Joseph Nasi

Banker, statesman and financier
Joseph Nasi was a 16th century banker, statesman and financier who belonged to the prominent banking house of Mendez and dealt with the highest nobility and many European royal houses. Due to his Jewish origin, he was forced to settle in the more tolerant Ottoman Empire.

Joseph Nasi was born as a Marrano in Portugal and was originally known as a Christian by the name of Joao Micas (Miquez, Miguez). In 1537, Joseph accompanied his paternal aunt, Beatrice de Luna (Gracia Nasi) from Lisbon to Antwerp. He studied at the University of Louvain, and after entered the banking establishment of Mendes. When Gracia left in 1545 for Italy, because of the pressure from the government to seize the Mendes fortune, Joseph was responsible for settling the family’s affairs. Although he was in contact with Emperor Charles V and the queen regent of the Netherlands, he was unable to save the family’s property from confiscation, and has fled from Antwerp in 1547. He spent the following years in France, where he became known to King Francis I, and Italy, until in 1554 he settled in Constantinople. The same year he married Gracia’s daughter Reyna.

Joseph became highly influential at the court of Sultan Selim II (r. 1566 – 1574) and was named Duke of Naxos and the Cyclades in 1566. He was also granted a monopoly on the import of wines through the Bosporus, said to have brought him a net income of 15,000 ducats annually, and has obtained important trading privileges in Poland. In order to regain family property that was sequestered in France he obtained the sultan’s firman in 1568 ordering the confiscation of one-third of the merchandise on French ships docking in Alexandria. In 1561 Joseph obtained a grant, giving him plenary authority in Tiberias and seven nearby villages in consideration of an annual payment. He attempted to develop it commercially, fostering the wool and silk industries, and had sent a circular letter to the Jewish communities of Italy inviting them to settle there.

Joseph encouraged Jewish scholarship by his patronage of various scholars, and in 1556 he joined his aunt in organizing the blockade of the port of Ancona to avenge the persecution of the Marranos there.