"Does the air in Portugal Make Jews?" The inquisition and the new Christians deported to the colony Brazil

Abstract

The history of banishment in Portugal new dimensions with the maritime expansion of the 15th/16th centuries and the establishment of the Inquisition. For the Holy Office, banishment functioned as a necessary religious and social defense against heterodox infection, while at the same time serving as a mystical procedure for the purification of sins. Among 600 trial accounts that culminated in banishment to Brazil. 52% are New-Christians. Were they Crypto-Jews or Catholics?