For Shakespeare, writing to an English audience about a Jewish moneylender might have seemed unusual.
Officially, there were no Jews in 16th century England because they had been banished in 1290 under the Edict of Expulsion.
Some studies suggest there were fewer than 200 Jews in Elizabethan England (only about 100 have been identified by historians).
Most of these Jews were outwardly practicing Christians and many of them were probably Marranos (Jews who practiced their religion in secret).