of David” (Zemach David), the “Chain of Tradition” (Shalsheleth ha-Kabbalah), and the “Light of the Eyes” (Meör Enayim). Abraham de Porta Leone's “Shields of the Mighty” (Shilte ha-Gibborim, printed in Mantua in 1612); Leon da Modena's “Ceremonies and Customs of the Jews,” (printed in Paris in 1637); David Conforte's “Call of the Generations” (Kore ha-Doroth, written in Palestine in about 1670); Yechiel Heilprin's “Order of Generations” (Seder ha-Doroth, written in Poland in 1725); and Chayim Azulai's “Name of the Great Ones” (written in Leghorn in 1774), can receive only a bare mention.
The author of the “Branch of David,” David Gans, was born in Westphalia in about 1540. He was the first German Jew of his age to take real interest in the study of history. He was a man of scientific culture, corresponded with Kepler, and was a personal friend of Tycho Brahe. For the latter Gans made a German translation
