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The Woman Who Defied Kings: The Life and Times of Dona Gracia Nasi
The Woman Who Defied Kings is the first modern, comprehensive biography of Doña Gracia Nasi, an outstanding Jewish international banker during the Renaissance. A courageous leader, she used her wealth and connections to operate an underground railroad that saved hundreds of her fellow Spanish and Portuguese conversos (Jews who had been forced to convert to Catholicism) from the horrors of the Inquisition. Born in Lisbon in 1510, she later moved onto Antwerp, Venice, and Ferrara where she was constantly negotiating with kings and emperors for better conditions for her people. Doña Gracia Nasi helped lead a boycott of the Italian port of Ancona in retaliation for the burning of 23 of her people by the Inquisition - an outrageous act in an era when Jews were more accustomed to appeasement. Finally settling in Constantinople, she persuaded Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent to grant her a long-term lease on the Tiberias region of Palestine, where she spearheaded one of the earliest attempts to start an independent state for Jews in Israel. Doña Gracia Nasi is equally important to history because she shatters the stereotype of how women, especially Jewish women, conducted their lives during the Renaissance period. Some historians have called her the most important Jewish woman since Biblical times.
614 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
November 19, 2016
This book clearly deserves 10 stars due to the sheer volume and quality of research, especially considering the cultural, linguistic and geographic scope of the author's voyage. Writing this book could have easily taken a lifetime. In fact, almost any statement that the author makes is clearly substantiated by the source. I am now going through bibliography with the goal to return to many of these books in a while.
Having said that, I feel very strongly that the book would have benefited from a better editor. This story is clearly not about the writing style, it's about the underlying events. At times, I almost felt: ok, this is where the author stopped; this is where she got distracted or driven away by something else; this is what she thought more significant or urgent to add: and this is where she is returning to her prior thought and going on with her story. That's why I only gave this book 4 stars and not 5.
Overall, this book is interesting and motivating; highly recommended!
Having said that, I feel very strongly that the book would have benefited from a better editor. This story is clearly not about the writing style, it's about the underlying events. At times, I almost felt: ok, this is where the author stopped; this is where she got distracted or driven away by something else; this is what she thought more significant or urgent to add: and this is where she is returning to her prior thought and going on with her story. That's why I only gave this book 4 stars and not 5.
Overall, this book is interesting and motivating; highly recommended!
July 8, 2010
As I said in my review of Cecil Roth's biography of Dona Gracia, this 500-page tome is THE definitive biography on Dona Gracia until, as the author concludes, more documentary evidence reveals more of the story. As it stands, she made very thorough use of the documentary evidence, which is something you can do if you're a Women's Studies chair at Yale University. Translators for responsa, translators for the Spanish and Italian - she and her assistants really covered ground! Sometimes her findings contradict Cecil Roth, but mostly, she reveals things he missed. Dona Gracia's husband was a mere sentence in Roth's book; here he's at least a chapter. Also significantly, Don Joseph does not appear to be such a hero as Roth makes him out to be.
For my research project, this was top-notch, but I still feel I have pieces missing. As the title implies, this is much more about Dona Gracia's dealings with the heads of state of her times, but what I really want to know about is the "underground railroad" for the rescue of converso Jews. Into the author's footnotes I go! (Hope to come up for air again soon.)
For my research project, this was top-notch, but I still feel I have pieces missing. As the title implies, this is much more about Dona Gracia's dealings with the heads of state of her times, but what I really want to know about is the "underground railroad" for the rescue of converso Jews. Into the author's footnotes I go! (Hope to come up for air again soon.)
March 27, 2014
This was an unusual biography. There is relatively little information but the author did a great job of collecting the references and also in visiting many of the locations that Dona Gracia spent some of her life. It was fascinating in several ways. First, that a woman was able to become so powerful in early Renaissance Europe then the Ottoman Empire. Second that a Jew was able to become so powerful especially at the time she lived, a really tragic era for Jews.
Her parents had been expelled from Spain and invited into Portugal. The family clearly was well to do because that was the motive of the Portuguese king, to get the financial uplift by having top merchants and financiers in his kingdom. This was fine until the king married a daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand and one of the things included in the marriage agreement was that the Inquisition was to start in Portugal. By this time, Dona Gracia's parents were dead and she was married to an uncle and had one daughter. The husband died and Dona Gracia fled to Antwerp, setting into motion one of the major themes of her life: Fleeing a vengeful Christian ruler with as much of her family and possessions as possible and spending years trying to recover the losses incurred by the flight. Once in Antwerp, Dona Gracia continued her education in the family business of finance with her brother in law. He deemed her his heir, not his wife, Dona Gracia's sister. This led to ongoing legal issues for a substantial part of Dona Gracia's life, until the sister died. Dona Gracia escaped Antwerp for Venice, Venice for Ferrarra, Ferrara to ? I think back to Venice for a short while, then finally, the Ottoman Empire. There she was able to live out what remained of her life. This alone would have been remarkable. Remember, she was always under suspicion as a Converso, a Jew whose family converted to avoid the Auto da fes. If the Christian authorities could find evidence that she was a secret Jew, she could be legally killed after torture as a traitor for leaving the "right" religion. Only in the Ottoman Empire was Dona Gracia finally able to come out and live openly as a Jew. What made Dona Gracia really remarkable was the way she took care of as many Conversos as possible throughout her life. She personally spent money like water to try to save as many Jews as possible, with as much of their belongings as possible. She fed innumerable Conversos daily since often these people arrived in whichever town completely penniless and often physically abused to one degree or another. If you want details, read other reviews or the book itself. I'm not going to go over grisly details many already know. Dona Gracia had selected a nephew to assist her in the business and eventually his brother helped as well. Apparently while Dona Gracia faded out of people's memories, probably in part because of her untraditional role as a financier, her nephew achieved a fair amount of notoriety in Europe. Some claim Shakespeare's Shylock was based on him, although the author doesn't think so. Other stories were written vilifying him.
Dona Gracia's most ambitious project was starting a town in Palestine for Jews to repopulate. Luckily, its failure took place well after her death. Some of the failure may have been directly from her death, but most was based in Arabic and some Christian resistance to having the town there at all....sounds familiar doesn't it to Israel's history!
Ultimately I suppose Dona Gracia was unsuccessful. She did not succeed in rescuing her people, for all time. By the time her nephew died, there was very little of the original wealth left, but there was enough to keep her daughter in decent circumstances for her life. Would Dona Gracia consider herself a success or a failure? She was very pragmatic and likely would have been pleased with what she accomplished.
Some of Dona Gracia's personality makes its way into this book, even with sparse detail and so much time having past. She liked good clothes. She was very religious. She loved learning and knowledge. She backed several Jewish printers over her life. She was certainly ruthless. It sounds as though people feared her. She was brilliant and able to juggle many pieces of complex situations at the same time. She probably enjoyed the act of negotiation. She must have loved her niece to have spent so much time, energy and money trying to help her. She seems to have loved her only daughter. Obviously she kept her word to people.
I highly recommend this book! It lost a star mostly due to my impatience. I wish that the book had been shorter. You'd understand if you could see how stuffed my library shelf is! This is a book that is needed, to show that the myth of Jews capitulating tamely to adversity is simply not true, now or then. It also shows that women were more powerful than the stereotype painted them, at many levels of society. She had to face down a female ruler of Antwerp. It probably was pretty much a draw. Both were very powerful women. I get the impression she may have had more trouble with the female than the many male rulers she had to negotiate with over her life! This title belongs in every Temple library and Jewish high school and college library. It also should be well represented in public libraries as well as college libraries in general.
Her parents had been expelled from Spain and invited into Portugal. The family clearly was well to do because that was the motive of the Portuguese king, to get the financial uplift by having top merchants and financiers in his kingdom. This was fine until the king married a daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand and one of the things included in the marriage agreement was that the Inquisition was to start in Portugal. By this time, Dona Gracia's parents were dead and she was married to an uncle and had one daughter. The husband died and Dona Gracia fled to Antwerp, setting into motion one of the major themes of her life: Fleeing a vengeful Christian ruler with as much of her family and possessions as possible and spending years trying to recover the losses incurred by the flight. Once in Antwerp, Dona Gracia continued her education in the family business of finance with her brother in law. He deemed her his heir, not his wife, Dona Gracia's sister. This led to ongoing legal issues for a substantial part of Dona Gracia's life, until the sister died. Dona Gracia escaped Antwerp for Venice, Venice for Ferrarra, Ferrara to ? I think back to Venice for a short while, then finally, the Ottoman Empire. There she was able to live out what remained of her life. This alone would have been remarkable. Remember, she was always under suspicion as a Converso, a Jew whose family converted to avoid the Auto da fes. If the Christian authorities could find evidence that she was a secret Jew, she could be legally killed after torture as a traitor for leaving the "right" religion. Only in the Ottoman Empire was Dona Gracia finally able to come out and live openly as a Jew. What made Dona Gracia really remarkable was the way she took care of as many Conversos as possible throughout her life. She personally spent money like water to try to save as many Jews as possible, with as much of their belongings as possible. She fed innumerable Conversos daily since often these people arrived in whichever town completely penniless and often physically abused to one degree or another. If you want details, read other reviews or the book itself. I'm not going to go over grisly details many already know. Dona Gracia had selected a nephew to assist her in the business and eventually his brother helped as well. Apparently while Dona Gracia faded out of people's memories, probably in part because of her untraditional role as a financier, her nephew achieved a fair amount of notoriety in Europe. Some claim Shakespeare's Shylock was based on him, although the author doesn't think so. Other stories were written vilifying him.
Dona Gracia's most ambitious project was starting a town in Palestine for Jews to repopulate. Luckily, its failure took place well after her death. Some of the failure may have been directly from her death, but most was based in Arabic and some Christian resistance to having the town there at all....sounds familiar doesn't it to Israel's history!
Ultimately I suppose Dona Gracia was unsuccessful. She did not succeed in rescuing her people, for all time. By the time her nephew died, there was very little of the original wealth left, but there was enough to keep her daughter in decent circumstances for her life. Would Dona Gracia consider herself a success or a failure? She was very pragmatic and likely would have been pleased with what she accomplished.
Some of Dona Gracia's personality makes its way into this book, even with sparse detail and so much time having past. She liked good clothes. She was very religious. She loved learning and knowledge. She backed several Jewish printers over her life. She was certainly ruthless. It sounds as though people feared her. She was brilliant and able to juggle many pieces of complex situations at the same time. She probably enjoyed the act of negotiation. She must have loved her niece to have spent so much time, energy and money trying to help her. She seems to have loved her only daughter. Obviously she kept her word to people.
I highly recommend this book! It lost a star mostly due to my impatience. I wish that the book had been shorter. You'd understand if you could see how stuffed my library shelf is! This is a book that is needed, to show that the myth of Jews capitulating tamely to adversity is simply not true, now or then. It also shows that women were more powerful than the stereotype painted them, at many levels of society. She had to face down a female ruler of Antwerp. It probably was pretty much a draw. Both were very powerful women. I get the impression she may have had more trouble with the female than the many male rulers she had to negotiate with over her life! This title belongs in every Temple library and Jewish high school and college library. It also should be well represented in public libraries as well as college libraries in general.
July 9, 2024
a little dry but very interesting
December 31, 2012
I've had a good run, on this holiday, of books that engaged me, and I suppose it eventually had to end. The subject is an astonishing life story, but I was left wondering at the end if there simply wasn't the information available to write a more interesting book about her, or if the author just had a different idea of what was interesting.
There is a wealth if detail, here, for example on inheritance disputes between Dona Gracia and her sister, but very little on how she ran the business, or how she facilitated the movement of Jewish peoples across Europe. Pages of discussions about legal wrangling over guardianships and status, and little discussion about how converso communities operated day to day. Most frustratingly, Dona Gracia herself remains a cipher, rarely emerging, except through too few quoted letters, as a person. Brooks makes the occasional, usually infuriating, assumption based on a strange worldview (men are more likely to prefer women who spend outside their budget, career women often fall for older male colleagues) to guess at emotional life, but she remains beyond grasp, a catalyst rather than a person.
Brooks does better describing the "times" succinctly explaining the various forced conversions and expulsions that created the converso communities, and the various political and economic tensions that led to their continued, unstable existence. As a general history of the era, particularly the role of Ferrara and Ancona, it was rather good
There is a wealth if detail, here, for example on inheritance disputes between Dona Gracia and her sister, but very little on how she ran the business, or how she facilitated the movement of Jewish peoples across Europe. Pages of discussions about legal wrangling over guardianships and status, and little discussion about how converso communities operated day to day. Most frustratingly, Dona Gracia herself remains a cipher, rarely emerging, except through too few quoted letters, as a person. Brooks makes the occasional, usually infuriating, assumption based on a strange worldview (men are more likely to prefer women who spend outside their budget, career women often fall for older male colleagues) to guess at emotional life, but she remains beyond grasp, a catalyst rather than a person.
Brooks does better describing the "times" succinctly explaining the various forced conversions and expulsions that created the converso communities, and the various political and economic tensions that led to their continued, unstable existence. As a general history of the era, particularly the role of Ferrara and Ancona, it was rather good
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March 15, 2020Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Well...
Nobody expects the Portuguese Inquisition!
Dona (Lady) Gracia Naci's husband was the richest man in Europe, and an accomplished merchant. He literally had more silver in the bank than royalty. He started spending bribe money like water to, ahem, persuade the Pope that a Portuguese inquisition was not necessary. He also spent a fortune (literally) spiriting Jews out of Spain/Portugal into safer places, ie the non-Christian Ottoman Empire. Then he died.
Nobody expects the Portuguese Inquisition! - at that point, everyone knew it was coming.
Dona Gracia moves to Venice via England. She continues bribing Kings and Papal Nuncios- ahem, obligatory loans that will never be repaid. Not a bribe at all! She also continues to support the secret trail (no underground railroad when there is no railroad!) from Christian Europe to Muslim territory, but a lot of people die en route via hunger or pirates.
Nobody expects the English Inquisition! - they never had one, but also they only had a small number of conversos (forced converts) who lived very, very quietly, and mostly Jewish. See also, Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. It's likely that in England, Shax never met a practicing Jew.
Nobody expects the Venitian Inquisition! - they didn't have one until very, very late in the game, and even then they preferred exile from La Serenissima to death. Venice was all about merchants and trade, and lots of merchants were Protestants - in the 1550s, an Inquisition would come after them as failed Catholics. Bad, bad bad for business!
As conversos, Dona Gracia & Family didn't have to wear the yellow hats required of Jews - yes, the "yellow" attached to Jews is just that old. However, they mingled with Jews in the ghetto. It was very scandalous.
Cue the soap opera: Dona Gracia and her sister Brianda married two brothers. When the second brother died, he left the money and the business - and his daughter's portion - to his business like sister in law, instead of to his wife who just liked to spend money. At least ten years of lawsuits back and forth.
Eventually Dona Gracia had to flee Venice to the Ottoman Empire. Sulimain the Magnificent allowed her to wear Venetian styles instead of the yellow turbans required of Jews - there it is again.
Dona Gracia kept up rescuing Jews from Christian countries, kept up the feud with her sister, kept up the Hebrew printing press, kept up the family tradition of supporting the hungry, set up several synagogues, and in general was an amazing woman.
She wanted to build up Tzfas (Safed) and Tveria (Tiberius), in line with the Empire's plan to build empty spaces into tax-paying towns. Cue the local Arabs and Franciscans - The Jews Are Plotting To Make Their Own Kingdom!!! (lol who ever heard of zionism in 1570?) Suleimain - as long as they pay their taxes, stop bothering them. Local Arabs & Franciscans - do not stop bothering them. The towns fail.
===
Reading this big fat book was more like reading a history book than a novel, but very interesting. Also, there are a lot more men in the book than in my review.
Well...
Nobody expects the Portuguese Inquisition!
Dona (Lady) Gracia Naci's husband was the richest man in Europe, and an accomplished merchant. He literally had more silver in the bank than royalty. He started spending bribe money like water to, ahem, persuade the Pope that a Portuguese inquisition was not necessary. He also spent a fortune (literally) spiriting Jews out of Spain/Portugal into safer places, ie the non-Christian Ottoman Empire. Then he died.
Nobody expects the Portuguese Inquisition! - at that point, everyone knew it was coming.
Dona Gracia moves to Venice via England. She continues bribing Kings and Papal Nuncios- ahem, obligatory loans that will never be repaid. Not a bribe at all! She also continues to support the secret trail (no underground railroad when there is no railroad!) from Christian Europe to Muslim territory, but a lot of people die en route via hunger or pirates.
Nobody expects the English Inquisition! - they never had one, but also they only had a small number of conversos (forced converts) who lived very, very quietly, and mostly Jewish. See also, Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. It's likely that in England, Shax never met a practicing Jew.
Nobody expects the Venitian Inquisition! - they didn't have one until very, very late in the game, and even then they preferred exile from La Serenissima to death. Venice was all about merchants and trade, and lots of merchants were Protestants - in the 1550s, an Inquisition would come after them as failed Catholics. Bad, bad bad for business!
As conversos, Dona Gracia & Family didn't have to wear the yellow hats required of Jews - yes, the "yellow" attached to Jews is just that old. However, they mingled with Jews in the ghetto. It was very scandalous.
Cue the soap opera: Dona Gracia and her sister Brianda married two brothers. When the second brother died, he left the money and the business - and his daughter's portion - to his business like sister in law, instead of to his wife who just liked to spend money. At least ten years of lawsuits back and forth.
Eventually Dona Gracia had to flee Venice to the Ottoman Empire. Sulimain the Magnificent allowed her to wear Venetian styles instead of the yellow turbans required of Jews - there it is again.
Dona Gracia kept up rescuing Jews from Christian countries, kept up the feud with her sister, kept up the Hebrew printing press, kept up the family tradition of supporting the hungry, set up several synagogues, and in general was an amazing woman.
She wanted to build up Tzfas (Safed) and Tveria (Tiberius), in line with the Empire's plan to build empty spaces into tax-paying towns. Cue the local Arabs and Franciscans - The Jews Are Plotting To Make Their Own Kingdom!!! (lol who ever heard of zionism in 1570?) Suleimain - as long as they pay their taxes, stop bothering them. Local Arabs & Franciscans - do not stop bothering them. The towns fail.
===
Reading this big fat book was more like reading a history book than a novel, but very interesting. Also, there are a lot more men in the book than in my review.
July 19, 2024
This book tells the saga of a wealthy Jewish trading family who had lived in Spain for centuries before start of the Spanish Inquisition in 1492. It is particularly interesting because it focuses on a woman, Dona Gracia Nasi, who in the 1500's was one of the richest and most powerful women in Europe.
Gracia Nasi was born in Portugal in 1510 into a proud Jewish family which in order to survive had moved from Spain to Portugal. They eventually converted to Catholicism, and adopted non-Jewish names, yet maintained their Judaism privately. Catholic in public, Jewish at home, Gracia Nasi married within the Jewish community, had a child, and was widowed quite early. She was left as the co-owner of the extensive Mendes family trading business with branches and agents around the world.
Gracia-Nasi aka Beatrice del Luna Mendes, threatened by inquisition, over several decades moves the family business from Portugal, to Antwerp, to Venice. There are family squabbles, a sanctuary detour in Ferrara, secret funding of escape routes for ordinary Jews, before a final move to Istanbul, and a return to public Judaism in a Muslim country.
The parallel lives, publicly Catholic, privately Jewish and the multiple name changes and conversions make for confusing historical research. I found the minutiae of early banking, bills of exchange, and physically transferring wealth across borders quite interesting. This is very well-done academic history with chapter notes, and a bibliography of primary and secondary sources.
Alessandro Barbero's podcast in Italian brings the story to life : https://www.spreaker.com/episode/75-i....
And the author Andree Brooks interview on YouTube adds to the story: https://youtu.be/Rq30Ikq4S20?si=yjF_a...
Gracia Nasi was born in Portugal in 1510 into a proud Jewish family which in order to survive had moved from Spain to Portugal. They eventually converted to Catholicism, and adopted non-Jewish names, yet maintained their Judaism privately. Catholic in public, Jewish at home, Gracia Nasi married within the Jewish community, had a child, and was widowed quite early. She was left as the co-owner of the extensive Mendes family trading business with branches and agents around the world.
Gracia-Nasi aka Beatrice del Luna Mendes, threatened by inquisition, over several decades moves the family business from Portugal, to Antwerp, to Venice. There are family squabbles, a sanctuary detour in Ferrara, secret funding of escape routes for ordinary Jews, before a final move to Istanbul, and a return to public Judaism in a Muslim country.
The parallel lives, publicly Catholic, privately Jewish and the multiple name changes and conversions make for confusing historical research. I found the minutiae of early banking, bills of exchange, and physically transferring wealth across borders quite interesting. This is very well-done academic history with chapter notes, and a bibliography of primary and secondary sources.
Alessandro Barbero's podcast in Italian brings the story to life : https://www.spreaker.com/episode/75-i....
And the author Andree Brooks interview on YouTube adds to the story: https://youtu.be/Rq30Ikq4S20?si=yjF_a...
April 17, 2025
This woman needs a 12 part HBO series about her life. Obviously the thread tying it together would be the inquisition and her work to rescue other conversos, which lets her be the absolute hero she was, with all her flaws, but also - there's just so much FUN you could have, especially if you stunt cast some of the bit characters and make up the courtroom scenes and embellish a few narrow escapes. (And Brianda!)
This book was wonderful and Doña Gracia Nasi is one of the most amazing women of Jewish history.
This book was wonderful and Doña Gracia Nasi is one of the most amazing women of Jewish history.
June 16, 2018
The Woman Who Defied Kings is phenomenal and well researched. This story of Dona Gracia, a widowed Jewish merchant, and her work toward saving her people, takes us through Europe during the Inquisition. This is a must read!
August 5, 2022
Very well researched. The author did an excellent job of showing what was going on the world at the time that this admirable woman lived. Dona Gracia Nasi was both inspiring and a role model for Jewish women today.
August 14, 2009
So far, this book is fascinating. More later...I'm just in the beginning.
The book really dragged at the end. The editor should have done a better job with grammar and writing. We all should have heard of this amazing woman and what she accomplished, but she is almost forgotten by all but a few. Dona Gracia Nasi was widowed and left very rich. She moved from Portugal to Italy and ultimately to Constantinople, escaping the Inquisition. She used her vast trading and banking empire to outwit popes, kinds and others, creating escape networks and support systems for tortured and persecuted Jews.
The book really dragged at the end. The editor should have done a better job with grammar and writing. We all should have heard of this amazing woman and what she accomplished, but she is almost forgotten by all but a few. Dona Gracia Nasi was widowed and left very rich. She moved from Portugal to Italy and ultimately to Constantinople, escaping the Inquisition. She used her vast trading and banking empire to outwit popes, kinds and others, creating escape networks and support systems for tortured and persecuted Jews.
March 19, 2015
A very impressive documentation of the life of an (almost) forgotten character. Reading this book I realize how the actions of Doña Gracia shaped both Jewish and Western civilization as we know it today, either directly or indirectly. I was particularly interested in the description of the development of financial markets in Europe and the large correlation between fiscal troubles of the European crowns and Jewish expulsion/expropriation. The author accompanies her scholarly work with a very vivid description of the epoch, which makes the reading very engaging. I hope that the author writes now a biography of Don Joseph Nasi as well.
August 15, 2012
A woman I've never heard of from a time of inordinate zeal and now shame. The writing was easily accessible and Brooks' style engaging. Turns of phrase that bring to mind a conversation rather than dry textbook-ish facts.
Recommended if you like biography, history, women's studies and/or Jewish studies.
Recommended if you like biography, history, women's studies and/or Jewish studies.
August 4, 2015
Anne tarafından ecdadım oluyor...
15. yüzyıl dünyasına göz atmak için hem bir yol romanı hem bir belgesel, hem de bir kadının ayakta kalma mücadelesi...
Yahudi mirasının nasıl portekiz'den istanbul'a kadar geldiğinin de hikayesi.
15. yüzyıl dünyasına göz atmak için hem bir yol romanı hem bir belgesel, hem de bir kadının ayakta kalma mücadelesi...
Yahudi mirasının nasıl portekiz'den istanbul'a kadar geldiğinin de hikayesi.
May 14, 2008
If I lived before....
January 19, 2012
Some of the facts are interesting. I believe the book drones on excessively about technical commercial information.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews