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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 February 2022
Baruch (also called Bento) de Spinoza was born in the city of Amsterdam on November 24, 1632.1 His parents (Michael and Hanna) were members of the community of Jewish immigrants from Portugal, who had been living in the Netherlands since 1593. This community was composed largely of descendants of the Marranos, also called “New Christians” or “crypto-Jews,” which were the names given to the originally Spanish Jews who had been forcibly converted to Christianity by the Inquisition in the late fifteenth century. After their “conversion,” which was usually, but not always, merely nominal, many of these Jews had risen to positions of great prominence in the intellectual, economic, political, and even ecclesiastical life of Spain. But precisely because of their success they were again persecuted by the Inquisition and expelled from the country. The first stop in this new diaspora was nearby Portugal, where, even from the beginning, life was far from pleasant.
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