Joachim Gaunse
Encyclopedia
Joachim Gans was a Bohemian
mining
expert and renowned for being the first recorded Jew to live in North America
.
, Kingdom of Bohemia
, and therefore was most likely related to David Gans
, who settled there in 1564. He is first mentioned in his professional capacity at Keswick
, Cumberland
, in 1581.
He introduced a new process for the "making of Copper
, vitriall, and Coppris
, and smelting
e of Copper and lead
e ures
." Gans figured in the English
state papers of the reign of Elizabeth I
and a full description of his operations is preserved in these documents. Gans' most dramatic scientific discovery was to reduce the time to purify a batch of copper ore from sixteen weeks to just four days. Additionally, Gans was able to use the impurities removed from the copper ore in textile
dye
s.
These discoveries along with the general body of his scientific work led to a degree of fame. Gans almost certainly served as the model for the heroic Jewish scientist
Joabin in Sir Francis Bacon
's utopia
n novel, The New Atlantis
.
recruited him for an expedition to found a permanent settlement in the Virginia territory of the New World
.
Sir Richard Grenville
, leader of Raleigh's expedition, founded the Roanoke Colony
on Roanoke Island
off the coast of modern North Carolina
in 1585. Among the ruins at the Roanoke site, archaeologists have discovered lumps of smelted copper and a goldsmith’s
crucible attributed to Gans' work at the colony. Because the royal mining company failed to resupply colonists who were also becoming increasingly fearful of conflicts with the Indians
, they accepted an offer from Sir Francis Drake
in June 1586 to sail them to England
. Each of the colonists, including Gans, left North America.
where he gave Hebrew
lessons to English gentlemen who wanted to read the Bible
in its original tongue. In 1589, Bishop
of Chichester
Richard Curteys
visited Gans who in speaking "in the Hebrue tonge," proclaimed himself a Jew. Bishop Curteys asked Gans, "Do you deny Jesus Christ to be the Son of God?" Gans replied, "What needeth the almighty God to have a son? Is he not almighty?" Gans was brought before the mayor
and aldermen of Bristol for "blasphemy
." Rather than embarrass an associate of the Royal Mining Company, Bristol’s town fathers referred his case to the Queen’s Privy Council, which included major investors of the Royal Mining Company. Gans was transported back to London
to face their judgment.
Francis Walsingham
, who was then joint principal secretary
, was a former employer of Gans, and other members of the council also knew him.
The council appears to have taken no hostile action, however, although the trial's outcome and all subsequent history of Gans is unknown, as no information is available.
Bohemian
A Bohemian is a resident of the former Kingdom of Bohemia, either in a narrow sense as the region of Bohemia proper or in a wider meaning as the whole country, now known as the Czech Republic. The word "Bohemian" was used to denote the Czech people as well as the Czech language before the word...
mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
expert and renowned for being the first recorded Jew to live in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
Early life
Gans was born in PraguePrague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Kingdom of Bohemia
Kingdom of Bohemia
The Kingdom of Bohemia was a country located in the region of Bohemia in Central Europe, most of whose territory is currently located in the modern-day Czech Republic. The King was Elector of Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1806, whereupon it became part of the Austrian Empire, and...
, and therefore was most likely related to David Gans
David Gans
----David ben Solomon ben Seligman Gans was a Jewish mathematician, historian, astronomer, astrologer, and is best known for the works Tzemach David and Nechmad ve'naim.- Early life :...
, who settled there in 1564. He is first mentioned in his professional capacity at Keswick
Keswick, Cumbria
Keswick is a market town and civil parish within the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England. It had a population of 4,984, according to the 2001 census, and is situated just north of Derwent Water, and a short distance from Bassenthwaite Lake, both in the Lake District National Park...
, Cumberland
Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
, in 1581.
He introduced a new process for the "making of Copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
, vitriall, and Coppris
Iron(II) sulfate
Iron sulfate or ferrous sulfate is the chemical compound with the formula FeSO4. Known since ancient times as copperas and as green vitriol, the blue-green heptahydrate is the most common form of this material...
, and smelting
Smelting
Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...
e of Copper and lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
e ures
Ore
An ore is a type of rock that contains minerals with important elements including metals. The ores are extracted through mining; these are then refined to extract the valuable element....
." Gans figured in the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
state papers of the reign of Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
and a full description of his operations is preserved in these documents. Gans' most dramatic scientific discovery was to reduce the time to purify a batch of copper ore from sixteen weeks to just four days. Additionally, Gans was able to use the impurities removed from the copper ore in textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
dye
Dye
A dye is a colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied. The dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution, and requires a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber....
s.
These discoveries along with the general body of his scientific work led to a degree of fame. Gans almost certainly served as the model for the heroic Jewish scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
Joabin in Sir Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
's utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
n novel, The New Atlantis
The New Atlantis
New Atlantis is a utopian novel by Sir Francis Bacon, published in Latin in 1624 and in English in 1627. In this work, Bacon portrayed a vision of the future of human discovery and knowledge, expressing his aspirations and ideals for humankind...
.
Colonization of America
Gans became the first Bohemian and the first recorded Jew in colonial America when, in 1584, Sir Walter RaleighWalter Raleigh
Sir Walter Raleigh was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. He is also well known for popularising tobacco in England....
recruited him for an expedition to found a permanent settlement in the Virginia territory of the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
.
Sir Richard Grenville
Richard Grenville
Sir Richard Grenville was an English sailor, sea captain and explorer. He took part in the early English attempts to settle the New World, and also participated in the fight against the Spanish Armada...
, leader of Raleigh's expedition, founded the Roanoke Colony
Roanoke Colony
The Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island in Dare County, present-day North Carolina, United States was a late 16th-century attempt to establish a permanent English settlement in what later became the Virginia Colony. The enterprise was financed and organized by Sir Walter Raleigh and carried out by...
on Roanoke Island
Roanoke Island
Roanoke Island is an island in Dare County near the coast of North Carolina, United States. It was named after the historical Roanoke Carolina Algonquian people who inhabited the area in the 16th century at the time of English exploration....
off the coast of modern North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
in 1585. Among the ruins at the Roanoke site, archaeologists have discovered lumps of smelted copper and a goldsmith’s
Goldsmith
A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Since ancient times the techniques of a goldsmith have evolved very little in order to produce items of jewelry of quality standards. In modern times actual goldsmiths are rare...
crucible attributed to Gans' work at the colony. Because the royal mining company failed to resupply colonists who were also becoming increasingly fearful of conflicts with the Indians
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
, they accepted an offer from Sir Francis Drake
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...
in June 1586 to sail them to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Each of the colonists, including Gans, left North America.
Later life and trial for blasphemy
Gans moved to the town of BristolBristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
where he gave Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
lessons to English gentlemen who wanted to read the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
in its original tongue. In 1589, Bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
of Chichester
Chichester
Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
Richard Curteys
Richard Curteys
-Life:He was born in Lincolnshire, and educated at St. John's College, Cambridge,where he was elected to a scholarship in 1550. He proceeded B.A. in 1553, was elected a Fellow in 1553, and commenced M.A. in 1556. During the reign of Mary I of England he remained unaffected. He was appointed senior...
visited Gans who in speaking "in the Hebrue tonge," proclaimed himself a Jew. Bishop Curteys asked Gans, "Do you deny Jesus Christ to be the Son of God?" Gans replied, "What needeth the almighty God to have a son? Is he not almighty?" Gans was brought before the mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
and aldermen of Bristol for "blasphemy
Blasphemy
Blasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy...
." Rather than embarrass an associate of the Royal Mining Company, Bristol’s town fathers referred his case to the Queen’s Privy Council, which included major investors of the Royal Mining Company. Gans was transported back to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to face their judgment.
Francis Walsingham
Francis Walsingham
Sir Francis Walsingham was Principal Secretary to Elizabeth I of England from 1573 until 1590, and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster". Walsingham is frequently cited as one of the earliest practitioners of modern intelligence methods both for espionage and for domestic security...
, who was then joint principal secretary
Secretary of State
Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....
, was a former employer of Gans, and other members of the council also knew him.
The council appears to have taken no hostile action, however, although the trial's outcome and all subsequent history of Gans is unknown, as no information is available.