Rodrigo Lopez, whose original name was probably Rodrigo Lopes, was physician to Queen Elizabeth, and may have been an inspiration for Shakespeare's Shylock in the The Merchant of Venice. He was born in Crato, Portugal and raised as a New Christian, but driven away from Portugal by the Portuguese Inquisition and considered a Marrano. He made London his home in 1559 and very successfully resumed his practice as a doctor, soon becoming house physician at St. Wikipedia
At court Lopez became acquainted with the Earl of Essex, and was thus brought into relations with Don Antonio, the pretender to the crown of Portugal, and with Antonio Perez, the discharged secretary of Philip II. www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=544&letter=L
Rodrigo Lopez , a Jewish-Portuguese doctor, driven from the country of his birth by the Inquisition, had come to England at the beginning of Elizabeth 's reign and set up as a doctor in London. www.tudorplace.com.ar/Documents/lopez_plot.htm
The definitive Wikipedia entry for Rodrigo Lopez. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigo_Lopez_(physician)
The definitive Wikipedia entry for Rodrigo Lopez. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigo_Lopez_%28physician%29