Jacob Cansino

A translator into Spanish of a Ladino work by Moses ben Baruch Almosnino (rabbi of Salonika and Constantinople), Jacob Cansino was descended from a family of Spanish Jewish poets and communal leaders. Cansino lived in Oran (Algiers), which was then under Spanish rule. Cansino succeeded his brother as royal interpreter, the fifth member of his family to serve in this role. However, to secure the position, which King Philip IV of Spain had accorded to someone else, Cansino was forced to travel to Madrid. He continued to serve as royal interpreter until his death, although there seems to have been antagonism between him and the governor of Oran, Marquis de Los Veles. Cansino published a Spanish translation (to some degree an adaptation) of Almosnino’s Ladino work, Extremos y grandezas de Constantinopla (Glories and Grandeur of Constantinople). This text, a description of Constantinople that Almosnino composed during his visit to the city in 1565 as part of a delegation to the sultan, is recognized as an important historical source and a major work of Spanish Jewish literature. In his preface to the translation, Cansino mentions the various positions held by members of his family.