History - Timeline of Jewish History - 1500-1920

Victory of (Muslim Ottoman Turk) Selim I over Egypt: 1517

Ottoman Muslim rulers (later) claim the title "caliph"

Sulayman I, "the Magnificent," rules: 1520-1566

Dominance of Safavid Shiite Muslim dynasty in Iran: ca. 1500-1800

Dominance of Mughal Muslim dynasty in India: ca. 1500-1800

Rabbi, preacher and biblical commentator known for his brilliant sermons calling for self improvement, Ephraim Solomon of Lunshits: 1550-1619

Dr. Jospeh Hacohen was chased out of Genoa for practicing medicine, and soon after, all the Jews were expelled: 1550

Under the direction of Cardinal Caraffa, later Pope Paul IV, the Talmud was confiscated and publicaly burned in Rome on Rosh Hashanah, starting a wave of Talmud burning throughout Italy: 1553

Cornelio da Montalcino, a Franciscan Friar who converted to Judaism, is burned alive in Rome: 1554

In his Bull Cum Nimis Absurdum, Pope Paul IV renewed all anti-Jewish legislation and installed a ghetto in Rome. The Bull also forced Jews to wear a special cap, forbade them from owning real estate or practicing medicine on Christians. It also limited Jewish communities to only one synagogue: 1555

Talmudic commentator, author of Chidushei Halachot, Samuel Eliezer Aidles, also known as "Maharsha." 1555-1631

In Recanti, Italy, under the protection of Pope Paul IV, Joseph Paul More, a baptized Jew, entered a synagogue on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and tried to preach a conversion sermon. The congregation evicted him and a near massacre occured. Soon after, the Jews were expelled from Recanti: 1558

First known Jew to step on American soil, Joachim Gaunse (Ganz), lands on Roanoke Island: 1585

Rene Descartes (scholar-philosopher): 1596-1650

In Brest Litovsk, the son of a wealthy Jewish tax collector, is accused of killing the family's Christian servant for ritual purposes. He is tortured and killed: 1564

Three months into his reign, Pope Pius V rejects Pope Pius IV leniency towards Jews and reinstates the restrictions of Pope Paul IV which forced Jews to wear a special cap, forbade them from owning real estate or practicing medicine on Christians. It also limited Jewish communities to only one synagogue: 1566

Brest Litovsk welcomes Jewish settlement. In 80 years the Jewish population surges from 4,000 to more than 50,000: 1569

Pope Sixtus V rejects Pope Gregory XIII policies and forbids Jews from living in the Papal states and to print the Talmud: 1586

The leading Jewish composer of the late Italian Renaissance and the musical director of court of Mantua, Salamone de Rossi: 1587-1643

England defeats the Spanish Armada, weakening Spain and decreasing the reach of the Inquisition, espcially in the Netherlands:1588

Built of wood, the entire Jewish quarter of Posen burned while then gentile population watched and pillaged. 15 people died and 80 Torah scrolls were burned: 1590

Rabbi, encyclopedist, physician and pupil of Galileo, Jose Solomon Delmedigo wrote over 30 works in math, geometry, chemistry, mechanics, philosophy and medicine: 1591

Esther Chiera, who held considerable influence in Sultan Murad III's court, was executed because of jealousy and the Sultan's desire for her assets: 1592

Pope Clement VIII expelled Jews from all Papal states except Rome and Ancona: 1593

Official Yom Kippur services are held for the first time in Amsterdam, though not without controversy: 1596

Frei Diogo Da Assumpacao, a partly Jewish friar who embraced Judaism, was burned alive in Lisbon. His arguments against Christianity were published and gained wide popularity: 1603

A Jesuit missionary in China meets with Al T'Ien, a Chinese Jewish teacher. Thier correspondence is the basis for most known information regarding the Kaifeng Jewish community: 1605

Menasseh ben Israel (Jewish scholar-mystic): 1605-1657

The Hamburg Senate decides to officially allow Jews to live in the city on the condition there is no public worship: 1612

Vincent Fettmilch, who called himself the "new Haman of the Jews," led a raid on a Frankfurt synagogue that turned into an attack which destroyed the whole community:1614

King Louis XIII of France decreed that all Jews must leave the country within one month on pain of death: 1615

The Guild, led by Dr. Chemnitz, "non-violently" forced the Jews from Worms: 1615

The Bishop of Speyer, with the backing of Frederick's troops, readmitted the Jews to Worms:1616

Holland's Prince Maurice of Orange allowed each each city to decide for itself whether to admit Jews. In the towns where Jews were admitted, they would not be required to wear a badge of any sort identifying them as Jews: 1616

Jesuits arrives in Grodno, Poland and accused the Jews of blood orgies and host desecrations: 1616

Thity Years War between Catholics and Protestants centers around Germany, Austria, France and the Netherlands: 1618-1638

Shah Abbasi of the Persian Sufi Dynasty increased persecution against the Jews forcing many to outwardly practice Islam. (Many secretly practiced Judaism.) 1619

Christian Puritans begin emigrations to America: 1620

Sir Henry Finch, legal advisor to King James I, makes the first English call to restore the Jews to their homeland in his treatise The World's Great Restoration or Calling of the Jews: 1621

Well-known commentator of the Shulchan Aruch and author of several other works, Shabbetai Ben Meir Hacohen: 1621-1663

Persian Jews are forced to convert to Islam: 1622-1629

Blaise Pascal (scholar): 1623-1662

The Jews of Vienna were forced to move into a ghetto called Leopoldstadt: 1625

Pope Urban VIII forbids Roman Jews to erect gravestones: 1625

Shabbatai Zvi (Jewish “messianic” leader): 1626-1676

Financier and founder of the Viennese Jewish community, Samuel Oppenheimer:1630-1703

Miguel and Isabel Rodreguese and five others were burned alive in front of the King and Queen of Spain after being discovered holding Jewish rites: 1632

Baruch/Benedict Spinoza (scholar, converted Jew): 1632-1677

Rhode Island grants religious liberty to Jews: 1636

More than 80 New Christians (Jews who converted to Christianity) were burned at the stake after the Inquisition caught them holding regular Jewish services in Lima, Peru: 1639

Shabbtai Ben Joseph the Bass, Author of Seftai Yesharim, the first bibliography of Hebrew books and biblical commentator. He also built a printing house in 1689, despite being jailed several times, accused of printing anti-Christian material. The printing house lasted more than 150 years: 1641-1718

The first Jewish colony in the New World is established in Recife, Brazil: 1642

Chao Ying-Cheng helped rebuild the synagogue in Kai Fen after the Yellow River flooded the area. He also served in the goverrnment and helped build schools and squashed marauding bandits: 1642

Bogdan Chmelnitzki massacres 100,000 Jews in Poland: 1648

The Treaty of Westphalia brings victory to the Protestants: 1648

In the largest Auto de Fe ever held in the New World, 109 crypto-Jews were accused of Judaizing, several were burned alive: 1649

John Casimir, upon ascending the Polish throne, negotiates a truce with Cosack leader and murderer of thousands of Jews, Bogdan Chmelnitzki: 1649

Arrival of 23 Jews from Brazil in New Amsterdam (New York, America): 1654

Dutch West India Company allows Jewish settlers to reside permanently in New Amsterdam, 1655

Jews readmitted to England by Oliver Cromwell: 1655

The first Jews gain the rights of citizens in America: 1657

Jews expelled from Vienna: 1670

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