David Curiel Explained

David Curiel
Mother:	Maria de Fonseca
Birth Date:	11 May 1594
Death Date:	4 October 1666 (aged 72)
Occupation:	merchant, diplomat
Noble Family:	Curiel
Honorific Prefix:	Don

Don David Curiel (11 May 1594 – 4 October 1666), alias Lopo da Fonseca Ramires,^[1] was a Sephardi Jewish merchant.^{[2] [3]}

Early life and education

David Curiel was the son of 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]

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.^[12]

Notes and References

1. Book: Israel, Jonathan. Conflicts of Empires: Spain, the Low Countries and the Struggle for World Supremacy, 1585–1713. 1 January 1997. A&C Black. 9781852851613. en.
2. Web site: Ramirez, Lopo - The Spinoza Web. spinozaweb.org. 7 October 2019.
3. Book: Bodian, Miriam. Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation: Conversos and Community in Early Modern Amsterdam. 1999. Indiana University Press. 9780253213518. en., p. 163
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. 0039-3347. 41482274.
5. Book: Israel, Jonathan. Conflicts of Empires: Spain, the Low Countries and the Struggle for World Supremacy, 1585–1713. 1 July 1997. A&C Black. 9780826435538. en.
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. 0039-3347. 41482274.
7. Web site: Ramirez, Lopo – The Spinoza Web. spinozaweb.org. 7 October 2019.
8. Web site: akten.amsterdam. akten.amsterdam. 7 October 2019.
9. Book: Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam. 1967 . en.
10. Book: Rooden, Peter T. Van. Theology, Biblical Scholarship, and Rabbinical Studies in the Seventeenth Century: Constantijn L'Empereur (1591-1648), Professor of Hebrew and Theology at Leiden. 1989. BRILL. 978-90-04-09035-4. en.
11. Book: Kaplan, Yosef. The Dutch Intersection: The Jews and the Netherlands in Modern History. 19 June 2008. BRILL. 9789047442141. en.
12. 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. 0039-3347. 41482274.