Finally, a Readable History of Jews in Europe

Every Friday afternoon, the Ottoman sultan Selim II returned from prayers at the mosque to find a pile of delicacies waiting for him at the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul – presents from a formidable Jewish merchant prince, Joseph Nasi. Known as “the Great Jew”, he was the duke of Naxos, the lord of Tiberias, the sultan's counsellor, strategist and bankroller, an intermediary with various European rulers and, not least, a patron and protector of the Jewish communities of the Levant. He sat at the centre of a huge network of commercial and cultural interests. He did a great deal to shape Ottoman policy in the delicate climate of the mid-16th century, with its rapidly shifting alliances and power balances, and it was not until the Ottoman navies were trounced at Lepanto in 1571 that his influence waned and the Sultan's advisers lost their confidence in his judgeme