Juan Sánchez de Sevilla

Samuel Abravanel, was forcibly converted to Christianity during the Granada pogroms of 1391 and took the Spanish name "Juan Sanchez de Sevilla".

Samuel fled Castile-León, Spain, in 1397 for Lisbon, Portugal, and reverted to Judaism - shedding his Converso facade after living among Christians for six years. Conversions outside Judaism, coerced or otherwise, had a strong impact upon Samuel's grandson young Don Isaac Abravanel, later compelling him to forfeit his immense wealth in an attempt to redeem Iberian Jewry from coercion of the Alhambra Decree.

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Also mentioned in Abarbanel Family Scroll – undated handwritten manuscript from the collection of the late Rabbi Shmuel Gorr, held by Chaim Freedman.

Reference was made to “Elef Margaliot” 1993, Meir Wunder.

During the persecution of 1391, but probably only for a short time, Samuel lived as a Christian. He was a large hearted, generous man, who supported Jewish learning and its votaries.