TY  - BOOK
AU  - Birnbaum,Marianna D.
TI  - The Long Journey of Gracia Mendes
SN  - 9786155211232
AV  - DS135.P8 N373 2003eb
U1  - 946.9/004924/0092 22
PY  - 2003///]
CY  - Budapest, New York
PB  - Central European University Press
KW  - Crypto-Jews
KW  - Iberian Peninsula
KW  - Biography
KW  - Jewish women
KW  - Portugal
KW  - Jews
KW  - Europe
KW  - Economic conditions
KW  - 16th century
KW  - Social conditions
KW  - Sephardim
KW  - BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Women
KW  - bisacsh
KW  - Biography, Constantinople, Economic conditions, Jewish women, Jews, Ottoman Empire, Sephardim
N1  - Frontmatter --; TABLE OF CONTENTS --; ACKNOWLEDGMENTS --; CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCING THE FAMILY --; CHAPTER 2. A SHORT HISTORY OF THE CONVERSOS --; CHAPTER 3. LIFE IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURYANTWERP --; CHAPTER 4. GRACIA IN VENICE --; CHAPTER 5. GRACIAAND JEWISH PATRONAGE IN SIXTEENTHCENTURY FERRARA --; CHAPTER 6. IN BUSINESS WITH RAGUSA --; CHAPTER 7. THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND THE JEWS --; CONCLUSION --; APPENDIX 1 --; APPENDIX 2 --; SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY --; PICTURE CREDITS --; INDEX OF PLACES --; INDEX OF PERSONS --; ILLUSTRATIONS; restricted access
N2  - The historical biography of a true Jewish heroine in her day, Gracia Mendes. Born in 1510 in Portugal, the book details this woman's extraordinary personality until her death in 1569 in Constantinople (today's Istanbul). Her life exemplified a perseverance by the Jewish culture to survive and triumph even in the worst of conditions. As a young girl, Gracia secretly married successful Jewish spice trader, Francisco Mendes. But at age 27 she became a widow, yet she went on to raise her children and run the family business all on her own. Her travels led her through Antwerp, Venice, Ferrara, Ragusa, and finally to Constantinople, from where the Ottoman Empire dominated former Byzantium territories and offered shelter for battered Conversos (converted Jews). The text recounting the last fifteen years of Gracia's life at the center of the Empire is particularly revealing. Birnbaum's biography has the unique distinction of being the first among many studies to pay tribute to a woman during this period. It is also one of the first titles to pay equal attention to the lives of the Conversos in Christian West Europe and in the Muslim East
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1515/9786155211232
UR  - https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9786155211232
UR  - https://www.degruyter.com/document/cover/isbn/9786155211232/original
ER  -