ESCUDERO, LORENÇO (ABRAHAM ISRAEL; identical with ABRAHAM GHERPEREGRINO):
Spanish poet; born at Cordova of Marano parentage; died about 1683. After his conversion to Judaism he lived in great poverty in Amsterdam. The Marquis of Caracena, then governor of Flanders, urged him to return to Christianity; but, though tempted by the offer of rewards, he steadily refused. After his death he was eulogized by De Barrios in verse. Escudero is supposed to be the author of the apologetic "Fortaleza del Judaismo, y Confusion del Estraño" (without date or place), of which a poor Italian translation entitled "Fortezza dell' Ebraismo, e Confusione dell' Estraneo," and a Hebrew translation by Mordecai Luzzatto of Triest, under the title "Ẓeriaḥ Bet-El," are extant in manuscript.
Bibliography:
- G. B. Rossi, Bibliotheca Judaica Antichristiana, pp. 58, 128;
- De Rossi-Hamberger, Historisches Wörterbuch der Jüd. Schriftsteller, p. 259;
- Barrios, Relacion de los Poetas, pp. 54 et seq.;
- Steinschneider, Hebr. Bibl. iv. 48, v. 131;
- Kayserling, Sephardim, p. 255;
- idem, Bibl.Esp.-Port.-Jud. p. 43;
- Neubauer, Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS. No. 2173, 1.
