1563 – The Chronicle of Frei Pantaleão de Aveiro and the Jews of the Holy Land

JEWISH MOMENTS IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL

1563
A Portuguese Monk in the Holy Land:
The Chronicle of Frei Pantaleão de Aveiro and the Jews of Israel

In the mid-16th century, during the height of the Ottoman Empire, a Portuguese Franciscan monk named Frei Pantaleão de Aveiro journeyed across the eastern Mediterranean, visiting sacred sites and observing the cultures and religions of the region. His travel chronicle offers a fascinating glimpse into the Holy Land during this era, including rare and insightful encounters with the Jews of Palestine.

Frei Pantaleão de Aveiro was a Portuguese Franciscan monk who lived in the 16th century. Little is known about his life except that he likely came from the city of Aveiro and undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1563. As a member of the Franciscan order charged by papal authority with caring for Christian holy sites under Ottoman rule, he was part of a group of sixty friars sent from Rome to the Holy Land to participate in the building of a convent in Jerusalem.

Remarkably, he recorded his travels in a lengthy chronicle called ‘Itinerary of the Holy Land and its Particularities’, first printed in 1593. It is structured as a religious-political travelogue. Its themes include: the condition of Christian holy places under Muslim rule; the role of the Franciscans in Jerusalem and Bethlehem; encounters with Muslims, Jews, Eastern Christians, and local populations; descriptions of Jewish customs, synagogues, messianic hopes, and diaspora links.

What makes his account particularly valuable is that he took note of the local Jewish presence, which had been growing due to waves of migration, especially after the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492 and the forced conversions of Jews in Portugal in 1497. He noted the visible return of Jews to the land, particularly Sephardic Jews who had fled Iberia and who now found relative safety under Ottoman rule, and described their dress, occupations, and religious devotion.

Frei Pantaleão observed that Jews lived in several cities, including: Jerusalem, where a small but devout community of more than six hundred Jews had reestablished itself despite poverty and restrictions; Safed, which he described as a place of unusual Jewish vitality and scholarship and where he noted the presence of many Portuguese Jews among the more than four hundred Jewish residents; Hebron, where Jews lived near the Tomb of the Patriarchs, keeping ancient traditions alive; Tiberias, where Jewish resettlement efforts were underway under Ottoman patronage, supported by figures like Doña Gracia Nassi, herself a Portuguese Jewish expatriate living in Istambul originating from a prominent Portuguese New-Christian family

Specifically about Jerusalem, Frei Pantaleão comments on the existence of an ancient synagogue. He relates how, despite their poverty, the Jews celebrated their festivals, decorating their synagogues with wealth on special occasions, such as in September. He also mentions the Jews’ respect for religious practices, such as entering holy places barefoot.

As to the place of origin of the Jews of Jerusalem, he refers to Jews born in Portugal and Castile who lived in Jerusalem. He mentions that at least thirty were Portuguese-born and about his age cohort. He highlighted specific names, such as a Portuguese doctor from Évora called Barbosa, for whom he has some choice words. He says that Barbosa, after abandoning the Catholic faith (to which he had been forcibly converted, one may add), later submitted to the public penance imposed upon him. Friar Pantaleão adds, “But, like a dog returning to its vomit, he left again [to return to Judaism], embarking at Ancona and relocating to Turkey [before settling in Jerusalem].”

He also observes that many Jews, especially Ashkenazim, who moved to Jerusalem, lived in “idleness”, awaiting the coming of the Messiah, who, according to their belief, would appear on the Day of Judgment. Finally, he mentions that Jews from different parts of the world, including conversos from Portugal and Castile, contributed to maintaining the synagogue and other religious activities in the Holy Land.

It would seem that his interactions with Jews, in particular, those formerly from Iberia, were not just observation from a distance. He talks about a heated theological dispute with a Jew originally from Castile refuting some basic Christian tenets. Other Jews, some originally from Portugal, joined the argument, which was about to get violent. At that time, some Muslim bystanders, feeling that the Jews were belittling one of their prophets, decided to join forces with the friars, and the Jews had to flee for their lives hastily.

On another occasion, he reports meeting two Jewish women, an older and a younger one, washing clothes in a pool. After attempting to communicate in Arabic with him, he realized that they understood Spanish. They were from a family of refugees originally from Toledo. He then reports that the young woman “… continued with kind and flattering words … using all sorts of Jewish tricks, trying to convince me that if I became a Jew, they would marry me to a wealthy and noble Jewish woman, that I would be honored by the community, and that they would share their wealth with me.”. Interestingly, the image of Jews trying to lure Christians with promises of riches and marriage is a common literary motif in the Christian narrative of the time.

Frei Pantaleão’s references about Jews and Jewish life reveal a perspective that was strongly influenced by the religious and cultural views of his time. Yet, his writings are important because they offer a non-Jewish, contemporary testimony to the phenomenon of Iberian Jewish migration to the Land of Israel and the Ottoman policy of relative tolerance, which allowed these communities to flourish in places like Safed and Istanbul, and primarily on the state of Jewish life in Palestine during the 1500s. His observations showcase the resilience of the Jewish people and their commitment to their ancient homeland.