Submitter: Kathryn
Subject: Re: Lucretia Bassano, wife of Nicholas Lanier
Message: I have already done a *lot* of checking on the origins of this family. I believe they were originally Jewish before coming to Italy. We have found a Jeronimo Bassano who predates the Jeronimo who was the father of Antonio. This Jeronimo is probably the first of the Bassanos to Italy, but we believe that he took the name Bassano after coming. General lore has it that the Bassano musicians and the family of painters were not related.
"Bassano" is said to have come from a word "bassanensis," meaning a farmer. After checking, I could not find much of anything besides this older Jeronimo Bassano in Spain. I had thought originally that the name came from Bassan or Bassani. The Bassanos had ties, of course with other known crypto-Jews like the Lupos and maybe the Nasis. Antonio is said to have married Elena de Nazzi, but some spell this as Nasi. The Nasis were well known among the Jews, but there is some room for disputing the name still.
Some checking on the elder Jeronimo Bassano shows that his original name (in English, more or less) was Joshua ben Joseph ibn Vives al-Lorqui. His father was Joseph ben Joshua ibn Vives al-Lorqui and both were physicians. This Jeronimo became a Christian convert and was well known for antagonizing other Jews about their theology and philosophy. He studied under another Jew (whose name escapes me now) and I have been told that this other Jewish convert became the anti-Pope Benoit or Benedict.
Jeronimo Bassano had taken the name Hieronymus de Santa Fe as his Christian name. Most Jews had an outside name and an inside name. Those who remained crypto-Jews took back their inside names when they were allowed to practice Judaism openly. Jeronimo's family apparently continued on as "Christians," and it may be that as both Jews and Christians they felt more at home with the Laniers later who were said to be Huguenots. Both met up in England. Henry VIII extended a hand to these as they were able also to benefit him in return.
There is so much information in history books and on the web, but you miss what there is if you don't know all of Jeronimo Bassano's names. We have not yet linked him directly with our Antonio Bassano line, but we believe he was Antonio's great-grandfather possibly.
Kathryn