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David Reubeni (1490–1535/1541?) was a mysterious Jews "half-mystic, half-adventurer." Reubeni presented military and political plans to various Christian rulers in Europe. His proposals, which combined political-military strategies with eschatological elements, along with his origin and enigmatic personality, remain partially understood.
Reubeni managed to secure an audience with king John (João) of Portugal in November 1525, supported by a letter of recommendation from Pope Clement VII. Reubeni consistently asserted that he was the son of the deceased "King Suleiman of Ḥabor" and claimed to have served as the Minister of War for that kingdom, now ruled by his elder brother, King Joseph of Ḥabor. Some scholars regard his claims of nobility as fraud.Elias Lipiner, O Sapateiro de Trancoso e o Alfaiate de Setúbal, Rio de Janeiro 1993, pp. 318–319 (Portuguese); the translation of which text reads: "...Acenheiro, who was a contemporary of these two men, and who boasted of living during the past occurrences relative to the king, Don Manuel, and to the king, Don João (John) III, and: 'everything that I've seen by the eye, I have written in those days,' refers especially to the chronicles of Reubeni, and thus has he written: 'In November of 1525, David the Jew entered the kingdom of Portugal, at Santarém, in the court of this King at Almeirim. Now he would say that he was from the Ten Tribes, among other lies and things that were not true, things which principally concern the Turkish Jews, during which time he was arrested by the court of the Emperor Carlos (Charles), and was then brought to Lherena, unto the inquisitors, where he was confined at the castle in the said village, where he was kept in the Inquisition prison, until they came to their deserved end. Even unto this time, 1535, he has been incarcerated there in the Inquisition prison of Lherena.' (Acenheiro, Chronicles, p. 116 e 350-351)" According to his accounts, this kingdom had 300,000 "Israelites" subjects. Initially, the Portuguese king was intrigued by Reubeni's proposals and agreed to provide Portuguese arms. However, after five months, Reubeni fell into ill repute with the king of Portugal, who perhaps distrusted his motives, and was asked by the king to leave his kingdom.Aaron Zeev Aescoly, The Story of David Hareuveni: Based on the Oxford Manuscript, Bialik Institute: Jerusalem 1993 (Hebrew) Reubeni was subsequently taken to Spain and was assigned to the Inquisition in Llerena, where he is presumed to have been executed around 1541.
Reubeni stated that he was born around 1490 in a place referred to variously as Ḥabor or Khaybar, which was subsequently identified with a place of a similar name in the central Hejaz in the Arabian Peninsula.Aaron Zeev Aescoly, The Story of David Hareuveni, Bialik Institute: Jerusalem 1993, pp. 64–72 (Hebrew) He related that he had been sent by his brother, King Joseph, who ruled the kingdom with seventy elders, who was seeking alliances against the Turks conquering the area for its great wealth.
Another version is that his true origin was at a port called Cranganore, along the Malabar Coast of India, where a large and well-organized Jewish community had lived for many centuries.
Yet another version connects his origin with Afghanistan. Daoud Roubani is the name of a folk hero of the Pashtuns, and the similarity of the names is striking. The evidence was found by Prof. Walter Fischel, who published an overview of all Judeo-Persian writing from ancient tombstones in Afghanistan, found all over the country, suggesting a Persian-Jewish merchant community, centered in the lost medieval capital of Afghanistan, Firozkoh. But we know little beyond the fact of Jewish presence in Afghanistan.
Eventually, Reubeni was given an audience before the king of Portugal. The king, impressed by the idea, had initially agreed to supply Reubeni with Portuguese arms, but after five months, Reubeni fell into ill-repute with the king of Portugal, who perhaps distrusted his motives, and was asked by the king to leave his kingdom.
Reubeni traveled in the Ottoman Empire in the spring of 1523 and to Venice by way of Alexandria in February 1524.
Reubeni obtained an audience with Cardinal Giles of Viterbo and Pope Clement VII. To the latter he told a tale of a Jewish kingdom ruled over by his brother Joseph Reubeni in Arabia, where the sons of Moses dwelt near the Sambation River. He brought letters from Portuguese captains confirming his statements. The Portuguese minister, Miguel da Silva, reported to his court that Reubeni might be useful in obtaining allies. The Portuguese were competing against Selim I, who had seized Egypt in 1521 and diverted the valuable spice trade.
Jewish people raised money privately to give to Reubeni for his travel to Almeirim, the residence of King John III of Portugal, which he reached in November 1525.Elias Lipiner, O Sapateiro de Trancoso e o Alfaiate de Setúbal, Rio de Janeiro 1993, pp. 319–320 (Portuguese) At first the king promised him a force of eight ships and 4,000 cannon. Engaged in persecuting suspected , the king found it difficult to enter into an alliance with a Jew. While they were negotiating, the king refrained from interfering with conversos.
Reubeni's striking appearance–a swarthy dwarfism in Oriental costume–and Messiah claims attracted the attention of Diego Pires, a descendant of Converso and a secretary to the High Court of Appeals of Portugal. Despite Reubeni's opposition, Pires returned to his Jewish roots, Circumcise himself and took the name of Solomon Molcho. Jewish ambassadors from the Barbary States visited Reubeni at the Portuguese court. Some conversos were so excited by this activity that they rose in arms near Badajoz, where they freed a converso woman from the Inquisition. Portuguese authorities became worried about Reubeni's mission and the dangers of popular unrest.
Reubeni then went to Avignon to take his cause to the papal court, and afterward to Milan. There he again met Molcho, who had traveled to the East and made messianic claims. In Milan the two adventurers quarreled. Reubeni went to Venice, where the Senate appointed a commission to review his plans for obtaining assistance from the Jews in the East.
Reubeni offered Charles V the alliance of Jews of the East against the Ottoman Empire. In Ratisbon, Reubeni and Molcho met Josel of Rosheim, who warned them against arousing the suspicions of the emperor. Josel was worried about raising issues of the Jews in the empire. When Reubeni and Molcho persisted, officials put them in chains and took them to the emperor in Mantua.
There both Molcho and Reubeni were examined by inquisitors. The former was condemned to burning at the stake in 1530, during the reign of Emperor Charles V (Caesar Carlo).The year of Molcho's death is given as 5,290 anno mundi, a year corresponding with 1530 CE. See: Gedaliah ibn Yahya ben Joseph, Shalshelet Ha-Kabbalah Jerusalem 1962, p. 112 in PDF (Hebrew) Reubeni was taken to Spain and assigned to the Inquisition at Llerena. As late as 1535 he was still confined in a prison there.Rodrigues Acenheiro, Chronicas, pp. 116; 350–351, cited by Elias Lipiner in, O Sapateiro de Trancoso e o Alfaiate de Setúbal, Rio de Janeiro 1993, pp. 318–319 (Portuguese) Nothing more was heard of him. He probably died there, as Herculano reported that "a Jew who came from India (sic) to Portugal" was burned at an auto da fé at Évora in 1541.see Jewish Encyclopedia, vi. 598b, s.v. Inquisition, also Évora. Another source said Reubeni died in Llerena, Spain, after 1535.
Reubeni's diary is held by the Bodleian Library, Oxford. There was possibly a copy at the Jewish Seminary of Breslau, but this place was destroyed by the Nazis in 1938. Parts were published by Heinrich Graetz in the third edition of his Geschichte der Juden (vol. ix.), and the whole was published by Neubauer, in M. J. C., ii.
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