Azevedo
AZEVEDO
AZEVEDO (D'Azevedo ), Portuguese Sephardi family whose members were found in N. Africa as *Marranos in the 16th century, and from the 17th century in Amsterdam, where they reverted to Judaism; a branch of the family moved to London. melchior (belchior) vaz, born in Arzila (Morocco; 16th century), Marrano diplomat and sea captain, was appointed by the king of Navarre as an emissary to conclude a peace treaty with the ruler of Morocco in 1559. He commanded the corsair ships which attacked Spanish galleons returning from America, and established contact with Queen Elizabeth's minister Cecil. On his return from a visit to London, Azevedo brought a ship with a large cargo of Bibles and Hebrew works for Jews living in Morocco; the Portuguese ambassador in Paris was dispatched to England to protest against this traffic, which the Catholics regarded as harmful to Christianity. Azevedo was twice denounced to the Inquisition for practicing Judaism. francisco lopes (alias Abraham Farrar; c. 1650) was the London agent of the *Spinoza family in Holland. henrico (c. 1661) was one of the first ambassadors of Holland to the dey of Algiers. The same position was held by louis (c. 1675). david salom (d. 1699), minister-resident of the dey of Algiers in Amsterdam; he concluded a commercial treaty between Holland and Algiers, and was on the building committee of the Great Synagogue of the Portuguese communities in Amsterdam. moses raphael salom (d. 1703), son of Louis, was a physician in Amsterdam. joseph cohen (d. 1705), of London, a notorious speculator, was a director of the Scottish East India Company, later suppressed.
bibliography:
sihm, France, 1 (1905), 177–221; Angleterre, 1 (1918), 27–40, 44–49; Portugal, 5 (1953), 50–54, 84–85; T.S. Williams, Studies in Elizabethan Foreign Trade (1959), 107–8; A. Baião, Inquisição em Portugal (1921), 183; D.H. de Castro, Keur van Grafsteenen-Auswahl von Grabsteinen (Dutch and Ger., 1883), 89–90, 97–98; J.S. da Silva Rosa, Geschiedenis der portugesche Joden te Amsterdam (1925), 100; Hirschberg, Afrikah, 1 (1965), 321; 2 (1965), 50.
[David Corcos]