JOSEPH NASI DUKE OF NAXOS (1574)

Jewish statesman and financier who rose to a position of power in the Ottoman Empire under the sultans Süleyman the Magnificent and Selim II.

Of Marrano (Spanish Christianized Jew) descent he was baptized under the Christian name of Joao Miguez.

As a young man he gained a throrough knowledge of commercial and financial affairs in the service of his relatives, the bankers Mendes of Antwerp.

In 1554 he settled at Istanbul declared himself a Jew and married his cousin Reyna.

He soon attained high favour with Sultan Süleyman who granted him the town of Tiberias and seven adjoining villages in Palestine. There Nasi strove to establish a community of Jewish refugees from Europe.

In 1556 Sultan Selim II made him mthe duke of Naxos in Greece. Hostile to Venice he contributed to the Ottoman decision in 1571 to attack Cyprus.

After Selim II´s death in 1574 he found himself excluded from an active role in public affairs and spent the last years of his life in virtual retirement at his villa of Belvedere near Galata in Istanbul.