Origin Reubeni's origins remain unknown. That said,
Gedaliah ibn Yahya ben Joseph, in
Sefer Shalshelet Ha-Kabbalah (Book [of] the Chain of Tradition), described him as "a man of dark complexion, like a
Negro, and of low stature." Ibn Yahya ben Joseph elaborates that when Reubeni visited Portugal, he needed interpreters who escorted him on his journey since he spoke only Hebrew and
Arabic. According to historian Aaron Zeev Aescoly, Reubeni reported that he was born around 1490 in a place referred to as Ḥabor (
Khaybar), which was subsequently identified with a place with a similar name in the central
Hejaz of the
Arabian Peninsula. Reubeni related that he had been sent by his brother, King Joseph, who ruled Ḥabor with seventy elders and was seeking alliances against the
Turks conquering the area for its great wealth. Another version is that his true origin was at
Cranganore, on the
Malabar Coast of India, where a large and well-organized
Jewish community had lived for many centuries. Yet another version connects his origin with
Afghanistan.
Daoud Roubani is the name of a folk hero of the
Pashtuns; the similarity of the names is notable. Scholar Walter J. Fischel, in 1965, published an overview of all
Judeo-Persian writing from ancient tombstones in Afghanistan, found all over the country, suggesting the former existence of a
Persian-Jewish merchant community centered in the lost medieval capital of Afghanistan,
Firozkoh. Little is known about the broader
history of the Jews in Afghanistan.
Mission to Rome Reubeni envisioned a grand alliance between three Christian kings and one Jewish kingdom:
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor; the King of France;
Prester John, the western alias given to the then-emperor of Ethiopia; and the Jewish kingdom of Khaybar, which Reubeni's brother then governed. The broader aim of the prospective alliance was to provide the military force in arms to expel
the Ottoman Turks from the
Land of Israel, and to facilitate what Reubeni believed was the imminent redemption of the oppressed nation of
Israel. To achieve his objective, Reubeni needed to enlist the help of
Pope Clement VII, and, therefore, he set out for Rome. In Rome, with the help of a Jewish friend, he laid out his detailed plans before the Pope, who told him he could not personally get involved in building such a coalition. Nevertheless, he referred Reubeni to
John III of Portugal, the king of Portugal, who was directly related to Charles V through his marriage to the king's sister. Acquiescing, Reubeni then set sail from Italy for Portugal, accompanied by a brief and letters of recommendation from the Pope to help facilitate his errand. Eventually, Reubeni was given an audience before the King of Portugal. The king, impressed by the idea, initially agreed to supply Reubeni with Portuguese arms. Still, after five months, Reubeni fell into ill repute with the king of Portugal, who perhaps distrusted his motives, and was asked to leave the kingdom. This was done out of a concern for his own safety while travelling in a predominately Muslim country. He eventually reached
Cairo, where his Jewish host was reluctant to host him because of his Muslim appearance;
Gaza;
Hebron, where he visited the
cave of the Patriarchs; and
Jerusalem. When he spoke to Jewish audiences, he described large Jewish kingdoms in the east, possibly referring to the extant communities of
Cochin Jews or
Yemeni Jews. The
Portuguese Empire had recently conquered
Goa. Reubeni traveled in the
Ottoman Empire in the spring of 1523 and to
Venice by way of
Alexandria in February 1524.
European travels In
Venice, he reported to Pope Clement VII, claiming to represent a mission from the Jews of the east. He attracted funding from a Jewish painter, Mose, and a Jewish merchant, Felice, for travel to Rome. The same month, Reubeni entered the city while riding a white horse. Reubeni obtained an audience with Cardinal
Giles of Viterbo and Pope Clement VII. To the latter, he told a tale of a Jewish kingdom in Arabia ruled by his brother, Joseph Reubeni, where the sons of Moses dwelt near the
Sambation River. He brought letters from Portuguese captains confirming his statements. The Portuguese minister,
Miguel da Silva, reported to his court that Reubeni might be useful in obtaining allies. The Portuguese were competing against
Selim I, who had seized Egypt in 1521 and diverted the valuable
spice trade. Jewish people raised money privately to support Reubeni's travel to
Almeirim, the residence of King John III of Portugal, which he reached in November 1525. At first, the king promised him a force of eight ships and 4,000
cannons. Engaged in persecuting suspected
marranos, the king found it difficult to ally with a Jew. While they were negotiating, the king refrained from interfering with
conversos. Reubeni's striking appearance—a swarthy
dwarf in Oriental costume—and
messianic claims attracted the attention of Diego Pires, a descendant of
conversos and a secretary to the High Court of Appeals of Portugal. Despite Reubeni's opposition, Pires returned to his Jewish roots,
circumcised himself and took the
Hebrew name Solomon Molcho (. Jewish ambassadors from the
Barbary States visited Reubeni at the Portuguese court. Some
conversos were so excited by this activity that they rose in arms near
Badajoz, where they freed a
converso woman from the Inquisition. Portuguese authorities became concerned about Reubeni's mission and the dangers posed by widespread unrest. Reubeni then went to
Avignon to take his cause to the
papal court, and afterward to
Milan. There he met Molcho again, who had traveled to the East and made messianic claims. In Milan, the two quarreled. Reubeni went to Venice, where the
Venetian Senate appointed a commission to review his plans for obtaining assistance from the Jews in the East.
Arrest and death Reubeni was warned to leave Venice. Joining once more with Molcho, he traveled with a streaming banner to
Bologna and
Ratisbon (Regensburg) to meet Charles V. Reubeni offered Charles V an alliance with eastern Jews against the
Ottoman Empire. In Ratisbon, Reubeni and Molcho met
Josel of Rosheim, who warned them against arousing the emperor's suspicions. Josel was worried about raising issues of the Jews in the empire. When Reubeni and Molcho persisted, officials put them in chains and took them to the emperor in
Mantua. Inquisitors examined both Molcho and Reubeni. The former was condemned to
burning at the stake in 1530, during the reign of Emperor Charles V. Reubeni was taken to Spain and assigned to the
Spanish Inquisition at
Llerena, Badajoz. As late as 1535, he was still confined in a prison there. Nothing more was heard of him. He probably died there, as
Alexandre Herculano reported that "a Jew who came from India to Portugal" was burned at an
auto da fé in
Évora in 1541. Another source said Reubeni died in Llerena after 1535. Reubeni's diary is held by the
Bodleian Library,
Oxford. There was possibly a copy at the
Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau, but the seminary was destroyed by
the Nazis in 1938. Parts were published by
Heinrich Graetz in the third edition of his
Geschichte der Juden (vol. ix.), and the whole was published by Neubauer, in
M. J. C., ii. == Cultural influence ==