Menasseh ben Israel's Mission to Oliver Cromwell

A Seventeenth-Century Petition for Jewish Readmission, Religious Toleration, and Anglo-Jewish DiplomacyBy Manasseh ben Israel

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*Menasseh ben Israel's Mission to Oliver Cromwell* presents a crucial episode in the intellectual, religious, and political history of seventeenth-century England: the Jewish scholar's campaign to secure the readmission of Jews to England after their expulsion in 1290. Combining petition, biblical interpretation, historical argument, and diplomatic persuasion, the work reveals how Jewish hopes were articulated within the language of Protestant providentialism and the Commonwealth's debates about toleration, commerce, and national destiny. Its learned yet pragmatic style exemplifies early modern apologetic writing, while its emphasis on prophecy, messianic expectation, and political utility places it at the intersection of Jewish scholarship, Christian Hebraism, and republican statecraft. The text is therefore valuable both as religious literature and as a document of Anglo-Jewish political negotiation. Manasseh ben Israel (1604–1657), born in Madeira and raised in Amsterdam, was a rabbi, printer, publisher, and internationally connected intellectual. His experience in the tolerant but contested environment of the Dutch Republic, together with his knowledge of Christian scholars and English millenarian currents, prepared him to act as an intermediary between European Jewry and Cromwell's government. His mission emerged from both communal concern and a broader conviction that Jewish dispersion, return, and conversion of nations possessed profound historical significance. This book is recommended to readers interested in Jewish history, early modern political thought, religious toleration, and the origins of Anglo-Jewish life. It offers a rare view of diplomacy conducted through scholarship, and illuminates how minority communities used learned argument, scriptural memory, and political opportunity to reshape the boundaries of belonging.

Political Intrigue Prophecy Identity Rebellion Conspiracy Espionage

Audiobook details

GenreHistory

Length11 hrs 29 mins

Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices

FormateBook with Audio

Publish dateDec 9, 2023

LanguageEnglish

1Menasseh ben Israel's Mission to Oliver Cromwell

26SECT. 13.

2PREFACE

27SECT. 14.

3I. Days of Exile

28SECT. 15.

4II. The Hope of Israel

29SECT. 16.

5III. Cromwell’s Policy

30SECT. 17.

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6IV. The Appeal to the Nation

31SECT. 18.

7V. Cromwell’s Action

32SECT. 19.

8VI. The Real “Vindiciæ”

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9VII. Documents

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10TO THE Parliament, The Supream Court of England, And to the Right Honourable the Councell of State, Menasseh Ben Israel, prayes God to give Health, and all Happinesse:

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11Menasseh Ben Israel, To the Courteous Reader.

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12The Authors of other Nations, which are quoted in this Treatise.

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13THE RELATION OF ANTONY MONTEZINUS.

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