On 5 December 1496,King Manuel I of Portugal signed the decree of expulsion of Jews and Muslims to take effect by the end of October of the next year.[1]
Until the 15th century, some Jews occupied prominent places in Portuguese political and economic life. For example,Isaac Abrabanel was the treasurer of KingAfonso V of Portugal. Many also had an active role inPortuguese culture, and they kept their reputation of diplomats and merchants. By this time,Lisbon andÉvora were home to important Jewish communities. The Jewish community, along with the Moors, had control in Spain as well, until around 1478 when Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand had started buying the land that anyone who was not Catholic had controlled.[2]
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On 5 December 1496, KingManuel I of Portugal decreed that all Jews must convert toCatholicism or leave the country, in order to satisfy a request by theCatholic Monarchs of Spain during the negotiations of the contract of marriage between himself and their eldest daughterIsabella, Princess of Asturias, as an unstated condition to win her hand.[3] The King demonstrated his wish to completely and forever eradicate Judaism from Portugal by issuing two decrees.[1] The initial edict of expulsion of 1496 was turned into an edict of forced conversion in 1497, whereby Portuguese Jews were prevented from leaving the country and were forcibly baptized and converted to Christianity.[4] Those Jews who refused to pay taxes in protest were deported from Portugal and abandoned to their fate in the islands ofSão Tomé and Príncipe, off the western coast of Africa.[5] Hard times followed for the Portugueseconversos, withthe massacre of 2,000 people in Lisbon in 1506, and later the establishment of thePortuguese Inquisition in 1536.[citation needed]
When the King allowedconversos to leave after the Lisbon massacre of 1506, many went to the Ottoman Empire, notablySalonica andConstantinople, and to the Wattasid Sultanate ofMorocco. Smaller numbers went toAmsterdam,France,Brazil,Curaçao and theAntilles,Surinam andNew Amsterdam. In some of these places their presence can still be perceived in the use of theLadino language by some Jewish communities inGreece andTurkey, thePortuguese-based dialects of the Antilles, or the multiplesynagogues built by those who became known as theSpanish and Portuguese Jews, such as theAmsterdam Esnoga or theWillemstad Snoa. Some of the most famous descendants of Portuguese Jews who lived outside Portugal are the philosopherBaruch Spinoza (Bento de Espinosa in Portuguese), and the classical economistDavid Ricardo.[citation needed]
Jews who converted to Christianity were known asNew Christians, and were always under the constant surveillance of the Inquisition. The Holy Office in Portugal lasted for almost three hundred years, until the Portuguese Inquisition was abolished in 1821 by the "General Extraordinary and ConstituentCourts of the Portuguese Nation". Many of those New Christians werecrypto-Jews who continued to secretly practice their religion; they eventually left the country in the centuries to come, and openly embraced their Jewish faith again in foreign lands. Such was the case, for example, of the ancestors of Baruch Spinoza in the Netherlands. Some other Portuguese Jews, very few in number like theBelmonte Jews, opted for a different and radical solution, practicing their faith in a strictly secret manner among a rural and isolated community. Known as the "Last of theMarranos", some have survived until today (especially the Jewish community fromBelmonte in Castelo Branco, plus some scattered families) by their practice of intermarriage and their very limited cultural contacts with the outside world. Only recently, in the late 20th century, have they re-established contact with the international Jewish community and openly practice their religion in a public synagogue with a formalrabbi.[6]
According to contemporary historian François Soyer, the expulsion of Muslims from Portugal has been overshadowed by the forced conversion of Jews in the country.[7] While tolerance of Muslim minorities in Portugal was higher than in any other part of Europe,[8] Muslims were still perceived as "alien."[9] Anti-Muslim riots were regular in neighboringValencia during the 1460s; however, no similar acts of violence occurred in Portugal.[8]
In December 1496, Manuel I ordered all Muslim subjects to leave without any apparent provocation.[10] According to 16th-century Portuguese historiansDamião de Góis andJerónimo Osório, the Portuguese government originally planned to forcibly convert or execute Muslims as they had done to Jews, but fear of retaliation from Muslim kingdoms in North Africa led the king to settle on deportations instead.[11] Manuel I's motivation behind the order is unclear, but some contemporary historians say it was part of a greater goal of QueenIsabella and KingFerdinand (known as the "Catholic Monarchs") to rid the peninsula of Muslims and create "religious uniformity" and "monolithic Catholic Christian unity".[12] Other historians say it was influenced by ambitions of conquering Morocco,[13] or by the suggestion of the Dominican confessor to the king, Friar Jorge Vogado.[14] Some Muslims found refuge inCastile,[15] but most fled to North Africa.[16]
In 1525,David Reubeni, a Jewish man who claimed to be the commander of a Jewish army inthe Ottoman Empire, arrived in Portugal. With the approval of thePope, he sought the Portuguese king’s assistance in providing him with ammunition to fight against the Muslims. Reubeni stayed in Portugal for several months, during which he sparked messianic expectations among theNew Christians. His actions also led to the conversion ofSolomon Molcho, which ultimately resulted to the King of Portugal expelling Reubeni from the country.[17]
In the 19th century, some affluent families of Sephardi Jewish Portuguese origin such as the Ruah and Bensaude, resettled in Portugal from Morocco. The first synagogue to be built in Portugal since the 15th century was theLisbon Synagogue, inaugurated in 1904.[18]
In 2014 the Portuguese parliament changed thePortuguese nationality law in order to grant Portuguese nationality to descendants ofSephardi Jews expelled from Portugal. The law is a reaction to historical events that led to their expulsion from Portugal, but also due to increased concerns over Jewish communities throughout Europe. In order to obtain Portuguese nationality, the person must attest being a direct descendant of a Sephardi of Portuguese origin or family connections in a collateral line from a former Portuguese Sephardi community. Use of expressions in Portuguese in Jewish rites orJudaeo-Portuguese orLadino can also be considered proof.[19]
From 2015 several hundredTurkish Jews who were able to prove descent fromPortuguese Jews expelled in 1497emigrated to Portugal and acquiredPortuguese citizenship.[20][21][22]
Soyer, François (2007).The Persecution of the Jews and Muslims of Portugal: King Manuel I and the End of Religious Tolerance (1496–7). Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV.ISBN 9789004162624. Retrieved15 May 2017.