BRUDO, MANUEL

BRUDO, MANUEL (c. 1500–c. 1585), Marrano physician and author. His father, Dionysius Rodrigues (d. 1541), was at first physician to the Royal Court in Portugal and later practiced medicine in London and Ferrara. Like his father, Manuel also practiced medicine for some time in London and later in Italy. His study on diets (De Ratione Victus, Venice, 1544, 1559) includes much curious information on the living conditions of the Marranos who escaped to England. He finally settled in Turkey (probably in Constantinople) and openly returned to Judaism. Here he entered the employment of the sultan for   whom he composed a work, translated into Turkish under the title, ʿAsāʾ-i Pīrān ("The Walking Stick of the Old"), on the maladies of old age and their cure. There is some doubt as to his authorship of the book Taʿamei ha-Mitzvot mentioned by ibn verga in his Shevet Yehudah (par. 64) which dealt with the reasons of the sacrifices. Brudo's arguments against Christianity are mentioned admiringly by Abraham ha-Levi ibn Migash in his Kevod Elohim (Constantinople, 1585, 127b). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: U. Heyd, in: Eretz-Israel, 7 (1963), 48, 53: C. Roth, England, 137, 238; idem, in: JHSET, 19 (1960), 4–6; H. Friedenwald, Jews and Medicine, 2 (1944); 346, 389, 461, 463–7, 714; Baer, in: Tarbiz, 6 (1934/35), 162. (Cecil Roth)