{{Expand German|topic=hist}} thumb|''Consolação às Tribulações de Israel'' 1553 '''Samuel Usque''' (Lisbon, c.1500 - after 1555 in Italy or Ottoman Palestine) was a Portuguese converso Jewish author who settled in Ferrara.<ref>Meyer M. A. ''Ideas of Jewish history'' 1974 p105 "Samuel Usque (sixteenth century) was a Portuguese Marrano, a Jew forcibly converted to Christianity, who after extensive wanderings settled in Ferrara.</ref> Usque was a trader.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Monge |first1=Mathilde |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9YZjEAAAQBAJ&dq=%5B%5BSamuel+Usque%5D%5D,++Consola%25C3%25A7%25C3%25A3o+%25C3%25A0s+Tribula%25C3%25A7%25C3%25B5es+de+Israel+(%2522Consolation+for+the+Tribulations+of+Israel%2522),+Ferrara,+1553&pg=PT34 |title=Early Modern Diasporas: A European History |last2=Muchnik |first2=Natalia |date=2022-04-27 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-57214-8 |language=en}}</ref>
His major work is the ''Consolação às Tribulações de Israel'' ("Consolation for the Tribulations of Israel"), Ferrara, 1553.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Diner |first=Hasia R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sOFDEAAAQBAJ&dq=%5B%5BSamuel+Usque%5D%5D,++Consola%25C3%25A7%25C3%25A3o+%25C3%25A0s+Tribula%25C3%25A7%25C3%25B5es+de+Israel+(%2522Consolation+for+the+Tribulations+of+Israel%2522),+Ferrara,+1553&pg=PA387 |title=The Oxford Handbook of the Jewish Diaspora |date=2021 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-024094-3 |language=en}}</ref><ref>Cohen, Martin A. Samuel: Usque’s Consolation for the Tribulations of Israel (Consolaçam às Tribulaçoes de Israel), translated from the Portuguese (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1977) [1st ed. 1965].</ref><ref>Usque, Samuel: Consolação ás Tribulações de Israel, Edição de Ferrara, 1553, com estudos introdutórios por Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi e José V. de Pina Martins (Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1989).</ref> He appears to be the only one of the contemporaries of Solomon ibn Verga to have made use of the latter's ''Scepter of Judah.''<ref>''REJ'' xvii. 270.</ref> Usque makes a connection between forcible conversion and the rise of Protestantism.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Cohen |first1=Jeremy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BHFvEAAAQBAJ&dq=%5B%5BSamuel+Usque%5D%5D,++Consola%25C3%25A7%25C3%25A3o+%25C3%25A0s+Tribula%25C3%25A7%25C3%25B5es+de+Israel+(%2522Consolation+for+the+Tribulations+of+Israel%2522),+Ferrara,+1553&pg=PA123 |title=Rethinking European Jewish History |last2=Rosman |first2=Moshe |date=2008-11-27 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |isbn=978-1-80034-541-6 |language=en}}</ref> His work depicts the Inquisition as a monster threatening Europe, indicating common cause between Portuguese Jews and the Netherlands.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Carlebach |first1=Elisheva |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1VEzAQAAQBAJ&dq=%5B%5BSamuel+Usque%5D%5D,++Consola%25C3%25A7%25C3%25A3o+%25C3%25A0s+Tribula%25C3%25A7%25C3%25B5es+de+Israel+(%2522Consolation+for+the+Tribulations+of+Israel%2522),+Ferrara,+1553&pg=PA338 |title=New Perspectives on Jewish-Christian Relations |last2=Schacter |first2=Jacob J. |date=2011-11-25 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-22118-5 |language=en}}</ref> He bemoans the persecution and expulsion suffered by Jewish communities, and expresses his hope to reach the Holy Land.
He is credited with coining the epithet "Mother of Israel" (Judaeo-Spanish: ''Madre de Israel'') for the Greek city of Thessaloniki.<ref>Gallery labels, Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki.</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Usque, Samuel}} Category:Portuguese Renaissance writers Category:1500s births Category:16th-century deaths Category:Writers from Lisbon Category:16th-century Portuguese writers Category:16th-century Portuguese male writers Category:Jewish Portuguese writers