Letter to the Envoy Keller

Addressing a ducal district bureaucrat named Keller, Joseph responds to the arguments against granting him a noble title. One of the most significant arguments concerned Joseph’s religion: as a Jew he was not entitled to noble status. However, Joseph refuted this claim, arguing that other Jews had been ennobled before him (and not only Portuguese Jews who had converted to Christianity). Both his applications for noble status were rejected. Following Charles Alexander’s sudden death in 1737, Joseph was famously tried and executed.