David Curiel

Don David Curiel (11 May 1594 – 4 October 1666), alias Lopo Ramirez,[1] was a Sephardi Jewish merchant.[2][3]

Don

David Curiel
Born11 May 1594
Lisbon
Died4 October 1666 (aged 72)
Rotterdam
Noble familyCuriel
FatherAbraham Curiel
Occupationmerchant, diplomat

Early life and education

David Curiel was the son of Dr Abraham Curiel and the brother of Jacob Curiel.[4][5] He was sent to Heidelberg University in Heidelberg, Germany.

Diplomatic career

In Amsterdam, David Curiel served as Agent to the Spanish Crown as well as being engaged in the import business of jewellery and gunpowder across Europe.[6] He was a financier of the Spanish delegation at the Peace of Westphalia.[7]

Curiel was perhaps the most prominent member of Amsterdam's Sephardi community and was a generous patron of Hebrew scholarship.[8][9]

Whilst in Amsterdam, Curiel was attacked by a robber, recognising who he was, and 'seriously wounded him with a knife'. Curiel pursued his attacker, with the help of his neighbours. The man was 'arrested, tried, and executed', and Curiel received a letter of apology from the Stadholder of the Netherlands.[10]

Family

Curiel had two sons born in the Netherlands. Samuel in 1655 and Isaac in 1659. He insisted that his sons be circumcised in accordance with Jewish law and is even said to have refrained from attending the stock exchange on the Sabbath.[11]

References
  1. Israel, Jonathan (1 January 1997). Conflicts of Empires: Spain, the Low Countries and the Struggle for World Supremacy, 1585–1713. A&C Black. ISBN 9781852851613.
  2. "Ramirez, Lopo - The Spinoza Web". spinozaweb.org. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  3. Bodian, Miriam (1999). Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation: Conversos and Community in Early Modern Amsterdam. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253213518.
  4. Israel, Jonathan (1994). "Lopo Ramirez (David Curiel) and the Attempt to Establish a Sephardi Community in Antwerp in 1653–1654". Studia Rosenthaliana. 28 (1): 99–119. ISSN 0039-3347. JSTOR 41482274.
  5. Israel, Jonathan (1 July 1997). Conflicts of Empires: Spain, the Low Countries and the Struggle for World Supremacy, 1585–1713. A&C Black. ISBN 9780826435538.
  6. Israel, Jonathan (1994). "Lopo Ramirez (David Curiel) and the Attempt to Establish a Sephardi Community in Antwerp in 1653–1654". Studia Rosenthaliana. 28 (1): 99–119. ISSN 0039-3347. JSTOR 41482274.
  7. "Ramirez, Lopo – The Spinoza Web". spinozaweb.org. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  8. "akten.amsterdam". akten.amsterdam. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  9. Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam. 1967*. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. Rooden, Peter T. Van (1989). Theology, Biblical Scholarship, and Rabbinical Studies in the Seventeenth Century: Constantijn L'Empereur (1591-1648), Professor of Hebrew and Theology at Leiden. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-09035-4.
  11. Kaplan, Yosef (19 June 2008). The Dutch Intersection: The Jews and the Netherlands in Modern History. BRILL. ISBN 9789047442141.

Books
  • In 1994, the British historian Jonathan Israel wrote a book charting the life of David Curiel, Lopo Ramirez (David Curiel) and the Attempt to Establish a Sephardi Community in Antwerp in 1653–1654.[1]


  1. Israel, Jonathan (1994). "Lopo Ramirez (David Curiel) and the Attempt to Establish a Sephardi Community in Antwerp in 1653–1654". Studia Rosenthaliana. 28 (1): 99–119. ISSN 0039-3347. JSTOR 41482274.
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