Welcome to the new online home for fans and followers of Doña Gracia Nasi, the remarkable woman who helped thousands escape the horrors of the 16th-century Inquisitions.

See some of the interesting comments offered by her various fans that are listed below and on the other pages listed above.

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We recently received this post from Emilie M. Barnett, one of several authors who have chosen to write a novel based upon Dona Gracia’s amazing life.

In 1978, having graduated from law school, I took my young daughter Barbra to visit her sister Laura who was studying in Greece.  We traveled on a cruise sponsored by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, which featured speakers such as Abba Eban and Joachim Prinz, who had written a book called The Secret Jews.

The book devoted a chapter to Doña Gracia.   Despite my many years of Jewish studies, I had never heard of her, but I was determined to learn.  I researched all I could find in English, including letters to and from the ministers of Henry VIII, and even had an Inquisition document, written for some reason in French, translated.  I traveled to all the places she had lived and some to which it is only speculated that she visited.

My research confirmed what the British historian Cecil Roth wrote of her in his biography Doña Gracia of the House of Nasi “…her single-minded leadership at the time of the holocaust in Ancona in 1556 mark[s] her off as one of the outstanding figures of Jewish history, not of her own day alone, but of all time.” (p.xii)

This was a thirty year labor of love and I eventually wrote the historical novel, Daring Daughter of the Covenant describing her life and times.  Using the technique of fiction, I was able to enrich her story with relationships and endeavors that may have been part of her extraordinary life.  I’m glad others are finally writing about her as well so that one day the world may know and appreciate this remarkable woman.