between Portuguese Jews and the Netherlands. ^[8] 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. ^[9]

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.