A friend recently attended a lecture at Mar-a-lago in Florida, when the
author (a descendant of Ferdinand & Isabella) discussed a book which he
has written based on family papers which still exist. Apparently, both
of these monarchs had jewish ancestors.

Unfortunately, my friend could not remember the title or the name of the
author!! I am trying to trace this book and wonder if anyone out there
has heard of it. Any help you can give would be appreciated.

Renee Salama

A friend recently attended a lecture at Mar-a-lago in Florida, when the

author (a descendant of Ferdinand & Isabella) discussed a book which he has
written based on family papers which still exist. Apparently, both
of these monarchs had jewish ancestors.

Unfortunately, my friend could not remember the title or the name of the
author!! I am trying to trace this book and wonder if anyone out there has
heard of it. Any help you can give would be appreciated. >>


If true, then, given the habit of European royal houses and aristocracy
repeatedly intermarrying, it would seem that all the existing royal houses
have Jewish ancestry!

Queen Elizabeth 11 is known to have amongst her ancestry Rodrigo Diaz de
Biva (The "El Cid" of spanish history and the character played by Charlton
Heston in the film of the same name). Presumably he was connected to the
spanish royal house.

Robert W Fraser
rgfraser@...

Dear Renee,
The reality of Jewish intermarriage in Spain and in Portugal during the
"Reconquest" has been thoroughly documented. While the Jews in Spain were
under Muslim control, living as second class citizens, the Catholics in the
North began a 700 year effort to expel the Muslims (Moors) >from the area.
As the Christian control moved south, they offered attractive terms for
Jews to emigrate into Christian lands. During this time, >from about 900 to
1492, conversion to Catholicism was an attractive option for many Jews.
The final push came after Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille
married in 1459, joined kingdoms in 1469 and created a unified Spain.
Since there were many Jews who had high positions in the royal courts, it
is not unreasonable for there to have been Jewish ancestors to these
Catholic monarchs.

Unfortunately, I do not know this book so I can't help you there.

Good luck in your search.

Gene Sucov, Pittsburgh JGS, searching for
SUCHOWCZYCKI, Horodetz-Bialystok-US
SHLAFMITZ, Zaremby-Koscielne-US

From: Charles Salama <salamax3@...>

Even worse than Jewish ancestry for Ferdinand &/or Isabella, the grand
inquisitor Torquemada had Jewish ancestry 4 generations back. See
http://shanmonster.bla-bla.com/witch/hunters/torquemada.html

On http://www.sephardim.com/ it says Ferdinand's grandmother was Jewish,

as does http://www.penteli.com/greekjews/sefarad.htm

His pedigree can be found at
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~pmcbride/iberia/p2.htm#P20

Isabella's is partly at
http://enterprise.is.tcu.edu/~rwoodward/isabelii/d1.htm

Torquemada's seems a bit more elusive on-line.

All sites located with a google search.

Irene Newhouse
Kihei HI

As usual when I want it it has disappeared. Yes, there is a book called
The Jews by Roger Peyrefitte. When it was published he was sued by many
gentiles who didn't like the fact that they were being accused of having
Jewish blood but the author won every case. I do not know if the book is
still in print but it makes worthwhile and fascinating reading. The
Kennedy family is included, the Bowes Lyons ( the Queen Mothers family)
the Adenauers, and others.
Colin Plen
Jewish genealogical Society Johannesburg

It is unfortunate that the site you sent us to in your message contains
such distortions of the Jewish history and the Inquisition.
For good information on that topic:

Netanyahu, Ben-Zion. "The Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth
Century Spain" New York, NY: Random House, 1995.

Leonard Nadler
Silver Spring, MD