Daniel de Fonseca (1672 - ) was a distinguished
Portuguese Marrano
Marranos were Spanish and Portuguese Jews living in the Iberian Peninsula who converted or were Forced conversion#Spanish Inquisition, forced to convert to Christianity during the Middle Ages, but continued to Crypto-Judaism, practice Judaism i ...
Jew who served as
court physician and advisor to several notable
European rulers. He used his influence to help secure better treatment of several Jewish communities throughout Europe.
Biography
Born in 1672 in
Oporto,
Portugal, his grandfather had been
burned at stake during the
Portuguese Inquisition, after which his parents, Abraham da Fonseca and Simcha Querido fled to
Amsterdam, leaving their children behind in Portugal. de Fonseca, then eight years old, was baptized along with his brothers, and was entered into the
Catholic priesthood. Although he immediately reverted to
Judaism in his teenage years. This captured the attention of his
monastery, who attempted to seize him. Although he managed to escape to
Bordeaux,
France, where he studied medicine, and displayed himself to be an adept learner. He later moved to
Paris, living there for a year or two.
In 1702, he moved to
Istanbul, where Jews thrived under the tolerance of the
Ottoman sultanate. In Istanbul, that he began to publicly embrace his Judaism, later marrying a woman named Esther Franco Mendes. It was also during this time that de Fonseca exemplified himself as an excellent physician, quickly being employed by several notable Ottoman aristocrats. Word of the young physician spread throughout Europe, and the
middle east. After the
Battle of Poltava, de Fonseca aided
King Charles XII of Sweden
Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII ( sv, Karl XII) or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 Adoption of the Gregorian calendar, O.S.), was King of Sweden (including current Finland) from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatina ...
in his intrigues which he sustained during the
Great Northern War.
Subsequently, after this prestigious position, he was appointed the physician to the French embassy in Istanbul, where he played an important role as an adviser to French diplomats, regarding Ottoman customs and culture. He held this office until 1719, when in March of that year, he moved to
Bucharest to serve as a physician and advisor to Prince
Nicholas Mavrocordato of
Wallachia. It was this relationship with Prince Nicholas, that allowed de Fonseca to secure the relative civil liberties of local Jewish communities. During
Ottoman–Habsburg wars, de Fonseca expressed his constant support of the Ottoman and French governments, and in return, the Austrian diplomat
Ambrosius Franz, stated that de Fonseca was "''a shrewd intriguer, whom I distrust very much''" leading de Fonseca experiencing great unpopularity in
Austria. He later returned to Istanbul, where he was appointed physician to
Sultan Ahmad III.
Although after the deposition of Ahmad III in 1730, de Fonseca decided to retire in Paris, where he became a close friend of
Voltaire, who described de Fonseca as "''the only philosopher of his people''". It was in Paris that he died around 1740.
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References
Crypto-Jews
18th-century Jewish physicians of Portugal
18th-century Jews
Portuguese Jews
Sephardi Jews from the Ottoman Empire