Miguel de Barrios

Don Miguel de Barrios (Hebrew Daniel Levi, * 1635 in Montilla; † October 6, 1701 in Amsterdam) was a Spanish- Jewish poet and historian.

Life

Miguel de Barrios was born in 1635 in Montilla ( Cordoba province ) in a Portuguese- Marrano family. When one of his relatives in Córdoba killed by the Inquisition, the family left Spain in 1650 and moved initially to Oran ( Algeria today ). Miguel and his brother seem to have served there (in Mers- el- Kebir ) in the Spanish Army. As Jews and conversos in 1667 were forced out of Oran, he went with many others to Italy.

In Livorno, he returned back to Judaism, had himself circumcised and took the name of Daniel. Shortly after, he married Deborah Vaez. In 1660 he sailed with his first wife and 152 co-religionists, most of them former conversos to the Netherlands Antilles, with the intention to find his fortune in the New World ( Pensaban probar fortunas en el Nuevo Mundo ). He settled in Tobago, but returned after the early death of his wife soon returned to Europe.

In 1662 he married in Amsterdam Abigail Pina, an ex - Conversa from Morocco. Around the same time he entered the pay of the Spanish army and lived during the next twelve years as a Catholic captain ( Capitan de Caballos ) and Spanish poets in Brussels. His wife remained in Amsterdam, so he kept his relationship with the local Jewish community upright. In Brussels, he published his two major works Flor de Apolo ( 1665) and Coro de las Musa ( 1672) and three dramas.

As he bade farewell to 1674, he returned to Amsterdam with his wife and two children, and known under the name of Daniel Levi de Barrios open again to Judaism. Like many of the Jews of Amsterdam, he became a follower of Shabbtai Zvi and prepared in 1675 by fasting for the arrival of the supposed Messiah before. He continued to address his poetic work, but now increasingly also operated as a historian. With his Historia universal Judaica he tried to write an outline of Jewish history; Casa de Jacob, he wrote about the first settlement of Jews in Holland.

With occasional poetry, small Lobgedichten for richer Sephardim Barrios could barely earn a livelihood for himself and his family. In addition, he regularly received alms from the Portuguese community. His wife died in 1686 in Amsterdam, his only son Simon in 1688 to the Barbados. After 1689 little was printed some more of Miguel de Barrios. He died in 1701, according to other sources 1705 in Amsterdam, where he was buried next to his second wife.

On the frontispiece of the Amsterdam edition of the Imperio de Dios en la harmonia del mundo ( 1663 ) is the family Barrios represented in allegorical form. You can see the poet, surrounded by his wife as Bellona, his daughter Rebekah as Cupid and his son Simon as Mercury. Known as this engraving by Christian van Hagen is the portrait of Rembrandt, which will also constitute the couple Barrios. The work The Jewish Bride was born 1667. The image has been only in the 19th century with this title. To In 1929 Jacob Zwarts on the theory that it could be in the mapped pair by Miguel de Barrios and Abigail. Other interpreters see in the picture a biblical representation.

Work

Like his life, including his work can be divided into two periods. The turning point was the year 1674 when he quit the service in the Catholic Brussels and returned to the Jewish community of Amsterdam.

In Brussels, his writing style was strongly committed to the Spanish Baroque. His model was the Spanish poet and playwright Luis de Góngora. The three plays that Barrios published in Brussels together with his most famous collection of poems Flor de Apolo, corresponded to the typical Spanish style of his time. His work has been widely attributed to the Siglo de Oro ( Golden Age ). In addition, he also already in the Brussels time Jewish / converso - topics. So the piece Contra la verdad no hay fuerza from the combustion of three martyrs acted in an auto -da- fé in Cordóba.

Although Barrios in the Amsterdam period continued to write Lobgedichte for Christian rulers and nobles, he now turned his attention increasingly to specific Jewish themes. In addition to some religious poems he wrote some historical works, which were associated with the Sephardic community of Amsterdam ( Triumpho del goviemo popular, Casa de Jacob, Relación de los poetas y escritores españoles etc.).

A special position is occupied by Imperio de Dios en la Harmonia del Mundo. With this work, he attempted to portray the Pentateuch in a poetic version.

Works (selection)

• Flor de Apolo. Dirigida Ilustrísimo al Señor Don Antonio Fernández de Córdoba. Brussels 1665th
• El canto junto al encanto. Brussels 1665th
• Pedir favor al contrario. Brussels 1665th
• El español en Oran. Brussels 1665th
• El Coro de las Musa, dirigido Excelentísimo al Señor Don Francisco de Melo. Brussels 1672.
• Palacio de la Sabiduría, Don Sancho y Sobre la victoria de Ameixal. Brussels in 1673.
• Las POESIAS famosas y Comedies. Brussels 1674th
• Imperio de Dios en la Harmonia del Mundo. 1673 Amsterdam
• Sol de la vida. Antwerp 1679th
• Florido Arbol de noche. Amsterdam 1680.
• Luna de Holanda opulenta, nubes en el amor que manda. Amsterdam 1680.
• Descripción de las islas del Atlántico mar y de América, Piratas de la luz y la defensa America de las costas de Indias Occidentales. Cologne 1681st
• Relación de los poetas y escritores españoles de la nación Judaica amstelodana. Amsterdam in 1683.
• Triumpho del goviemo popular y de la antigüedad holandesa. Amsterdam in 1683.
• Historia universal Judaica. Amsterdam in 1683.
• Casa de Jacob. Amsterdam 1684th
• Bello Monte de Helicona. Brussels 1686th
• Estrella de Iacob sobre flores de lis. Amsterdam 1686th
• Alegrías o pinturas lucientes de himeneo. Amsterdam 1686th

• Complete Works in three volumes. Moshe Lazar, F. Javier Pueyo Mena ( eds. ), Volume 1: Pieces, Volume 2: Poetry. Lancaster 2002 - ISBN 0-911437-88-6 ....