Joseph Nasi - Early Life

Early Life

Joao Micas, Yosef Nasi was born in Spain as a Marrano (practicing Judaism in secret), and was a friend of Maximilian, nephew of the Habsburg King Charles I of Spain. He escaped to Portugal after Charles decided to confiscate the Mendes fortune, and, after the Holy Inquisition began operating against Portuguese Marranos, moved to Antwerp, in the Habsburg Netherlands, with his aunt, Doña Gracia Mendes Nasi. He studied at the University of Louvain, but had to flee the Inquisition in 1547. He then moved to France and later to Venice, before finally leaving for the Ottoman realm in 1554, Where he married Doña Reyna the daughter of his aunt Gracia Mendes Nasi.

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