Curiel family

The Curiel family (Dutch: Curiël or also known as: Nuñez da Costa) is a prominent Sephardi Jewish family.

Curiel
קוריאל
Jewish noble family
Current regionWestern Europe and Mexico
Place of originCuriel de Duero, Castile, Spain
Founded14th century
TitlesKnights of the royal household of Portugal
Style(s)Knight
TraditionsJudaism
MottoMerite

Until the late 18th century, the family held diplomatic positions for the Portuguese Crown in Hamburg and Amsterdam.[1]

History

The family's origins date back to the 14th century in Curiel de Duero, Castile, Spain.[2][3][4] Part of the Sephardic community in Spain, the Curiel family settled in Coimbra, Portugal after the 1492 Spanish decree that ordered the expulsion of all Jews who refused conversion to Catholicism.[5][6] Abraham Curiel was an eminent physician in Lisbon and ensured that his children practiced Judaism. They were ennobled in 1641 by João IV of Portugal and hold noble titles in Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands. The Curiel family has links to banking and commerce, the arts, literature and politics.[7][8]

Historian Jonathan Israel wrote that in the seventeenth century, "the new Hamburg synagogue, a place of worship for some eight hundred Sephardi Jews, was filled with emblems and reminders of the Curiel family. The eternal lamp, the Ner Tamid, was provided by Jacob Curiel, as was the oil for keeping the lamp burning. And also the bimah that stood at the centre of the synagogue, the shelves which lined it being reserved for the use of Jacob and his family."[9]

Israel wrote that Moses Curiel was "renowned for his wealth, the prestige he enjoyed among non-Jews (the Stadholder William III stayed at his house for three days during one of his later visits to Amsterdam), and his handsome donations to the Amsterdam Portuguese synagogue, his name figured constantly in Dutch Jewish community life and synagogue politics for over half a century." He continues: "his opulent residence on the Nieuwe Herengracht, then called the Joden Herengracht, in Amsterdam, testified to the seigneurial grandeur of his life-style and his pretensions to leadership among the Portuguese Jewish 'nation' as the community was known in Holland."[10]

Notable members

See also

References
  1. "Curiel". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
  2. Samuel, Edgar; England, Jewish Historical Society of (2004). At the end of the earth: essays on the history of the Jews in England and Portugal. Jewish Historical Society of England. ISBN 9780902528376.
  3. "Curiel". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  4. Jones, Michael (1986). Gentry and Lesser Nobility in Late Medieval Europe. Sutton. ISBN 9780862992804.
  5. "The Curiel Family in 16th-century Portugal". Jewish Historical Society of England. Retrieved 2019-10-31.
  6. Samuel, Edgar; England, Jewish Historical Society of (2004). At the end of the earth: essays on the history of the Jews in England and Portugal. Jewish Historical Society of England. ISBN 9780902528376.
  7. Israel, Jonathan (1997-01-01). Conflicts of Empires: Spain, the Low Countries and the Struggle for World Supremacy, 1585-1713. A&C Black. ISBN 9781852851613.
  8. Israel, Jonathan (1990-01-01). Empires and Entrepots: Dutch, the Spanish Monarchy and the Jews, 1585-1713. A&C Black. ISBN 9781852850227.
  9. Israel, Jonathan (1990-01-01). Empires and Entrepots: Dutch, the Spanish Monarchy and the Jews, 1585-1713. A&C Black. ISBN 9781852850227.
  10. Israel, Jonathan (1997-01-01). Conflicts of Empires: Spain, the Low Countries and the Struggle for World Supremacy, 1585-1713. A&C Black. ISBN 9781852851613.
  11. Israel, Jonathan (1997-01-01). Conflicts of Empires: Spain, the Low Countries and the Struggle for World Supremacy, 1585-1713. A&C Black. ISBN 9781852851613.
  12. Stuczynski, Claude B.; Feitler, Bruno (2018-06-14). Portuguese Jews, New Christians, and 'New Jews': A Tribute to Roberto Bachmann. BRILL. ISBN 9789004364974.
  13. Pinto, Baruh B. (2004). The Sephardic Onomasticon: an etymological research on Sephardic family names of the Jews living in Turkey. Gözlem Gazetecilik Basın ve Yayın.
  14. Israel, Jonathan (1990-01-01). Empires and Entrepots: Dutch, the Spanish Monarchy and the Jews, 1585-1713. A&C Black. ISBN 9781852850227.
  15. Bodian, Miriam (1999). Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation: Conversos and Community in Early Modern Amsterdam. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253213518.

Further reading
  • I. Da Costa, Noble Families Among the Sephardi Jews, (Gordon Press Publishers, 1976), ISBN 0849023491
  • Daniel M. Swetschinski, Reluctant Cosmopolitans: The Portuguese Jews of Seventeenth-century Amsterdam, (Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2004), ISBN 1904113125
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