Drottning Kristina, Abraham Teixeira, Daniel Prado och greve Bernardino de Rebolledo

Authors

• Bertil Maler Stockholms universitet

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30752/nj.69350

Keywords:

Jews -- Netherlands, Jews -- Spain, Maranos, Crypto-Jews, Spanish poetry, Poetry, Kings and rulers, Love

Abstract

The history of the Marranos of Northern Europe in general is well known through the work of Cecil Roth and other scholars, and Hugo Valentin has studied their relations with Scandinavia. The lives and activities of those Marranos and their descendants were so colorful that there still remain a few details and nuances to be added. One such rather amusing instance is offered in this paper. It comments on some lines of a poem which gives evidence of the relations prevailing between the persons mentioned in the title of this paper. Queen Christina, the remarkable daughter of Gustavus Adolphus, abdicated in 1654, abandoned her father’s Lutheran faith, and assumed Catholicism. Abraham de Teixeira and Daniel de Prado were Marranos, living in Hamburg. The former, a banker, was financial adviser to the Queen whereas the latter, a physician, possibly served her in his professional capacity. Count Berbardino de Rebolledo, finally, the author of the poem analyzed in this paper, represented from 1647 to 1659 the King of Spain at the Danish court in Copenhagen. He was the author of a book of miscellaneous poetry, Ocios, printed at Antwerp in 1660. In his poem, a so called romance, de Rebolledo offers us a typical product of his malicious and often comical vein. He pokes fun at a visit by the Queen to Teixeira’s house, describing in a manner worthy of a Juan Ruiz the indignation that certain forbidden victuals were to experience on being told of the imminent visit of a female awaited by Teixeira as if she were the Messiah.