The Inquisition: A History From Beginning to End by Hourly History

Author:Hourly History [History, Hourly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hourly History
Published: 2017-07-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

The Portuguese Inquisition

“Goa is sadly famous for its inquisition, equally contrary to humanity and commerce. The Portuguese monks made us believe that the people worshiped the devil, and it is they who have served him.”

—Voltaire

While the Spanish Inquisition often is the most notable or most famous, the Portuguese and Goan Inquisitions may have been equally as terrible in scope. The Portuguese Colonial Empire stretched across the continents of the Americas, Africa, and Asia with colonies in Brazil, Cape Verde, and Goa. Although their reach was much smaller in size, the ambition of the Portuguese may have rivaled the Spanish. A contemporary of the Spanish and Roman Inquisitions, the Portuguese Inquisition dealt with some similarities including the expulsion of Jews. By and large, the Inquisition in Portugal focused its attention on the Jewish populations that had flooded their cities as they fled from Spain. Outside of the borders of Portugal, the Goan Inquisition and other varied branches of the Portuguese Inquisition met challenges that were utterly foreign to other Inquisitions occurring in Europe.

It should be noted that at first, the Portuguese wanted no part of the Inquisition, despite incredible pressure from the monarchs of Spain. However, by 1497, in an effort to solidify relations between the two nations, King Manuel 1 married Isabella of Aragon, and after her death, he was betrothed to her younger sister Maria. As part of the marriage contract, the Spanish monarchs insisted that a clause is adopted that allowed the expansion of the Inquisition into Portugal and to expel all the Jewish refugees that had fled Spain for Portugal.

The Inquisition in Portugal was largely handicapped initially. For several years, King Manuel I stalled its progress and hindered its influence, due to the entrenched wealth of the Jewish communities of his kingdom. Spanish pressure was great and eventually King Manuel I ordered the conversion of the Jews within his kingdom. His order of conversion was only half-serious as he stated that the order was not to be investigated for at least two decades. Despite his efforts to outmaneuver the Spanish, in 1506 a pair of Spanish Dominican Friars instigated a mob in Lisbon to violence. Several hundred Jewish conversos, called Marranos in Portugal, were killed. It is estimated that after this massacre tens of thousands of Jews began to flee persecution in Portugal—leaving for England, Amsterdam, and some to Asian Goa. The official figures of the Portuguese Inquisition may be less than half the numbers of those put to death in Spain. However, this does not fully represent its extent. The largest and most influential of the Portuguese Inquisitions was the Inquisition in Goa. When the Inquisition was disbanded in Goa, all records were lost or destroyed, making a clear picture of the entire puzzle nearly impossible to decipher.

The Island of Goa became a colonial possession of Portugal after the Portuguese were granted the rights to all trade in Asia by the papal decree of Pope Nicholas V. After four decades, it appeared that the Portuguese were not interested in the conversion of the indigenous populations.

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