- First name
- Mirjam
- Last name
- Espinosa, d'
- Date of Birth
- [1629]
- Date of Death
- 1651.09.06
- Born in
- Amsterdam
- Died in
- Amsterdam
Both Mirjam's date of birth as well as the exact location are unknown, but can be calculated from the date of Mirjam’s marriage registration (1650) with Samuel de Caceres in Amsterdam in the summer of 1650. On 2 June 1650, 'Mariam spinosa van A, out 21 Jaer’ (Mirjam d’Espinosa from A[msterdam], 21 years of age) and ‘Samuel de Caseres van A, out 22 Jaer’ (Samuel de Caseres from A[msterdam], 22 years of age), officially register their intention to marry. Mirjam’s signature on the deed, a simple pen stroke similar to a tilted N or Z, indicates that she was unable to write her own name properly, neither in Dutch nor in Portuguese or in Spanish (Spinoza, mercator & autodidactus, p. 55, III.s; Walther and Czelinski, vol. 1, pp. 234-5, no. 56).
Mirjam dies in childbirth. Just like all others members of the Portuguese-Israelite community of Amsterdam Spinoza’s sister was buried at Beth Haim. The inscription on her tombstone reads:
Grave of Miriam de Caceres spouse of Samuel de Caceres, died on 20 of Elul 5411
See: Spinoza, mercator & autodidactus, p. 3, I.A.