By the time 65-year-old Portuguese merchant Alvaro Mendes arrived in the Ottoman Empire, he was already an accomplished politician in the royal courts of Western Europe. Wealthy and well-connected, he was welcomed by an official escort. And then he did something completely unexpected: he decided to stay and returned to openly practicing Judaism, the religion of his ancestors which he hadn’t been able to practice in Europe for fear of the Inquisition.
For the rest of his life, he lived with his family in Constantinople, adopting the Jewish name, Solomon Aben Yaesh.1
Background
Born in 1520 in Tavira, Portugal, Solomon grew up in a converso family, outwardly practicing Christianity but secretly clinging to Judaism. The Jews of Portugal had been forced to convert to Catholicism en masse in 1497, but enforcement was spotty. Though the Inquisition had already been in full force in Spain, it did not reach Portugal until 1536. Even then, it had a slow start, and many of Portugal’s secret Jews lived in relative safety.
In his youth, Solomon trained as a jeweler and worked as an apprentice to a goldsmith. At 25, he traveled to India to manage his parents’ diamond business, where he made his extensive fortune in the diamond mines.
When he returned to Portugal a decade later, he became a close advisor to King Joao III, who made him a knight of the Order of Santiago.2
Struggle for the Portuguese Throne
After King Joao’s death in 1557, his three-year-old grandson Sebastian succeeded him. Due to his young age, Portugal was ruled by regents: first his grandmother, Catherine, and then his great-uncle, Cardinal Henry.
Meanwhile, Solomon, still known as Alvaro Mendes, moved from one European country to another, trying to keep one step ahead of the Inquisition. After seven years in Madrid, he moved to Florence and then to Paris. He spent time in Antwerp, London, and Venice, and established close ties with Queen Elizabeth I of England, King Henri III of France, and his mother, Catherine de’Medici. The monarchs recognized his devotion to Portugal and antipathy for Spain and consulted him in matters of foreign policy involving the two countries.
Meanwhile, young King Sebastian, educated by Jesuits, grew into a religious fanatic. He romanticized the Crusades and saw himself on a mission to conquer Muslim lands and spread Christianity. In 1578, at the age of 24, he led his troops in battle in an attempt to conquer Morocco. Greatly outnumbered, the Portuguese army was forced to retreat. King Sebastian was killed; his body was never recovered.
The young king’s death caused a succession crisis. Sebastian had no children or siblings. His elderly childless great-uncle, Cardinal Henry, was next in line for the throne, but he died two years later, in January 1580.
The Portuguese throne was now disputed by the grandchildren of the late King Manuel I, Sebastian’s great-grandfather. Among the contenders was King Phillip II of Spain, whose mother, Isabel, the daughter of King Manuel I, had married King Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor.
The prospect was terrifying for the secret Jews of Portugal. They’d heard enough about the activities of the Inquisition Office in Spain to prefer to be ruled by anyone other than the king of Spain.
Dom Antonio
Another contender for the Portuguese throne was Dom Antonio, the prior of Crato and grandson of the late King Manuel I. He was disqualified, however, because of his status as an illegitimate son and because of rumors his mother, Iolanthe, had been born Jewish and forcibly converted to Christianity.
But Dom Antonio did not let these technical details encumber him. He enjoyed the support of the masses, including many secret Jews, and believed that the Portuguese people could overlook his imperfect lineage.
In June 1580, Dom Antonio was crowned king of Portugal by his supporters in the city of Santarem. King Philip, however, was ready to go to war for the Portuguese crown. He sent his army into Portugal and defeated Dom Antonio’s supporters two months later, proclaiming himself King Philip I of Portugal, in addition to his title of King Philip II of Spain.
Dom Antonio fled for his life. He went to Paris, where Solomon offered him shelter and support, leaving no stone unturned in his quest to put Dom Antonio on the Portuguese throne.3
In Paris, Solomon introduced Dom Antonio to King Henri, who gladly offered him refuge in France. It was in France’s best interests to weaken Spain by opposing its hold on Portugal.
Later, Dom Antonio and Solomon traveled to England, where Solomon introduced Dom Antonio to Queen Elizabeth. Like King Henri, Queen Elizabeth much preferred to separate Portugal from Spain and weaken Spain’s political and military power.
Solomon hoped to persuade Queen Elizabeth to provide Dom Antonio with military support to invade Portugal and take back the throne. Reluctant to begin an open war with Spain, Queen Elizabeth initially refused.
Solomon realized that Dom Antonio needed another powerful supporter to achieve his goal. He decided to turn to the Ottoman sultan.
At the Ottoman Court
It is unknown whether Solomon’s motives for traveling to the Ottoman Empire were primarily political or personal and religious. But after receiving a warm welcome in Salonika, and later in Constantinople, Solomon and his family felt comfortable openly practicing Judaism.
Having heard of Solomon’s reputation as a successful politician, and having recently lost his previous Jewish advisor, Joseph Nasi, Sultan Murad III appointed Solomon as High Commissioner to the imperial court and granted him the title Duke of Mytilene.4
Solomon’s relatives also received official positions. His nephew, Jacob Anes, was put in charge of a customs-revenue farm. His son, Jacob, formerly known as Francisco, was granted the city of Tiberius, previously under the governance of Joseph Nasi. Deeply religious, Jacob built some houses but mostly devoted his life to Torah study. He was respected not only by the Jewish community of Tiberius but also by its Arab population.5
The sultan appreciated Solomon’s political wisdom and the breadth of his European connections, and entrusted him with matters of international relations. Records exist of Solomon’s involvement in prisoner exchanges; nine English soldiers were released to Solomon personally and passed along to the English ambassador.6 The English ambassador also conveyed a message to Solomon from Queen Elizabeth that Portuguese citizens captured by England would be set free unconditionally.7
As part of his work for the sultan, Solomon tried to build relationships with European ambassadors to the Ottoman Empire. Though he was on good terms with the English ambassador, the French ambassador, according to a contemporary letter, “treats him with contempt, as he knew him here as a professed Christian, whereas now he is a Jew.”8
Despite the political repercussions, Solomon and his descendants remained proud Jews, contributing to the Jewish community. The title pages of two Talmudic tractates printed in the Ottoman Empire thank Solomon for his support,9 and records show the family’s participation in the Jewish community in Turkey through the 20th century.10
Connections With the Secret Jews of London
Solomon was assisted in his work by the secret Jews of London. At the time, no practicing Jew was officially permitted to live in England, but since London was farther away from the clutches of the Inquisition, a number of Portuguese Jews made their way there.
Perhaps they relaxed their guard, because much of what we know about them comes from the Inquisition’s archives. A Spaniard returning from England reported:
It is public and notorious in London that by race they are all Jews, and it is notorious that in their own homes they live as such, observing their Jewish rites; but publicly they attend Lutheran Churches, and listen to the sermons … 11
Solomon had family connections among the converso community in London. Rodrigo Lopez, a secret Jew and Queen Elizabeth’s personal physician and confidant, was related to Solomon by marriage. He became a central figure in the Ottoman-English negotiations, corresponding with Solomon regularly and conveying messages to and from the queen.
Solomon also tried to help these secret Jews reconnect with their heritage. In 1592, he sent an envoy from the Ottoman Empire, a Jew named Solomon Cormano, to London. Cormano took advantage of his diplomatic privileges to hold Jewish prayer services in his house.12
When Rodrigo Lopez was arrested and accused of a plot to poison the queen, Solomon did all he could to rescue him. His envoy, Judah Serfatim, who was in London at the time, pleaded for more time to prove Rodrigo’s innocence. Unfortunately, he was told that it was impossible because “the discontent of the people was so great.”13 Even Queen Elizabeth, who held off signing the death warrant for three months, could not prevent Rodrigo’s execution and the antisemitic overtones that accompanied the trial.
Building the Ottoman-English Alliance
Solomon’s most well-known diplomatic accomplishment is the formation of the Ottoman-English alliance, united against Spain.
In July 1588, King Philip dispatched his fleet, the Spanish Armada, to invade England. The secret Jews of England received information about the impending attack from their converso connections and passed it along to the English government. Ten days later, the English navy confronted the Spanish Armada at sea and defeated it. Spain was greatly weakened, while the position of the English conversos in London was significantly strengthened.14
In Constantinople, Solomon was the first to find out about the Spanish Armada defeat through his Jewish connections in London. He brought the news to the sultan before the English ambassador.15
With the Spanish fleet out of commission, Queen Elizabeth was finally convinced to launch an attempt to put Dom Antonio on the Portuguese throne. Solomon, on his part, persuaded the sultan to send his own fleet to assist the English. However, Solomon’s plans fell through when the Spanish ambassador bribed the grand vizier to cancel the orders.16
The English attempt to invade Portugal in 1589 was a disaster. Contrary to Dom Antonio’s promises of popular support on the ground, the English were met with strong opposition from the Portuguese elite, who had by now adjusted to being Spanish subjects and enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle. The English army retreated with heavy losses.
Letter From the Queen
After the failed attempt, Dom Antonio and Solomon became disillusioned with each other. “Dom Antonio had … revealed himself by now as weak, vacillating and greedy; and as a result, he and his former champions became estranged,” Historian Cecil Roth explains.17
Always in need of funds, Dom Antonio turned to Solomon for financial support; he refused.
“It appears that Don Antonio had always envied Alvaro Mendez [Solomon] his great wealth, and more than once had dropped wicked hints in Paris and London that it had been obtained by fraud at the expense of the Portuguese Crown,” Historian Lucien Wolf writes.18
Somehow, Dom Antonio managed to convince the English ambassador of Solomon’s guilt, but Queen Elizabeth testified to his “virtue, honesty, and industry.”19 Later investigation proved that Dom Antonio’s allegations were baseless.
The Rest of Solomon’s Political Career
Though no longer supporting Dom Antonio, Solomon continued his efforts to strengthen the English-Ottoman alliance.
When the Ottoman Empire went to war with Hungary in 1593, Solomon sent a Jewish emissary, Judah Serfatim, to obtain the assurance of English neutrality. His mission succeeded, and England remained neutral as the sultan’s forces captured key Hungarian locations.20
Four years later, Solomon sent Serfatim to Spain, where he successfully negotiated a prisoner exchange.21
Solomon also assisted England financially, which helped improve English relations with the Ottomans. At one point, he lent 300,000 crowns to the English government.22
After Sultan Murad’s death in 1595, Solomon remained in the Ottoman court, advising his successor, Sultan Mehmed III, until Solomon’s own death in 1603, at the age of 83.
Historian Lucien Wolf summarizes Solomon’s contribution:
He consistently supported Elizabeth’s policy of an Anglo-Turkish alliance against Spain, and although he did not succeed in actually concluding an armed alliance, he maintained cordial relations between England and Turkey, and thus defeated for many years all the Spanish schemes for securing the neutrality of the Sultan in the war between England and Spain. By his services in this latter respect, he was instrumental in immobilising in Italy and the Eastern Mediterranean large Spanish forces, which otherwise would have been turned against England.23
And yet, for the Jewish people, he is perhaps best remembered and celebrated as a man who bravely reembraced his Jewish identity and did what he could to better the lot of his fellow Jews everywhere.
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