Montalto, Elijah. Lettre d’Espagne presentee a la Royne Regente. Par le Sieur Philotee Elian de Mont Alto [Letter from Spain Presented to the Queen Regent by Elijah Montalto]

(FRENCH JUDAICA).

Jean Brunet

Paris

1614

FIRST EDITION. French. On title, coat of arms of Henry IV of Navarre (“H”) and Marie de Medici (“M”). Initial letter historiated

Palau 177286; H. Friedenwald, The Jews and Medicine, Vol. II, pp. 468-96; unknown to Kayserling

A scarce personal and political statement of extraordinary importance written by a Portuguese-Jewish physician and champion of Judaism to the French Queen, 1614. A physician and native of Portugal, Elijah Montalto (1567-1616) was invited to serve at the French Royal Court of Maria de Medici in Paris as Consiliarius et Medicus ("Counselor and Physician"). Montalto accepted the position on the condition he would have freedom to profess his Jewish religion and be exempt from service on the Sabbath. Marie de Medici's wrote to Pope Paul V to obtain the latter's dispensation to have an "infidel" at her service, and, reflecting Montalto's exceptional prestige, a dispensation was subsequently granted. Thus, Elijah Montalto became the only Jew of the Court and indeed of the whole Kingdom of France at the time, to openly profess Judaism. In the present small booklet, elegantly published by Jean Brunet, Montalto wrote of the gratitude he felt toward the Queen who had appointed him, and who displayed the courage to permit this Portuguese physician to serve her, while permitting him to openly live as a Jew. The title: Lettre d'Espagne ("Letter from Spain"), does not refer to a possible sojourn of Montalto in Spain, but is a subtle allusion to Sefarad (Jewish Medieval Spain), the origin of Elijah Montalto's Jewish forefathers. Thus, by presenting his text as a letter from Spain, Montalto referred to his identity as a Hispanic Jew, a Sephardi. A census reveals just six copies in all libraries worldwide (one only in North America). No copy found in any of the major Judaica libraries. See Ayoun, Richard, Un médecin marrane au service de la Couronne de France: Élie de Montalto, in: Inquisição, Sociedade Portuguesa de Estudos do Século XVII. Lisbon, 1989, pp. 75-91. And: Salomon, H.P. Une lettre jusqu'ici inédite du docteur Felipe Rodrigues Montalto, in: Les rapports culturels et littéraires entre le Portugal et la France, actes du colloque Paris1982, pp. 151-69