The Case of the New Christians of Lamego as an
Example of Resistance against the Portuguese
Inquisition in Sixteenth Century Portugal
Susana Bastos Mateus and James W. Nelson Novoa*
The article presents a particular case of Portuguese New Christian resistance to
the establishment of the tribunal of the Holy Office in Portugal. Basing itself on
Portuguese and Vatican documents the article depicts the New Christian community
in Lamego which organized itself to present their case in Rome using a variety
of strategies against the civil and ecclesiastical authorities in the kingdom. It
presents the concrete example of several prominent figures who were instrumental
in constructing a network to challenge the creation of the tribunal in Portugal.
The work of the nineteenth century Portuguese historian, Alexandre Herculano
(1810-1877), opened new doors in what was an often inaccessible or forgotten
field of research, the early establishment and functioning of the tribunal of
the Holy Office in Portugal, which was formally instated there in 1536 and
only abolished in 1821.1 As was demonstrated by Herculano and reiterated by
subsequent scholars, the main priority of the Holy Office in Portugal was the
obliteration of the perceived persistence of Jewish religious practices and beliefs
among those individuals converted in 1497 and their descendents. Much of
Herculano’s work was occupied with the negotiations and dealings pursuant to
the establishment of the tribunal, which, after receiving initial approval from Pope
Clement VII (1478-1534; papacy 1523-1534), finally got off the ground under
Paul III (1468-1549; papacy 1534-1549). When the creation of the tribunal was
first decreed, various elements came into play which stalled its opening. Often
lengthy negotiations were needed to break the stalemate which had developed
between Rome and the Portuguese monarch who oversaw the tribunal, King João
III of Portugal (1502-1552, reigned 1521-1552).
*
1
Both authors are beneficiaries of fellowships from the Fundação para a Ciência e a
Tecnologia of Portugal and are linked to the Cátedra de Estudos Sefarditas “Alberto
Benveniste” of the University of Lisbon.
For an analysis of Herculano’s pioneering work in the context of inquistiorial
studies, see the introduction by Jorge Borges de Macedo to História da Origem e do
Estabelecimento da Inquisição em Portugal, in the Portuguese edition of 1975-1976.
The English translation is by John C. Branner, with an introduction by Yosef Hayim
Yerushalmi, New York 1972.
[Hispania Judaica 6 5769/2008]
Susana Bastos Mateus and James W. Nelson Novoa
The struggle over the institution of the Inquisition in Portugal was waged
by intermediaries on both sides, by diplomatic representatives on the part of the
Portuguese monarch and by representatives of the Portuguese New Christians.
Both sides worked in the midst of the Curia in Rome to benefit their respective
sides and to impress upon the Curia the justness of their respective causes. Hence,
any serious study of the efforts of the Portuguese New Christians to combat the
establishment and functioning of the Inquisition must necessarily take into account
Rome and the mass of documents in Roman archives relevant to the matter.
A case in point of the early functioning of the Inquisition and the New Christian
attempts to combat it occurred in the 1530’s and 1540’s in Lamego, a town in
the north of Portugal, where a short-lived tribunal of the Holy Office operated
between 1541 and 1546. These events can be reconstructed from a careful study
of archival sources, both Portuguese and Roman, which can lead us to a greater
understanding of the mechanisms of the initial period of establishment of the
Inquisition and its functioning. The presentation of these facts, it is hoped, will
give us further insights into the cohabitation of New Christians with their Old
Christian neighbours in sixteenth century Portugal and the activities of these New
Christians in organizing their defense before the Holy See in the same period.
Lamego was a prominent Portuguese diocese of approximately 2,171 people,
according to the figures available on the Portuguese population between the years
1527-1532.2 Among the oldest apostolic sees in Portugal with a bishop since the
sixth century, the city was of considerable ecclesiastical importance.3 Since the
thirteenth century Lamego had an important Jewish presence. During the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries and especially after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain
in 1492, the Jewish population grew significantly. The town was comparable to
other urban centres with important Jewish populations in the Portuguese inner
Beira region, such as Trancoso and Guarda.4 In 1492, Lamego was one of several
Portuguese centres which absorbed a significant number of Jews from Castile.
This can be easily explained by its relative proximity to the Castilian border and
the easy access to it by navigation along the Douro river. In addition, Lamego was
2
3
4
See João José Alves Dias, ‘A População’, Nova História de Portugal. Dir. Joel Serrão
e A.H. de Oliveira Marques, V – Portugal do Renascimento à Crise Dinástica. Coord.
João José Alves Dias, Lisboa 1998, pp. 18-20.
On the religious history of Lamego, see Joaquim de Azevedo, Historia ecclesiastica
da cidade e bispado de Lamego, Porto, 1877; Gonçalves da Costa, História do bispado
e cidade de Lamego, 6 vols, Braga 1992; João Soalheiro, ‘Diocese de Lamego’,
Dicionário de história religiosa de Portugal, Rio de Mouro 2001, pp. 419-423.
On the Jewish presence in the fifteenth century and on the first generation of New
Christians, see the article by Maria José Pimenta Ferro Tavares, ‘Os Cristãos Novos
em terras da comarca da Beira’, Rumos e escrita da história: Estudos em homenagem
a A. A. Marques de Almeida, Lisboa 2006, pp. 557-579.
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New Christians of Lamego
located in an important region for agricultural and textile production, being in
contact with productive regions on both banks of the Douro river, in an area which
linked the provinces of Beira and Trás-os-Montes.5 The production of wine and
olive oil, as well as silk and linen,6 were among the most important activities in
the city at the time.7
The Establishment of the Holy Office in Lamego
In 1541, King João III decreed the institution of a tribunal of the Holy Office
in Lamego, among other towns in Portugal. After the establishment of the two
principle tribunals, in Lisbon and Evora, other tribunals were created which
functioned for a short period of time. This was the case of the short lived tribunals
of Porto, Tomar and Lamego.8 In this period, the tribunal of Coimbra was also
established; it would function again in 1565.
It seems probable that these tribunals functioned precariously, especially with
regard to the officials who were in charge of them. This could be one of the reasons
they ceased to exist in 1548. Despite the various studies that have been made
on the establishment of the Inquisition in Portugal, the information regarding the
tribunals of 1541 is not entirely clear, especially with regard to their administrative
structure. Through the analysis of the existing documents, it is possible to conclude
that many of these tribunals were strictly linked to the bishop or diocese or to the
diocesan authorities in general.9
In 1541, in a letter addressed to the recently named bishop of Lamego,10 D.
5
See the information provided by António Borges Coelho, Quadros para uma viagem a
Portugal no séc. XVI, Lisboa 1986, pp. 164-165.
6 António Borges Coelho presents data which corroborate the importance of the textile
industry. See ibidem, p. 167.
7 For a description of the economy of Lamego in the first decades of the sixteenth
century, see Rui Fernandes, Descrição do terreno ao redor de Lamego duas léguas:
1531-1532, introdução, transcrição actualizada e fixação crítica do texto de Amândio
Morais Barros, Lamego 2001.
8 On the establishment of the first tribunals and especially on the normative texts which
regulated their first years of functioning, see I.S. Révah, ‘L’installation de l’inquisition
à Coimbra en 1541 et le premier règlement du Saint-Office portugais’, Études
Portugaises, Paris 1975, pp. 121-153.
9 On the social importance of bishops and their definition as a power elite, see José
Pedro Paiva, ‘Definir uma elite de poder: os bispos em Portugal (1495-1777)’, Optima
pars: Elites ibero-americanas do Antigo Regime. Nuno G.F. Monteiro, Pedro Cardim
e Mafalda Soares da Cunha ed., Lisboa 2005, pp. 47-63.
10 The previous bishop of Lamego, D. Fernando de Meneses Coutinho e Vasconcelos,
was tranferred to the see of Lisbon, and was replaced in Lamego by Agostinho Ribeiro,
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Susana Bastos Mateus and James W. Nelson Novoa
Agostinho Ribeiro, King João III presented some of the aspects of the tribunal
of the Holy Office which the monarch intended to establish in Lamego.11 In the
words of the Portuguese king, it was necessary to install an Inquisition in all
of Portugal, “assentei com o Infante meu Irmão que vos a fisesseis nesse vosso
Bispado, e no de Viseu, com hum letrado de muita confiança”. 12 With respect to
the officials, João III stated that since procurators, ushers, clerks and solicitors are
necessary for the running of the tribunal, it is important that they be people of utter
trustworthiness:
porque para isso são necessarios offiçiaes: Prometor, Meirinho, escrivão,
e solicitador e estes convem que sejão pessoas de confiança; folgarey de
vos informardes se nesse vosso Bispado avera pessoas que sejão autas para
isso, e em que aja as callidades que deve deter, quem nestes cargos ouver
de servir. E porque agora seria bem que elles não tivessem ordenado, me
paresse que deveis buscar pessoas que sirvão sem elle, porque para prometor
e Escrivão podereis achar alguns que folguem de o ser.13
In addition to the bishop, Agostinho Ribeiro, and the inquisitor, Manuel D’Almada,14
the names of other members of the tribunal are revealed in these documents: the
notary, Diogo Rodrigues, the usher, Sebastião Rodrigues,15 deputy of the Holy
Office of Lamego, Dr. Gonçalo Vaz,16 the notary, António Gonçalves 17 and the
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
the former bishop of Angra. See Fortunato de Almeida, História da Igreja em Portugal.
Nova edição preparada e dirigida por Damião Peres, II, Lisboa 1968, p. 630. For a
social perspective of the diocese of Lamego, see João Soalheiro, “Lamego, Diocese
de”, Dicionário de História Religiosa de Portugal. Direcção de Carlos Moreira
Azevedo, IV, Lisboa 2001, pp. 419-428.
Our source is a copy of this document in ANTT, Conselho Geral do Santo Ofício, Liv.
90, fls. 21r e 21v. The transcription of this document appears as document 1 of the
documentary appendix.
Ibidem, fl. 21r.
Ibidem, fl. 21r.
For a biographical study of this figure, see the article by Carlos Margaça Veiga,
‘D. Manuel de Almada, Bispo de Angra: sua trajectória político-social e religiosa’,
Lusitania Sacra 2.ª série 15 (2003), pp. 77-99. In this article the author clearly shows
how Manuel D’Almada’s inquisitorial career, principally in the years in which he was
inquisitor in Lamego, contributed to his prestige and social position.
The names of these officials are provided in António Baião, ‘A Inquisição em Portugal
e no Brazil: Subsidios para a sua Historia’, Archivo Historico Portuguez V (1907),
p. 96.
He refers to himself as “hum dos deputados da sancta Inquisiçam da comarca de
Lamego” in a letter addresed to King João III on January 15, 1543, in As Gavetas da
Torre do Tombo, I (Gav. I-III), Lisboa 1960, pp. 130-131.
This official appears as the author of the denunciations which were presented to the
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New Christians of Lamego
clerk of the Santo Ofício, Heitor Vieira.18 As was laid out in the first protocol
which regulated the functioning of the various local tribunals, one of the first acts
of the inquisitors after the establishment of a tribunal in a determined place was
visiting the territory which fell under the jurisdiction of the given tribunal. In the
case of Lamego, perhaps on account of the brief tenure of the tribunal, a visit took
place within the city itself, beginning on August 20, 1543 and ending on February
16, 1544.19 In the Livro de denúncias, which is still extant, there are more than 300
denunciations, which in many cases give us a clear image of the New Christian
community of Lamego in this period, its day to day life and its socio-professional
structure.
It is not clear on what date the Holy Office left Lamego. We know that aside
from the probable precarious nature of the tribunal on account of the lack of
officials and other means to sustain its functioning, the tribunal was affected
by the brief, cum nuper dilectum, of September 22, 1544. In this document, the
pope ordered the suspension of the sentences issued by the Holy Office until the
arrival of the next nuncio, Giovanni Ricci, who was entrusted with conducting an
examination into the inquisitorial proceedings.20 It is thus probable that many of
the trials of the people accused in Lamego, as well as the prisoners of that tribunal,
were transferred to the Holy Office of Lisbon where they were dealt with by the
feared inquisitor, João de Melo e Castro.
A letter of the local government of Lamego to King João III, dated August 23,
1544, mentions two advantages brought to Lamego by the arrival there of the Holy
Office, the ensuing inquiry into local customs and the punishment meted. The
members of the town council appealed to the king, saying: “V.A. queira conservar
este Santo Officio no modo que esta” and asking in addition that when the monarch
decided to open up new proceedings in Lamego, they should be undertaken by
an especially experienced person.21 In the same letter, the members of the town
council of Lamego mentioned that on several occasions certain inhabitants of
18
19
20
21
inquistors of Lamego in 1543 and 1544: “Eu ho bacharel Antonio Gonçalvez notario
da Santa Inquisiçam que o screvj”. ANTT, Inquisição de Lamego, Liv. 1 Denúncias,
fol. 4r.
This name is in the proxy presented to the Holy Office: “[...] e tambem de eytor vieira
outrosi escrivão do Samto officio”, cf. ANTT, Inquisição de Lisboa, proc. 3638,
fol. 9v.
For some information on these denunciations, see Elvira Cunha de Azevedo Mea, A
Inquisição de Coimbra no século XVI: A instituição, os homens e a sociedade, Porto
1997, pp. 226-227.
For an analysis of the question, see Giuseppe Marcocci, I custodi dell’ortodossia:
Inquisizione e Chiesa nel Portogallo del Cinquecento, Roma 2004, pp .81-86.
This document is to be found in ANTT, Corpo Cronológico, parte I, maço 75, nº 75.
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Susana Bastos Mateus and James W. Nelson Novoa
Lamego tried to impede the establishment of the tribunal of the Holy Office in the
town and later, its functioning.22
In 1548, with the bull meditatio cordis, a new cycle of the life of the Portuguese
Holy Office began. As with other small, local Inquisitions, the Holy Office never
returned to Lamego as an independent tribunal. Though short lived, the inquisitorial
oppression strongly affected the New Christian community there, causing the
flight or imprisonment of many of its members.
The Case of Pedro Furtado and his Family
As we have seen,23 at the time of the arrival of the Holy Office in Lamego, the New
Christian community there showed signs of great vitality. Important New Christians
lived in what had been the Jewish quarter, in the Rua Nova, the Rua do Almacave
and the Rua da Cruz.24 Some New Christians were still socially prestigious, having
links to the world of the court25 and to the ecclesiastical elite.26
Some of the families of Lamego had important social standing, holding
several benefits and integrating themselves into the social fabric through religious
confraternities. This was the case of Ambrosio Rodrigues, an important elderly
member of the New Christian community of Lamego, who experienced the
forced conversion when he was a 10 year old child.27 Ambrosio Rodrigues was an
important rural landowner, holding an estate on the outskirts of Lamego, in Lama
Redonda. According to his defence before the inquisitors, he was a good Christian
22 The members of the town council refer to a great need in Lamego for a tribunal of the
Holy Office because: “a condição de muitas pessoas desta terra he per todollos modos
trabalhar de o impedir e dividir das pessoas que pera elle V.A. tem ordenadas tudo afim
de seus erros ficarem sem castiguo e se encubrirem muitas culpas”, ibidem.
23 See our article: ‘De Lamego para a Toscana: o périplo do médico Pedro Furtado,
cristão-novo português’, Cadernos de Estudos Sefarditas 5 (2005), pp. 313-338.
24 See the reference to these places in the article by Maria José Ferro Tavares, ‘Os Cristãos
Novos’, p. 560.
25 Maria José Ferro Tavares refers to the relation of some New Christians to the court, a
relation which was especially manifested in the figure of King Manuel as the godfather
for the baptism of some New Christians. See Ibidem, p. 559.
26 An example of these relations can be found in a letter of Dr. Gonçalo Vaz, a deputy of
the Inquisition of Lamego, to King João III dated January 15, 1543, in which he refers
to one of the most important members of the New Christian community of Lamego,
the physician Pedro Furtado, as “favorecydo do chantre de Lamego e porque sempre
cuidou da mãy dos filhos do arcebispo de Lixboa que por sua cabeça ha de impidir a
sancta Inquisiçam”. See As Gavetas da Torre do Tombo, I (Gav. I-III), Lisboa 1960,
pp. 130-131. In addition, see the article by S. Bastos Mateus and J. Nelson Novoa, ‘De
Lamego para a Toscana’, p. 316.
27 See his Inquisitorial trial, ANTT, Inquisição de Lisboa, processo 4168.
[88]
New Christians of Lamego
who regularly attended the churches of São Miguel de Armamar and Almacave. He
was also a brother of the confraternity of the Holy Sacrament.28 In spite of being
apparently well integrated in the Lamego community, Rodrigues was denounced
to the inquisitors for alleged Judaic practices, including indoctrinating his family,
possessing books in Hebrew, and slaughtering animals in accordance with Jewish
ritual practice.29 These practices indicate the important position which he had in
the local New Christian community, a position which he shared with his son-inlaw, Pedro Furtado, who appears in the archival documents as an important figure
among the New Christians in Lamego.
It would seem that already in the 1530’s the New Christians of the city had
as their recognized leader the physician, Pedro Furtado, a figure so prominent as
to be entrusted with the health of the family of the bishop, D. Fernando Meneses
Coutinho e Vasconcelos (1461-1564, bishop of Lamego from 1516 to 1540).30 When
it became clear in the middle of the decade of the thirties that the Inquisition had
become a real and imminent menace, he became instrumental in the organization
of the New Christians of the city to combat, mitigate and subvert the functioning
of the tribunal there. His brother, Gabriel Furtado, was the almoxarife, the local
tax administrator, and a prominent personality in his own right.
It would seem that shortly after the appointment of the new bishop, Agostinho
Ribeiro, in 1540, and the establishment of the tribunal there in 1541, the Holy
Office quickly turned its attention to the Furtado brothers and their families. The
documentary evidence regarding this matter is abundant. The Arquivos Nacionais
da Torre de Tombo preserves the inquisitorial trials of several members of Pedro
Furtado’s immediate and extended family, Furtado and his wife, Isabel Gomez,
his sister Ana Furtado, and his niece, Catarina Gomes.31 It would seem that the
record of the trial of Gabriel Furtado is no longer extant. All were accused of
Judaizing. The Livro de denúncias of the Inquisition of Lamego is interspersed
28 Ambrosio Rodrigues refered to these articles in his defence: “...elle reo hee confrade
do Santissimo Sacramento e mujto devoto e per o assi ser nom consentia que no logar
darmamar se fezesse o palio do santissimo sacramento de chamelote como alguns dos
outros confrades querião que fosse antes trabalhou e dise que fosse de damasco como
de feito per seu azo se fez de damasco pera o qual deu elle reo sua esmola”, ANTT,
Inquisição de Lisboa, processo 4168, fl. 6v.
29 Ambrosio Rodrigues ended up dying in the prison of the Inquisition of Lisbon in
March, 1545, as is revealed in a letter written by the Inquisitor João de Melo e Castro
to the bishop of Lamego. ANTT, Inquisição de Lisboa, processo 4168.
30 On this figure, see S. Bastos Mateus and J. Nelson Novoa, ‘De Lamego para a Toscana’,
pp. 313-338.
31 They are, respectively, Inquisição de Lisboa, processo 8726; Inquisição de Lisboa,
processo 187; Inquisição de Lisboa, processo 8542.
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Susana Bastos Mateus and James W. Nelson Novoa
with numerous accusations by their fellow townspeople, more often than not, as is
revealed in the proceedings, old enemies with scores to settle.
The proceedings of Pedro Furtado’s inquisitorial trial were ordered to be
copied on August 13, 1543. The records do not indicate when he was apprehended,
and they lack a final sentence, leaving the outcome of the trial unclear. We will
not elaborate here on the figure of Pedro Furtado, as we have already done so
thoroughly elsewhere.32 Rather, what is of interest here is how the mechanisms
used by the New Christians to defend him, and very likely to successfully free
him, exemplify the modus operandi of the Portuguese New Christian network in
the 1540’s. This network, from its centers in Antwerp and in Rome, worked to
mitigate the functioning of the tribunal and to liberate individuals from the prisons
of the Inquisition in Portugal.
One such mechanism was the so-called Memoriale, a document about which
many elements are still unclear. It would seem that it was first called to the attention
of the academic community by Alexandre Herculano, who thoroughly examined
the document while writing his History of the Establishment of the Inquisition.
The version before Herculano was an eighteenth century copy in what was then
the Royal Library and is now the Biblioteca de Ajuda in Lisbon. It was copied
at the behest of King João V (1707-1750) as part of a gargantuan collection of
Portuguese diplomatic texts called the Symmicta Lusitana, which itself is part of
a vaster compendium of diplomatic texts called the Rerum Lusitanicarum. They
were copied mainly from texts in the Borghese library from the late sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, most of which are now in the Vatican Archive.33
The Borghese manuscript is itself a copy, very likely from the late sixteenth
century, judging by the hand which produced it.34 The document is not a uniform
text but rather a collection of accounts by the New Christians of the unjust
functioning of the various tribunals of the Inquisition in Portugal, together with
papal bulls regarding the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions. It also includes a
work by Pietro Paulo Parisio, the consiliorum ac responsorum petri pauli parisj
consentini, on the legal aspects of the legitimacy of forced conversion, which
seems to have been first published in 1543. Pietro Paulo Parisio (1473-1545)
was a noted jurist and professor of law at the universities of Rome, Padua and
Bologna, and a known sympathizer of the New Christians. He was also one of the
32 See n. 23 above.
33 Herculano related his version of the origin of the text in volume one of the History
as well as in an article: ‘A Symmicta Lusitana’, in Archivo Historico Portuguez, I,
pp. 369-370. In addition, see the forthcoming article on the Symmicta Lusitana by
Giuseppe Marcocci in the Dizionario storico dell’Inquisizione, eds. Adriano Prosperi,
John Tedeschi, Pisa 2008. The shelf mark of the Memoriale in the Symmicta Lusitana
is 46-X-14 and 15, BA.
34 The current shelf mark in the ASV is Fondo Borghese, Serie I, n. 893.
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New Christians of Lamego
first members of the tribunal of the Roman Inquisition, established by Paul III in
1542.35 The latest of the Portuguese documents and papal briefs in the Borghese
manuscript are from December, 1544. Herculano believed that the document, in
the form it had in the Lisbon and Borghese manuscripts, made its way into the
Curia around 1544.36 The fact that the last documents are from that year, coupled
with the inclusion of the work by Parisio, would seem to establish a date post
quem of 1544 for the collection of the documents in its entirety, although we know
nothing about the real criterion used to assemble them or, in fact, if they were ever
presented to Paul III.
Among the documents are a series of accounts of individual incidents of the
Inquisition called the annotationes crimunum et excessum inquisitorum per totum
regnum portugalliae. As one of the existing tribunals in the 1540’s, the short-lived
tribunal of Lamego occupied an important role in terms of the number of cases
which passed before it.37 The section on the tribunal in the Memoriale, called
the excessus inquisitorio civitati lamacensis, paints a most unflattering portrait
of the inquisitor, Manuel D’Almada, as inept, ignorant and cruel.38 It similarly
presents D’Almada’s predecessor, the deputy of the Inquisition, Gonçalo Vaz, as a
35 The editio princeps, it would seem, was published in 1543 in Venice, in four volumes:
Consiliorum ac responsorum Petri Pauli Parisij Consentini, Ex Archetypo nunc
primum in lucem aeditum, Venitijs, apud Aurelium Pincium Venetum impressum, 1543.
It was subsequently reprinted in 1580 and 1593. On Parisio, see the forthcomming
article by Giuseppe Marcocci in the Dizionario storico dell’Inquisizione.
36 See Alexandre Herculano, História da Origem e Estabelecimento da Inquisição em
Portugal, III, Lisboa 1976, pp. 98ff.
37 The number of people who were submitted to trials by the tribunal of Lamego was
considerable, especially if we consider the short period of time for which it functioned.
The majority of trials can be traced back to denunciations presented to the inquisitors
in 1543 and 1544. Various New Christian families from Lamego were affected by the
activity of the Inquistion. See the case of the family of Isabel Mendes, who presented
a stiff resistence to inquisitorial persecution through juridical appeals and pontifical
documents of which she claimed to be the beneficiary. See Susana Bastos Mateus, ‘A
acção do Santo Ofício sobre a comunidade cristã-nova de Lamego (1541-1548): o caso
de Isabel Mendes’, Cadernos de Estudos Sefarditas 7 (2007), pp. 301-320. Among the
people tried by the Holy Office were some New Christians who had been residing in
Lamego for many years, even before the forced conversion of 1497. This was the case
of Manuel Henriques do Braço, who was 75 years old when he was imprisoned by the
Holy Office in 1543. ANTT, Inquisição de Lisboa, processo 5874.
38 “Pro civitate Lamacensis deputarunt Emmanuelem Dalmada, qui solus facit id
quod vult in officio Inquisitionis iuvenis annorum 32, crudelissimum, acelaratus et
iracundus, sine aliqua temperantia, carens literis et non habens habilitabem ad onus
aliquod iustitiae ne dum in casu tam arduo et tanti pericoli in quo se facuint protinus
absolutos et maxime cum ille confaveatur per superiores opus scilicet manum suarum”.
Fol. 310r, 46-X-14 and 15, BA.
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Susana Bastos Mateus and James W. Nelson Novoa
bigamist, driven by personal ambition and enmity to act against the New Christians
of Lamego.39 The document accuses him of having people incarcerated in small
private prisons in his own home, and, in particular, of persecuting Ambrosio
Rodriguez and Diogo Dandrade, both of whom were related to Pedro Furtado,
out of personal spite.40 Among the other people unjustly imprisoned was Gabriel
Furtado, apparently the author of the account, who had commissioned a notary to
record his statements.41
It would seem that Furtado was apprehended in 1541. The main accusations
against him were of observing Jewish practices and of denying the existence of
Purgatory in an informal debate. He was denounced by Alvaro Pinto da Fonseca
and Alvaro Gonçalvez, two prominent citizens of Lamego.42 As an organizer of
the New Christian resistance in Lamego, Furtado must already have been involved
in the intricacies of organizing diplomacy and funds to change the fate of his New
39 “Deputarunt similter pro civitate Lamacensis in Inquisitorem quendam Gundisalvum
Vaz, habitatorem dictae civitatis et diocesis, bigamum, qui cum duabis contraxit
mulieribus et ultima erat ex has diocesis cuius, scilicet mulieris erant et sunt
consanguinei, maior pars habitatorum prafactae civitatis et districtus et sunt inimici
capitales christianorum novorum. Et similiter praefatus Gundissalvus Vaz est inimicus
multorum cum quibus habuit lites differentias atque inimicitias magnas et propterea
christiani novi Lamacensis recusarunt illum antequam deserviret in dicto officio prout
constat ex publicis instrumentis quae hic ostendent. Et miserunt requirere hoc a Rege
atque ab Infante Inquisitore generali petentes ut mitteretur alius sine suspitione qua non
esset habitator illius patriae prout est dictus Gundisalvus Vaz, maxime cum iustitiae
seculares dictae civitates sunt aliene gens et alia per suam celsitudinem deputate per
totum regnum nullusque sit habitator propriarum civitatum et locum et sunt iudices
rerum levissimarum et ex illis appelatur et aggravatur ad presidem provintiae”. Fols.
311r-311v, 46-X-14 and 15, BA.
40 “Non observant bullam Inquisitionis in carceribus quos faciunt ad se vindicandum
de suis inimicis qui recusabant illos pro suspectis et Inquisitores fecerunt carceres
privatos in sua propria domo qui sunt latitudinis octo palmorum et totidem longitudinis
unde exierunt infirmi et quos pre inflatis non capiebant vestes Ambrosius Roderici
et Dadacus Dandrade, sui inimici prout constat ex capitulae et articulis suspitionum.
Et cum fuissent sibi praesentata specialiter in dicta bulla ac de super coram notario
instater requisiti ut id observarent”. Fol. 312v, 46-X-14 and 15, BA.
41 “Et quoniam quidam iustanus Ferdinandi notarius apostolicus scripsit ad requisitionem
Gabrielis Furtado, incarcerati quasdam inspitiones et intimavit illas Emanueli Dalmada,
Inquisitori, habint illum carceratum ac condemnavit eundem in certis pecuniis atque
ad preces nonnullarum personarum liberavit ipsi promittentem et iurantem amplius de
super non scripturum et ita mandavit illi sub gravissimis penis ne scriberet quicque
concernentibus personas vel requirentes Inquisitionis”. Fol. 314r, 46-X-14 and
15, BA.
42 On Pinto de Fonseca, see da Costa, III, Lamego 1982, pp. 371-372. The accusations
are also included in the inquisitorial trial of Catarina Gomez. ANTT, Inquisição de
Lisboa, processo 8542. Fol. 34r-40v.
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New Christians of Lamego
Christian brethren in Portugal. A servant who testified against him claimed to have
gone for a time to Antwerp, where he misspent money that Furtado had entrusted
to him in order to handle his affairs.43 These affairs could very well have been the
Portuguese New Christian “safety network” of which Antwerp was an integral
part.44
In any case, we can assume that upon the imprisonment of Furtado, efforts were
made to intercede on his behalf in Rome. At this time, the Portuguese Christians
had several representatives in the papal court who worked as key figures in the
New Christian network to obtain the favor of Paul III. At the time of Furtado’s trial
and subsequent imprisonment, the principal representatives in Rome were Diogo
Antonio, a cleric from Coimbra who is referred to in the Roman documents as miles
militae Beata Maria Roncesvalles, and Diogo Fernandes Neto, a layman.45 They
followed upon the heels of the notorious Duarte de Paz, the first New Christian
agent, active in Rome from 1532 to 1538.46
Furtado’s imprisonment coincided with a tense period in the relations between
Rome and Portugal. From 1539 to 1542, there was no papal nuncio present in
Portugal. The previous nuncio, Hieronimo Capodiferro (1502-1559), had been
expelled by King João III, largely on account of his criticisms of the procedures
of the Inquisition in Portugal.47 Things had grown worse due to the appointment,
43 “Isto é o que se encontra na contradita apresentada pela ré, Catarina Gomes, contra
João Álvares : ‘Entende provar que o dito Joam Alvarez foi criado do Licenciado Pedro
Furtado, genro dela Catarina Gomez, e por seu mandado foi a Frandes com vinhos do
qual caminho não trouxe cousa alguma de retorno. Antes o dito Joam Alvarez gastou
mal iso que levava, empregado polo que ao tempo que tornou, que pode aver quatro
anos pouquo, mais o menos, o dito Licenciado lhe reprendeu gravemente ho mao
recado que fezera’ ”. ANTT, Inquisição de Lisboa, processo 8542. Fol. 39r.
44 On this question, see the book by Aron di Leone Leoni, The Hebrew Portuguese Nations
in Antwerp and London at the Time of Charles V and Henry VIII: New Documents and
Interpretations, Jersey City 2005.
45 Diogo Antonio would seem to have been prominent as a representative of the New
Christians in Rome from 1538 to 1542. He was followed by Diogo Fernandes Neto
from 1542 to 1543.
46 The figures of the Portuguese New Christian agents as such have not yet been studied in
an ordered and systematic way. The most thorough study remains the pages dedicated
to them in Herculano’s História. See the articles by James W. Nelson Novoa, ‘The
Departure of Duarte de Paz from Rome in the Light of Documents from the Secret
Vatican Archives’ in Cadernos de Estudos Sefarditas 7 (2007), pp. 273-300 and ‘The
Vatican Secret Archive as a Source for the History of the Activities of the Agents
of the Portuguese New Christians (1532-1543)’ in Dall’archivio segreto Vaticano:
Miscellanea di testi, saggi e inventari (forthcoming).
47 Capodiferro was nuncio from 1537 to 1539. The nuntiary is related in detail along with
published documents by Charles-Martial de Witte, La correspondance des premiers
nonces permanents au Portugal 1532-1553, I, Lisboa 1980, pp. 57-63.
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Susana Bastos Mateus and James W. Nelson Novoa
in pectore, of the “renegade” prelate D. Miguel de Silva (1480-1556) to the
cardinalate, on December 19, 1539 (which was made public in December, 1541).48
The next nuncio, Luigi Lippomano (1496-1559), was appointed to the position
in March, 1542 and left Rome on June 12, 1542, though he did not reach Portugal
until the beginning of 1543, due to laborious and difficult diplomacy between
Portugal and Rome. Officially, he was to address the King of Portugal on the issue
of the announcement of the convocation of the Council of Trent and to implore
the Portuguese sovereign to join the struggle against the Turk. The problem of the
excesses of the Inquisition in Portugal and the plight of individual New Christians,
at the insistence of the New Christian agents in Rome, were naturally also included
in the instructions which were given to him at the end of May, 1542.49
Among the papal briefs he was likely to have taken with him were a number
of documents concerning Portuguese New Christians which were written between
April and the beginning of June, undoubtedly in anticipation of his impending
diplomatic voyage.50 Among them could have been a papal brief made out to
Petro Furtado Physico Lamacensis in Medicina licenciato, dated June 12, 1542,
the same day as his departure from Rome. The draft copy which has survived
was written by the papal secretary, Blosio Palladio (died 1550) and was expedited
through the intervention of Cardinal Pietro Paulo Parisio, then the Auditor of the
Apostolic Chamber, who habitually undersigned similar papal briefs addressed to
New Christians or regarding the New Christian question in this period.51
Although addressed to Furtado, the document is a stinging rebuke of the
functioning of the tribunal in Portugal and, in particular, in Lamego. It claims
that many of those converts and their descendents, known as New Christians,
brought to the Christian faith under King Manuel I (1469-1521, king of Portugal
1495-1521) were holders of key positions in the Portuguese administration on
account of their merits, a fact which aroused the envy and ire of certain members
of society. The brief protests the random use of inquisitorial justice in Portugal,
48 On the figure of Miguel de Silva and the crisis of his appointment, see A. Ronchini,
‘Giovanni III di Portogallo il Cardinale Silva e l’Inquisizione’, Atti e memoriale dell
RR. Deputazioni di Storia Patria per le povincie dell’Emilia, Modena n.s. IV, (1879),
pp. 111-151 and Sylvie Deswarte, Il ‘Perfetto cortegiano’ D. Miguel da Silva, Roma
1989, p. 108.
49 De Witte, I, 1986, pp. 79-91.
50 These are to be found in the collection of papal documents for the first months of 1542.
Arm XLI, nº 24, fols. 465-457; 479; 486. Some were published by Shlomo Simonsohn
in The Apostolic See and the Jews: Documents 1539-1545, V, Toronto 1990, docs.
2129; 2157, pp. 2283-2285; 2297-2298.
51 The brief is published in its entirety in the Appendix (see doc. 2). We are indebted
to Professor Jadranka Neralic and Dr. Mirko Stocchi for the transcription of the
document.
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New Christians of Lamego
which was often the result of personal grudges and the settling of scores and not
the legitimate persecution of heresy. In addition, the brief provides a portrait of day
to day life in Lamego in the years before Furtado’s condemnation by the tribunal,
and it reveals that the person who presented the request for the brief by means of
a supplication, must have been an inhabitant of Lamego, or at least well aware of
what was happening there.
In particular, the brief goes on to relate the actions of Furtado’s townspeople
against him and the public accusations made against him and his family, in the
context of the activity of the Old Christian population against the New Christians.
It even alludes to an episode which appears in the text of the Memoriale in
which the New Christians of Lamego were publicly derided and accused by their
townsmen.52 The text goes into detail about the animosity demonstrated by Alvaro
Pinto de Fonseca and his family and intimate circle against Furtado, insisting that
Pinto de Fonseca was Furtado’s economic rival, and evoking some of the episodes
of contention between the two presented in the Livro de denúncias de Lamego.
In addition, the brief mentions several family members: Felix Luis, Jorge Duarte,
Rodrigo Fernandes, Diogo Simão, Antonio de Lisboa, and Antonio Rodriguez who
were equally persecuted by the Inquisition and who were also among the people
mentioned in the supplication for the brief. Many of these names in fact appear in
the Livro de denúncias de Lamego and in Furtado’s inquisitorial trial and those of
his close relatives.
The brief exempts Furtado and members of his family from the jurisdiction
of the Inquisition and threatens any inquisitor who should act against them
with excommunication and a fine of 10,000 gold ducats. In addition, it appoints
Henrique (1512-1580), the king’s brother, then bishop of Evora (a see which he
held from 1540 to 1564, becoming its first archbishop) and the chief inquisitor
of Portugal from 1539 to 1579, and his successors, as the only judges competent
to deal with Furtado and his family. In addition, it declares that the bishop of
Cesena, Cristoforo de Spirito (who held the see from 1510 to 1545) and of Marsi,
Marcello de Crescenzio (who held the see from 1534 to 1546) were to assist in
publishing the brief and ensuring that its terms be respected. The terms of the brief
and its wording are very similar to the brief of exemption offered in 1536 to Duarte
de Paz and his family members.53
We do not know if the brief arrived at the Portuguese court. No copy appears
to have survived in Portugal, or at least none would appear to be present in the
52 It would seem to allude to the episode which appears in Instrumentum 33 of the
Memoriale: instrumentum carminum diffamatorum contra istos miseros lamacensis
compositorum. Fols. 192 r-195v., 46-X-14 and 15, BA.
53 The document was published by Shlomo Simonsohn in The Apostolic See and the
Jews, IV, as doc. 1811, pp. 2049-2053.
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Susana Bastos Mateus and James W. Nelson Novoa
collection of bulls and briefs in the Portuguese National Archive. As we have
seen, the absence of the sentence in Furtado’s trial makes any speculation as to its
outcome a useless exercise. Apparently, by October, 1543 Furtado was no longer
in Lamego. He next appears mentioned as one of the agents of the New Christians
in Rome in November, 1545.54 The actual effect of the brief on Furtado and his
family remains to be studied.
Conclusion
The trial and imprisonment of Pedro Furtado and his subsequent appeal to Rome
for help through intermediaries is exemplary of the Portuguese New Christian
response to the first manifestations of the tribunal in Portugal. In the first decades
after the establishment of the tribunal, during a period in which it was still weak
and only beginning to take form, resistance to it was undertaken in part through
the fledgling organization of the New Christian representatives in Rome, whose
ranks Pedro Furtado himself would join later on, after his flight from Portugal and
his arrival in Italy. A few years afterwards, these same representatives presented
their case against the abuses by the various tribunals in Portugal by means of the
preparation of the text of the Memoriale, in which the tribunal of Lamego and its
functioning occupies a conspicuous section.
Though short lived, the tribunal of Lamego had a considerably negative
influence on the New Christian community there because of the dispersion and
imprisonment of its members. The stiff resistance offered by the community to the
tribunal is exemplified in particular by the brief presented here, which had been
paid for and written so as to be an effective instrument against the functioning of
the Holy Office. It testifies that the community there remained dynamic, in spite
of the duress they were enduring. It would seem that their efforts had at least an
immediate result, for it would appear that such protests in Rome went some way
to determining papal policy on the functioning of tribunals in Portugal, as the brief
Cum nuper dilectum would seem to bear out. What real effect the efforts of the
New Christian representatives had on the actual development of the Holy Office in
Portugal is, of course, still a much debated question among scholars.
Evidently, much work remains to be done on the largely unstudied question of
the short lived tribunals of the Holy Office which were disbanded in the decade of
the 1540’s in Portugal. Although the reasons for their demise surely lie to a large
extent in the interplay between Rome and the Portuguese court, as well as in issues
of material and political efficacy, the role of the social organization of the New
Christians in the diverse communities is deserving of consideration. The study of
54 On this question, see our article, ‘De Lamego para a Toscana’, pp. 318-324.
[96]
New Christians of Lamego
this question would also provide an opportunity to further study the communities
themselves.
Abbreviations
ANTT
ASV
BA
Instituto dos Arquivos Nacionais, Torre do Tombo, Lisbon
Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Vatican City
Biblioteca de Ajuda, Lisbon
Documentary Appendix
Document 1
Carta de ElRey para o Bispo de Lamego de 1541 Hé o suçesor imediato a Dom
Fernando de Vasconcellos porquanto foi provido ao arcebispado deste anno de
1540;
Reverendo Bispo amigo Eu ElRey vos envio muito saudar, por me parecer; que
seria grande serviço de Nosso Sr fasersse Inquisição em todos os meus Reynos,
E que fosse feita por tres pessoas \<à margem> Porque até este tempo estava em
Lisboa, e Évora somente./ de que Nosso Sr. fosse muyto servido: Assentei com o
Infante meu Irmão que vos a fisesseis nesse vosso Bispado, e no de Viseu, com hum
letrado de muita confiança como por outra Carta vos escreverey mais longamente
maes largamente e vereis pelas provisões do Infante meu Irmão, porque vos comete
o ditto cargo na forma que vereis, E porque para isso são necessarios offiçiaes :
Prometor, Meirinho, escrivão, e solicitador e estes convem que sejão pessoas de
confiança; folgarey de vos informardes se nesse vosso Bispado avera pessoas que
sejão autas para isso, e em que aja as callidades que deve deter, quem nestes cargos
ouver de servir . E porque agora seria bem que elles não tivessem ordenado, me
paresse que deveis buscar pessoas que sirvão sem elle, porque para prometor e
Escrivão podereis achar alguns que folguem de o ser, os quaes pello Breve que o
Sancto Padre passou aos offiçiaes da Inquisição lhe aprove que sendo clerigos e
tendo quasquer benefiçios os pudessem ? posto que nelles não resedissem E este
previlegio he tão grande que so por elle folgarão de entrar nestes cargos, quanto
maes, que os cargos são taes que folgarão de os asseitar sem ordenado, pois se lhe
pode seguir folgarem de lhes faser merçe. E o meirinho podesse ?, sendo tal qual
cumpre para isso, e assi o | deve, e com o mantimento que ja tem podera servir f. 21v
estoutro cargo. E para solisitador muitos achareis que folguem de o ser. Muyto
vos encomendo que logo vos informeis de tudo isto e que cumpre para esta boa
obra haver efffeito, e com aquella brevidade que convem de tão grande servisso de
Nosso Sr. como esta he e que tan grande seu desservisso hê estar por faser. Pero
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Susana Bastos Mateus and James W. Nelson Novoa
fernandez a fez em Lisboa a dias de julho de mil e quinhentos e corenta e hum. A
qual Carta consertey com a propria e vay na verdade dada nesta Torre do Tombo
aos vinte dias do mes de junho de 1629.
Gaspar Alvarez Lousada
ANTT, Conselho Geral do Santo Ofício, liv. 90, fol. 21r-v.
Document 2
Dilecto filio Petro Furtado Physico Lamacensis in medicina licentiato.
Paulus tertius.
Dilecte filii salutem etc. Exponi nobis nuper fecisti quod cum a die quo
procurante seu iubente clare memorie Emannuele Portugalie et Algarbiorum Rege
tunc in humanis agente Iudei in regnis et dominiis eiusdem Emanuelis Regis tunc
commorantes ex hebraica perfidia ad christianam fidem conversi sunt multi ex
conversis huiusmodi et diuersi alii qui postmodum ad eandem fidem venerunt et ab
eis descenderunt christiani novi nuncupanti circa pietatis et claritatis ac publice
utilitatis opera ita laudabiliter se gesserint ut non immerito ultra diversos honorum
et dignitatum gradus quos eorum exigentibus meritis sunt assecuti etiam pubblicis
officiis et tribunitiis civitatum gubernationibus prefici meruerint. Et propterea
crescentibus eorum facultatibus creverit etiam contra eos invidia plurimorum
nobilium et potentium eorumdem regnorum et dominiorum et inde factum fuerit ut
aliqui nobiles et potentes civitatis Lamacensis ne aliquis ex eisdem novis cristianis
et presertim tu et fratres et consanguinei tui etiam si ad id regia auctoritatem deputati
essetis uffitio publico uti seu regimini civitatis interesse possetis impedire
procuraverint et postquam super hoc iudicialiter etiam per plures sententias convicti
succubuerunt tecum et etiam cum aliis novis christianis iurgia et inimicitias
particulares contraxerint et tam [pre]teriti quam alii plures ex veteribus christianis
auctoritatis huiusmodi te et tuos ac alios novos cristianos palam vituperare et
publicas cantilenas et libellos diffamatorios in vestrum opprobrium componere ac
vos et qualiter ad vos et Sedem Apostalicam quandoque pro iustitia et quandoque
pro misericordia consequenda accedatis in comediis representare necnon populum
contra vos sub pretextu rerum et bonorum vestrorum future occupationis et inter
eos divisionis et futurae villioris annone si vos inde expellamini aut omnes
comburamini incitare diversaque alia dissentionis et odii plena ut si fieri possit
quod alias in aliquibus regnorum et dominiorum huismodi partibus factum fuit vos
omnes furore populi ad unum exterminemini disseminare ceperit et in specie cum
tu in dicta civitate tribuni plebis vereatoris nuncupanti officio fungereris et tam pro
debito tui officii quam ut iuramento per te de dicto officio fideliter exercendo ac
utilitati publice consulendo prestito satisfaceres de dilecto filio Alvaro Pinto de
Fonseca uni ex proceribus dicte civitatis quam pluribus nobilibus et prepotentibus
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New Christians of Lamego
consanguineis et affinibus abundanti ne numerosum gregem caprarum quem per
prata, silvis et septa ac possessiones diversorum privatorum illis innitis licet
reclamare nedum obviare formidaret agere solebat ulterius ageret nec Barose aut
aliorum fluminum infra terminos eiusdem civitatis decurrentium piscationem quae
communis erat et quam ipse Alvarus in multis | eiusdem fluminis utilioribus partibus f. 309r
privatam faecerat prohiberet zelo rei publice oppossuisses et de super sententiam in
tui et dilectorum filiorum communitatis eiusdem civitatis favorem et contra eundem
Alvarum reportasses et exinde cum dicto Alvaro ac eius consanguineis, affinibus et
amicis gravissimam inimicitiam contraxisses idem Alvarus iam sex vel pluribus
annis elapsis te tunc ex rure ad civitatem praedictam redeundem sagitta ex balista
emissa in anteriori parte humeri usque ad dorsum vulnerari fecerit ac alias te et
fratres ac consanguineios tuos eo redegerit ut non nisi sub protectione et iustitia
carissimi in Christo filii nostri Johannis Portugaliae et Algarbiorum regis illustris
tute degere aut iustitiam consegui posse recedentes ad eundem Johannem Regem
recurrere et ab eo diversa mandata et provisiones iustitatiam vestram in huiusmodi
causa concernetia et praecipue litteras etiam manu eiusdem Johannis regis signatas
quibus Alvarus et consanguineis ac affines sui prefati tibi et patri necnon socero et
fratri tuis inimici capitales existere denunciantur ac ipsius Alvari eorumque
consanguineorum et affinium aut amicorum vel familiarium accusationes seu
denunciationes contra vos pro tempore proposite seu introducte admitti prohibentur
reportare coacti fueritis prout de hiis omnibus nobis per publica documenta extitit
facta fides nec premissis contentiis sed expensis quas super iudicio vulneris tibi
illati huiusmodi in quo per testes convictus et per iudicem ecclesiasticum ad quem
recursum habueras condemnatus extitit facere coactus fuit efferatior factus te et
consanguineos tuos coram inquisitoribus heretice pravitatis partium illarum quorum
quamplures eidem Alvaro et consanguineis ac affinibus suis prefatis amicissimi et
fautores existunt accusare seu alias inquietare et molestare querat ac iam forsan in
iudicium evocati facere inceperit et via huiusmodi ob copiam testium corruptorum
sibi non de futuram sperat te et consanguineos tuos prefatos in totum perdere et
delere sattagat et anhelet ac exinde ob favores et potentiam Alvari consanguineorum
et affinium suorum quibus in illis partibus valde pollet diverse persone in illis
partibus commorantes seu sub eiusdem Iohannis regis dominiis existentes tibi
tuisque consanguineis et affinibus suspecte existant et esse possint et propterea
coram illis in causis contra [eo]s pro tempore motis iustitie complementum consequi
posse diffidatis et id tu, fili Petre, dilectum filium Fe[...]um Luis consanguineum
tuum non sine maximo dispendio et corporis periculo ad Almam Urbem
conspectumque nostrum aliquam securitatem a nobis superinde reportaturum
transmisseris ipseque Felicus ad dictum regnum absque secu- | ritate huiusmodi f. 310r
redire non audens nobis nomine tuo supplicari fecerit ut tibi et sibi ac socero necnon
fratribus et sororibus tuis ac dilectis filiis Didaco Lomeuro, Simoni Rodriguez,
Georgio Duarte, Roderico Fernandez, Iacobo de Fonseca, Antonio de Lixboa ac
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Susana Bastos Mateus and James W. Nelson Novoa
quondam Antonio Rodriguez tuis in secundo et tertio consanguinitatis gradibus
respective constitutis consanguineis et qui inter plures alios consanguineos et
affines tuos quos habes contra eosdem aduersarios et inimicos tuos pecuniis ac aliis
suventionibus et remediis te ipsum specialiter iuvarunt et defenderunt et tutati sunt
et omnes propterea et presertim dictus Georgius in eandem causam inimicitiarum
tecum reincident aliquam securitatem cum qua in dictis regnis tute et secure degere
possitis concedere aliisque vobis in premissis opportune providere de beniginitate
apostolica dignaremur, nos et si de alicuius integritate et iustitia minime diffidimus
attendentes tamen quam grave et periculosum sit partibus maxime ubi de toto
illarum statu et salute agitur coram suspectis litigare iudicibus et considerantes
quod qui gladio occidere satagit facilius et promptius lingua occidere curabit
volentes vobis ut in civitate et regnis predictis secure degere possitis nec cetere
eiusdem regni novi christiani recessu dicti Felixi Luis perterreantur aut illius
exemplo inducti a dicto regno aufugiant et non ad Apostolicam Sedem et Romanam
Ecclesiam omnium matrem prout ipse fecit sed ad partes immanissimorum
Turcharum christiani nominis hostium prout alias contigisse audiuimus se conferant
opportune povidere motu proprio et ex certa scientia omnibus et singulis generalibus
vel specialibus heretice pravitatis inquisitoribus ac eorum subdelegatis et officialibus
ac quibusvis ordinariis et delegatis iudicibus etiam regiis et officialibus quavis
auctoritate, potestate et dignitate etiam pontificali, archiepiscopali, primatiali et
patriarchali statu, gradu, conditione et preminentia etiam cardinalatus honore et tali
qualitate de qua expressa mentio fieri deberet pollentibus etiam a nobis seu
predecessoribus nostris et sede predicta etiam ad instantiam eiusdem Iohannis regis
seu per eundem Iohannem regem et predecessores suos seu alias pro tempore
quomodolibet deputatis in regnis et dominiis predictis existentibus sub maioris
excomunicationis a qua nonnisi a nobis et successoribus nostris Romanis
pontificibus canonice intrantibus aut in mortis articulo constituti absolvi possint ac
beneficiorum et officiorum ecclesiasticorum per eos obtentorum primationis et
inhabilitatis ad illa et alia imposterum obtinenda ac decem millium ducatorum auri
pro una camere nostre apostolice ac pro alia medietatibus camere regie applif. 311r | candorum penis eo ipso nisi paruerint incurrendis per presentes districte precipiendo
mandamus et inhibemus ne ratione inquisitionis a nobis alias decimo kal. Junii
pontificatus nostri anno secundo concesse aut aliarum inquisitionum tam a nobis
quam predecessoribus nostris emanatarum et quas imposterum a successoribus
nostris et eadem sede emanare [con]tinget etiam pretextu quarumcumque
iurisdictionum ordinariarum vel delegatarum pro tempore quomodolibet
competentium aut commissionum privilegiorum et litterarum etiam apostolicarum
quascumque etiam derogatoriarum derogatorias et efficaciores et insolitas clausulas
et decreta in se continentium etiam ad dicti Iohannis regis aut aliorum quorumvis
instantiam concessorum etiam per viam accusationis, visitationis, correctionis,
denunciationis seu ex quibusvis aliis causis contra te et socerum ac fratres et sorores
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New Christians of Lamego
[tu]os necnon Didacum Simonem, Georgium et Rodericum, Jacobum, Antonium
[d]e Lixboa, Antonium Rodriguez ac [F]elixum Luis, consanguineos tuos prefatos
necnon tuos omnes ac supradictorum omnium filios et filias nepotes et neptes natos
et nascituros ac tuam eorumque et earum uxores ac maritos presentes et futuros
etiam si aliqui ex predictis tempore date presentium mortui sint super heresis etiam
manifeste et notorie ac appostasie sacrilegii vel blansfemie aliisque ad forum
ecclesiasticum pertinentibus criminibus et excessibus quantumcumque gravibus
directe vel indirrecte etiam post tuam et eorum vel alicuius ipsorum mortem
procedere vel te aut eos vel eorum aliquos incarcerare aut in personis vel bonis
molestare aut alias inquietare seu incarcerari molestari aut inquietari facere
quomodolibet presumant nos enim te et illos ac vestrum quemlibet ab omni
predictorum iudicum et officialium iurisdictione potestate et auctoritate penitus et
omnino eximimus et plenarie exemptos esse et minime sub quistionibus
iurisdictionibus privilegiis et litteris apostolicis predictis comprehensos fore nec
comprehendi imposterum debere decernimus sed tam super predictis quam super
quibusvis aliis criminalibus et mixtis causis cum omnibus eorum incidentibus,
dependentibus, emergentibus, annexis et connexis contra vos aut aliquem vestrum
motis et pro tempore quomodolibet movendis cuiuscunque qualitatis existant per
venerabilem fratrem archiepiscopum Elboren. de quo ob singularem eius
integritatem confidimus eiusque in ecclesia Elboren. successores quibus in virtute
sancte obedientie ut hoc onus suscipiant et suscipere debeant mandamus et quos
super premissis iudices deputamus | iuxta ordinariam iurisdictionem eis attributam f. 312r
cognosci debeant dummodo in criminibus heresis aut heresim sapientibus nullatenus
contra te aut illos vel eorum aliquem per viam inquisitionis, visitationis vel alias ex
officio sed solum per viam accusationis quandocumque ab aliquibus te aut illos vel
eorum aliquem super dictis criminibus accusari contigerit se inromittant aut de eis
quovismodo cognoscere debeat decernentes omnes et singulos processus testium
et probationum receptiones ac omnia et singula contra presentium tenorem
quomodoibet acta gesta necnon excomunicationis et quasvis alias sententias de
super pro tempore latas ac quicquid secus in premissis per quoscumque etiam per
nos et eandem Sedem scienter vel ignoranter quomodolibet contigerit attemptari
irrita et inania nulliusque roboris vel momenti existere presentesque quo ad te ac
omnes et singulos alios supradictos etiam si tempore date ipsarum in heresi
deprehensi eamque sponte confessi aut de ea convicti vel etiam tamquam relapsi
condemnati etiam si clerici etiam in sacris ordinibus aut quavis etiam ecclesiastica
dignitate constituti fueritis suum plenarium effectum sortiri debere ac de nullitate
seu surreptionis aut obreptionis vitio seu intentionis nostre defectu notari non posse
nec debere illisque etiam per quoscumque commissiones privilegia et litteras etiam
apostolicas etiam propria manu nostra et successorum nostrorum pro tempore
signatas ac quibusvis causis quomodolibet (etiam motu et scientia similibus
concessas et innovatas seu alias derogari non posse nec derogatum censeri et si illis
[101]
Susana Bastos Mateus and James W. Nelson Novoa
derogari vel eas revocari contigerit quotiens revocate fuerint vel illis derogatum
extiterit toties de novo concessas et impristinum statum repositas restitutas et
plenarie reintegratas fuisse et esse ipsasque presentes litteras vim et effectum valide
et efficacis probationis quoad omnia in eis narrata et contenta ita ut nulla probatio
in contrarium admittatur habere et plenarium effectum sortiri debere etiam si
pretense cause suspicionum inanes aut leves vel nunc et pro tempore evanuisse
pretendantur vel pretendi possent sicque in premissis omnibus et singulis per
quoscumque iudices etiam heretice pravitatis inquisitores et causarum palatii
apostolici auditores et Sancte Romane Ecclesie cardinales in Romana Curia vel
extra in regnis et dominiis predictis vel alibi commorantes in quibusvis causis et
instantiis non expectata a nobis super hoc alia mentis nostre declaratione ac sublata
eis et eorum cuilibet quavis aliter iudicandi et interpretandi facultate et auctoritate
iudicari et diffiniri debere et insuper eidem archiepiscopo Elboren. eiusque in dicta |
f. 313r ecclesia [Elboren.] successoribus per se vel alium seu alios quoscumque quorum
interest aut interesse poterit tam in dicta Curia quam extra etiam per editum
publicum constituto summarie et extraiudicialiter de non tuto accessu citandi ac
predictis et quibusvis aliis iudicibus et personis quoties et quando opus fuerit sub
predictis ac quibusvis aliis de quibus sibi videbitur censuris et penis etiam
ecclesiasticis eius arbitrio moderandis et applicandis etiam per simile edictum
inhibendi et in eventum non paritionis ad declarationem incursus censurarum et
penarum huiusmodi illarumque aggravationem et alias iuxta stillum et morem sue
curie in similibus servari solitum procedendi ac quascumque sententias per eum
latas executioni debite demandandi et demandari faciendi ac contradictores
quoslibet et rebelles per censuras et penas predictas aliaque iuris remedia
appellatione postposita compescendi et auxilium brachii secularis si opus fuerit
invocans necnon simpliciter vel ad cautelam absolvendi aliaque omnia et singula
in premissis necessaria seu quomodolibet opportuna faciendi et exequendi plenam
et liberam per easdem presentes concedimus facultatem venerabilibus autem
fratribus [...]elirenn. Cesenaten. et Marsican. [...] episcopis per easdem presentes
mandamus quatenus ipsi vel duo aut unus eorum per se vel alium seu alios presentes
litteras et in eis contenta quecumque ubi et quando opus fuerit aut quoties pro parte
tua aut alicuius ex predictis fuerint requisiti solemniter publicantes vobisque in
premissis efficacis defensionis presidio assistentes faciant auctoritate nostra te et
singulos supradictos omnibus et singulis premissis pacifice frui et gaudere non
permittentes te aut eorum aliquem per dictos inquisitores sublegatos officiales et
iudices molestari contradictores quoslibet et rebelles per easdem sententias
censuras et penas ecclesiasticas et etiam pecuniarias appellatione postposita
compescendo invocato etiam ad hoc si opus fuerit auxilio brachii secularis non
obstantibus premissis ac pie memorie Bonifacii pape VIII etiam predecessoris
nostri de una et in concilio generali edita de duabus dictis et aliis apostolicis necnon
in provincialibus et sinodalibus conciliis editis generalibus vel specialibus et
[102]
New Christians of Lamego
ordinationibus legibus imperialibus necnon etiam | iuramentis confirmatione f. 314r
apostolica vel quavis firmitate alia roboratis officii inquisitionis regnorum et
dominiroum predictorum illorumque civitatum et locorum etiam municipalibus
statutis et consuetudinibus privilegiis quoque indultis etiam in corpore iuris etiam
per nos et predecessorum nostrorum et Sedem huiusmodi inquisitoribus predictos
aut locorum ordinariis etiam ad instantiam eiusdem Iohannis et aliorum
quorumcumque regum etiam motu et scientia similibus aut cum quibusvis etiam
derogatoriarum derogatoriis aliisque efficaciorubus et insolitis clausulis et decretis
concessis approbatis et innovatis etiam si in eis caveatur expressis modis et formis
derogari possit expresse modis et formis derogari possit quibus illorum aut aliorum
omnium supra narratorum et quorumcumque privilegiorum per prefatum Iohannem
regem seu eius predecessores novis christianis nuncupatis regnorum et dominiorum
predictorum concessorum vel pactorum cum eis initorum tenores pro latissime
expressis habentes etiam si pro illorum sufficienti derogatione de illis eorumque
totis tenoribus specialis specifica expressa et individua non autem per clausulas
generales idem importantes mentio seu quevis alia expressio habente aut alia
exquisita forma ad hoc servanda foret tenores huiusmodi ac si de verbo ad verbum
et forma in illis tradendo servata inserti forent pro sufficienter expressis habentes
illis alias in suo robore permansuris hac vice dumtaxat harum serie motu et scientia
predictis specialiter et expresse derogamus et quatenus effectus premissorum
quomodolibet impediri vel differri possint nullatenus eis suffragari possit vel
debere decernimus contrariis quibuscumque seu si inquisitoribus vel quibusvis
aliis communiter vel divisim ab eadem sit Sede indultum quod interdici suspendi
vel excommunicari non possint per litteras apostolicas non facientes |
plenam et expressam ac de verbo ad verbum de indulto huiusmodi mentionem f. 315r
ceterum quia difficile foret presentes litteras ad singula loca in quibus de eis erit
facienda fides deferre volumus et eadem apostolica auctoritate decernimus ipsarum
transumptis manu notarii publici subscriptis et sigillo alicuius persone in dignitate
ecclesiastica constitute munitis in iudicio et alibi si opus fuerit eadem prorsus fides
adhibeatur que originalibus ipsis adhiberetur si forent exhibite vel ostense.
Dat. Romae apud Sanctum Marcum XII Junii 1542, anno 8.
Vidi de mandato Sanctissimi Domini Nostri et inspectis publiciis instrumentis
recognitis et interpetatis inimiciciarum de quibus supra visis etiam similibus
provisionibus per suam Sanctitatem aliis personis ex similibus causis concessis
videtur posset expediri. P. Car. Parisius.
Epist. 499, Fols. 308 r-315r, Arm. XLI nº 24, ASV.
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