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Samuel Usque (Lisbon, c.1500 - after 1555 in Italy or Ottoman Palestine) was a Portuguese converso Jewish author who settled in Ferrara.Meyer M. A. Ideas of Jewish history 1974 p105 "Samuel Usque (sixteenth century) was a Portuguese Marrano, a Jew forcibly converted to Christianity, who after extensive wanderings settled in Ferrara. Usque was a trader.
His major work is the Consolação às Tribulações de Israel ("Consolation for the Tribulations of Israel"), Ferrara, 1553.Cohen, Martin A. Samuel: Usque’s Consolation for the Tribulations of Israel (Consolaçam às Tribulaçoes de Israel), translated from the Portuguese (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1977) 1st.Usque, Samuel: Consolação ás Tribulações de Israel, Edição de Ferrara, 1553, com estudos introdutórios por Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi e José V. de Pina Martins (Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1989). He appears to be the only one of the contemporaries of Solomon ibn Verga to have made use of the latter's Scepter of Judah. REJ xvii. 270. Usque makes a connection between forcible conversion and the rise of Protestantism. His work depicts the Inquisition as a monster threatening Europe, indicating common cause between Portuguese Jews and the Netherlands. He bemoans the persecution and expulsion suffered by Jewish communities, and expresses his hope to reach the Holy Land.
He is credited with coining the epithet "Mother of Israel" (Judaeo-Spanish: Madre de Israel) for the Greek city of Thessaloniki.Gallery labels, Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki.
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