Poesía y Biblia en el exilio marrano del siglo XVII : los casos de Miguel de Silveira y Jacobo Uziel

Resumo

This paper presents the poetic works of Miguel da Silveira and Jacob Uziel, both published in the first half of the 17th century, that recount biblical episodes in an epic tone, following the characteristics of the Renaissance epic. One is a Portuguese author from Celorico da Beira, who moved to Spain and then to Naples, where he published his El Macabeo, Poema Heroíco, an epic poem in 22 cantos, in 1638. The other one is the physician, Jacob Uziel, an author about whom we know very little, other than that he lived on the then Venetian island of Zante and that he published his David, Poema Heroico, an epic poem in 12 cantos, in Venice in 1624. In both cases, the texts where included in the
canon of converted Jewish writers and the Jewish origin of both authors was established from a very early date following their appearance. Whereas in the case of Miguel da Silveira we do not have sound information of his conversion, we have every indication that Jacob Uziel was a practicing Jew, although he either converted at some stage or was the son of Marranos. Our main interest is to study the possible specificity of the two authors’ religious and biblical culture: linked through family ties to Judaism yet brought up and educated in Christian contexts.