Moses Curiel

{{Short description|Sephardic Jewish nobleman, diplomat, and merchant (1620–1697)}}

{{Infobox noble|| name = Moses Curiel

| title = Knight of the Royal Household of Portugal

| image = File:Romeyn de Hooghe, Afb 010094005187.jpg

| caption = Beschrijving Hof van den Ed: Heer d'Acoste

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| issue =*Solomon Curiel

• Nathan Curiel

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| noble family =Curiel

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| father =Jacob Curiel

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| birth_date = 1620

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| death_date = 1697

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| occupation =merchant, diplomat

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Don Moses Curiel (1620–1697), in Dutch Mozes Curiël, alias Jeronimo Nunes da Costa,{{Cite web|url=http://www.biografischportaal.nl/persoon/91807521|title=Mozes Curiel|website=www.biografischportaal.nl|access-date=2019-10-05}} was a Sephardic Jewish nobleman, diplomat, and wealthy merchant, who traded in diamonds, sugar and tobacco.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2VzJHjw_iecC&q=moses+curiel&pg=PA37|title=Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation: Conversos and Community in Early Modern Amsterdam|last=Bodian|first=Miriam|date=1999|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=9780253213518|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z4OxAwAAQBAJ&q=jeromino+nunes+da+costa&pg=PA380|title=Conflicts of Empires: Spain, the Low Countries and the Struggle for World Supremacy, 1585-1713|last=Israel|first=Jonathan|date=1997-07-01|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=9780826435538|language=en}}

Curiel was born in Florence;ISRAEL, JONATHAN I. "AN AMSTERDAM JEWISH MERCHANT OF THE GOLDEN AGE: JERONIMO NUNES DA COSTA (1620-1697), AGENT OF PORTUGAL IN THE DUTCH REPUBLIC." Studia Rosenthaliana 18, no. 1 (1984): 21-40. Accessed August 13, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/41442146. he was the eldest son of Jacob Curiel, alias Duarte Nunes da Costa.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2VzJHjw_iecC&q=moses+curiel&pg=PA37|title=Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation: Conversos and Community in Early Modern Amsterdam|last=Bodian|first=Miriam|date=1999|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=9780253213518|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ShYX4qoEYPYC&q=jeromino+nunes+da+costa&pg=PA333|title=Empires and Entrepots: Dutch, the Spanish Monarchy and the Jews, 1585-1713|last=Israel|first=Jonathan|date=1990-01-01|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=9781852850227|language=en}} In 1627 the family moved to Hamburg. He was sent to be educated at Protestant Heidelberg University in Heidelberg, Germany. In 1642 he moved to Amsterdam, the Netherlands and served as Agent to the Portuguese Crown from 1645 until his death.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ShYX4qoEYPYC&q=jeromino+nunes+da+costa&pg=PA333|title=Empires and Entrepots: Dutch, the Spanish Monarchy and the Jews, 1585-1713|last=Israel|first=Jonathan|date=1990-01-01|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=9781852850227|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=syFFpCwBlacC&q=jeromino+nunes+da+costa&pg=PA42|title=The Dutch Intersection: The Jews and the Netherlands in Modern History|last=Kaplan|first=Yosef|date=2008|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9789004149960|language=en}} In 1654 he lived on Sint Antoniesbreestraat and married Rabecka Abbas. During his time in Amsterdam he generously patronised Hebrew scholarship.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XxTN8KP6-_8C&q=moses+curiel&pg=PA188|title=Jews in the Canary Islands: Being a Calendar of Jewish Cases Extracted from the Records of the Canariote Inquisition in the Collection of the Marquess of Bute|last1=Church|first1=Catholic|last2=America|first2=Renaissance Society of|date=2001-01-01|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=9780802084507|language=en}}

He was a major contributor to the Portuguese Synagogue, Amsterdam, built in 1675.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/RP-P-AO-25-75|title=Huis van Jeronimo Nunes da Costa (Mozes Curiël) aan de Nieuwe Herengracht te Amsterdam, Romeyn de Hooghe, c. 1695|website=Rijksmuseum|language=en|access-date=2019-10-05}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/amsterdam-qr/centrum-oost-de-plantage/woonhuis-familie-nunes-da-costa|title=Woonhuis familie Nunes da Costa (Residence of the Nunes Da Costa family)|website=www.iamsterdam.com|language=en|access-date=2019-10-05}} From around 1687 he lived along the Nieuwe Herengracht where he had bought two plots in the year before.[https://archief.amsterdam/archief/5062/64 Amsterdam City Archives, 4 May 1686] He was a close friend of William of Orange and housed him in Amsterdam on more than one occasion.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JhIxrykbrKUC&q=curiel&pg=PA219|title=The Dutch Republic in the Seventeenth Century: The Golden Age|last1=Prak|first1=Maarten|last2=Maarten|first2=Prak|date=2005-09-22|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521843522|language=en}}

The Curiel family is widely believed to have been 'one of the richest and most important families in the Sephardic Diaspora in northwest Europe.'{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sjI9DwAAQBAJ&q=moses+curiel&pg=PA195|title=Early Modern Ethnic and Religious Communities in Exile|last=Kaplan|first=Yosef|date=2017-11-06|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|isbn=9781527504301|language=en}}

In 1984, the historian Jonathan Israel wrote a book charting Moses Curiel's life, An Amsterdam Jewish Merchant of the Golden Age: Jeronimo Nunes Da Costa (1620-1697), Agent of Portugal in the Dutch Republic.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WQHSjwEACAAJ&q=jeromino+nunes+da+costa|title=An Amsterdam Jewish Merchant of the Golden Age: Jeronimo Nunes Da Costa (1620-1697), Agent of Portugal in the Dutch Republic|last=Israel|first=Jonathan Irvine|date=1984|language=en}}