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Introduction

Menasseh ben Israel's mission to Oliver Cromwell is well documented.  Here are two pictures of Menasseh.  His mission to London was unsuccessful in getting Oliver Cromwell and his Parliament to agree to his Petitions for the re-admission of the Jews.  Eventually the re-admission was achieved through a legal battle regarding Antonio Rodrigues Robles and his property.  His ships had been seized as he was suspected of being a Spanish National (with whom we were at war).  Antonio Ferdinando Carvajal and many of his merchant friends testified that he was in fact a Portuguese, of the Hebrew Nation, and that they had known him and his family in Fundão.  This is where we get information about Antonio's early life in that part of Portugal.  I hope to add more in the next web upgrade surrounding this case.

Recommended Reading:

A Life of Menasseh Ben Israel, Rabbi, Printer, and Diplomat by Cecil Roth.  Printed by Philadelphia, The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1934.