Samuel Usque

Samuel Usque (Lisbon, c.1500 - after 1555 in Italy or Palestine) was a Portuguese converso Jewish author who settled in Ferrara.

[3][4][5] 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.

[6] Usque makes a connection between forcible conversion and the rise of Protestantism.

[7] His work depicts the Inquisition as a monster threatening Europe, indicating common cause between Portuguese Jews and the Netherlands.

[8] He is credited with coining the epithet "Mother of Israel" (Judaeo-Spanish: Madre de Israel) for the Greek city of Thessaloniki.