REUBENI, DAVID. - That is, "D., descendant of Reuben." A strange figure of an Eastern Jew, whose place of origin and many details of his eventful life are unknown. He appears in Venice in February 1524, after having traveled through various regions of the East. He soon aroused immense interest, accompanied in many by messianic enthusiasms.
Claiming to be a special envoy of a fantastic kingdom of Jewish tribes in Arabia, which he asserted was governed by his brother Joseph, D. frequented various courts of Europe, particularly that of John III of Portugal. He even obtained an audience from Pope Clement VII and received promises of help, especially at the Portuguese court, for his planned enterprise of wresting Palestine from the Mohammedans. Soon, however, the Spanish Inquisition began to busy itself eagerly with him, since it looked with disfavor upon the enthusiasm that had spread among the marranos for D. R., in whom they saw the announcement of wondrous messianic times. Having lost the protection of the Portuguese court, especially through the efforts of the inquisitor Selaya and of Michele De Silva, D. R. wandered through France and Italy until he was arrested together with his fanatical follower Salomone Molcho (Diego Perez) at Regensburg (1532) by Charles V. It seems that D. ended his days in a Spanish prison. There remains from him a brief account of his travels, published in Hebrew by A. Neubauer (Medieval Jewish Chronicles, II, in Analecta Oxoniensia, I, part 6, Oxford 1895, pp. 133-225).
Bibliography
Angelo Penna