Joseph Nasi

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Joseph Nasi , Hebrew דון יוסף נשיא, Christian baptismal name João Miquez (also Miques ) (born 1524 in Portugal ; died on August 2, 1579 in Istanbul ) was a Jewish diplomat, banker and financial advisor at the court of the Ottoman sultans Suleyman I and Selim II . in his eventful life he led different names: Portuguese João Miquez in Portugal, Italian Giovanni Miches in Venice, Castilian Juan Miguez in Spain and Flanders and Joseph Nasi or Jusuff Nassy in Konstantin Opel . In 1566 he was appointed Duke ( Duca ) of Naxos and the Cyclades by Selim II . He was also appointed Lord of Tiberias in Palestine , where he wanted to resettle Jews . He promoted a war of the Ottomans against the Republic of Venice and the Holy League , which was won by the League in the Battle of Lepanto , but in which the Republic of Venice lost the island of Cyprus , an important base of its trade network. After Selim's death, he lost his influence at court, but retained his titles and income until his death.

Life

Early years

Joseph Nasi was born into a wealthy Marran family; At the time of his birth, the sources give different data, just as information about his family often differs and does not always seem reliable. Joseph lost his father at an early age and grew up with his aunt Beatrice Mendes de Luna. He came to Antwerp with Beatrice (Jewish name Gracia Nasi ) and her daughter Brianda (also called Ana Reyna) because of the Inquisition in Portugal and Spain , where another aunt, Brianda Mendes de Luna, whose daughter was also called Beatrice, lived. He studied at the University of Leuven . The family lived in wealthy circumstances in the Habsburg Netherlands and maintained good relations with the Antwerp aristocracy. Charles V's sister , Maria of Hungary , who had been governor of the Netherlands from 1531, was one of her debtors . The family, however, was always under suspicion of heresy because Judaism was secretly practiced in them.

When Francis of Aragón , a favorite of Charles V, wooed the beautiful, wealthy Brianda de Luna, the wives of the family secretly left Antwerp, while Joseph Nasi stayed in the Netherlands to continue running the family. Gradually he transferred her fortune to France and the Roman-German Empire , in order to then follow the women of the house, who meanwhile lived in Venice.

In 1545, the Mendes family had received permission from the Council of Ten of the Republic of Venice to settle in the lagoon city with their goods and businesses and with more than thirty people.

Venice

The family lived in the Republic of Venice from 1544 onwards due to a charter ( salvacondotto ) from the Council of Ten . The sole administrator of the family property was Beatrice Mendes. Her sister Brianda litigated her share in Venetian courts for five years. Beatrice was sentenced twice to deposit half of the family fortune in the Zecca , the Venetian coin, until her niece Beatrice came of age. The verdict was received with satisfaction in Venice, as many a Nobile had hopes for the beautiful Beatrice and her fortune. Beatrice de Luna, who later called herself Gracia Nasi , fled to the court of the liberal-minded Ercole d'Este in Ferrara when her secretly practiced Judaism was discovered, and Brianda followed shortly afterwards due to new pressure from Venice against the Marran community. After an "armistice" the sisters both returned to Venice, but were placed under compulsory arrest immediately after their return, as the Serenissima feared the withdrawal of Mendes' assets from the republic. The family was indeed planning to move to Constantinople .

This unexpectedly gave the sibling dispute a new dimension, as diplomatic interventions by the Sublime Porte , the Ottoman court, took place in the period that followed. After Beatrice de Luna (Gracia Nasi) had deposited 100,000 gold ducats in the Zecca in June 1552, she was finally allowed to move to Constantinople with her daughter Brianda, who now called herself Reyna.

Piazzetta with the two pillars between which traitors were executed in Venice and put on public display

In January of the following year Joseph Nasi kidnapped his cousin Beatrice from Venice, was caught in Faenza and taken to Ravenna . The couple remained unmolested, but by order of the Senate, Joseph was banished forever from Venetian territory, including all Mediterranean possessions of the Republic, under threat of being hanged between the pillars of the piazzetta should he return; only the highest authorities in Venice should be able to unanimously revise this judgment. Nasi then traveled to Rome in order to obtain the lifting of the banishment from the Pope, whereupon the Pope sent a nuncio to the lagoon city. This was unsuccessful, however, and the pressures against Joseph's employees and favorites were even intensified.

At the Ottoman court

On the mediation of the Jewish doctor Moses Hamon , the personal doctor of Sultan Suleiman, who had already tried to get the family released and their property free, the family moved to Constantinople. Beatrice moved there with great pomp, and in 1554 Joseph Nasi also arrived with a retinue of bodyguards, servants in livery and around 500 Marranos. He openly confessed to the Jewish religion like Beatrice before and was circumcised . He married his cousin Reyna according to the Jewish rite and moved with her and Beatrice into a magnificent palace, the Belvedere, with a view of the Bosporus .

Selim II

Now Joseph Nasi's political career began in the service of the Ottoman Sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent , who, in addition to Joseph Nasi's financial strength, also appreciated his excellent economic and political connections throughout Europe and his familiarity with the mentality of the Christian empires.

Joseph soon managed to get in touch with Selim, one of Suleiman's sons and applicant for the line of succession. In the intrigues about the succession that developed between Selim's party and the supporters of his younger brother Bayazhid, Nasi took Selim's side and supported him in particular through intercession with Suleiman. Selim emerged victorious from the brotherly quarrel, Bayazhid fled to Persia and was murdered there with his sons. In 1566 Selim entered the government as Selim II . He rewarded Joseph Nasi for his services with rule over the Duchy of Naxos . Joseph was at the height of his economic and political power.

Heinrich II. 1560/80

In addition to the possibilities of influencing European politics in favor of the Sublime Porte and securing Ottoman supremacy in the Mediterranean, Joseph Nasi saw for himself the chance to settle unresolved accounts with European powers, especially with the Republic of Venice and the highly indebted French King Henry II .

In 1540 Joseph lent 150,000 ducats to the French king, who was in financial difficulties due to the ongoing dispute with the Habsburgs for supremacy in Europe. However, he refused to repay the debt. With the sultan's consent, Joseph had French merchant ships confiscated. France had to give in and a financial agreement was reached with the Porte. Joseph Nasi supported the revolting Calvinists in the Netherlands with the money received from the French king .

In 1556 Joseph and his aunt participated in the boycott of the port of Ancona in order to punish the persecution of the Marranos there. In Venice, meanwhile, the decree that threatened him with execution was still in force. So Joseph tried diplomatic channels to have the edict repealed. When the Venetians delayed a decision, Joseph increased the pressure with the help of the Ottoman ambassador. In 1567, the Council of Ten finally annulled the verdict on the former citizen of the republic for fear of Ottoman reprisals.

The Cyprus problem

The island of Cyprus , which had been in Venetian possession since Caterina Cornaro's death, posed a threat to the Sublime Porte and its claim to supremacy in the Mediterranean . Joseph Nasi belonged to the party at the Ottoman court that worked towards a military solution. Venice, aware of the Ottoman desires, had fortified the island according to the latest knowledge of war technology. In addition, all Jews were expelled from the island as they were suspected of collaborating with Joseph Nasi and the Ottomans. When the arsenal in Venice went up in flames in 1569 , Jews were suspected of sabotage instigated by Joseph Nasi. In March of the following year the Ottoman ambassador reported to the Signoria , the Small Council of the Republic of Venice, claims of the Ottomans on the island of Cyprus and wanted to enter into negotiations, but fell on deaf ears with the Venetians. In the same summer, the Turkish fleet left for Cyprus and first captured Nicosia , then the entire island.

On the initiative of Pope Pius V , there was a new foundation of the Holy League , whose participants were, however, divided among themselves, and went with varying levels of commitment in the fight. Italians and Spaniards distrusted each other, and Venice, which basically did not want to do without its old trading partner, kept looking for an agreement with the Ottomans. Joseph's rival at court, Sokollu Mehmed Pascha , feared losses in Levant trade as a result of the war and preferred a peaceful settlement with the enemy to a fatal weakening of Venice.

The decision was made in 1571 in the Battle of Lepanto , in which the Ottoman fleet was defeated, but the anti-Ottoman League made strategic mistakes and did not understand how to use its victory. Venice temporarily regained possession of the island, but was de facto the loser in the hundred-year struggle with the Ottomans for supremacy in the eastern Mediterranean. With this Joseph Nasi had achieved his goal - the humiliation of Venice.

The last few years

Lepanto seems to be the end of Joseph's political career, there are hardly any sources about his last years, and his traces are lost. At court, Sokollu, his opponent, prevailed; he ruled until the death of Sultan Selim and remained in office under his successor.

After Joseph Nasi's death on August 2, 1579, the sultan expropriated the widow except for 90,000 dinars , which was written into the ketubba , her marriage contract. With this sum Dona Reyna founded a printing company for the publication of writings in the Hebrew language , first in her residence Belvedere in Ortaköy , later in Kuru Chesme, a suburb of Constantinople.

The settlement of Tiberias

The name Joseph Nasi is most common in connection with his attempt to repopulate the city of Tiberias from 1561 - the first practical attempt to re-establish a Jewish center in Palestine .

Ruins of the city walls of Tiberias, photo 1894

After Selim had prevailed in his struggle for the succession in the Sultanate with the support of Joseph Nasi's, he showed his gratitude by persuading the incumbent Sultan to transfer the rule of an area on Lake Tiberias to Joseph . Joseph himself never visited his territory, but he had the city of Tiberias renovated and its defensive walls rebuilt. He offered Jewish refugees to settle there and organized the transport of the emigrants by sea from Italy to Palestine. Even so, the project was barely successful. Only a few wanted to move to an unknown country, where the living conditions promised only a meager existence. The local population was also not happy about the new settlers, and the economic conditions did not improve, even after Joseph planted mulberry trees to start a silk industry. In addition, the route across the Mediterranean was dangerous, as merchant ships repeatedly fell into the hands of pirates. With the war of the Ottoman Empire against the Republic of Venice, the expansion of the Jewish settlement in Palestine came to a complete standstill.

literature

  • Matthias Bersohn: A few words about Don Joseph Nasi, Duke of Naxos. In: Monthly for the history and science of Judaism . Vol. 18, No. 9 (1869), pp. 422-424.
  • P. Grünebaum-Ballin: Joseph Naci duc de Naxos. Paris 1968.
  • Riccardo Calimani : Joao Micas, Giovanni Miches, Juan Miguez, Joseph Nasi, duca di Nasso: quattro nomi e molte identità per un stesso uomo. In: Calimani: Storia del ghetto di Venezia. Milano 1995, pp. 103-109.
  • Nicolae Jorga : History of the Ottoman Empire. Scientific Book Society WBG, Darmstadt 1990, Volume 3, pp. 140f.
  • Cecil Roth : The House of Nasi: the Duke of Naxos. Philadelphia 1948.
    • in Italian: Joseph Nassi, duca di Nasso ei Savoia. 1968.
  • Cecil Roth: A Bird's Eye History of the World. Union of American Hebrew Congregations, New York 1954.
  • Moses Schorr : On the story of Don Joseph Nasi. In: Monthly for the history and science of Judaism. Vol. 41, No. 5 (1897), pp. 228-237.

Fiction

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John F. Oppenheimer (Red.) And a .: Lexicon of Judaism. 2nd Edition. Bertelsmann, Gütersloh u. a. 1971, ISBN 3-570-05964-2 , Sp. 335.
  2. ↑ Mindel: Don Joseph Nasi, Duke of Naxos.
  3. ↑ Calimani, p. 108.
  4. ↑ Calimani, pp. 111-112.
personal data
SURNAME Nasi, Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Miquez, João (Christian baptismal name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Diplomat, banker and financial expert at the court of the Ottoman sultans Suleyman I and Selim II.
DATE OF BIRTH 1524
PLACE OF BIRTH Portugal
DATE OF DEATH August 2, 1579
Place of death Istanbul