Roderigo Lopes
Roderigo Lopes , Spanish Rodrigo Lopez (* 1525 in Crato , Portugal , † June 7, 1594 in London ), known as Doctor Lopus , was the personal physician of Queen Elizabeth I Tudor of England .
Life
Lopes was the son of Portuguese Conversos and came to England in 1559 , where he became famous as a medical specialist . He treated Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester and Francis Walsingham and was appointed chief physician to the Queen in 1586. His success and Jewish ancestry earned him many enemies, and in 1594, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex , accused him of collaborating in a scheme to assassinate António de Crato and the Queen. Essex personally presided over the special court that sentenced Lopes to death. A few months after the queen confirmed the sentence, he was hanged, gutted and quartered (punishment for attempted regicide and high treason). His widow received a corresponding widow's pension on the instructions of Elizabeth I, which puts Lopes' guilt into doubt in the eyes of the queen.
Lopes is sometimes regarded as the historical role model for the main character "Shylock" in the play The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare .
literature
- Lucien Wolf: Jews in Elizabethan England. TJHSE (Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England) 11 (1928), 1-91
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lopes, Roderigo |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Lopez, Rodrigo; Doctor Lopus |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Personal physician to Queen Elizabeth I Tudor of England |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1525 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Crato |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 7, 1594 |
| Place of death | London |