David Reubeni

Timeline

1. 1522–1524Rome · EuropeReubeni's diary states that he left Habar in late 1522, traveling via Jeddah, Sudan, Cairo, Gaza, Hebron, and Jerusalem; he was active in Ottoman territory in 1523, reached Venice via Alexandria in February 1524, and entered Rome that same year. He told Clement VII he represented an eastern Jewish kingdom and proposed an alliance with Christian princes and "Prester John" (the contemporary Western European name for the emperor of Ethiopia) against the Ottomans. The pope did not form the alliance himself but referred him to John III of Portugal.
2. 1525–1526Almeirim / Lisbon area · Iberian PeninsulaReubeni arrived at the Portuguese court in November 1525. John III at first promised naval guns but grew suspicious months later and ordered him to leave. The convert Diego Pires, inspired by him, circumcised himself and took the name Solomon Molcho. His activities caused unrest among New Christians, and the authorities feared for religious order. Portugal formed no anti-Ottoman military alliance with him.
3. c. 1530–1541Llerena · Iberian PeninsulaAfter leaving Portugal, Reubeni traveled via Avignon, Milan, Venice, and elsewhere, then went with Molcho to Regensburg to see Charles V, and was taken to Mantua for trial. Molcho was burned at the stake. Reubeni was handed over to Spain and imprisoned at Llerena; a contemporary chronicle records him still in prison in 1535. His subsequent fate is unknown: he may have died in that prison or been burned at the stake in Évora in 1541. A copy of his Hebrew diary is held in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.