- Elias Lipiner, an expert on the Portuguese Inquisition, has brilliantly
uncovered that, having been arrested while on a mission in 1532 to Emperor Karl V
of the Holy Roman Empire, David was surrendered to Spain and burned at the
stake in Llerena on September 8 , 1538. Lipiner, “‘Iyunim be-Farashat David Re-
uveni u-Sholomo Molcho,” in Aescoly et al.,Sipur David ha-Re’uveni,xlv–lxvi.In
the same essay, Lipiner also surveys the various theories about David’s death prior
to this discovery. - The larger context of the exchange between the two is discussed in depth by
Benjamin Gampel, “A Letter.” Gampel identifies this ha-Lorki with Joshua ben Joseph
Al-Lorki, who converted during the 1410 s, took the name of Gero ́nimo de Santa Fe, and
is known in Jewish Iberian history as a formidable anti-Jewish polemicist. He was the
personal physician of Pope Benedict XIII ( 1328 – 1423 ) and the “hero” of the infamous
Disputation of Tortosa ( 1413 – 1414 ). - Lorki,Igeret Yehosh‘a a-Lorki, 98.
- The full sentence runs as follows: “‘adayin tihyeh kayemet u-shelema ve-davar
ze lo yavi le-hulshat ha-bitahon.” Lorki,Igeret Yehosh‘a a-Lorki, 99. - For a short discussion of the man and his writings, see Glatzer, “Pablo de Santa
Maria.” - See Bodian, “Men of the Nation.”
- For an account of the riots, see Wolff, “The 1391 Pogrom.”
- Netanyahu,Don Isaac Abravanel, 207.
- Ibid., 230.
- For the numbers of converts and expelled, see Kamen, “The Mediterranean.”
- Ibid., 33.
- Netanyahu,Don Isaac Abravanel, 230.
24 .InYeshu‘ot Meshiho, Abravanel dedicates a whole chapter to reaffirming the
belief that the ten tribes had not disappeared, that they would fulfill the promise of
return, and he struggles to explain Rabbi ‘Aqiva’s position that they would not. - Netanyahu,Don Isaac Abravanel, 231 – 232.
- Yerushalmi, “Messianic Impulses,” 468.
- Aescoly mentions Abravanel’s prognostications foretelling the coming of a
messiah on three different dates close to the arrival of David as possible causes for the
messianic response, but ignores altogether Abravanel’s highly relevant ideas about the
ten tribes. Aescoly et al.,SipurDavid ha-Re’uveni, 155 – 156 (Hebrew pagination). - Moshe Idel discusses David’s military image and its impact on Hayyim Vital in
his introduction to the 1993 edition. Idel, “Mavo,” in Aescoly et al.,Sipur David ha-
Re’uveni, xix–xliii. - This should be termed “an era of mutual discovery”; Northrup, “Vasco da
Gama and Africa.” - See Beckingham, “Ethiopian Embassy to Europe”; “Achievements of Prester
John.” - “Obadiah’s Letter to His Father 1488 .” Adler’s translation is emended in
consultation with the critical edition of the original letters in Bertinoro,Me-Italyah
li-Yerushalayim, 74.
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