Francisco Mendes

Francisco Mendes was a Marrano merchant from Spain and descendent from the Benveniste family, an old, noble and wealthy Jewish family. With his brother Diogo, he established a business in spices and precious stones which evolved into a powerful trading company and a bank of world repute with agents across Europe and around the Mediterranean.

Francisco Mendes headed the House of Mendes, trading, and banking firm which farmed out Portugal’s entire pepper and spice import, the Crown’s principal source of revenue, to the tune of about a million cruzados. All of the import was annually shipped to Antwerp for distribution and re-sale. Francisco was stationed in Lisbon and his brother Diogo in Antwerp. They also traded in precious objects and silver, the principal commodity for the payment of spices in Asia. The banking activities of the House of Mendes included large-scale loans to the governments of the Low Countries, Portugal, and England.