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SoyerLisbon1506, Test. Gaspar Correia
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François Soyer
University of Southampton
1
On the events of 1497 see F. SOYER, The Persecution of the Jews and Muslims of Portugal.
King Manuel I and the End of Religious Tolerance (Leiden, 2007).
2
A discussion of these different editions of the account provided by this anonymous
German source, together with and transcription of the most complete one, has been pub-
lished in the original German by Y. H. YERUSHALMI, in The Lisbon massacre of 1506 and the
Royal Image in the Shebet Yehudah (Cincinnati, 1976), Appendix A, pp. 69-80.
3
ANDRÉS BERNÁLDEZ, Memorias del reinado de los Reyes Católicos, ed. M. Gómez-Moreno
and Juan de M. Carriazo (Madrid, 1962), chapter 206, pp. 503-9 and ALONSO DE SANTA
CRUZ, Crónica de los Reyes Católicos, ed. J. de Mata Carriazo (Seville, 1951), Vol. 2, pp. 85-8.
FRANÇOIS SOYER
This article will deal with an, as yet, unexamined account of the
massacre of 1506 that is contained in a manuscript entitled Chronicas
dos Reys de Portugal e sumarios das suas vidas com a historia das Indias e
Armadas que se mandarom athe o anno de 1533. As the title indicates, the
manuscript contains a series of narratives chronicling the lives of
the King of Portugal from 1365 to 1533. This manuscript was
acquired by the Portuguese State from the London auctioneers
Sotherby in 1971 and deposited in the National Archive of the Torre
do Tombo in Lisbon, where it is catalogued as Casa Forte, 43A. The
manuscript was first identified by António Alberto Banha de An-
drade who, in an authoritative article entitled ‘Gaspar Correia Inédi-
to’ published in 1977, ascribed its authorship to the famous chroni-
cler of Portuguese India: Gaspar Correia. 5 Since then, however, the
manuscript has remained ignored by historians until it was fortu-
4
A. MARX, ‘The expulsion of the Jews from Spain. Two new accounts’, Studies in
Jewish History and Booklore, New York, 1944, pp. 77-106. Translated from Hebrew by Marx
(page 105-6).
5
A. ALBERTO BANHA DE ANDRADE, ‘Gaspar Correia Inédito’, Revista de Universidade
de Coimbra, 26 (1977), pp. 5-49.
222
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THE MASSACRE OF THE NEW CHRISTIANS OF LISBON IN 1506: A NEW EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
6
J. PEREIRA DA COSTA, Crónicas de D. Manuel e de D. João III (até1533), Lisbon, 1992 and
Crónicas dos reis de Portugal e sumários de suas vidas (D. Pedro I, D. Fernando, D. João I, D. Duarte,
D. Afonso V, D. João II), Lisbon, 1996.
7
A. ALBERTO BANHA DE ANDRADE, ‘Gaspar Correia Inédito’, Revista de Universidade
de Coimbra, 26 (1977), pp. 5-49.
8
See A. ALBERTO BANHA DE ANDRADE, ‘Gaspar Correia Inédito’, Revista de Universi-
dade de Coimbra, 26 (1977), pp. 5-49 and J. Pereira da Costa’s introduction to his de D. Manuel
e de D. João III, (Lisbon, 1992).
223
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FRANÇOIS SOYER
224
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THE MASSACRE OF THE NEW CHRISTIANS OF LISBON IN 1506: A NEW EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
13
The Infante Luis, son of King Manuel and Queen Maria, was born in Abrantes on
3 March 1506.
225
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FRANÇOIS SOYER
“…no altar foy vysto per mujtas pessoas dy[g]nas de ho ver hua camdea
aceza no lado do crucifixo e outras pessoas ha viam amte ha testa de Nosa
Senhora com aluoroço de devação começou a correr algua gemte ao musteiro
e foy em tamto crycymento que huuns com outros se afogavam e começaram
a fazer alguus mjlagres.”
This narrative agrees in all its points with the testimony given by
an anonymous German witness, who himself actually appears to
have been present in the Chapel when the riot started. 14 Correia’s
narrative offers new information, however, when the author states
that a German man who had been amongst the crowd – he is not
identified by Correia but there is no little doubt that he must have
been one of the sailors from ships of the Hanseatic League that had
travelled to Lisbon from northern Europe or perhaps a merchant
residing in Lisbon – came to church with his daughter. The girl had
suffered from a crippled or deformed hand from her birth but
this abnormality was miraculously cured in the Church of São
Domingos:
“… veo hu alemão e trouxe hua filha com hu mão aleyjada de seu naçy-
mento e com mujta deuação a ofereçeo e recebeo saude no mesmo momento.”
See Y. H. YERUSHALMI, in The Lisbon massacre of 1506 and the Royal Image in the Shebet
14
226
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THE MASSACRE OF THE NEW CHRISTIANS OF LISBON IN 1506: A NEW EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
“…e estamdo a[sy] sobre emoçam mujta gemte a ver qys o pecado que
veo hu cristao novo e por desdenhar dysse a camdea que pareçe deytem lhe
dagoa e apagar se ha...”
15
The anonymous German source clearly identifies this man as a New Christian and
states that he was the brother of the first victim. Y. H. YERUSHALMI, in The Lisbon massacre
of 1506 and the Royal Image in the Shebet Yehudah (Cincinnati, 1976), p. 10.
227
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FRANÇOIS SOYER
The angry crowd that had set off after Pero de Lisboa returned
to the Church of São Domingos and constructed a large pyre upon
which they burnt the bodies of their victims. From there, the mix-
ture of “foreigners from outside of Portugal” (estramgeiros de fora da
terra) and “scoundrels from the riverside area and plebs attracted by
loot” (bargamtes da Rybeira e gemte bayxa por caso do roubo) spread across
the city in search of New Christians, although Correia claims that
by this time they had been joined by other people who were
attracted by the prospect of looting. Correia proceeds to provide an
account of the how the riot spread from the Church across the
whole town. With all fear of the authorities gone, the rioters ran
through the streets of Lisbon, breaking into houses and savagely
murdering numerous people, both old and young. In their murder-
ous rage their victims even included, according to Correia, signifi-
cant numbers of “Old Christians”:
“…com mujta gemte cruell desejosos de roubar começaram de correr
polas ruas da cydade fazembo a dicta matamça com tamta hyra e furya que
nom resguardavam cousa algua nom deyxamdo nenhua pessoa a vyda gramde
nem peqena e entravam nas casas e deytauam nos pelas genelas e os outros os
reçebyam em suas lamças e bysarmas que traziam em que sem duujda eu que
ho vy afyrmo que tambem padeceram morte mujtos christãos velhos.”
228
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229
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FRANÇOIS SOYER
day was carefully planned and its victims carefully and deliberately
chosen. It was indeed during this third day of rioting, in the evening,
that the crowd lynched a prominent New Christian who resided in
Lisbon, named Mascarenhas:
“… neste dya a tarde foy achado huu crystao novo que se chamava o
Mazcarenhas que hera gramde remdeyro e omem mallqysto do povo o quall
per eles tomado foy nele feyto cruas justyas com gramdes alvoroços e a
quarta feira jaa dypois da morte deste nom avya tamta matamça.”
230
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231
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FRANÇOIS SOYER
tainty that their involvement in the massacre would have been for-
gotten, were nonetheless arrested, convicted and hanged:
“ElRey logo mandou que cesase asy e que nom enforcasem senam per
ymqyryção e dereyta justyça de verdade sabyda o que dypois mujto tempo
aymda mujtos padecyam polo dycto caso que emtam fogyram e se foram fora
da terra e dypois se tornavam pareçemdo lhe que jaa nom syryam conheçy-
dos e todavya se os conhecyam heram logo emforcados...”
16
Insofar as violence against the Jews and, after 1497 against the “New Christians”,
is concerned this certainly appears to have been the case. The only major anti-Jewish riot
in medieval Portugal took place in Lisbon in December 1449. Even then the aim of the
rioters appears to have been to loot the Judiaria Grande rather than kill the Jews. See the
two articles of H. B. MORENO, ‘Movimentos Sociais Antijudios em Portugal no século
XV’ and ‘O Assalto à Judiaria Grande de Lisboa’, Marginalidade e Conflictos Sociais em Portugal
nos séculos XIV e XV (Lisbon, 1985), pp. 79-88 and 89-132.
232
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THE MASSACRE OF THE NEW CHRISTIANS OF LISBON IN 1506: A NEW EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
crowd, does not differ substantially from that which can be found
in the other principal contemporary sources, both Christian and
Jewish, that are at the disposal of modern historians. By way of
illustration, his reference to the horrifying detail that the rioters
broke into homes and threw their victims from the windows of
upper stories directly unto the pikes of others still in the street coin-
cides perfectly with the accounts given by the Jewish authors Ibn
Verga, Samuel Usque and Yosef ha-Cohen. 17 The lynching of the
tax collector Mascarenhas is also an important detail that features in
the account of the anonymous German and is highlighted by Ibn
Verga. 18 Notwithstanding this, Correia also provides a number of
details and elements that cannot be found in other sources.
17
SUSANA BASTOS MATEUS and PAULO MENDES PINTO, Lisboa 19 de Abril de 1506.
O massacre dos Judeus (Lisbon, 2007), pp. 81-2.
18
Y. H. YERUSHALMI, The Lisbon massacre of 1506 and the Royal Image in the Shebet Yehudah
(Cincinnati, 1976), pp. 11-4.
233
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FRANÇOIS SOYER
19
On the German presence in Lisbon and Portugal since at least the thirteenth cen-
tury see I. M. R. MENDES DRUMMOND BRAGA, Os Estrangeiros e a Inquisição Portuguesa
(Lisbon, 2002), pp. 93-7. See also A. H. DE OLIVEIRA MARQUES, Hansa e Portugal na Idade
Média (Lisbon, 1959).
20
Y. H. YERUSHALMI, The Lisbon massacre of 1506 and the Royal Image in the Shebet Yehudah
(Cincinnati, 1976), pp
234
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THE MASSACRE OF THE NEW CHRISTIANS OF LISBON IN 1506: A NEW EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
the case that, apart from referring to the fact that 500 men were exe-
cuted by the royal justices after the massacre, Correia does not men-
tion any other figure. Most other sources, whether Jewish or Chris-
tian, venture to estimate to number of New Christians murdered.
The result is a number of quite different opinions and estimations.
The Portuguese chronicler Damião de Góis, writing more that half
a century later, thought that the number of casualties was “more
than 1,000” whilst the anonymous but contemporary German eye-
witness claims that “more than 600” lost their lives from Sunday
afternoon until midday on Monday. Amongst the Jewish authors
there is a similar discrepancy. Isaac Ibn Faradj, as we have seen
above, thought that 1,400 had died whilst Ibn Verga put the number
as high as 3,000 and it is important to remember that both these
men were contemporaries and eyewitnesses of the Lisbon massacre.
In his Consolação às Tribulações de Israel, published posthumously in
1553, Samuel Usque even went so far as to state that the true
number of casualties was 4,000. 21 A petition submitted by the New
Christians to the Pope in 1544, and preserved in the Secret Archives
of the Vatican, claimed that the number of deaths was “more than
4,000”. 22 The absence of a figure for the victims in Correia’s narra-
tive is puzzling but might be explained by the fact that he was in all
likelihood writing in India and have to rely upon his own memory.
Without access to documents, or even the testimony of other wit-
nesses, the author may just have been unwilling to hazard a guess.
21
For the various estimates see SUSANA BASTOS MATEUS and PAULO MENDES PINTO,
Lisboa 19 de Abril de 1506. O massacre dos Judeus (Lisbon, 2007), pp. 80-7.
22
Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Fondo Borghese 893, fols. 8v-9r. Cited in SUSANA BASTOS
MATEUS and PAULO MENDES PINTO, Lisboa 19 de Abril de 1506. O massacre dos Judeus
(Lisbon, 2007), pp. 85-6.
235
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FRANÇOIS SOYER
new gibbets on the banks of the Tejo to cope with the surplus of
condemned men is a sinister detail that does not feature in any other
account. Also original is the gruesome detail that the suspended
bodies of the men hanged at the gallows were not allowed to rot in
the open air, as was the usual procedure, but taken down and hastily
buried in order to make room to further executions. Another ele-
ment of importance is the alleged role that Isabel de Mendanha
played in persuading the king to bring the executions to a halt. Cor-
reia offers no clue as to the identity of this Isabel de Mendanha. It
is possible that he was referring to the wife of Dom João de Mene-
ses, who was later to become governor of the Moroccan coastal
town of Azamor, which had submitted to Portuguese rule in 1486.
What Correia means when he states that she was “in Santa Cruz” is
also somewhat of a mystery. There is no parish in Lisbon that bears
that name and it is thus possible that the author meant that she was
staying outside Lisbon or possibly at the monastery of Santa Cruz
in Coimbra.
Whilst the above details raise questions for which answers are
difficult to come by, Correia’s description of the brutal and expedi-
tious justice meted out by the Crown, in which 500 mean were put
to death, is corroborated by documents from the royal chancery. On
23 July 1506, for instance, the Crown granted to Diogo Fernandes,
a knight of the royal household, all the property and chattels that
had belonged to a merchant ‘found guilty of the death of New
Christians and accordingly hung.’ 23 Correia’s reference to the fact
that many of those rioters who had fled the Crown’s justice and
subsequently returned to Lisbon were nevertheless apprehended
and executed is supported by documentary evidence. It was indeed
only on 2 June 1512 that Manuel promulgated a royal edict instruct-
ing his judges to desist from ordering any further arrests and sus-
23
Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, Chancelaria de D. Manuel I, livro 38, fol. 10.
24
A.N.T.T., Corpo Cronológico, Parte I, maço 11, doc. n° 91.
236
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THE MASSACRE OF THE NEW CHRISTIANS OF LISBON IN 1506: A NEW EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
25
A transcription of these edicts is published in Y. H. YERUSHALMI, The Lisbon massacre
of 1506 and the Royal Image in the Shebet Yehudah (Cincinnati, 1976), pp. 85-91, docs. 5, 7, 8.
26
On the policy of social engineering pursued by the Portuguese Crown between
1497 and 1506 see F. PORTUGAL, “O problema judaico no reinado de D. Manuel”, offprint
of Armas e Troféus, 3, (1975), 5-23.
237
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FRANÇOIS SOYER
The plague had forced the King and his wife, together with the
court, to seek refuge up the river Tagus in the town of Abrantes,
circa 120 kilometres from the capital. At the same time, the gover-
nor of Lisbon was himself away in Torres Vedras, roughly 50 kilo-
metres to the North. The vain attempt of Pero de Lisboa, the mag-
istrate in charge of civil offences (juiz do civel), to end the riot in the
monastery resulted in his ignominious pursuit through the streets
and near murder by a lynch mob. Brás Correia, the magistrate in
charge of criminal offences (corregedor do crime), was similarly terrified
by the mob into complete impotence. His pathetic effort to restore
law and order, by which he disguised himself as one of the rioters
and vainly attempted to dissuade the rioters from looting as well as
murdering New Christians, provides a powerful counterpoint to the
ineffectual bravery Pero de Lisboa.
27
Y. H. YERUSHALMI, The Lisbon massacre of 1506 and the Royal Image in the Shebet Yehudah
(Cincinnati, 1976), pp. 10 and 74-5.
238
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THE MASSACRE OF THE NEW CHRISTIANS OF LISBON IN 1506: A NEW EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
27
Y. H. YERUSHALMI, The Lisbon massacre of 1506 and the Royal Image in the Shebet Yehudah
(Cincinnati, 1976), pp. 10 and 74-5.
28
Y. H. YERUSHALMI, The Lisbon massacre of 1506 and the Royal Image in the Shebet Yehudah
(Cincinnati, 1976), p. 15.
29
For Brás Afonso Correia see A.N.T.T., Corpo Cronológico, Parte II, maço 7, doc. n° 26
(25/02/1503); maço 14, doc. n° 158 (28/06/1508); A.N.T.T., Chancelaria de D. Manuel I, livro
28, folio 26v (07/11/1497); livro 29, fols. 124v-126r. 20/09/1498; livro 46, fol. 79r.
07/10/1501 and fol. 116v (03/11/1501); livro 2, fol. 2v (04/12/1501); livro 45, fols. 76v-
77r (03/02/1501), fols. 55v-56r (04/02/1501); fol. 121r (07/05/1501); livro 45, fol. 123v
(07/05/1501), livro 17, fol. 59r (24/06/1501); livro 45, fol. 109v (08/06/1501); livro 1,
folios. 43r-43v (14/09/1501); livro 22, fols. 30r-30v (23/02/1504); livro 42, fols. 30v-31r
(09/03/1513).
30
A.N.T.T., Chancelaria de D. Manuel I, livro 24, fols. 85r-85v (11/06/1515). For the
pensions and privileges accorded to Brás Afonso Correia A.N.T.T., Chancelaria de D. Manuel
I, livro 24, fol. 119v (06/07/1515 and 01/08/1515).
239
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FRANÇOIS SOYER
31
A.N.T.T., Chancelaria de D. Manuel I, livro 12, fol. 62r (15/12/1500) and livro 8,
fol. 105v (04/01/1512).
32
A.N.T.T., Corpo Cronológico, Parte I, maço 13, doc. n° 71 (15/10/1513).
240
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THE MASSACRE OF THE NEW CHRISTIANS OF LISBON IN 1506: A NEW EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
Conclusion
33
G. CORREIA, Crónicas de D. Manuel e de D. João III, ed. J. Pereira da Costa (Lisbon,
1992), 304 (fol. 378v).
241
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FRANÇOIS SOYER
34
Y. H. YERUSHALMI, The Lisbon massacre of 1506 and the Royal Image in the Shebet Yehudah
(Cincinnati, 1976), pp. 35-66.
35
On 26 October 1506, for instance, the Crown granted the confiscated property of
the New Christian Henrique Vaz, who had left the realm without a royal license to do so,
to another individual. The document mentions that Henrique Vaz was related to a num-
ber of New Christians murdered in the Lisbon massacre. A.N.T.T., Chancelaria de D. Manuel
I, livro 38, fol. 12v.
36
Y. H. YERUSHALMI, The Lisbon massacre of 1506 and the Royal Image in the Shebet Yehudah
(Cincinnati, 1976), pp. 87-9 and SUSANA BASTOS MATEUS and PAULO MENDES PINTO,
Lisboa 19 de Abril de 1506. O massacre dos Judeus (Lisbon, 2007), pp. 126-130.
242
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THE MASSACRE OF THE NEW CHRISTIANS OF LISBON IN 1506: A NEW EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
37
Another Dominican implicated in the massacre of 1506 apparently escaped to North
Africa, see G. MARCOCCIO, I custodi dell’ortodossia. Inquisizione e chiesa nel portogallo del cinquecen-
to (Rome, 2004), p. 38.
243