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PAGE TWO
The Secret Jews Of Portugal
Eldorado. In this way they acquired
not only immense wealth but also u
great political influence, and thus,
when in the early 'thirties proposals)
By LUCIEN WOLF were made to Rome for the establish-;
ment of the Portuguese Inquisition,
substantial contribution towards the 1 they were well equipped to fight the,
In January, 1925. much public in-
expenses was received from an anon) , I scheme. They showed wonderful re-
terest was aroused by an appeal from mous reader of the Jewish Guardian.; sources both in money and diplomacy
the Lisbon Jewish community for
I left London for Lisbon on Jan. 5, I and it was indeed only through an
funds wherewith to build a Jewish
1926, and spent four weeks in Portu- accident that in 1537 the tight went
school for the education of the chil- gal, in the course of which I visited ' against them. Even then it was three j
dren of the Marranos or secret Jews
some of the towns in which remnants ! years before the Lisbon Inquisition I
of Portugal, of whom a large number
of the old Marrano communities are was able to hold its first Auto. From
were said to be still living and prac-
ticing a form of Judaism in the to be found. These included Guarda, that time money and political mil a-
northern province,. The appeal Bel monte, Caine, Covilhao, Coimbra •nce were of little avail.
, 'he Inquisition developed a fel
evoked historic memories to which no and Oporto. • In Lisbon I discussed
Jew could be insensible. It was all the question not only with all the • rarity which had few parallels even
the more impressive because few leading members of the localiJewish ; in the Spanish tribunals.
Between
Jews outside Portugal and Spain were community but also with a number1 1540 and 17gti it held more than 600
aware that any descendants of the of prominent politicians and literary I .Autos, and it is calculated that up to
who are neither Jews nor Mar- : 1732 it condemned 24.522 hapless
:Stamen., who played so conspicuous ! men
and romantic a part in the Jewish his- ' roams. The latter included the presi- !heretics, nvistly Marranos, of whom
tory of the sixteenth and seventeenth' dent of the republic and the prime 1,454 were burnt at the stake. This•
centuries, had survived. The fact, ; minister. • however, is a very low estimate, for
A short survey of the history of ' at the present moment t he national
however, was not entirely unknown i
A
for, apart from occasional ceunfi- ! Marranism in Portugal is necessary , archives at Lisbon contain over 40,-
myst•riousi in order to understand the present' 000 reports of Inquisition cases cum.
elences obtained from
visitors to the synagogue in Lisbon I condition of the Marranos, the prob- I ins; down to 1780. The Marranos in
and the fleeting suspicions of observ- I Bin they present and the peculiar I the north suffered terribly, and in
ant travelers, M. Cardoso de Bethen- claims they have on the sympathy 1 the wake of their ruin followed the
court in 1903 published an account ! and the interest of the great body of I ruin of Portugal itself. The famous
of the modern Portuguese Marranos1 their co-religionists in other coon- statesman, Louis da Cunha, in his po-i
which, although founded on second- , tries. These claims appeal with cope- I litical testament, single•, out the de-
hand materials, anticipated the brolly'' dal force to the Sephardi communi-lcay of the Marramu towns Braganza,'
a° an y c ov ui_
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bring them back to authentic Judo- j congregations in Italy, : by the Inquisition. At no time, how-
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The name Marrano is applied, with ever, did the Inquisition succeed in
,
ism.
The appeal of the Lisbon Jewish' very doubtful accuracy, by Jewish !rooting up Marranisin. We have al-
community arose out of a new laves.; historians to the Spanish and Peru. i ready seen that in its early days be-
ligation which had been conducted on I guese Jews who, at the time of theltween 1567 and 1595 the Coimbra
the spud by a Polish-Jewish mining !colossal expulsion from Spain in 1492 I Tribunal, dealing with the northern
engineer, M. Samuel Schwarz, who ' and the terrible persecutions in 1 provinces alone, sent 95x Marrarws
had milling properties in the heart Portugal in 1496, accepted the al- I tu, long terms at the galleys and in
of the Marrano country. M. Schwarz ! ternatIve of baptism and ever after-! the pestiferous marshes of the cob:-
1•1 in obtainin • avowal+ ; wards continued to practice their an- nies, to life sentences in the secret
non . • •
Judaism from quite a number of cestral Judaism in secret. There cells of the lily Office or to the
the inhabitants f the ,mill towns in • was, however, a distinction between stake. This scale of persecutions was
the Mammies of Spain and those of continued for many years and yet,
the mining region of the Serra ula l
Estrella, chiefly Belneonte, Guarda • Portugal. With the Spanish Mar- between 1637 and 1653, the same
and Covilhao, he had in some casesiranos the acceptance of Christianity', provinces still yielded 226 martyrs.
been admitted to their secret care- I was a voluntary act. Moreover, the ; I have not the remaining Processes
monies and he had been fortunate Inquisition was already in existence for Coimbra, but I find that in 1746
enough to obtain from them a collee- I in Spain at the time of the expulsion,Isix Marranos from Guarda, 16 from
lection of their Portuguese prayers I and consequently the unhappy New 'Fonda°, 21 from Covilhao and severe
in manuscript to which he was ableIChristians, as they were called, found from Monsanto were condemned by
to add others which still remain only themselves pitilessly dogged and con- the Lisbon Tribunal and that between
an oral tradition. The result of M. trolled from the beginning. Their I 17-19 and 1752 the same tribunal (MI-
to prove crypto-Judaism was in the course of damned 55 •Marranos from Braganza,:
Schwarz's investigations was
beyond doubt that Marranism ex-: years so ruthlessly tracked down that while 12 more from the same town
isted, though in a somewhat degene• !by 1560 it was almost completely ex- were condemned by thy Evora Tri-
rate form. The Lisbon Jewish corn-Itirpatml, and when we read of Span-Ibunal between 1753 and 1755.
munity felt that it was their duty to !ish Marranos at a later date we find,uTwenty years later the Inquisition
closely examining the available l wa: practicaly extinct. The figures I
do something to arrest the decay of ; MI
Inquisition processesc that they were, have quoted show how undauntedly
GLENDALE 1025
this interesting survival and, if pus-' I
sible, to restore it to the position of i for the most part, Portuguese immi- these valliant Marranos — though
ARCHITECTS BLDG.
a regular Portuguese Jewish com- grants or their descendants. The ; ...rely maimed and decimated--kept
munity, in a form worthy of its glori-lfate of the Portuguese Marranos was ; the flag of Judaism flying to the end.
......................
...0
II I 1
ous history. It was in these circuits- !quite different. They consisted part•INuropean and American Jewry owe
stances that they resolved to appeal , ly of the descendants of the ancient much to their gallant example. this Allnallnimaniumnisimmo
of
There is one other aspect
to the Jew's of the world to aid them Portuguese Jewish community which
in establishing a school for the Mar- previously to 1496 had led a rela- great struggle which must be referred I •
rano children, that being, in their I tively happy life and partly of some I to here, as it illustrates very directly j
m a i m m iu mo• .. .. ... .. ... .. ... .. ..
1 11 111 11 11
to-
view, the most practical step that 100,000 Spanish Jewish exiles who the claim which the Marranos
could be taken for the achievement I had found a negotiated refuge in I day have on all the most important
, Portugal in 1492. In 1496 the Portu-; Sephardi congregations of Western;
of their purpose.
The proposal was received sympa- guese king, acting under Spanish in- Europe and America. Not all the I
thetically by the leading Jewish or- ! fluence, decreed t he expulsion of his :gamines in the northern provinces
ganizations to whom it had been ad- Jew's in his turn, and by way of a ; who disappeared between 1540 and 1
ed, and it was agreed by the • refinement of cruelty, of which Fer• 1780 passed through the Inquisition u
Tress
Alliance Israelite. and the Anglo•Jew- Amami and Isabella had never Autos. A large number fell off from
ish Association that, at any rate, a' dreamt, ordered all their children un- their Jewish allegiance and became
ease for inquiry had been made out.. der 14 years of age to be torn from quite orthodox Catholics. They form !
The question involved many them and baptised. The next step today the bulk of the population of
Traz-os-Muntez and Beira, and in I
- irate considerations oth- was to force the adults also into the spite of their unimpeachable Chris- I
t an ..,•..
er than the simple issue raised by the Christian fold. On various excuses
Lisbon community and these, it was the operation of the expulsion decree , tianity are still known as New brie-
felt, ought to be inquired into on the was delayed until the time limit haditians sometimes even as Jews.
spot by someone who was acquainted expired, and then the whole body of There are towns, like I'inhel, for ex-
with the point of view and the re-, Jewswas forced into baptism. Un- ample, where today there is not a!
sponsibilities of Jewish societies en- I like the Spanish Jew's, they haul tin single Marrano, which are still
gaged in the establishment of schools alternative except slavery. Happily spoken of as Jewish towns. But this •
tempered was not the only influence at work
in foreign countries. Accordingly , this barbarous measure Wits
kin,. ,whichmade for the gradual shrink- ,
the Alliance Israelite. and the Anglo- by a merciful concession. The
ing of the Nlierrano community. Emi-
1,1ewish Association, supported by the !Dom Manuel, realized that it was t r e e
, Spanish and Portuguese-Jewish con- ! reasonable to expect that these bap-Igration also played a large part. In;
gregation of London, did me the tisms could produce at once sincere 1499 the New Christians were forbid
' honor of entrusting me with this mis- 'Christians and, in the hope that the len to leave the country, but the rich I
sion. It should be mentioned that a Christian habit would grow on them, and even many of the poor found
he issued a decree providing that for means of evading the law. On the
20 years the converts should not be •ve of the establishment of the In-
prosecuted uin account of religion. luisition in 1540 several boat loads
. Later on this decree was renewed of Marranos traveled by way of Ma-
and the Marranos enjoyed their int- de ira to Antwerp. Another circui- '
munity until the introduction of the sus journey made by the fugitives
Inquisition in 1537. The result was it the period was by way of Antwerp
not quite what the king expected. In- u Salonika. For a lung time Italy
131 WEST WOODBRIDGE STREET
stead of Christianity growing on the was the objective of the refugees and ?"-
converts, crypto -Judaism became heir coming was encourag,ed by the
Phone Randolph 0631
and the Italian princes, who
roper
strengthened and consolidated. It
was during these years that the Ivor- very anxious to avail themselves of
tuguese Marranus laid the founda- heir wealth and their commercial
1
tions for the steadfast secret Juda- abilities. Many reports on the Portu-
ism, which afterwards enabled them uguese Marrone communities estab-
for two and a half centuries to sus- ; fished at Ferrara. Venice, Turin and Eiiiiiiii111111111111
0
tain an unparalleled struggle with ;ono& are still to be found in the
Ilere we have the
the Inquisition.
main secret of the interesting our
'
• viva! which is the subject of this re-
• port, and of which there is no coun-
terpart in Spain.
It was during this period, too, that
the Marranos consolidated their set-
, tlement in those northern provinces'
I of Traz-os-Montez, Beira and Entre ;
Minho•e-Douro, where their &vend.;
ants are most numerously found to.;
day. Jewish communities had always 'I
existed in this region, but they be- I
came much more numerous after
1492. When the Spanish exiles en-1
tercel Portugal in that year they did'
so through prescribed frontier towns. I
Of these, three, Braganza, Miranda ;
and Villar Formes°, were the gate-'
ways to Traz-os-Montez and Meira,
and through them no fewer than 68,-,
000 out of the total of 100,000 exiles
passed into the hinterland and spread
to the sea at Oporto. After the Lis-
bon massacre of 1506 these cony!
tingents were reinforced from the
south, and than the three northern
provinces became virtually a Mar-
rano Land. This may be shown by
'an examination of the statistics !
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yielded by the early Inquisition rec-
oruls. I have not, of course, been
able to examine all these records, but
I find that for the 29 years between
1567 and 1595 the number of Mar.
ranos who figured in the Autos of
the Coimbra Tribunal, which had ju-
risdiction over the northern prov-
inces. was 958. drawn from 98 dif-
ferent towns and villages of Traz-os•
Montez and Beira alone. In addition
L this the Lisbon and Evora Tri-
bunals tried Marrano prisoners who
had been arrested in 28 further
towns and villages situated in the
eastern department I Braganza I of
Traz.os-Montez. Thus at the end
of the sixtenth century we may take
it that there were at least 126 com-
munities of Marranes fighting for
their faith and their lives in thew.
•provinces.
The war with the Inquisition be-
' gin in 1540, when, under various
Papal bull. and briefs. the Holy Of
lice for the first time obtained full
powers in Portugal. There was an
earlier war of ■ very remarkable
character which filled the previous 10
years. During the period of their
immunity from religious prosecution,
the Marranos had prospered exceed-
ingly. They made the northern prov-
inces a hive of fruitful industry,
while at Lisbon they supplied the
king with the capital he needed for
realizing the wealth of the Indies,
, and at the same time they undertook
!the distribution all over Europe of
the bullion. the diamonds and the
.spices which the Portuguese n
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