1594

This the year in which Rodrigo Lopez, a Portugese Jew who was Queen Elizabeth's physician, was executed.

Lopez was implicated in a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth. He was convicted and executed, but not before he was tortured quite savagely. During his interrogation and torture, the fact that he was Jewish become known. Before this time, no one knew that Lopez was Jewish.

You may wonder how a Jew such as Lopez got to such a high position in England when all Jews were supposed to be expelled. The answer is that Lopez was a Marranos: a Jew of Portugese or Spanish extraction who is descended from baptized Jews who publically professed Christianity (in order to stay alive), but secretly practiced Judaism.

It is highly significant that Marlowe's drama, The Jew of Malta, was performed immediately after--as soon as 10 days by some accounts--the execution of Lopez; the anti-semitic demonization of Barabas in the play fit well with the public vilification and execution of the trecherous Lopez.

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