500 ANNIVERSARY OF THE FORCED CONVERSION OF THE JEWS OF PORTUGAL
HArieh
by Arthur Benveniste
http://www.haruth.com/JewsMarranos.html
(From an address at Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel, Los Angeles, October
1997)
Five years ago we commemorated the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. The
founders of this temple and most of its members today are descendants of
those Jews. The story of the Spanish Expulsion is well known. Not so well
known is what happened five years later in the neighboring country of
Portugal. It is to honor the memory of the victoms of that event that we
gather here tonight.
Of those Jews who chose to flee Spain in 1492, large numbers went to
Morocco, Italy and to the Ottoman Empire. But, the greatest number, perhaps
half of the total went to Portugal.
King João II, of Portugal, allowed them to enter. He was preparing for war
against the Moors and he needed the taxes collected from these Jews to
finance that war. He also was aware of the great talent of the Jews in many
fields including the mechanics of arms making, which he hoped he would call
upon and he did not want that talent to be available to the Moors.
But his welcome was not complete. Permanent residence was granted only
to 630 wealthy families who were allowed to establish themselves in several
parts of the country upon payment of 100 cruzados. A number of craftsmen,
skilled in arms making, were also granted permanent residence.
Others were allowed to settle for only eight months upon payment of eight
cruzados for each adult. The king then bound himself to provide shipping so
that they could leave. One hundred thousand refugees may have entered
under these conditions. At the end of eight months, however, little
shipping was available and few could leave. Those left behind were declared
forfeit of their liberty and were declared slaves of the king. In 1493,
many Jewish children were torn from their parents and send to the recently
discovered island of São Tomé off the west coast of Africa.
A chronicle from that time reports:
In this year of 1493, ... the king gave to Alvaro de Caminha the Captaincy
of the Island of São Tome of right and inheritance; and as for the Castilian
Jews who had not left his kingdom within the assigned date, he ordered that,
according to the condition upon their entry, all the boys, and young men and
girls of the Jews be taken into captivity. After having them all turned
into Christians, he sent them to the said island with Alvaro de Caminha, so
that by being secluded, they would have reasons for being better Christians,
and [the king] would have in this reason for the island to be better
populated, which, as a result, culminated in great growth.1
In 1993 the descendants of those children, still living on São Tome,
held ceremonies to commemorate that tragic event.
The son of King João II, Crown Prince Affanso, was married to Princess
Isabel, the daughter of the Catholic Kings of Spain. One day Affanso went
fishing. Later that day his body was found, drowned. It is not known if
this was an accident or foul play. Princess Isabel, now a widow and still a
very young woman, returned to Madrid.
In 1494 King João died. Next in line of succession to the throne was a
cousin, Manoel.
The new king recognized that the Jewish slaves were guiltless and he
restored them their liberty. He even refused a gift offered to him in
gratitude. Was this because he was truly an enlightened monarch or because
he hoped to win them over to Christianity? The status of the Jews of
Portugal appeared to be improving and they must have felt secure to be ruled
by such a seemingly merciful king. But, their good fortune did not last.
Soon their lives were again in peril.
There was some dispute as to the legitimacy of Manoel's claim to the
monarchy. He needed a way to solidify his position. A solution offered by
one of the king's converso advisors: marry Princess Isabel of Spain. A
union with the widow of the late crown prince would not only give him a
stronger claim to the throne, but also create a possible future union with
Spain in which all of Iberia would be ruled by Manoel or one of his
descendants.
He made an offer to Ferdinand and Isabella. Their answer: the marriage
would approved only if the Jews were expelled from Portugal.
Manoel was in a dilemma; he did not want to lose the wealth and skills
of Jews and he feared that these skills would be used to the advantage of
the Moors in the coming war. But, he felt that a marriage to Princess
Isabel was necessary.
Finally, Isabel herself interceded; she announced that she would not
accept the marriage unless the Jews were expelled. Manoel agreed to the
terms. A marriage agreement was signed on November 30, 1496. Five days
later, the king issued a decree banishing the Jews from the country. They
were ordered to leave Portugal by October 1497.
Soon Manoel began to question his decision. He knew of the value of
the Jews and may genuinely have felt he could convert them. He wanted to
find some way to keep them in Portugal as Catholics. On the advice of the
Apostate Levi ben Shem-tob he found a way to achieve this goal.
Friday March 19, 1497 (the first day of Passover) Jewish parents were
ordered to take their children between the ages of four and fourteen to
Lisbon. On arrival in the capital, they were told that their children would
be taken from them and given to Catholic families to be raised as good
Catholics.
At the appointed time, those children who were not presented
voluntarily were seized by the officials and forced to the font. Scenes of
indescribable horror were witnessed as they were torn away by the royal
bailiffs. ... In many cases, parents smothered their offspring in their
farewell embrace. In others, they threw them into wells in order to save
them from the disgrace of apostasy, and then killed themselves. Sometimes,
even old men were dragged to the churches and forcibly baptized by
over-zealous fanatics, who were under the impression that a general
conversion of all the Jews had been ordered. The desired effect of forcing
the parents to accompany their children into baptism rather than lose them
for good was achieved only on exceptionally rare occasions. In all other
cases, the unwilling neophytes, some mere babies, were distributed
throughout the country, as far as possible from home, to be brought up in
Christian surroundings.
More than thirty years later, the terrible scenes still lived in the
mind of the old Bishop Coutinho. "I saw many persons dragged by the hair to
the font," he wrote. "Sometimes, I saw a father, his head covered in sign
of grief and pain, lead his son to the font, protesting and calling God to
witness that they wished to die together in the law of Moses. Yet more
terrible things that were done with them did I witness, with my own eyes.
The children of the Moslems, who were included in the edict of expulsion,
were untouched. The authorities cynically confessed the reason. It was
that there were lands in which the Crescent was supreme, and in which
reprisals might be carried out! 2
Meanwhile the final date for departure was arriving. At first the king
gave the Jews three ports from which to leave. But soon he changed his mind
and ordered them all to leave from Lisbon. In October 1497 some twenty
thousand Jews from all parts of Portugal gathered in Lisbon where they were
herded onto the courtyard of Os Estâos, a palace normally used for
diplomatic receptions. Here they were harangued by priests and apostate Jews
in an attempt to bring them to the baptismal font. Some succumbed. The
rest were kept under guard until the time for their departure had elapsed.
They were then informed that by their failure to leave they were now
declared forfeit of their liberty and again were the king's slaves. More
succumbed, others were dragged to the font by force. And the remainder?
Holy water was sprinkled on them and they were declared to be Christians.
King Manoel then informed the Catholic Kings of Spain. "There are no more
Jews in Portugal"
~~~~~~~~
1. Source: Pina, Rui de. Chronica D'El Rei Dom João 11. Collecção de
Livros Inéditos de História Portugueza (first published in Lisbon, 1792).
As quoted in : Raphael, David The Expulsion 1492 Chronicles, Carmi House
Press, North Hollywood, CA 1992
2. Roth Cecil: A History of the Marranos, Fifth Edition, Sepher-Hermon
Press, Inc New York, 1992
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