Menasseh ben Israel's Mission to Oliver Cromwell / Being a reprint of the pamphlets published by Menasseh ben Israel to promote the re-admission of the Jews to England, 1649-1656

by Manasseh ben Israel

THE HUMBLE ADDRESSES

(pp. 73–103)

Bibliographical Note

For the origin of this tract, and the probable date and circumstances of its preparation, see Introduction, pp. xxxviii-xxxix.

There are two editions, neither of which bears any imprint or date. Both are 4to, but one has 26 pp. and the other 23 pp. It is difficult to say whether, and which, one of these two versions is a revision of the other, as the only difference between them is that the following sentence is added at the end of the 23 pp. text: “Which is the close of Rabbi Menesse Ben-Israel, a Divine, and Doctor in Physick in the Strand over against the New-Exchange in London.” The British Museum copy of this edition is dated in MS. “Novemb. 5th (London), 1655.” This edition must have been printed after Menasseh’s arrival in London, and it is probable that the other is the Libellus Anglicus of which he speaks in his letter to Felgenhauer in February 1655, and which, consequently, we may assume was printed in Amsterdam.

The latter was reprinted in Melbourne in 1868, with an introduction by the late Rev. A. F. Ornstien:—

“To / His Highnesse / the / Lord Protector / of the / Commonwealth of / England, Scotland and Ireland / the Humble Addresses / of / Menasseh Ben Israel, a Divine, and / Doctor of Physic, in behalfe / of the Jewish Nation / 1655. / Reprinted by H. T. Dwight, / Bookseller and Publisher, Bourke Street East, Melbourne, / 1868.”

English reprints of the 23 pp. text have been published in the Jewish Chronicle, Nov.-Dec. 1859, and in Kayserling’s “Life of Menasseh ben Israel,” with annotations in 1877 (Miscellany of Hebrew Literature, Second Series, pp. 35–63). According to Barbosa Machado (“Biblioteca Lusitana,” vol. iii. p. 457) a Spanish translation was published in London simultaneously with the first English edition. Its title is given as follows:—

“Las Humildes suplicaciones En nombre de la Nacion de los Judios a su Alteza el Señor Protector Oliver Cromwell de la Republica de Inglaterra, Scocia, y Yrlandia. Traduzido del Original Ingles. En Londres, 1655.”

A copy of this translation in MS. existed in the library of Isaac da Costa of Amsterdam (Misc. Heb. Lit., ii. p. 84). Kayserling first translated the tract into German, and published it in his “Menasse ben Israel, sein Leben und Wirken” (Berlin, 1861).

A very large number of the historical references in this tract are taken without acknowledgment from Imanuel Aboab’s “Nomologia” (Amst., 1629) and Daniel Levy de Barrios’s “Historia Universal Judayca.” Kayserling has given many of the original passages in his notes to his “Life of Menasseh ben Israel” (Misc. Heb. Lit., Series II.).

To His Highnesse, &c.

P. [77], l. 9. “The Ambassadors of England.” The St. John Mission (see Introduction, pp. xxx-xxxi, and Vindiciæ, p. 111).

P. [81], l. 19. “Merchandizing is ... the proper profession of the Nation of the Jews.” In so far as this implies that the Jews have an inborn genius for commerce this is a vulgar error (see Loeb, “Le Juif de l’Histoire et le Juif de la Legende,” pp. 7–14).

P. [85], l. 7. “These in India in Cochin.” See note, supra, pp. 159–160.

P. [85], l. 21. “In the Turkish Empire.” See Nicolas de Nicolay, “Navigations, Peregrinations et Voyages faicts en la Turquie,” Anvers, 1576, pp. 243 et seq.

P. [86], l. 20. “In this estate some of the Jews have grown to great fortunes.” The Jewish notabilities referred to in this paragraph are also mentioned in the “Hope of Israel.” See note, supra, p. 159.

P. [87], l. 6. “Isaac Iecells.” Jessel or Joesel is a diminutive of Joseph. The person referred to is probably Asher ben Joseph of Cracow (see Steinschneider, “Bibl. Bodl.,” p. 751).

P. [87], l. 9. “The Cosaques in the late warres.” The rising of Chmielnicki, 1648–1649. (Graetz, “Geschichte,” vol. x. pp. 52–82.)

P. [87], ll. 22 et seq. The references to Jewish families in this paragraph are taken from Aboab and De Barrios. See notes 201–204 to Kayserling’s “Menasseh ben Israel” (Misc. Heb. Lit., ii. p. 88).

P. [88], l. 17. “Seignor Moseh Palache.” See De Castro, “Keur Van Graafsteenen,” p. 93; “Cal. State Papers, Dom.,” 1654, p. 91. On the Jews of Morocco, see Jew. Quart. Rev., vol. iv. pp. 369 et seq.

P. [89], l. 5. “Sir Duarte Nunes a’ Acosta.” See Da Costa, “Adellijke Geslachten onder de Israelieten.”

P. [89], l. 8. “Emanuel Boccaro Rosales.” See p. lxxx (Menasseh’s letter to Felgenhauer); Kayserling, “Sephardim,” p. 209; “Biblioteca Española-Portugueza-Judaica,” pp. 95–96.

P. [90], l. 16. “As the Chronicles do declare.” This paragraph is almost literally translated from Aboab’s “Nomologia,” p. 290. The story does not appear in the earlier Jewish chronicles, such as Schevet Jehuda, Emek Habacha, and Zemach David, although the events of the reign of Pedro the Cruel and Don Enrique so far as they affect the Jew are fully dealt with in them. The “Chronicle” referred to by Menasseh is probably that of Pedro Lopez d’Ayala, which is the original authority for the story.

P. [91], l. 27. “Don Isaac Abarbanel.” See note, supra, p. 154.

P. [92], l. 1. “They everywhere are used to pray.” See Singer, “The Earliest Jewish Prayers for the Sovereign” (Jewish Chronicle, Feb. 22, 1901).

P. [92], l. 18. “He that giveth salvation unto Kings.” This is the first English translation of the Prayer for the Sovereign. See Singer, preceding note.

P. [93], l. 3. “R. Simon Ben-Iochai in his excellent book called Zoar.” See note, supra, p. 158.

P. [93], l. 26. “One famous lawyer in Rome, and Osorius.” The whole of this, and the following paragraphs relating to the expulsion from Spain, is taken from Aboab’s “Nomologia.” Osorius (Hieronymo Osorio, 1506–1580) was author of a history of the reign of King Emanuel, which was translated into English by Gibbs (Lond., 1752). See notes to Kayserling’s “Menasseh” for parallel passages from Aboab.

P. [99], l. 22. “As Vasquo saith.” For Vasquo read Usque. Menasseh is quoting from the “Consolacam as Tribvlacoens de Ysrael,” by Samuel Usque (Ferrara, 1552), see pp. 198–200. Samuel Usque was one of three brothers, all distinguished Marranos. He fled from the Portuguese Inquisition and settled at Ferrara, whence he emigrated to the Holy Land. He was a protégé of Donna Gracia Nasi (see Note on “Don Josephus Nassi,” supra, p. 159; also Kayserling, “Jüdischen Frauen,” pp. 80–86).

P. [100], l. 5. The narrative as pirated from Aboab’s “Nomologia” ends here. For fuller details of the Portuguese persecutions, see Kayserling, “Juden in Portugal,” pp. 120 et seq.

P. [101], l. 17. “As for killing of the young children of Christians.” See infra, notes on “Vindiciæ Judæorum,” pp. 165–167.

P. [102], l. 9. “In Araguza” = Ragusa. For a fuller version of this story see infra, “Vindiciæ Judæorum,” pp. 116–117.

P. [102], l. 20. “As for the third point.” Menasseh himself was largely responsible for the charge of proselytising, inasmuch as in the “Hope of Israel” (supra, p. 47) he had boasted of the converts made by the Jews in Spain. There can be no doubt that these conversions were very numerous, but they were probably due in a larger measure to the oppressive policy of the Inquisition than to any active proselytising on the part of the Jews.

P. [103], l. 33. “In the Strand.” For a full discussion of the place of Menasseh’s abode while in London, see Trans. Jew. Hist. Soc., vol. iii. pp. 144 et seq.