Dona Gracia Nasi — "La Señora" (1510–1569)

Born Beatriz de Luna in Lisbon to a forcibly converted family, Dona Gracia Nasi built one of the great rescue operations of the 16th century: an escape network that moved Portuguese conversos through Antwerp, Venice, and Ferrara to the safety of Ottoman Constantinople. She leased Tiberias from Sultan Suleiman to re-found a Jewish town there, and after 23 conversos were burned at Ancona (1556) she led a trade boycott of the port — an action that only partially succeeded, and is presented here honestly as such. ◈ Paragon House

A patron of Hebrew printing and scholarship, she was known across the Jewish world simply as La Señora.