David ha-Reuveni

An adventurer, messianic prophet, and self-appointed diplomat claiming royal descent, David ha-Reuveni met Pope Clement VII in Rome in 1524. The following year, he was in Portugal, lobbying the king for military aid for a mission to the Arabian port city of Jedda. In Portugal, he also aroused messianic fervor among conversos, including Solomon Molkho. Suspected of Judaizing, he was forced to flee. In 1532, he and Molkho had an audience with Emperor Charles V. Ha-Reuveni was apparently executed in 1538. Differences between his diaries and contemporaneous sources raise questions regarding his true goals. Recent scholarship suggests he relied on a keen geopolitical understanding in an attempt to induce a Portuguese invasion of Jedda; a military confrontation between Christendom and Islam would have been a harbinger of the messianic redemption.