Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/716

660 — Antwerp

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Apamea tlic

pri'scriptioiis

Cliurcli.

was due

Till'

anil

to Alva,

is

nf tlii' Ciitlirilio severe treatment, wliieli

(•iTt'inoiiics

reason for

tliis

probably to be founil

in the faet

many

of the Maranos were ^lail to eseape the yoke of the Catholic Church anil to join the ProtesThis, at least, was the ease with the fuaiilies tants. of Maic Perez anil ilmmauuel Treniellius. The Peace of Westphalia, in lOlS. enabled a large number of JIaranos to return to Antwerp; and, together with the establishment of theCalvinist conventicles, secret synagogues in the city are mentioned. Among these Manuios may be mentioned Don Manuel Alvarez Pinto y Hibeni. owner of Chilveches. Abulleque, and LaCelada. nobleman of Spain and knight of St. Jago, from wliom the widely sjiread family of Pinto takes its origin (Israel da Return of Costa. "Adelijke Geslaehten " in his that

Maranos

" Israel

en de Volken." 2d

ed., p. 4G9).

Discounte- There are accounts of a debating and nanced. literary society in KISI, callecl "Academiade la Virtud," founded by SpanJews, similar to the many societies of this kind founueil at Amsterdam (Da Costa, ib. p. 469). The state government, however, did all in its power to prevent a large increase in the number of Jews at Antwerp, and in KiTO it denied their re(|Uest to take up their |iermanent cpiarters at Hilborde. though they olTen'd live million tlorins a year for the privilege. This refusal was probably due to a priest named Coriache. who presented to the privy council a memorial, written by the bishop of Antwerp, complaining that for the last twenty-tivc years or more some of the richest Jews f)f the city ish

had removed

their

goods

to

Amsterdam and had

there reentered the Jewish community, after having lived for many years outwardly as faithful and obeSuch a one was Dr. Spinoza, who dient Catholics. for several years had practised medicine at Antwerp (C'armoly, "Revue Orientale," i. ITti). The autluuities even went further: in 1682 they forcibly bap tized a child born to Diego Curiel, on the pretext that, having been born in a Catholic country, he by right belonged to the Church. This Curiel was a member of a well-known Portviguese family one of

Jacob Curiel. otherwise called Nunez da Costa who had been ennobled by John IV. was for many years the agent of Portugal at Antwerp. Another Marano. Francisco de Silva. happening to pass the host as it was being carried to a sick-chamber, neglected to kneel before it. He was thrown into prison, although the council of state refused to allow him to be brought up in court on the charge. The bishop of Antwerp. Ferdinand de Beughen. made strenuous demands for the punishment of the culprit, aud the clergy even went .so far as to demand the total expulsion of Jews from Antweip. The burgomasters, when asked for their opinion by the council of state, answered that the .lews hall brought to their city the diamond trade, that they were prosperous, and that they lived quietly for themselves; so that there was not much ground for complaint. But they added that it might be well to force the Jews to adopt certain marks and a distinctive dress, and to live in a portion of the city separated from the rest of the inhabitants. Whether this was done or not, history does not record. The wars of Louis XIV. gave the .lews a certain respite. In 1694 the officers of the bishop and the magistrates attempted to put the seals Respite, on the secret synagogue: but Elijah Andrada, one of the Jews, detied them his relatives.

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to reestablish the Inquisition in the Netherlands. The Jews seem to have been successful this lime and they even brought the matter before the courts, de;

660

manding a restitution of certain property confiscated in the name of the king of Spain. The .Jews in Antwerp are again referred to in the eighteenth century, when the Spanish Netherlands, by the Peace" of l"trecht (April U, 1713), became jiart of the Austrian monarchy. On Sept. 16, 171."). Abraham Aaron, a Jewish merchant, received the rights of citizenship in . twerp, which rights were essential to the carrying on of tnide by him without restriction. On June 13. 1732, a certain Jacob Cantor, who had lived for thirty years in Brussel.s, received a certificate of citizenship from the magistrates of Antwerp. This grant was annidled later, as one of the qualifications for citizenship

was

the profession of the Catholic faith.

In

August, 1769, Abraham Benjamin, another .lew, who for many years had lived in London, desired to settle with his family in Antwerp and to carry nn trade between England and the Readmis- Xitiierlands. The magistrates were siontoCiti- luiwilling to grant such permission; zenship. fearing, perhaps, that as the govern-

ment was trying

to raise the status of

manufactures in the Netherlands, it would not look with favor upon the reception of a mail who would English rather than Belgian trade. The fear also expressed that in virtue of his rights as a Benjamin might set up a retail busines.s.

Ijcnefit

was

citizen,

The privy council

(in wIkjsc hands was the granting of citizens' rights), therefore, proposed to the governor-general to authorize the granting of citizens' rights to this Jew on condition that he pledge himself not to trade in retail; should he thus trade, a fine of a thousand florins was to be imposed over aud aliovc the ordinary penalties that might be prescribed by the magistrates of Antwerp. Accordingly the governor-general, on Oct. 2S. 1769. authorized the magistrates to admit Benjamin; but they at the same time stipulated that this act shoidd not be considered a precedent, and that the decree of 17.58, which excluded the Jews from citizenship, should continue in force. In October. 'X'i, Benjamin Joel Cantor and his brother. Samuel Joel Cantor, merchants, made a similar request to be admitted as citizens of Antwcrji. They were the graiuUhildren of the Jacob Cantor mentioned above; and in their petition they alleged that their father, Joel .Jacob, who was a native of Amsterdam, had lived for more han eighteen years in Ant werp. and that their grandfather had been admitted as a citizen of the place. The facts alleged by these two brothers were officially confirmed and, on the advice of the governorgeneral, the magistrates of .Vntwerp admitted the applicants to citizenship (Dec. lliuiil 24, 1782), their names being registered in the Plakaatboek. Two years later Levi Abraham, a Hanoverian Jew. who had resided in Antwerp for fifteen years, made an attempt to secure the rights of citizenship, in order to carry on his trade in jewelry and in other branches. The privy coiuicil rejiorted adversely, however, on this petition, alleging that the business he desired to carry on namely, that of a second-hand dealer was suspicious, at any rate one not to be recommended, and the grant was refused (Dec. 4. 1784). In 1794 the French became masters f)f Belgium, and the new ideas sown by the Revolution made themselves felt here also. The Jews Reestab- were freer to settle at Antwerp, which lishment of they did very soon after this; though Jews. no trace can be found of their having had a synagogue of their own. The imperial edict of JIarch 17, 1808, divided off the Jews living in French countries into consistorial con.scriptions, and these again into synagogue districts. t



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