Thursday 17 April 2014

Sephardic Jews or Bnei anusim in London and Amsterdam



I don't understand why should negate a bnei anusim origin. I have read in various publications about Sephardic Jews in London and Amsterdam that they have come directly from Spain or Portugal and as Jews. This is a big lie neither was Jewish Halakhicly and many of them came to London and Amsterdam from the Azores, Canary Islands and Cape Verde.

Early Sephardic Jews to get to London or Amsterdam came near the middle of the 17th century and expulsion from Spain was in 1492 and from Portugal was in 1496. The first "Sephardic Jews" in London and Amsterdam didn't  have jewish surnames they only had portuguese or spanish surnames.

They didn't speak Ladino like Sephardic Jews who left Portugal and Spain with the decrees of expulsion or even knew each liturgy. Why this lie?  why they are not recognizing their identity?. Why they don't recognize that  they were Bnei anusim and fought to regain their identity?

Wednesday 16 April 2014

Ben Yohanan the connection between Ireland and the Canary Islands




The surname Yanes (Eanes)  was one of the most common in the Canary Islands. Also, it was one the most common surnames in different towns and villages in the north of Tenerife in the 16th century. In this century (1555) William Eanes, Moses Annias Eanes (Hebrew: Ben Yohanan , Arabic: Ibn Yahia) became the Mayor of Youghal in County Cork. He was the first person of the Jewish religion to hold such an elected position in Ireland. William Moses Annyas Eanes was the grandson of Gil Eanes of Belmonte, Portugal. Many of the first Jewish people to come to Ireland Were Marrano merchants from the Iberian peninsula. His daughter married Yacov Kassin (Shamus Ciosain) son of Yehuda Kassin (John Cassin) a Marrano merchant who had moved to Galway in Ireland. The surname Eanes Also (pronounced Yanes), is from the Hebrew Ben Yohanan and in Arabic Ben Yahia.





Icod, North of Tenerife, at this village the surname Yanes was the most common surname in the 16th century                   

Sunday 9 February 2014

Jewish community in London in seventeenth-century and the Bnei Anusim community in the Canary Islands.

The connection between the first Jewish community in London in seventeenth-century and the Bnei Anusim community in the Canary Islands.

La Orotava, Tenerife.
The first Jewish community of London and Canary Islands' Bnei Anusim Community is highly related. Some of the signatories of the request for the establishment of a Jewish community in London to Lord Oliver Cromwell lived in the Canary Islands for a long time and some of their families stayed in the Canary Islands. This is the case of the sister of Antao Fernandez Carvajal (Antao Israel Carvajal ) Lucina Rodriguez Arias. Lucina and her husband Gonzalo Rodriguez Baez and part of his family stayed in Tenerife and lived in La Orotava (in the north of the island). Lucina, her husband and other family members were arrested and were imprisoned in the prison of the Inquisition of Gran Canaria, but were finally freedom and could continue in their lives. Antao, Robles and other founders of Bevis Mark Synagogue were too Bnei anusim as Lucina, but in a new country they could create their own Jewish community.

Thanks to those Bnei anusim who chose London  Jews can live free in United Kingdom. I hope one day their descendants and families of those who could not come to London and escape the Inquisition can return to their faith.
Original petition to Cromwell 

Thursday 6 February 2014

They will be forever in my memory and in my prayers.

The last post was a tribute to one of my grandmothers my sixteen grandmother Isabel Nunes.



Vergara Bracamonte's house La Laguna Tenerife.

This is a tribute to one of my ancestors who was burned by the Inquisition of Seville and to his descendents by eight lines. 










She was Isabel Lopes wife of Nuno Nunes and mother of Alonso Nunez Villavicencio and  Nuno Nunes Villavicencio who came to the city of La Laguna in the early sixteenth century. In the book of Lucien Wolf Jews in the Canary Island page six is counted as Alonso Nunez was found crying and praying because his mother was imprisoned in the castle of the Inquisition of Seville: This registered in August 15, 1520 in Seville, page 142 files of the Inquisition in the Canary Islands also registered the case against Isabel Lopes in the archives of the Inquisition of Seville, National Historical Archive.

These are some of my ancestors descendants of Isabel Lopes:

Magdalena Nunez Villavicencio married in 1584 with Salvador Perez de Medina / La Laguna, Tenerife.

Mateo Diaz Villavicencio married in 1619 with Catalina Tabares / La Laguna, Tenerife.

Andres Diaz Villavicencio married in 1625 with Polonia Bethencourt / Tejina, Tenerife.

Maria Nunez Villavicencio married in 1642 with Juan Perez Canican / La Laguna, Tenerife.

Amaro Lopez Villavicencio married in 1656 with Magdalena Hernandez / La Laguna, Tenerife.

Pedro Medina Villavicencio married in 1670 with Catalina Estevez / La Laguna, Tenerife.

Francisca Lorenzo Villavicencio married in 1732 with Lucas Hernandez Prieto / Tejina, Tenerife.

Maria Perez Villavicencio married in 1740 with Salvador Gonzalez Rico / La Laguna, Tenerife.


Note that all of them for centuries strove to perpetuate its tradition and lineage. Thanks to all of them, its struggle and its legacy. 

They will be forever in my memory and in my prayers.