Category: History - British

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

The Jewish Historical Society of England, soon after its establishment, resolved on the publication of the present volume as a memorial of Menasseh ben Israel, whose name must always hold the chief place on the first page of the history of the present Anglo-Jewish community. T...

Chapters

16. Part 16

This may be seen more clearly yet in their being banished out of Castile, in the dayes of Ferdinand & Isabella. Their number at that time was supposed to have been half a Milion...

15. Part 15

_My_ second _Motive is, because the opinion of many Christians and mine doe concurre herein, that we both believe that the restoring time of our Nation into their Native Countre...

3. Part 3

On the 1st September he arrived in London, and at once set about drafting two petitions to Cromwell.[56] In the first of these documents he recited his personal history, the sto...

5. Part 5

Early in March 1656 a proclamation was issued by the Privy Council declaring all Spanish monies, merchandise, and shipping to be lawful prize. The ink of this document was scarc...

4. Part 4

It was a notable gathering—one of the most notable in the whole history of the Commonwealth. The statesmen present were the most eminent on the active list of the moment. There...

19. Part 19

There is in the daily prayers a certain Chapter where it is thus written, _la-Mumarim_, &c. that is, _For Apostates, let there be no hope, let all Hereticks be destroyed, and al...

14. Part 14

_I Desire to be acquainted with you, because we have both fallen upon one Booke, with the same intentions to convert the_ Jewes, _though we take not one way; I desire therefore...

17. Part 17

3. As for the _third_ Point, I say, that although Ferdinand & Isabell, giving colour to so indiscreet a determination, said, that they induced the Nobles to become Iews, yet tru...

18. Part 18

13. Notwithstanding all this, there are not wanting some histories, that relate these and the like calumnies against an afflicted people, For which cause the Lord saith, _He tha...

20. Part 20

And in that sense _Flavius Josephus_ in his book written against _Apion_, saith these words: “As it is our practise to observe our own, and not to accuse, or revile others; so n...

2. Part 2

The cause of Religious Liberty was, however, not the only force which was working in the country for the readmission of the Jews. The religious fervour of the nation had been st...

13. Part 13

God hath promised to doe great things in these last days, as namely, to subdue all his Enemies, to releive his people, to destroy all Tyranny and Oppression both civil and eccle...

11. Part 11

Neither is there weight in the Argument which some have brought to me, if they be in the world, why doe we not know them better? There are many things which we know, and yet kno...

8. Part 8

_That it was two years and a halfe, since that he going from the Port_ Honda _in the_ West-Indies, _to the_ Papian _jurisdiction, he conducted some Mules of a certaine_ Indian,...

10. Part 10

The ten Tribes being conquered at severall times, we must thinke they were carried into severall places. As we beleeve they went to the _West-Indies_ by the strait of _Anian_, s...

1. Part 1

The Jewish Historical Society of England, soon after its establishment, resolved on the publication of the present volume as a memorial of Menasseh ben Israel, whose name must a...

22. Part 22

P. 37, l. 26. “_Another worthy of credit._” In the original Spanish, Menasseh gives his name as Señor H. Meyr Rophé. This is omitted from both the Latin and English editions.

21. Part 21

I have also published, and printed, with my own presse, above 60 other books, amongst which are many bibles in _Hebrew_, and _Spanish_, with all our _Hebrew_ prayers corrected,...

24. Part 24

Dury, John, xxii, xxiv, xxv _n._, xxvi _n._, xliii _n._; at Cassel, xliii; distributes Latin edition of “Hope of Israel” among leading Puritans, xxvii; corresponds with Menasseh...

6. Part 6

Charles II. did not confine himself to ignoring the anti-Semitic petitions. Having made up his mind that the Jews should be protected, he sought, like Cromwell, to throw the res...

7. Part 7

“3. That their havinge of synagogues or any publicke meetings for the exercise of their worship or religion is not only evill in itselfe, but likewise very scandalous to other C...

25. Part 25

Parliament, of England, 157 (notes); dedication of “Hope of Israel” to, 3, 144; dedication of Latin edition of “Hope of Israel” to, xxvi; Long, lviii; pamphlet, probably read in...

23. Part 23

John Sadler stands out conspicuously for dissociating himself from this baseless prejudice. When he wrote his “Rights of the Kingdom,” in 1649, he summed up the matter in a happ...

12. Part 12

If the Lord fulfilled his word in calamities, he will fulfill it also in felicities. Therefore _Rabbi Aquibah_ laughed, when hee saw a Fox run out of the Temple being destroyed,...

9. Part 9

He strengthens this opinion, that in the Isle St. _Michael_, which belongs to the _Azores_, the _Spaniards_ found Sepulchres under ground, with very ancient Hebrew letters, whic...

26. Part 26

Jacob Sasportas, who had acted as a “corrector” in Menasseh’s printing-office in Amsterdam, and was afterwards elected Chief Rabbi in London, was a member of the mission (Graetz...