Trudy Gold
Jews in the Dutch Republic, Part 1

Trudy Gold - Jews in the Dutch Republic

- Well, good evening everybody, and as I wind my way through the history of the Jews, the extraordinary history of the Jews, what obviously we’ve done this week is that William is setting the scene, and what I’m doing is I’m slotting the Jews into really the history of Europe at this period. Now, if I was to take the year 1500 as a sort of rough notion for you, where were the majority of the Jews in 1500? Well, we’ve already established that Spain and Portugal have become completely inhospitable. Jews per se have been thrown out, who are left are the Conversos, and they live their lives at great risk. Those of them who are practising Judaism in secret come under the sway of the Spanish Inquisition. And what happened with them, of course, is that many of them became merchants. And it coincides with the absolute explosion in trade. When we talked about Elizabethan England, and really the growth of piracy, but really the growth of merchanting, think of characters like Walter Raleigh who went to America. What did he bring back to Queen Elizabeth’s court but the potato and tobacco. You’ve got to see the world is opening up in so many, many ways. So, Spain and Portugal, who are the big boys on the block still, they, in theory, control the new world. Jewish history, I think really for 2,000 years, is a story of a people who try to accommodate, who try to fit in, to what whatever the ruling group is at the time in order to survive.

And the more I study Jewish history in depth, the more I realise that in many ways it did prepare us for modernity because we always had to have a look over our shoulders. Going back to 1500, we’ve talked about how many Jews fled into the world of the Ottoman Turks, where at that stage they were received relatively tolerantly, and it began the great communities of Istanbul, Salonica, et cetera. But by 1500, the bulk of Jews were now living in Poland. And that is going to really remain the case right up until the 20th century, Poland is going to be the heartland of European Jewry. Officially, there are no Jews in England. Of course, we talked last time about the Conversos. There are pockets of Jews in France, there are pockets of Jews in the German lands. The Habsburg Empire. Next term, we’re going to be concentrating on the Habsburg Empire all the way through to the modern period in quite a lot of depth. But it’s important to remember that the Jews are, if you like, they are very marginal to the big events that are happening in history. The outside world acts, the Jews react. And now we have to turn into European history so that you can understand how it’s going to be that Holland is going to open up as a great haven for the Jews.

So may I see the first slide? If you don’t mind, Judy? Yes. Here you see Margaret of Parma. I’m going completely crazy. Mary of Burgundy. Mary of Burgundy was the heiress to the Burgundian lands. And at this stage, the Burgundian lands stretched into what we know the Low Countries. Can we then see the next slide? Can we go on to the man she marries? This is a later picture. This is Maximilian Habsburg. A dynastic marriage was arranged between Mary of Burgundy and Maximilian Hapsburg. He later became the Holy Roman Emperor. And instead of the Habsburgs, I’ve told you this before, and it’s a wonderful quote, that other people make war, the Habsburgs marry. The Habsburgs, by a brilliant series of dynastic marriages are going to bring most of central Europe under their control. And also by dynastic marriages with Spain, the Spanish empire is going to come into it too. So it was a very, very happy marriage, but no children were produced. And he was, he was… She died in a hunting accident. It was tragic. He was really, really, really unhappy about it. But what it meant from a point of view of history is that the Low Countries, which she had controlled, now comes through marriage to him. What was the biggest threat, ironically, to these provinces, which today are Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, is that area of Europe which is now under the control of the Habsburgs. Can we see the next picture please? This is John Camden. William talked about Martin Luther. This is another Protestant reformer. He was a Frenchman. Calvinism. Look, we’ve talked a bit about how Protestantism arose and it has a great impact on Jewish history, because Europe is going to be rent asunder by the great infighting between Catholicism and Protestantism. And let me say very, very carefully, it was partly theological.

It was certainly theological with people like John Calvin, but it was also economic because many of these countries, as mercantilism develops… Just think where the Dutch are going to be placed. Do we want to be ruled by a Catholic power? Back in the time of Alexander Borgia, the Pope, after Columbus collided with the New World, he had drawn a very bad map of the New World through which he put a line. Half was Spain, half was Portugal. Portugal and Spain become one country in 1580. But there are other countries emerging, Protestant England, under Elizabeth. They want a slice of the cake. Now, Holland. The most important city was in fact Antwerp. But let me talk a little more about Calvinism because it’s very important. On a theological level, it was very low church. They wanted to get rid of, if you like, what Patrick always calls the smells and bells. They wanted to get rid of the intermediary between men and God. They believed in a personal relationship between God and the Almighty. They were far more austere. And they also had a huge differentiation over the Eucharist. Catholicism believed that when you took the wine and the wafer, you were actually imbibing the body and blood of their Messiah. Calvin believed that it’s symbolic. Now, so you have religious belief system and also a kind of abhorrence over the corruption in the Catholic church. But many of these characters were just as fanatical as their Catholic counterparts. And Europe on one level is going to be grab… it’s going to be grabbed by religious disunity. And on the other level it’s going that there are pragmatic merchants and pragmatic rulers, pragmatic burgers. This is really the rise of the merchant class who are not so religious.

Now, William’s already discussed this with you. To talk about religiosity at this period is terribly, terribly difficult because we really don’t know how ordinary folk felt. Where do we go through, to, for our sources? We have chronicles, we have all sorts of accounts, but in the main it is the accounts of the rich and the famous. What on earth can be done to really understand the innocent, ordinary folk? Can you imagine the bewilderment, you’re Protestant, you’re Catholic? But it must be said, many ordinary folk were attracted to the new kind of religion because it was, if you like, more pure for them. And of course, William’s been talking a lot about the Puritans. Now, this area of the world is becoming very, very important. What is going to happen after the death of Maximilian of Habsburg? It’s going to be ruled over by a regent, Margaret of Parma. Can we have a look at her? She is… Maximilian’s grandson, Charles V, we’ve talked about him before, ‘stupor mundi’, the wonder of the world. He was the most powerful man in the world. He was the Holy Roman Emperor, through, and he had, through his two sets of grandparents, through the Habsburg grandparents, he took control of much of Europe. France is still a power, England is still a power. Through his Spanish grandparents, Catherine of… Isabella and Ferdinand, he took control of Spain and also the wealth of the New World.

So he has his regent in the Low Countries. And what happens is that the Low Countries become Calvinist. They’re fed up with the taxation, and also they want to emerge as a strong power, a merchanting power. And we’re going to see that eventually the Dutch East Indies and the Dutch West India Companies are going to become the biggest corporations the world has ever known. And the most important city in that region at the time was Antwerp. It was a huge centre of trade. It was one of the main trading hubs in Europe. Now think about it. It’s on the River Scheldt. It’s open to shipping from all sorts of characters. So what comes to Antwerp? Cloth from England, Italy, Germany, wines from the German lands, wines from France, wines from Spain. Even though there is political and economic disunity, nevertheless people want to trade. Salt from France, wheat from the Baltic countries. It attracted so many people that it was the first city in Europe to reach 100,000 people, 100,000 people in Antwerp. You had the skilled workers who came in, the merchant ships arrive. They came in to process the soap, the fish, especially cloth, think Flemish tapestries. Now it becomes a huge vibrant trading population. And this is very, very important. Paper, cinnamon, pepper. We already know that Diego Mendes, who was the husband of Dona Gracia, he had a monopoly on pepper, cinnamon, spices of all kinds. At the beginning of the 16th century it accounted for 40% of the world’s trade. You are getting the trade from the plantations in South America. And what plantations? Plantations that are being worked by the indigenous population.

But as William told you, much of the indigenous population was giving too much trouble. And it’s also the beginning of the importing, tragically, of a slave population from Africa. One of the most cruel stories in history, that story. I don’t know if you know this, but of the slaves transported, at least a third of them died on the route. And the most prized slaves were under eight because the notion was if you took them at that age, you could rob them of their culture. So, you have an incredibly important trading centre. And it’s a commercial city, it’s a tolerant city. The bourse, the first bourse in the world, the first stock exchange, is opened in 1531 to the merchants of all nations. This is the words of the Florentine envoy. I love these Italian envoys because they’re such gossips, and he gives us a picture. “Hundreds of ships each day would pass, and 2,000 carts into the city each week, Portuguese ships were laden with pepper and cinnamon.” And of course you can guess from everything I’m saying, it becomes a great haven to whom? To the Converso population. Of course it does, because already many of the Conversos, they went into shipping. We’ve already discussed this when we looked at England. And on their boats, they brought other Conversos with them. They also brought Jewish books because, I mean, they’re having to practise their religion in secret still. And of course the Low Countries are still dominated by whom? They’re dominated by the Catholics.

Now, so, it’s a very, very important… it’s a very, very important centre of Jewish commerce, and it’s relatively, it is relatively lax. Now in 1533, Mendes was actually arrested for Judaizing in secret. And because he was the banker to Henry VIII, he managed to put pressure on Charles V, and Charles V dropped the charge. So even Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor is, he’s open to trade, but the Inquisition follows to the Low Countries. So they are under the threat of the Inquisition, but then other things happen. And what happens is this, that Holland, this area of land, actually becomes Calvinist. And that’s going to make a huge difference. Now, the other thing that happened, there was an attempt to try and stop so many of the Conversos leaving Spain and Portugal. What happened back in Spain and Portugal is that after the Inquisition was established in Portugal in 1547, many Jews fled to Spain, believe it or not. Remember they’re Conversos. They’re not outwardly Jews. But then the Inquisition follows them and there’s more and more pressure to get out. So, many of them used Antwerp as their base either for voyages of exploration or also as their way into the Turkish Empire. And it was back in the Turkish Empire at this time they could revert to Judaism. However, the whole notion of the kind of taxation that was expected by the Habsburgs plus Calvinism led to the beginnings of a revolt. We know during this sort of revolt period that many Conversos actually made their way to Madeira. They were looking for somewhere for a haven.

And it’s fascinating, because if you think of a Converso family… Look, the Jews had been exiled from Spain in 1492 and from Portugal in 1497. What is absolutely fascinating, we are now 50, 60 years on, they still manage to maintain their Judaism. How secure are they going to be in it? And I think this is an important point that I’m going to talk about later. Now, what happens is that finally, and I don’t want to spend too much time on European history, under Margaret of Parma, she’s not as tough as the new ruler of Spain, Philip II, wants. Remember, he is Charles V’s son. He is now on the throne. And we’ve heard of him in many, many lectures. Shall we have a look at the man? Philip II? should we see the next slide? No, sorry. That is the Duke of Alba who is going to lead his troops against the Dutch. So that’s the Duke of Alba, very aesthetic face. Let’s have a look at Philip II. He’s already developing the Habsburg jaw, the Habsburg jaw, which in the end is going to finish off the dynasty. I can remember being at the great Art Gallery in Vienna with a group. And by the time you get down to the 1700s, the Habsburg jaw is so pronounced that one of the last emperors couldn’t even really eat properly. And I had the, it was funny, there was a dental surgeon there who specialised in this kind of work, and he wandered around the picture. And I’ll never forget, he said, you know, I could have saved that man. So this is the point. You could already see the beginnings of the Habsburg jaw, which is going to become such a pronounced feature because of all of the intermarriage. And on the other point, you can… This is the man who led the Armada against England. This is the man who is married to Mary Tudor. He is absolutely zealous for Catholicism. And he has provinces in Holland where, for where he wants to take as much tax as possible. And at the same time they are Calvinist, which to him is an, it’s an absolute, it’s something beyond his imagination. It’s evil because they’ve turned away from Catholicism. He is a religious man.

Don’t forget, also, he had led not just an Armada against Elizabeth. It was a holy war. So this is the man with the Duke of Alba, who says, now we are going to have to conquer. And what happens is that this great trading city of Antwerp is going to be destroyed, almost destroyed. It’s called the Spanish Fury, and it’s going to last for years and years and years. But can we see? Judy kindly has put some portraits together. Can we see it please, Judy? The Spanish Fury. Can we go on? I hope we can go on. Yeah, here you see there are so many illustrations of the Spanish Fury. It’s absolutely, absolutely ghastly. They sieged the city. They murdered, they murdered, they murdered. You do realise that this is all going to culminate in the 30 Years War, the war of religions between 1618 and 1648. And although ostensibly it’s about religion, it’s also about trade and plunder and economics. And that’s what’s going to lead to the European Enlightenment. Because gradually, and what it’s going to lead to in Holland is humanistic thought. Because look at the bestiality of this. Look at the horror of this. Is this really the human condition? Is this really what people are capable of? Isn’t there another way of being? And it’s going to lead to all sorts of interesting notions of how the world should be. And of course that is going to lead to better times for the Jewish community. Now what this does, the Spanish Fury, leads to in the end, Spain is defeated and the provinces break away. It’s not the seven provinces break away under William the Silent. And it’s not going to… The other provinces are going to be under Habsburg rule until 1714. And in fact, Patrick would’ve told you yesterday that Belgium actually broke away after a riot at an opera.

But the point is the seven provinces break away. And not only that, beginning with this terrible destruction of Antwerp, what do you think happens? The merchants begin to move. And where do they move to? They move to Amsterdam. Spain and Portugal after all have been united in 1580. And that had led to fresh immigration out. And gradually Amsterdam is going to oust Antwerp as the major centre of trade. And this is going to go on right through the 1700s. And it’s going to be in 1648 at the end of the 30 years war, when the Treaty of Westphalia closed the navigation of the Scheldt. So Antwerp is finished for that kind of trade. Of course, it’s later going to develop as a great centre of the diamond industry, which is also very much a Jewish industry. So, many of these Conversos, where do we find them? We find them in Amsterdam. And at first they were rather suspiciously regarded by the Dutch as papists. But one of the group, a man called Jacob Tirado, his outward name was Manoel Rodrigues Vega. He had Latin. And he managed to explain to the Dutch burgers that in fact they were more persecuted than the Protestants, and they could be very, very useful. And so the House of Orange, William the Silent, he is the most important of the leaders in Holland. He more or less takes them under their wing. Why? Because you have this small group of merchants and they have amazing contacts. Now where are their contacts? We’ve already been discussing it. In the Turkish Empire. Think about the family of Dona Gracia as probably the most interesting because they are by far the richest. They have the monopoly of the pepper trade. They are based in Istanbul. But think where all their agents are.

They are… You will remember that this week I told you that Dona Gracia visited London because the Mendes agents were in London. In the end, they’re going to go all the way out to India past the Cape of Good Hope. The first Jews that, those of you who are South African, the first Jews to actually land in South Africa, Conversos, would’ve been at the Cape of Good Hope because at first it was, if you like, a refuelling station. So, when I say refuelling, water, provisions, et cetera, and the people who ran the, if you like, the trading centres in Madras were of course ex-Conversos. So, this particular group, they begin to come out as Jews. They’re also involved in the trade with South America. And it’s so important that, can we go on one more character please? One more please. Next slide. Can I have the next slide, Judy? That, by the way, here you see Amsterdam. This is the building of the Bank of Amsterdam in 1610. This is the first proper bank. And Amsterdam is going to become very, very important. One of the group… I’ve mentioned Jacob Tirado. What happens is they come out as Jews, and one of them, Samuel Pallache… can we see his face please? He’s absolutely fascinating. Can we see him next? We’re not looking at a large number of people. Yeah. He was born in Morocco. His father, Isaac, was a rabbi. His uncle was the grand rabbi, Judah Uziel. Very important family. They’d originated in Cordoba. Cordoba, of course, was one of the great Jewish centres in the eighth, ninth, 10th, and 11th centuries.

And I’ve said this to you before. Those of you, when we can go travelling again, those of you that don’t go to Cordoba will be missing an absolute treat. It’s a wonderful, wonderful centre. He’s actually mentioned by a 12th. His family are mentioned by Abraham Ibn Da'ud. His family, they are the, quote unquote, the greatest of the families of Cordoba. Now, after a delegation from the Dutch Republic… The Dutch have broken away. The Dutch are going to emerge as the most important trading power in the world. Within 20 years, the Dutch fleet was bigger than the combined fleets of the British, the French, and all other European powers. So, they want trade and they decide they’re going to deal with the world of Islam. France has already dealt with the world of Islam, remember, in the reign of Francis I. Now, they go to a Morocco to discuss an alliance against Spain and against the Barbary pirates. This is the other problem of the Mediterranean, the Barbary pirates. Barbary pirates, they would, you know, it’s lawless. They would kidnap people. And one of the roles of the Jews that I’ve mentioned to you before, it was the wealthy Jews. If Jews were captured by the pirates, they would try and ransom them. But anyway, the Sultan appointed this merchant, Samuel Pallache, to actually interpret for the envoy that had been sent from the Dutch. And he goes back to Holland where he negotiates with the state’s general an alliance of mutual assistance.

And of course, he becomes one of the Jews, one of… He’s a Jew. He becomes one of those characters who is important in the actual establishment of a Jewish community in Amsterdam. In return for free commerce, the Sultan was allowed to purchase ships, arms, and munitions from the Dutch. This is one of the most important Christian Muslim treaties. And it’s a strong alliance. So you see what the Dutch are doing. They are prepared to sell arms for commercial reasons. Anyway, there is a story that Pallache was a bit of a pirate himself, but he was also a very important merchant. And was he a pirate? Well, he was certainly a merchant who would sell, who would undercut everybody else. The Spanish ambassador in London, in one of his trips to London, had him arrested, but the Dutch authorities intervened and he returned to Holland. He had two sons. They were both diplomats. The youngest son was entrusted with Dutch interests in Morocco. And the latter son… And the youngest son was the Dutch representative with the Sultan, and the descendants of the family lived in Istanbul and then in Holland, and Isaac Pallache was the chief rabbi of Amsterdam in 1900. And I’m sure many of you know that wonderful Spanish Portuguese synagogue. Now, then we come to the other side of the Jewish story, because his son Judah was professor of linguistics and Semitic languages at the University of Amsterdam, and he was murdered by the Nazis. So, an interesting Jewish family.

This man, Cordoba, Fez, worked for the Sultan, finished up in Amsterdam, a wheeler dealer, a trader. And I think this is one of the problems that we deal with when we’re dealing with Jews, because they’re coming out, they’re no longer Conversos. After Tirado was able to explain in Latin that they were, in fact, Jews, which as far as the Dutch was concerned, was better than being Catholic, they were allowed to meet in private houses. Very pragmatic, they gradually, they ask for more, and they are allowed to practise their Judaism in secret. There wasn’t… The Dutch were fascinating. They didn’t allow the Jews into many trades, the trade guilds. They wouldn’t at this stage let them into the law. But they would allow them into certain trades where there was a few, like not enough, there were not enough Dutch merchants. So, for example, Jews went into printing, and that’s going to be very important. They went into book selling. They also went into the business, if you think of all the spices and the new herbs that are coming back from the New World, which were very important in medicine. So they move, if you like, into the pharmaceutical industry. It’s very embryonic, but this is how it all starts. Jewish status at this stage is quite unclarified. The civic authorities are relatively favourable. The church, the Calvinist church though, isn’t very happy. They’re not formally recognised as citizens, but they do enjoy religious freedom and protection of life and property, especially in relation to foreign powers.

Now, this is important. Jews are very, very useful to the crown, or rather to the state. So if foreign powers would take any of the Dutch agents, they would protect them, even if they’re Jewish. So consequently, as Holland emerges as one of the most important countries in the world, I would suggest you read Simon Schama’s “Embarrassment of Riches”. And don’t forget that the Holland that is going to emerge… I mean, just think of Amsterdam, think of Rembrandt painting in the Jewish quarter. And that should give you a smell of what it was like for Jews. He lived in the Jewish quarter. Jews weren’t shut up in ghettos. And those of you who know Rembrandt’s paintings like “The Jewish Bride”, I mean she is wearing the clothes of a Dutch woman of huge income. So basically, Jews have far more in Holland than they have anywhere else in the Christian world. In the world of Islam, they’re doing very well. Yes, and in Poland, they’re living really as a country within a country. So there’s not much mixing. But in Holland there does seem to be a certain amount of mixing. And also, Jews are allowed to go to the university as professors. There’s a renewed interest in Hebrew. These people are Calvinists, remember, which means they’re very attached to the Old Testament, what they call the Old Testament, what we call the Hebrew Bible. They’re very important as physicians. They’re also soldiers.

There are many Jews, people, former Conversos, who come out as Jews. And what do they do? They get involved in military expeditions for the Dutch. So it’s a far more diversified field of occupation. And also, another important point, Holland is going to become an absolute centre of humanistic learning. There’s also a very big tension between orthodoxy and liberal intellectualism. Now this is something that is really going to affect the Jewish world, and it’s going to… This period of history, think about it, the printing press, more people reading and writing, more people seeing, really seeing for their own eyes the benefits of trade. They know the world is round. They know there are different civilizations. And this humanistic writing, which you can find in the world of Islam, the world of Christianity, in a way it’s suppressed, but it’s there. And of course, they are far more interested in this tiny population, the Jewish population. And it’s going also to lead to a couple of fascinating individuals in Amsterdam, Uriel Acosta and of course the great Baruch Spinoza, and someone else who’s going to have a huge impact on Anglo Jewry and really create a proper settlement, Menasseh ben Israel.

So it’s a very, very important story. And it’s also, don’t forget, because the Dutch are the great colonisers, and they, once they’ve broken away from Spain, they want to make as many inroads as possible into the Spanish and Portuguese Empire. So consequently, if you think about it, under the Protestant Dutch, these Jewish traders, if they’re based in Amsterdam, and those of you who’ve visited Amsterdam, I expect the majority of you have, you would’ve seen those houses on the canals where the boats could actually enter. And in a way, it’s an extraordinary city. And as I said, read “An Embarrassment of Riches”. Have a look at the paintings of Vermeer, and you can see the artefacts he uses. There’s a very good book called “Vermeer’s Hat”, and it shows you the feathers. Where would the feathers have come from? Where would the velvet have come from? And these are the traders and the disproportionate number of them are Jews. So to quote, this is from one of the Jew… from one of the Conversos. “It is a city of trade and of freedom.” So, I’m just, I’m afraid I’m having to skip a little bit. Now, the success of the Jew in Amsterdam was becoming so good that something very strange happened. Can we see the next picture please? Can we go on, Jude? Yes. Here you see King Christian IV of Denmark. He was an interesting king. He was very much a king of the Enlightenment. This is a fascinating field of study this. And he actually invited Jews to settle in Gluckstadt, which was a town on the borders of Denmark and Germany.

And he assured them freedom of worship, because this is the beginning of the power of Scandinavia, of Denmark, and of course, later on, Sweden. Now, as the Dutch Empire develops, I’ve already mentioned the creation of the bourse, the Bank of Amsterdam, which is the most important bank in the world at this stage. And the Dutch East India and Dutch West India Company. By the 1650s, a third of the directors of the Dutch West India Company and a quarter of the directors of the Dutch East India Company were Jews. So they come out as Jews, and of course, by 1675, they have the wonderful synagogue in Amsterdam. Let me just give you a few figures on this. Sorry, that was, but the first synagogue was in 1639. And but you should also know, and this is terribly, terribly Jewish, there was great division amongst the Jews in Amsterdam as to how they should practise. Jacob Tirado actually had brought with him a German rabbi, Sephardic Jews being taught by a German rabbi. And they do not come together until 1675 when they create the great synagogue. In 1650, there were about 400 families, about 2,000 people. And the majority of them had of course been born in Portugal. Now, let’s move on, please. So this is the great story of a prosperous community, a very small community.

The numbers were swelled in 1648. Why? Because those of you who know your Jewish history will know that in 1648 at the end of the 30 Years War, which I’ve already mentioned. Remember, I’m covering 100 years of history here. And what am I trying to do? To show you how Dutch Jews are established. They’re now practising their religion openly. They are tolerated in Holland. There are certain trades they’re not allowed to be part of, but they are Conversos, the majority of them are Portuguese, they are Sephardi. But in 1648 at the end of the 30 Years War, the Ukrainian Cossacks under their leader, Bogdan Khmelnystsky, revolt against the Poles. Don’t forget, again, inside out history. Poland, which for such a long period was one of the most important centres of Jewish settlement and a huge area of land, it controlled Lithuania and of course the Ukraine. It had been Jewish agents who’d gone into the Ukraine to divide up the land for the Polish landowners. The Polish landowners didn’t want to be bothered with this. The Jews were the tax farmers. They were the middlemen. The Cossacks revolt, the Cossacks revolt against the Poles, and their first target are the Jews. And it comes to one of the most appalling periods in Jewish history. For the next eight years, there is a horror story in Eastern Europe. And upwards, the numbers are very difficult, but most historians think about 100,00 Jews were murdered in the Ukraine and in that part of Eastern Europe. But it led to the beginnings of an Ashkenazi community that found its way to Holland.

And of course, what happens to them? They have to have their own synagogue because, you know, I think that is the story of the Jews, isn’t it? If we’re given… I wonder what would happen to us if we really could live in peace and tranquillity. Would we tear ourselves apart? Are we that stubborn stiff-necked people? Who knows? But I do think history has probably made us what we are. But now I’m going to talk about a problem area with the Converso community, which is now Jewish. I’ve already said there must have been a certain amount of religious insecurity. And also they’re living in an era of humanism. And they come from a world where they were persecuted. Many of them had seen relatives torn from them, burnt by the Inquisition. They’d had to lead a very on the edge nebulous existence. And then we come to the story of a man called Uriel da Costa. His dates are 1585 to 1640. He’d been born in Porto. His ancestors, of course, were Conversos, new Christians. His father, practising as a Catholic, was a merchant and a tax farmer. He actually went to the University of Coimbra, the most important university in Portugal, where he studied canon law. He began to read the Bible. He studied it very seriously. And in his autobiography, he actually depicts his family as very developed Catholics. But they were nevertheless subjected to many investigations by the Inquisition. This is the problem, because new Christians, it was the bloodline. And let’s face it, if you are a wealthy merchant and you’ve got rivals, all they have to do is to tell the Inquisition that you are practising Judaism in secret and you are in real trouble. And don’t forget, the popes had allowed torture. A Papal Encyclical had been passed, which enabled the Inquisition to use torture.

Anyway, because they were subjected to so many harassments that it kind of turned him, and he became more and more interested in Jewish customs and interest in Mosaic law. After his father died, he was in terrible debt. He fled Portugal with some money that his father collected from tax form farming. And the family headed to the two major Sephardi communities, one in Amsterdam, and the other one actually went to Hamburg. Hamburg, another city, another city with a good mercantile condition. Remember, Germany is divided into lots of little principalities. And so he goes first to… he first goes to Hamburg, and his family, without family connections, they build up a small trading empire. And he begins to become more and more disenchanted with Judaism, the kind of Judaism that they were practising . Also, he moves to Amsterdam and he doesn’t like the leadership. He believed that they were consumed with ritual, with legalistic posturing. And he actually begins to write 11 short theses, which he said was the disparity between Jewish custom and a reading of the Mosaic law. Remember, he’d studied canon law, he’d studied the Bible as a Christian, but he knew the Hebrew Bible. And in Amsterdam… He’s gone back to Germany, he comes back to Amsterdam, and the leaders are very, very troubled by him because they know of him as a heretic.

And what happens is, he becomes this… This treatise he writes is so alarming that it leads… And then when he works on a second treatise, it leads to him being excommunicated. And what happens, I’m going to read you the ex… I’m going to read you the herem, because I think it’s important that you understand that many of these new Jews, they had been brought up and their families had been brought up under harsh Catholicism. And the flexibility of thought was not something they were prepared to deal with. Now, so, I’m not going to read it all, but this is a herem. You know, it’s fascinating. I’ve got to say this because we are a channel of open debate. We’ve always been able to pride ourselves on our history because in many ways it’s a great and glorious history that is marked by tragic persecution. But it’s the story, if you like, of a people that survived and a people that had great triumph. But there are other periods when the letter of the law has become so important and the insecure leaders, they’ve got this famous writer, he’s a very clever man, and they have to excommunicate him. So I am going to read you the herem. The lords of the mahamad, having been known of the evil opinions and acts endeavoured by various means and promised to turn him from his evil ways. But having failed to make him mend his wicked ways, and on the contrary, daily receiving more and more serious accusation about his abominable heresies, which he practised, et cetera, et cetera. They have decided that they are going to excommunicate him. And it finishes like this. The lord will not spare him the anger and wrath of the lord will rage against this man and bring upon him all the curses which are written in this book. It’s a very, very dark, very, very dark area. And the problem was, he was also a tutor of a man who’s going to have even more importance in the history of Western thought. And that man, of course, was Baruch Spinoza.

And Spinoza is also going to be excommunicated by the mahamad. So. I’m not going to… I’m only going to deal briefly with Spinoza because I know Jeremy Rosen has already dealt with him. So I’m dealing really with him as a historical phenomenon. Now, because I’m trying to get over the point that within an insecure kind of Judaism, there was not enough room for flexibility of thought. It’s fascinating, you know, because it’s again going to tighten up after the Enlightenment. After the European Enlightenment there are many rabbis who are going to go back to a very harsh interpretation of the law. Just as you can make the case that after the Shoah, many of the surviving rabbis again adopted a very harsh interpretation of the Shoah. And you do it when you are threatened. So, let me just talk a little bit about Spinoza, but of course I’m not going to talk about his philosophy. Jeremy already has done so, and of course there are so many important books on it. But think also, the background to this. I’ve talked about Uriel da Costa, and may I recommend to you the great works of Israel Zangwill. In his book, “Children of the Ghetto” and “Dreamers of the Ghetto”, he tells the story of Uriel da Costa, just as he tells the story of Herzl, of Heiner, of also Disraeli. It’s a wonderful, wonderful book, written very much in the style of 19th century literature, but it’s wonderfully, bit too wordy, you might say, just like Disraeli himself. But I love it. Anyway, the other point I’m making is Messianic fervour. Look, you have the Khmelyntsky Massacres. You’ve had the expulsion from Spain in 1492. From 1492, for 150 years, if you like, the Western world itself is engulfed, and so is the Jewish world. And particularly after 1648, what on earth can we hope for? There are these prophecies in the Hebrew Bible that when the Jews are subjected to appalling persecution, along will come a figure who is human. He is the Messiah, he is ben-adam, he is the son of man.

He’s Ben David of the House of David. And he will lead the Jews back to their land and that will usher in a period of righteousness throughout the whole world. Important to remember, that particularly in these Protestant countries where there’s a lot of reading of the Hebrew Bible now. All these Hebraists at the various universities, they’re fascinated by the concept of Messiah. 1648, the Khmelyntsky Massacres. Swallowed up, of course, tragically later on with the Shoah. But up until that time, it’s one of the greatest horrors that have happened to the Jews. You know, if you think of the Ninth of Av, the destruction of the second temple, the expulsion from Spain, Khmelyntsky, the movement after, and also the date of the expulsion of the Jews from England. It was actually, they had to leave, the edict was given on the Ninth of Av, they had to be out by All Saints Day, if you remember. So, the notion of the calendar, but this notion of Messiah, and of course Lynn recently gave a brilliant lecture on Sabbatai Zevi. It’s all caught up with this, with Messianism. So understand there was a Messianic fervour. And this is the backdrop to the growth of humanism in Holland, also beginnings in England. This is, as already has been explained to you by William, it’s going to filter through Puritanism. But Puritanism itself, is it the harsh line? Is it the liberal line? So let’s look very briefly at Spinoza’s background, bearing in mind that once Amsterdam becomes a great centre of trade, it’s a huge city. It’s full of merchants from all sorts of backgrounds, and it’s a centre of ideas. And it’s all these ideas, to an extent, are pragmatically tolerated by the Dutch authorities. What they’re concerned about is making Holland into the greatest trading country in the world, which they succeed in doing. Now he is the second son of Miguel de Espinoza. He and his brother had fled Lisbon.

They’d been expelled in 1615, moved to Rotterdam, then to Amsterdam, where they could outwardly practise Judaism. The family, they were successful merchants. And he becomes a warden. His father becomes a warden of the synagogue. His mother died when he was only six years old. His mother tongue was Portuguese, but he was a very bright, another one of these illui. He knew Hebrew, Spanish, Dutch, French, and later Latin. And later on he’s going to write in Latin. He had a very traditional Jewish upbringing. He went to the yeshiva and the Amsterdam Talmud Torah, which was headed by Rabbi Saul Levi Morteira, who taught Hebrew and Jewish philosophy. He was a member of the mahamad. He was a bit of a polemicist and he was… But because of the death of his elder brother, Spinoza, who was a brilliant student, had to drop his studies to go into the father’s, into the family business. They were import exporters. And it’s at this stage that he really begins to get involved in the enlightened circles of Amsterdam, where he meets an interesting fellow. Can we see him please? Jude? Yes. That is Franciscus van den Enden, whose dates are 1602 to 1674. He was a former Jesuit. He’d broken away from the half regime of Jesuitical Catholicism.

He had become a Latin poet. He was a doctor, he was an art teacher, he was a philosopher. This is the world of humanism. And he actually opened an art shop in Amsterdam. So he, unfortunately it went bankrupt. So he opened a school where he taught Latin, and his students began to perform Latin plays in the Amsterdam theatre. He had a huge interest in philosophy and he began, now this is important, he began to write political theses on, wait for it, freedom of speech, democracy. It’s very much the forerunners of the ideas of the French Revolution. You know, William spoke the other day about his fear for liberal democracy. I think there are many trends at work in the Western world at the moment that I think are worrying. And that is about freedom of speech. I mean, we’re wonderfully lucky with Wendy because we have an open channel. We have freedom of speech. I have friends at universities now, university lecturers, professors. I hope you realise just how much freedom of speech is being curtailed by dogma, by fanaticism, and by people who will not accept any other kind of idea. You see, I believe passionately that if you preach racial hatred or if you preach sedition, or if you preach incitement to murder, of course you have to be stopped. But within the realms of what is sensible, I believe passionately in freedom of speech. Now, the Greeks played with these ideas. This man is playing with these ideas, the freedom of speech. And he defends religious toleration. He defends a secular state. He believed religion should be a private affair. He believed in pub… He believed in education for everyone, not religious education.

He believed that justice should become just, he didn’t want cruel punishment. He completely rejected slavery. I mean, this man is hundreds of years ahead of his time. His books were placed on the Catholic index. And when Baruch Spinoza, so remember his mother’s already died and his brother’s died, so he’s in the business, when, and this is, he’s a brilliant boy. When his father dies, he was 21 years old. He recited the Kaddish. He did the whole ritual for his father. But, he had, because in Amsterdam, bright people were attracted to this man, he became involved in this circle and he boarded with him and he began to teach at the school. And he changed his name to Benedictus de Spinoza. He also became acquainted with a fascinating group called the Collegians. And they believed that anyone who wanted to come to study with them was allowed to do so. All they wanted was that you had to believe that the Bible was inspired scripture. You didn’t have to believe it was the word of God. You didn’t have to believe through Catholicism, Protestantism, or Judaism. And so they allowed a total diversity of faith. And what happens to Spinoza, he finds this group far more appealing than the very strict interpretation of Judaism, which the insecure Jews who were ex-con Conversos were practising . And he, as a result of this, as he begins to write, he becomes more and more alien from the community. And finally, he himself is excommunicated.

Unfortunately, he was even physically attacked on the synagogue steps. He’s a fascinating man, Spinoza. And, I think, my reading of it, it was because they were so insecure in their own Judaism and because they had a pattern through the family experiences of the Inquisition, of witnessing intolerance. And also they didn’t want to upset the authorities. You know, the insecurity of a Jew, can we… because the authorities weren’t too happy about the Collegians. They weren’t too happy about these characters. You know, Holland is tolerant, but where’d you draw the line? And this is what, this is a great quote on Spinoza. Spinoza Truth is not the property of scriptures as Jewish philosophers since Philo would maintain, but a characteristic of the method of interpreting the scripture. You can make the case that Spinoza was the first secular Jew, which is a lovely controversial note to end on. As I said, his ideas have already been discussed by Jeremy and there are many, many books on him. Spinoza is far more important in the history of philosophy than really in the history of the Jews. But I just thought, because I was talking about Holland as a haven, it’s very interesting. And then in the next week, what we’re going to look at is the readmission of the Jews to England and how the Sephardim are going to cope in England. Because I’m going to then pose the question, what are they going to become? Are they Jews or are they English gentlemen? And bringing it back to today, I still think this is a problem that hasn’t really yet been answered. So, thank you very much. So let’s have a look at the questions please.

Q&A and Comments:

Some lovely, Happy Thanksgiving, Oh, lovely people.

Oh, this is from Jennifer. Wendy, I mentioned that we were all elderly, the other lecturers, and she says the last word I would ever use to describe you and all the teachers is elderly. In fact, you keep us all young.

• Yeah, that’s so funny. Trudy.

• Yeah. I just want to say quickly, I’m jumping in and then I’m jumping out because I have to get on a call at six o'clock. Thank you very much for that outstanding lecture.

• Thank you, dear.

• I just want you just, I just, I’d just like to, to, to… I don’t want, the wrong word is alert. I’d just like to say that in light of all the antisemitism that’s been going on in the world, we, together with other foundations, are launching a weeks long programme called Shine the Light in the… It’s going to be on Zoom, and just watch out for an email from Lockdown University, and we will inform all our participants if they’d like to, you know, if they’d like to clock in. All right?

• Thank you. Thanks very much.

• So, yeah, so watch out for it. We’re going to launch it this Sunday. Aaron is going to launch it this Sunday, and we will be sending you more information this week.

• Thanks very much, Wendy

• Back to you. Thanks, bye.

• Cyril. He was born French, but went to Switzerland. Okay, how was the Inquisition connected to the Roman Catholic church? Were they locally independent? The Inquisition was established by the Catholic church. It was in the hands mainly of the Dominicans and the Franciscans. They weren’t local and it was Papal Encyclicals, basically.

Q: What do you mean when you say Holland became Calvinist?

A: What I meant was, David, that Calvinism, this low kind, low Protestantism, by that I mean very a low church. They got rid of the idols. They got rid of iconography. They wanted to be far more in, you know that first line of the 10 commandments. I’m the Lord thy God that brought thee out of the land of Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt. What’s wrong with me tonight? You shall have no other gods before me. And this, and also the notion against idolatry. They felt that the Catholic church was idolatrous. That’s how bad the rift between Protestantism and Catholicism was. Don’t forget that Henry VIII got a lot of money out of smashing the churches and the monasteries.

Do you mean there were more Calvinists than Catholics or more Calvinists than… More, most of the people in Holland became followers of Calvin. Catholicism is very small in Holland today. Belgium is Catholic and later on Belgium is… No, Belgium was not part of the seven provinces that broke away.

This is Margaret. Looking at the engraving of the Spanish Fury, you ask, is the human condition. We have enough subsequent examples in the Nazis, the Japanese, the extremes. Perhaps it’s the human condition whenever extreme beliefs arise. Margaret, this is the problem. You know, underneath everything that we are talking about, particularly when you’re dealing with a group such as you, what is the condition of people is what we need to think about. What makes us so amazing and what at the same time make… Look what was it Einstein said, man is a wonderful monster. We need, that’s why the realm of psychology is important, we need to work out what is it in us that makes us need to hate. I agree with you, Margaret.

I need to “Embarrassment of Riches” by Simon Schama. It’s a brilliant book.

Q: And Yolanda is asking, is Gloria Roden related to Claudia Roden?

A: No, Gloria. Anyone know why Dutch Jews who came to London, like my ancestors, were called chuts? I did know, and I can’t remember. Does anyone else know?

Q: How did the Ashkenazi Jews get to Poland? Where did they come?

A: I dealt with that last, a couple of weeks ago, David. Most of them, this is a fascinating issue that I was arguing with my friend Sandra Myers the other day, ‘cause she’s been talking about Koestler’s “Thirteenth Tribe”. Now. the majority of Jews who came from Poland, well, I talked about them leaving England. They probably went first to France, then they were expelled. The majority of historians believe that the majority of Jews who went to Poland came in through the German lands. Ashkenaz means German. And there is the story of Arthur Koestler, “The Thirteenth Tribe” that says the Polish Jews are also descended from this extraordinary country called Khazar in the Crimea, which converted to Judaism. We dunno if just the king converted or the people converted. And he put forward that theory. But it’s been discounted because of genetics, actually. The fact that we can do far more about genetic… we know more about genetics. So, but that, it’s very interesting. So basically, from Germany. There doesn’t seem to be much in communication much communication around these days. More tolerance?

Well, maybe Monty, if you want to be enlightened, you could say yes or you could say, we are taking out our intolerance in other ways. The UK Lord Chancellor was excommunicated by his strict Scottish sect for attending the funeral of the Catholic colleague about 20 years ago.

That is fascinating, Martin. How are you Martin? That’s very interesting,

What was, that was just a picture, Margaret, that was just a picture of Uriel da Costa.

Jill Nadler, so glad you finally mentioned the tyranny of the left, which originated in academia and now permeates all of society. I’ve been discussing with Wendy having more debates. Basically, I believe closed systems lead to totalitarianism. That’s a shorthand, what I really passionately believe in.

And yes, Rod, there’s a fine line between free speech and hate speech. And that’s why we will be having more debates. We feel very strongly that this is something that I think lockdown would like, that we won’t necessarily take the position we like, we believe in, but we’re going to try and bring more debate.

Oh, this is from Ron. Oh, hi Ron. Those of you interested in blacks and the Dutch in the 17th century might like to listen to the Cole Nagy Foundation podcast on blacks in Rembrandt’s time, an exhibition last year in Amsterdam at the Rembrandt House. Thank you very much for that, Ron.

It’s Jeffrey Fine. Spinoza’s view of the Torah was authorised, authored by several people, as opposed to God, still challenges Jewish orthodoxy. Yes, of course it does, Jeffrey. And that’s the problem. Reform believes that the Torah was divinely inspired. Orthodoxy believes that it’s the word of the Almighty as given to Moses on Mount Sinai. The problem with any kind of faith. Faith is a great comfort, it’s a belief, but it can lead to intolerance of others. And I think that’s one of the problems. Moses Mendelssohn said something very interesting. Of course, he’s the first Jew to really benefit from the European Enlightenment. He said, if he was asked by a Swiss pastor, why on earth don’t you convert? You know, you are a sophisticated man. Why on earth don’t you convert? And he says, if I meet a Chinese, do I have to convert him? If I meet a Zoroastrian? There are many parts to the truth.

Oh, this, we’ve had an answer on chuts. Thank you. In from Itan Friedman. Chuts means outside. Maybe they were considered outsiders. That’s a problem. You see, that’s another point on Jewish prejudice. When the Sephardim settled in England, they really soon became the lords of the earth. At Bevis Marks Synagogue, the pews, they weren’t allowed to sit… Any Ashkenazi who wanted to pray there had to go to the pews at the back. Let’s go on.

Lots of you have liked it. I was talking about Da Costa, Uriel da Costa. Thank you.

Q: Did the Dutch Reform Church follow, in South Africa follow?

A: Yes. Now what’s interesting… Isn’t this interesting, Barry? And when we talk, I know a lot of you are South African, it’s fascinating because Holland on one level is an oasis of tolerance. But when the South Af… when the Afrikaners, and we cannot really accuse the Afrikaners of tolerance, can we? So it’s an interesting, it’s a very interesting story.

They were… Economic did… Did the treatment of the black… What? Of the indigenous population. What does it come from? I think it comes from, tragically, from economic necessity. You know, you have to consider the slave trade, the dehumanisation of people. They didn’t see the other as human.

Oh, this is from Fanny. Thank you. Because Spinoza was excommunicated he’s buried in the courtyard of a church in the Hague, which is actually located in the former Jewish court of pre-Holocaust. His house of books is located in the Hague. Thank you very much, Fanny.

That’s what I meant about.. Thank, that’s what I meant about your group. It’s such, you’re so, you know so much. Irene. Thank you for the lectures.

Q: What was the title of the Israel Zangwill book?

A: “Children of the Ghetto”. It’s such a wonderful read.

Anyway, and Henry is saying…

This is Christopher. The majority of the Dutch population is still Catholic today.

And Liz Strait, oh, can we go back to that question next time? Because I want to read it very carefully. I need to look at a map to answer that properly. Henry, Good in Dutch means good. I can’t understand Monty. The Afrikaners, which I grew up in South Africa, were Z from Dami.

I’m not quite sure what that means. Anyway, I wish you all a good evening. Judy, thank you so much for doing the slides. Lots of love all of you, thanks, and see you, see you soon.

• [Judy] Thank you.

• All right. Bye.

• [Judy] Everybody. Good night.

• Good night everyone.