INQUISITION, LISBON, A CONFESSION 1662





Inquisition of Lisbon, case no. 7825

António Gomes da Silveira (native of Celorico)

Confession
May 25, 1662

He said that about 20 years ago, in the month of September, (and he said again), that about 22 or 23 years ago, in Celorico, at his father’s house, Fernando da Silveira, deceased, just the two of them, he said to him that he should believe in law of Moses because it was good, and through it he would save himself. And that he should not believe in anything of the law of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that, he the defendant, already knew about that and had knowledge, because at that time, he was 15 or 16 years of age .

And by observing the law of Moses he should believe in a God in heaven, whose name was Adonay, and he should fast on the Great Day, which started a few days after he taught him that,

And not to eat or drink from dusk one day until the night of the next, when there would be stars in the sky.

He recommended to him very much that he should observe the said fast, and also, not to work on that day because it was very holy.

And also that he should fast again in the month of February, which is called Queen Esther, in memory of liberty, through which means the Hebrew people will achieve it.

And this should also be done in the aforementioned form. And also that he should observe the Sabbaths, not to work on them, treating them like holy days,

And that he should celebrate the Easter of the Jews, and this occurs, at the same time as the resurrection, and lasts eight days, and during those days he should eat unleavened cakes,

That he should not eat lard, blood, rabbit, or fish without scales,

And for other matters concerning the law of Moses, he should follow what his mother Branca Henriques tells him,

And his father declared to him that he believed in said law of Moses, and with it he expected to save himself, and in his observance he practiced the aforesaid ceremonies,

Recommending very much to him, the defendant, that he be very secretive, obliging him to do the same under great threats.

Telling him not believe in the law of Christ because the “Promised One”, had yet to come, because God promised it, and he would not fail.
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(Portuguese transcribed from TT archives by Fernanda Guimarães, author of " A Tormenta Dos Mogadouro Na Inquisição de Lisboa", Vega, Lisbon 2009)


Aos 25 Maio de 1662


Confissão
Disse que haverá 20 anos sendo o mês de Setembro e tornou a dizer que haverá 23/ 24 anos, em Celorico, em casa de seu pai Fernando da Silveira, já defunto, e estando ambos sós, lhe disse que havia de crer na lei de Moisés, porque era boa e que nela se havia de salvar, e que não cresse em coisa alguma da lei de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo, de que ele confitente já tinha notícia e conhecimento, por ser naquele tempo de idade de 15/16 anos , e por guarda da lei de Moisés havia de crer em um Deus que estava no céu, e que se chamava Adonay, e que havia de jejuar o jejum do dia grande que começava poucos dias depois, que lhe fez aquele ensino, estando sem comer nem beber desde o princípio da noite de um dia até à noite do seguinte, e haver estrelas no céu. Encomendando-lhe muito que observasse o dito jejum, e que também naquele dia não fizesse coisa alguma de serviço porque era muito santo.
E que também havia de fazer outro jejum no mês de Fevereiro, a que chama da Rainha Ester, em memória da Liberdade, que por seu meio se alcançara para o povo Hebreu, e este havia de ser também na sobredita forma, e que também havia de guardar os sábados, não trabalhando neles tratando-os como dias santos, e que havia de festejar a Páscoa dos judeus, e que esta caía no mesmo tempo em que caía a da ressurreição, e durava oito dias, e neles havia de comer bolos asmos, e que não havia de comer toucinho, sangue, coelho, nem peixe sem escama, e que no mais tocante à lei de Moisés seguisse o que lhe dissesse a sua mãe Branca Henriques. E o dito seu pai lhe declarou que cria na dita lei de Moisés e nela esperava salvar-se, e por sua guarda fazia as sobreditas cerimónias, encomendado a ele muito , a ele confitente, que naquilo tivesse muito segredo, obrigando-o que assim fizesse com grandes ameaços.

107
Dizendo-lhe que não cresse na lei de Cristo porque ainda havia de vir o prometido, que Deus prometera e que não havia de faltar.

JEWISH DIASPORA OF THE CARRIBBEAN CONFERENCE

BOOK LAUNCH IN PORTO




The Porto launch of the Portuguese edition of The Warsaw Anagrams, by Richard Zimler will take place on Thursday, October 29, 9 p.m., 2009, at the Leitura Bookshop in Porto Shopping Center (Gonçalo Sampaio, 350) Professor Isabel Pires de Lima will give a talk about the book. (English edition will only come out in January 2011).

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/

The Mask of the Marranos

Allan Nadler

October 2009

The Other Within: The Marranos, Split Identity, and Emerging Modernity
By Yirmiyahu Yovel
Princeton, 490 pages, $35

The creation of the modern state of Israel has awakened many dormant cultural pursuits, perhaps none so dramatic as the discovery of long-lost Jews. Every decade or so, another tribe of supposed descendants of biblical Israel—marked by quirky uses of Jewish symbols, eclectic religious observance, and a smattering of Hebrew prayers—is revealed to have been keeping the flame in some remote area of the world, from Africa to the subcontinent. The repatriation to Israel of members of these remnants of the long Jewish exile—from the Bene Israel of India to the Falasha of Ethiopia and the Lemba of South Africa—has been among the most inspiring aspects of the modern “ingathering of the exiles” that has animated the Zionist idea.

Although the unique historical narratives of such groups have differed greatly, all have been adamant that they are authentic descendants of one of the legendary “10 lost tribes” that disappeared from history in the 8th century B.C.E.; have insisted on being recognized as fully Jewish; and have faced a battery of obstacles to their reassimilation into the greater Jewish population—obstacles, though often resented, they have striven mightily to overcome through formal conversion ceremonies and, ultimately, immigration to Israel.

But there is one sobering exception to this scenario. Beginning in the early 20th century, a number of communities in Portugal were unearthed as “Marranos”—that is, descendants of the once proud crypto-Jewish nation that came into being when Iberian Jews were coerced into baptism and then persecuted for centuries by the Spanish Inquisition. (Marrano is a contemptuous Spanish epithet for “swine” or “filth” that eventually became the standard appellation for this community of Conversos, or converts.) Other groups of Marranos have been found in rural communities in just about every territory ever colonized by Spain and Portugal, from South America to Texas and New Mexico, as well as in places like Turkey, where refugees of the Inquisition were welcomed by the Ottoman Empire.

Forced to hide their true inner religious identity in order to survive in medieval Hispanic Catholic societies, the distant and diluted remnants of the Marranos (or “Judaizing New Christians,” as they were sometimes called) often made great sacrifices to observe what they could, and could remember, of the Jewish tradition and maintain their credo that “salvation comes only through the Torah of Moses.” Centuries of living outwardly as Christians while maintaining, usually without recalling why, the barest vestiges of their original Jewish faith took a severe psychological toll. Secrecy and avoidance of any displays of their residual Jewish practices, combined with public lives of pious Catholicism, became entrenched over the centuries, along with a deeply ingrained fear, bordering on paranoia, of being outed. True to form, most contemporary Marranos have tended to fear their rediscovery as Jews and resisted rejoining the people of Israel, from whom they were cruelly separated half a millennium ago.

Jewish historians have long been divided about the complex question of the Marranos’ “Jewishness.” At one pole is the so-called Jerusalem school of Jewish historiography, which has stubbornly maintained that, despite their centuries-long disconnection, the Marranos remained Jews in every meaningful respect. At the opposite pole are historians like Benzion Netanyahu (the 100-year-old father of the Israeli prime minister), who, giving weight to the overwhelming consensus of rabbinical opinion spanning almost five centuries, have insisted that in initially choosing baptism and later failing to take advantage of the opportunity to leave pre-Inquisition Portugal, the Marranos forfeited their membership in the Jewish nation and situated themselves outside Jewish history.

In an ambitious new work, the intellectual historian Yirmiyahu Yovel rejects both these -approaches, favoring instead a portrait of the Marranos as neither Jewish nor Christian but something sui generis—“the other within,” in the striking phrase that serves as the title of his book, the summa of his distinguished career as a scholar of Baruch Spinoza and premodern Jewry. More important, Yovel believes the phenomenon of Marranism marks a new and significant element in the Jewish historical narrative, one that anticipated the varieties of Jewish identity that would emerge in post-Enlightenment Europe.

The heartbreaking history of the Marranos begins with the forced conversions of tens of thousands of Jews at the height of the Christian conquest of Spain. Jews had lived in Iberia since the 8th century, and although they were subjected to forced conversions and punitive Church inquiries into the sincerity of those conversions by the Kingdom of Aragon as far back as the mid-13th century, the continuous existence of a community of secret Jews starts with the wave of pogroms that erupted in Seville in 1391. No major Jewish community was spared. The eminent Jewish philosopher Hasdai Crescas witnessed the horrors in Barcelona:

Using bows and catapults, the mob fought against the Jews assembled in the Citadel, beating and smashing them in the tower. Many sanctified the name of God [that is, died for the Jewish religion] among them my own only son, an innocent bridal lamb. . . . Some slew themselves, others jumped from the tower . . . but all the rest converted. . . . And, because of our sins, today there is no one in Barcelona called an Israelite.

Despite Crescas’s reference to “many” martyrs, the historical record suggests that the majority of Spanish Jews confronted with the slogan “Death or the Cross” chose the cross. Over the course of the ensuing century of Christian persecution, which reached its nadir with the final expulsion of all Jews from Spain in 1492, some 200,000 Jews saved their lives by accepting baptism and, at least outwardly, leading Christian lives. Eighty thousand of their more resourceful brethren escaped to Portugal, thought to be more tolerant; but in short order they, too, faced a cruel fate: mass conversions in 1497, followed by a royal decree prohibiting the New Christians from leaving the country. The net result of this merciless entrapment of the Portuguese Conversos was that the enduring epicenter of Marranism became Portugal and its colonies.

It is certain that for a significant number (according to some historians, well over half) of these Conversos, the new “faith” was a façade, solely the consequence of lethal coercion. Not only did they remain Jewish at heart, they continued for centuries to observe elements of Jewish religious ritual, at great risk to their lives. The Marranos’ historically remarkable tenacity generated a popular image of them in Jewish memory as not merely fully Jewish—a dubious status given their choice of conversion and subsequent high rates of intermarriage with original Christians—but as righteous heroes who sacrificed their lives “for the sake of Heaven.”

One of Yovel’s notable achievements is challenging this misnomer and complicating its more sophisticated adoption by historians. He vividly recounts an abundance of Converso biographies that illustrate the complex spectrum of their identities and beliefs—from fervent Catholicism to pious Judaizing to a deep skepticism about both religions that he identifies as the earliest manifestations of modern Jewish secularism.

In Yovel’s view, the Jewish romancers of the Marranos fallaciously assume that the barest and most residual Judaic behavior on the part of the Conversos constitutes evidence of their Jewishness. (Their scholarship, he notes with grim irony, often accepts at face value the “discoveries” by overzealous Inquisitors of supposedly “Judaizing” practices among the New Christians.) Among his most fascinating refutations of this notion pertains to the endurance among a large number of Marranos of the practice of eating the slow-cooked Sabbath stew, known among Spanish and Moroccan Jews to this day as adafina (what American Jews call cholent). While the genesis of this dish, which is prepared before sundown on Friday, lies in the biblical prohibition of kindling a fire on the Sabbath itself, Yovel notes that its enduring popularity among the Conversos hardly constitutes proof of Sabbath -observance:

The Inquisitors’ meticulous concern with this dish highlights their bias in identifying secret Jews. Adafina, with its hearty ingredients and prolonged cooking is indeed distinctive—not of Jewish cult but of Jewish gastronomy. . . . It is well known that food preferences, especially for distinctive ethnic dishes, are the last customs to disappear in immigrant and assimilating societies, the readiest object of group nostalgia, and the last bastion of ethnic characteristics.

That even those Marranos who retained secret religious practices failed to take advantage of a long period of clemency in Portugal, from 1507-1536, when they were given permission to leave the country without their relatives’ suffering retribution, convinces Yovel that their Judaic beliefs were hardly fervent. Still, he does not go as far as the likes of Benzion Netanyahu (whose work Yovel derides) in seeing subsequent Marrano history as a non-Jewish phenomenon. He suggests a provocative analogy to the beliefs of moderns:

Most Judaizing Marranos no longer yearned for Judaism as a concrete reality, but as an ideal, infinite dream. This is similar to the contemporary Jewish yearning for the Messiah, expressed in the saying “Next Year in Jerusalem,” which is also not pronounced with any concrete intention. . . . Jews have educated themselves to wait for a messiah that does not really come . . . not in our lifetime, but in a Messianic era, which is always deferred and projected beyond the present.

Of course, there was nothing removed or dispassionate about the messianic faith of the victims of the Spanish Expulsion and Inquisition. Don Isaac Abarbanel, the greatest Jewish scholar to leave Spain in 1492, produced three tracts in which he viewed the calamities as heralding messianic times. Messianic fervor was even more feverish among Marranos who managed to escape from Portugal in later decades. In a book otherwise so comprehensive, Yovel’s silence about the later susceptibility of the Marranos to the 17th-century false messianic movement of Shabbetai Zevi is surprising. This is especially the case since, after Zevi’s conversion to Islam in 1665, many of his followers in the Ottoman Empire, especially in the Greek city of Salonika, assumed a false Islamic identity, becoming known as “Donmeh.”

That a large number of Donmeh today are known to descend from Portuguese Marranos is not surprising. They were practiced in the art of religious dissimulation long before becoming Sabbatians. What is more than a little shocking is the widespread accusations by radical Islamists and assorted other anti-Semites in contemporary Turkey that their enemies—beginning with founder of secular Turkish democracy, Kemal Ataturk, himself—are Donmeh conspirators. Given Yovel’s near obsession with the degree to which the Marranos prefigured modernity, his omission of this fascinating chapter is regrettable.

At any rate, he argues that in time, a significant number of Marranos developed an active hostility to all religious dogmas and ecclesiastical authorities.¹ Citing numerous statements from the Inquisition’s archives of Marrano confessions that indicate a disdain for supernatural beliefs, he concludes that many of them had replaced their Jewish faith not with a Christian one but with a “growing concern for this-worldly secular affairs and even religious indifference and skepticism.”
The examples he adduces—-especially those that concern dietary and other ethnic “habits”—are usually convincing, but there are instances of Marrano religious observance that suggest more -piety than he allows. Consider the -remarkable testimony of a Church inquisitor:

In the city of Seville, an inquisitor said to the duke: “If your Grace wishes to know how the Marranos keep the Sabbath, let us go up the tower.” They climbed up and he said: “Look around: here is a Marrano house and there is another and here are many others. You won’t see any smoke coming out of these houses despite the harsh winter, because they don’t light fire, as it is the day of the -Sabbath.”

That Yovel fails to distinguish this form of Sabbath observance from a fondness for stew reveals the extent to which his overarching thesis tends at times to cloud his judgment. It is, after all, one thing to continue to enjoy grandmother’s favorite dishes but quite another to freeze in one’s own home in order to sanctify the Sabbath. Yovel likewise misses the extent to which elements of Marrano liturgy and ritual held fast to the Jewish tradition.

Still, Yovel’s detailed economic history of the Portuguese Marranos serves to buttress his depiction of a class defined less by spiritual than by worldly bonds. It was during the period of broad royal tolerance -after the Lisbon Massacre of 1506 that the vast majority of Marranos who remained in Portugal came to dominate the mercantile class and were dubbed homens de negocios (businessmen). Yovel argues that the Marranos’ unique historical experiences, secretive rituals, and internalized religious skepticism helped them to form strong internal business networks, which in turn forged in them a new kind of identity, rooted less in medieval allegiances to God, Church, and King than in a “modern,” secular kind of ethnic solidarity.

There was another powerful element to the Marranos’ otherness. The suspicion among Iberia’s pious “Old Christians” that the descendants of the Conversos never fully or properly accepted Catholicism was hardly the simple result of the persistence of quirky -remnants of Judaic religious practices. It betrayed something deeper and more ominous than religious -prejudice: namely, racial hatred, arguably the first overt manifestation of it in Jewish history. While the notorious Limpieza de Sangre (Purity of Blood) statutes of 1449 and 1467 that led to massacres of New Christians in Spain were ultimately revoked, they were re-enacted in Portugal in the 1550s, reflecting the deepest feelings of both the Iberian peasantry and the Catholic clergy about the true nature of the masses of baptized Jews.

Yovel brilliantly captures the long-term effects on the Marranos’ identity and consciousness of being confronted by the pincer-like, contradictory demands of the Inquisition, which ostensibly required nothing more than “purity of faith,” and the racial Limpieza statutes, which demanded “purity of blood”:

The Limpieza forced the Jewish designation upon the Marranos, while the Inquisition denied their right to adopt it. Thus, even if Marranos wished to accept the denomination of Jewish attached to them through Limpieza, they were not permitted to do so. The Inquisition denied a person the right to be what the purity of blood rules said he could not escape. This left the Marranos suspended in the air. . . . The opposition between Limpieza and the Inquisition had complementary effects. It produced the typical Marrano situation as an inner exile, a person of unstable identity and, partly in a metaphorical sense, a new wandering Jew.

The deracinated, interiorized cast of mind of the Marranos, Yovel is resolute in concluding, was to become the common property of modern Jewry: “What happened to the Conversos in the confines of the Iberian experience as an exceptional phenomenon in their times prefigured the fundamental condition of Jews everywhere in modern times.” He points to a host of similarities along the split identity of the Marranos and that of modern, secularizing Jews who, in the words of the Hebrew poet Judah Leib Gordon, aspired to “be Jews in their tents, and men when they go out.” And then, of course, there followed the confrontation of deeply assimilated, even converted, Western European Jews with modern racism.

We are all Marranos now: the thesis is nothing if not provocative. But as with any work written under the spell of such a grand idea, problems abound. Yovel sees Marrano “influence” in far too many places, even where the links are thin and abstract. For one thing, even the 19th-century maskilim, or Jewish enlighteners, far from hiding their identity, were intent on adapting Judaism to European culture precisely in order to ensure its survival. Judah Leib Gordon was a Hebrew, not a Russian, poet, and his passion was to renew the Jews’ ancient language and identity, not to conceal them. Yovel himself cannot help conceding that all his fascinating parallels are of little more than phenomenological interest and that he has proved nothing of concrete historical significance: “Should the Marranos then be seen as anticipating Haskalah, the movement that promoted Jewish modernization? Not quite.”

Perhaps the most striking rebuttal of Yovel’s theory is the self-determination of the Marrano remnants themselves. His affecting portrait of the community in Belmonte touches upon its members’ reluctance to be reintegrated into contemporary Jewry or repatriated to Israel, and speaks resoundingly: “This is their revered tradition, the way their ancestors have always kept their religion, and this is how it should be. . . .  Secrecy had become important to the Marranos as a religious value. The mask had acquired ritual meaning in itself, and duality was now practiced for its own sake.”

Footnotes

¹?This follows the central argument in Yovel’s earlier book, Spinoza and Other Heretics, which located the origins of ­Baruch Spinoza’s Jewish heresy in his Marrano lineage. See André ­Aciman’s review in “Was Spinoza a Heretic?” ­(Commentary, August 1990) and my own discussion in “Romancing Spinoza” (Commentary, December 2006).

---

About the Author

Allan Nadler is professor of religious studies and director of the program in Jewish studies at Drew University.

© 2009 Commentary Inc.

LADINA BOOKS AND PRINTS

Books- Bnei Anousim ( Marranos), New Christians and New/Old Jews from Sefarad and the diaspora. Email us for a catalogue. Send us your requests. ladina.sefarad@gmail.com

The Moon, Come to Earth: Dispatches from Lisbon

by Philip Graham

(four of the dispatches concern Luso-Jewish topics: "365 Days of Pork Surprise" (the difficulty of finding real alheiras in Lisbon), "We Capture the Castle" (which includes a visit to Belmonte's synagogue and Jewish museum), "Salvage" (which includes a visit to the Jewish section of the Praia cemetery in Cape Verde, and a meeting with the newly-minted Israeli ambassador), and "Three Churches," which uncovers the anti-semitism behind a Santarém church's "miracle," describes the São Domingos massacre of New Christians, and praises 16th Century playwright Gil Vicente for his critique of the Inquisition.)



Part travelogue and part memoir, Philip Graham’s The Moon, Come to Earth brings us the news of Portugal past and present, touching on food and sports, religion and language, music and literature and art. Graham’s greatest strength is his ability to observe sharply and think clearly through the varied roles of public spectacle: the many ways in which the Portuguese tell stories of and to themselves through fireworks festivals and bullfights, medieval fairs and theater, magic shows and soccer matches and transformational public art. Given structure by his repeated return to the concept of saudade—‘a complicated feeling that combines sorrow, longing and regret, laced perhaps with a little mournful pleasure’—and given buoyancy by the ebullience of his voice, The Moon, Come to Earth shows Graham at the top of his game.

—Roy Kesey, author Nothing in the World and All Over

U.S.: http://www.amazon.com/Moon-Come-Earth-Dispatches-Lisbon/dp/0226305155/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239139851&sr=1-1

U.K.: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Moon-Come-Earth-Dispatches-Lisbon/dp/0226305155/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253477247&sr=1-1

JEWS IN THE AZORES pre 1773--PICO
mlopesazevedo

The presence of Jews in the Azores must predate the unenforced edict of expulsion of 1496 of king Manuel of Portugal, and the forced mass conversion to christianity in 1497. Very little research is available concerning the Azores. (See related posts)

With respect to the island of Pico, there is a reference in a local history publication by Lajes city Council ( Historia do concelho das Lages, F.S.de Lacerda Machado, Figueira da Foz, 1936-reprinted by Lages city council in 1991).

The author states at p. 91 (after a summarizing the 1496 edict),

" alguns procuraram asilo nas ilhas.." (some sought asylum in the islands)

He then describes the lifestyle of the early Jews in Lajes (which appears not to be based on any historical fact) and refers to the case of a New Christian, Afonso Alvares (merchant) who was expelled from Pico on November 4, 1503. Apparently Alvares did not take it lying down because he returned in 1507 with a letter from the King ordering his reinstatement on the island. The king's order was not well received by the council but was supported by one Pedro Anes, one of the town councillors. Anes' support of Alvares forced his resignation from Council on August 20, 1507. The author states that the council considered Anes to be a Jew.

and Lacerda Machado states that the archives contains no other information on the case. If I recall correctly, the file went missing or perhaps it was destroyed in an unrelated sacking of city buildings. He ends the chapter with a reference to "Abraham" a well known Jew in Lajes in 1848. (probably one of the returning Sephardim from North Africa and Gibraltar at the beginning of the 19th century. There are cemeteries from that period in São Miguel, Terçeira, Fayal, and a surving synagogue in Ponta Delgada.

Some new research is being currently conducted but much more needs to be done. The Amsterdam notarial records posted below are a rich source of information for the 16th and early 17th centuries with many references to the Azores. Research in the national archives in Lisbon by Fernanda Guimarães will add greatly to available information concerning Azorean cases in the Inquisition (which were tried in Lisbon). Her research points to well developed communications between the Azores, Livorno, Lisbon, and London. Samuel Usques', Consolation for the Tribulations of Israel, published in 1553 in Ferrara made its way to Ponta Delgada in the Azores! (Case of Maria Lopes, the first Azorean to be burned at the stake in Lisbon. In the late 1500's, she could still write prayers in Hebrew).

(2 of 2) Notarial Records relating to the Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam before 1639



Studia Rosenthaliana, Journal of the History, Culture and Heritage of the Jews
in the Netherlands, vol. 35, nr. 1, 2001
Notarial Records relating to the Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam before 16391


No. 3546
Statement made by the notary at the request of Diego Fernandes Dias,
Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, saying that he drew up for the said Dias two
insurance policies concerning tobacco that was shipped from Bayonne to
Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Jacome Louis loaded the tobacco in the ships St
Pieter of skipper Claes Franssen from Rotterdam and in De Schoenmaker of
skipper Jan IJsbrantsz from Krommeniedijk. The tobacco was consigned to the
said Dias. The insurance of the tobacco, that belonged to Dias, was taken out
on his account; various merchants and burghers of Amsterdam participated in
the policies for certain sums. The said Jacome Luis is only a private
correspondent and factor who acts on orders and receives a commission for
loading and shipping goods that Dias and other Portuguese merchants send him
or that he receives for them from other places.2

1627 July 1
Not. Arch. 634 f. 113v.-114
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.


No. 3547
Note made by the notary, saying that he registered an attestation for Pimentel
(a), alias David Abeniacar by Cornelis de Cuijper and that 18 stivers are due
to him plus the fee of the witnesses.

1627 July 7
Not. Arch. 373 f. 375
Not. Willem Cluijt


No. 3548
David Pallache in Amsterdam authorises Pieter Janssen Cachiopin, merchant from
Rotterdam, to arrest in Rotterdam Manuel de Morais Tavares, Portuguese
nobleman and to attach his goods in order to obtain payment of 1000 guilders
that Tavares owes him.

1627 July 10
Not. Arch. 634 f. 118v.-119
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.3


No. 3549
Michiel Corssen Corael, merchant in Amsterdam, speaking for Diego Fernandes
Branco, merchant in Madeira, declares that he received from Jeronima Gomes,
widow of Diogo Gomes Duarte, the sum of 661 guilders and 12 stivers, which sum
Jeronima Gomes had received from skipper Evert Jansz Waterhondt from
Rotterdam, for the delivery of candied peel. Branco had allowed this sum to be
paid out to Corael in a letter dated 13 December 1626.

1627 July 13
Not. Arch. 633 f. 19
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.4



No. 3550
Statement made by Diogo Martins and Bartholomeus Sijmons about the following.
A controversy involving a few consignments of rope-work has arisen between
Francisco and Manuel Ramires Pina, Portuguese merchants in Amsterdam on the
one side and Jan Ibesz, Wiggert Jansz and Hendrick Agges, rope-makers on the
other side. The consignments were sold to the Portuguese merchants to be
delivered in La Havre at their, that is the buyers’, risk and cost. The
merchants maintain that the rope-makers should pay all expenses for the
rope-work including the toll, labourers’ wages, warehouse rent etc. The
rope-makers say that they only have to pay the freight-price and the pilotage
and harbour dues. After a court suit both parties agreed to adhere to the
verdict of Diogo Martins and Bartholomeus Sijmons as chosen arbiters. The
arbiters’ verdict is that the rope-makers are only responsible for the
freight-price, pilotage and harbour dues and that they have found that this is
the customary procedure with such consignments of rope.

1627 July 17
Not, Arch. 846 f. 246
Not. Jozef Steijns



No. 3551
Notice served at the request of Jan Kuijsten, Aernout van Liebergen, Cornelis
Michielsz Blau and Pieter van den Trille, merchants in Amsterdam, upon Diego
da Silva, Portuguese merchant, presently sojourning in Amsterdam. These people
are willing to pay Da Silva immediately the sum of money to which each of them
has been sentenced, with the interest of six and a quarter percent a year,
provided that Da Silva puts up sureties in case they should win when the case
is revised, because Da Silva does not reside in Amsterdam. They promise that
they will deposit the money with the court’s clerk. Da Silva answers that he
adheres to his lawful right. Witnesses are Manuel Rodrigues d’Espinoza and
Thomas de Mercado.

1627 July 19
Not. Arch. 634 f. 123-123v.
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3552
Antonio Martins Viegas, aged 60, Philipe Dorta Henriques, aged 32 and Diego
Fernandes Dias, aged 31, Portuguese merchants in Amsterdam, declare at the
request of Jan Kuijsten and associates that Diego da Silva and Manuel Aires,
who have lived and traded in Amsterdam, left this city to settle in Gl¸ckstadt
but that Diego da Silva is staying in Amsterdam to continue a lawsuit.

1627 July 20
Not. Arch. 692B f. 444
Not. Jan Warnaerts.



No. 3553
Francisco Coutinho, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, authorises Duarte Pires
Brandao and Lopo Nunes, Portuguese merchants in Hamburg, to claim from Gabriel
Gomes, Portuguese merchant in Hamburg, certain goods including some baize and
to collect outstanding debts.

1627 July 23
Not. Arch. 634 f. 125-126
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3554
Diego Nunes Belmonte and Francisco Vas de Leon, Portuguese merchants in
Amsterdam, authorise Willem Tristran, merchant in London, to claim for them
the goods that had been loaded for their account in SalÈ in the ship De Blauwe
Duijff of skipper Aert Adriaensz from Rotterdam, if necessary by law, or in
case the goods have been sold in London, to collect the proceeds. The ship was
seized by the English and taken to London.

1627 July 24
Not. Arch. 634 f. 126-127
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3555
Freight contract between Joan de Haro, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, as
freighter on the one side and skipper Harman Kramer from Danzig on the other
side. The ship De Fortuijne, large 80 lasts, armed with four iron guns and
four stone guns, will sail with goods from Amsterdam to Faro, sailing around
England and Scotland. Unload and load with figs and other goods within eight
weeks and back to Amsterdam even if the bills of lading mention other places.
The freight price amounts to 84 guilders a last. One last equals 160 small
baskets of figs, 4000 pounds of figs in caskets, 3600 pounds of almonds, four
pipes of oil and 8 cases of sugar. If the skipper is the first to arrive in
Amsterdam with figs, he will get a new coat.

1627 July 25
Not. Arch. 634 f. 128v-129
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.




No. 3556
Affidavit by the notary, saying that a certain letter was written and signed
by Pero Machado in Faro. The notary then makes the following statement at the
request of Antonio Martins Viegas. Around April 26 Viegas showed him this
letter in Portuguese at Nieuwmarkt in Amsterdam. The notary translated this
letter into Dutch. On March 20 or 22 he served a notice upon Viegas at the
request of IJsbrant Dobbesz and Dirck Corver, together with Willem Muijlman
the insurers’ chosen representatives. These insurers had underwritten an
insurance for Viegas concerning figs and other goods coming from the Concado
with the ship of skipper Cornelisz from Berchem. In the notice Viegas was
requested to give immediate orders for the sale of wet and damaged figs that
came from this ship in order to prevent more decay and damage. Viegas and Izak
van Geleijn, grocer reached an agreement on March 26 in the inn De Hertog van
Cleef at the back of the Exchange here. Garbrant Dobbesz, son of the said
IJsbrant and the notary were present at this occasion.

1627 July 28
Not. Arch. 634 f. 130v-131
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3557
Freight contract between Cornelis Adriaensen Backer, merchant from Haarlem and
Diego Fernandes Dias, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam on the one side and
skipper Frans Gerritsz from Frederikstad on the other side. The ship St Paul,
large 50 lasts, will sail with goods from Rotterdam to Frederikstad. There the
ship will be armed with four stone guns and then proceed to Aveiro; unload and
load with salt within a fortnight and then to Sicioen5 in Galici; unload
within a fortnight and then to Vigo, also in Galicia and load goods within 3
weeks and then to Amsterdam, where the ship will be unloaded. The freight
amounts to 2.780 guilders. The primage is 20 guilders for a new flag. In
Aveiro or Galicia the skipper can receive an advance of up to 150 guilders,
with one real at 6 stivers. The skipper may have to take on board one person
whose salary will be paid by the freighters, but whom the skipper will have to
feed.

1627 July 30
Not. Arch. 634 f. 131v-132
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.


N0. 3558
Freight contract between Pedro Homem de Medeiros, Portuguese merchant in
Amsterdam, on the one side and Gerrit Cornelisz from Schiedam on the other
side. The journey will be made with the ship St. Pieter, large 50 lasts and
armed with two iron guns, two ball headed stone guns and another two stone
guns. The ship will depart from Amsterdam with a cargo of goods to Faro around
the north of England and Scotland; unload and load with figs and other goods
within 8 weeks and back to Amsterdam and unload there, even if the bills of
lading mention Hamburg or another place. The freight price is 84 guilders a
last, reckoning as one last: 160 small baskets of figs, 4000 pounds of figs in
casks, 3600 pounds of almonds, 4 pipes of oil and 8 cases of sugar. The
skipper will be compensated for extra lay-days in Faro, which sum will be
determined by arbiters in Amsterdam after the journey.

1627 August 2
Not. Arch. 634 f. 132v-133
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3559
Gerrit Cornelisz from Schiedam, skipper of the ship St Pieter, large 50 lasts,
makes the following statement. Pedro Homem de Medeiros, Portuguese merchant in
Amsterdam, is the owner of the said ship for a 1/8 share. The ship is ready to
depart for the Condado and De Medeiros paid for the fitting out of this ship
for 1/8 share.

1627 August 2
Not. Arch. 634 f. 133v.
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3560
Francisco Gomes Henriques, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, who has a
power-of-attorney from Eduart Henriques, doctor of medicine in Bordeaux
according to an instrument of 27 September 1626, authorises in his turn Pieter
Lombaert, merchant in Middelburg. Lombaert can claim from the Admiralty in
Zeeland or elsewhere five cases of sugar and 2 sheets of cinnamon that were
loaded in Lisbon in the ship La Michelle of skipper Jean Simonce by Francisco
Vaz d’AlcobaÁa for the account of the said Eduart Henriques. The goods were
consigned to Nuno Alvares de Mattos in Nantes. Lombaert can also collect the
proceeds of these goods, should they have been sold. He revokes an earlier
power-of-attorney that he gave to Abraham de Nan.6

1627 August 6
Not. Arch. 634 f. 134v.
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.


No. 3561
Protest of non-payment. Francisco Vas de Leon, Portuguese merchant in
Amsterdam, requests Francisco Coutinho, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, to
pay a bill of exchange of 1000 thaler at 34 plaques a thaler. The bill was
drawn in Hamburg on 16 June 1627 with a term of 17 weeks. The value was
received from Luis Dias de Lemos, to be put to the account of Gonsalo Lopes
Coutinho. The bill was drawn by Lopo Nunes to the benefit of Luis Dias de
Lemos and in his absence of Francisco Vaz de Leon. Coutinho is rumoured to be
insolvent. His maid says that he is not at home.

1627 August 6
Not. Arch. 634 f. 135
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3562
Protest of non-payment. Jozef da Costa asks Francisco Countiho to pay a bill
of exchange of 500 thaler at 34 1/2 plaques a thaler. The bill was drawn in
Hamburg on 28 January 1627 with a term of 29 weeks. The value was received
from Mordechay da Costa, to be put to the account of Gonsalo Lopes. The bill
was drawn by Lopo Nunes. Coutinho’s maid says that he is not at home. Coutinho
is rumoured to be insolvent.

1627 August 6
Not. Arch. 634 f. 135-135v.
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3563
Protest of non-payment. Denis Jenes asks Francisco Coutinho to pay a bill of
500 thaler at 34 plaques a thaler. The bill was drawn in Hamburg by Lopo Nunes
on 11 June 1627 with a term of 17 weeks. The value was received from Miguel
Romes for the account of Gonsalo Lopes Coutinho. Francisco Coutinho’s maid
says that her master is not at home. Francisco Coutinho is rumoured to be
insolvent.

1627 August 6
Not. Arch. 634 f. 135v.
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3564
Protest of non-acceptance. Duarte de Palacios, Portuguese merchant in
Amsterdam, asks Francisco Coutinho, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, to
accept a bill of exchange of 1600 thaler at 34 plaques a thaler. The bill was
drawn in Hamburg on 28 July 1627 by Lopo Nunes with a term of 11 weeks, the
value received from Duarte Esteves Pina to be put to the account of Gonsalo
Lopes. Philip Dorta, Francisco Coutinho’s brother-in-law, says that Coutinho
is out of town and that there are no orders to accept the bill.

1627 August 6
Not. Arch. 634 f. 135v.-136
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3565
Protest of non-acceptance. Joseph da Costa asks Francisco Coutinho, Portuguese
merchant in Amsterdam, to accept a bill of exchange of 1200 thaler at 33 3/4
plaques a thaler. The bill was drawn in Hamburg on 28 July 1627 by Lopo Nunes
with a term of 4 weeks, the value received from Migel Romes, to be put to the
account of Gonsalo Lopes. Philipe Dorta, Countiho’s brother-in-law, says that
there are no orders to accept the bill.

1627 August 6
Not. Arch. 634 f. 136
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3566
Protest of non-acceptance. Francisco da Costa Delvas, Portuguese merchant in
Amsterdam, asks Francisco Coutinho, also Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, to
accept a bill of exchange of 450 thaler at 33 3/4 plaques a thaler. The bill
was drawn in Hamburg on 23 July 1627 by Lopo Nunes with a term of 6 weeks. The
value was received from Abraham and Jacob Fidanque.
Philipe Dorta, Coutinho’s brother-in-law, says that Coutinho is out of town.
The holder of the bill, Francisco da Costa Delvas, had his cousin Balthasar
Cardozo hand over the bill to Coutinho on 2 August last, to be accepted.
Coutinho did neither return nor accept the bill and left Amsterdam on the same
day. Philipe Dorta does not want to return the bill because he has no orders
to do so.

1627 August 6
Not. Arch. 634 f. 136-136v.
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3567
Protest of non-payment. Miguel de Pas, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, asks
Francisco Coutinho, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, to pay a bill of
exchange of 952 17/64 dollars at 34 stivers a dollar. The bill was drawn in
Hamburg on 30 June 1627 with a term of 16 weeks to the benefit of Francisco
Fernandes Homem and in his absence of Miguel de Pas. The value was received
from Francisco Fernandes Homem. The maid says that Coutinho has left town.
Coutinho is rumoured to be insolvent.

1627 August 6
Not. Arch. 634 f. 136v-137
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3568
Protest of non-payment. Adriaen and Gerrit Veen ask Francisco Coutinho to pay
a bill of exchange of 1000 dollars at 34 stivers a dollar. The bill was drawn
in Hamburg on 17 April 1627 with a term of 22 weeks. The value was received
from Julio van de Moere for the account of Gonsalo Lopes Coutinho. Francisco
Coutinho is out of town and is rumoured to be insolvent.

1627 August 6
Not. Arch. 634 f. 137-137v.
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3569
Nathaniel Aernouts, merchant, declares at the request of Jan Pietersen van
Nes, merchant, acting for Gerrit Cornelisz Finckert from Norden, that on the
strength of a proven IOU of 2 August, he had to pay Francisco Coutinho 2400
guilders. The latter asked him to pay first and then talk to Pietersen.

1627 August 7
Not. Arch. 441 f. 159v.
Not. Palm Mathijsz.



No. 3570
Around three o’clock in the afternoon the notary, acting at the request of Jan
Ras and Agge Ottens, farmer and associate of the impost of tobacco
respectively, goes to the house of Francisco Coutinho in ‘de Ververijen’,
accompanied by the above said people, in order to investigate the back and
front cellar with the assistance of Carsten Hendricksz d’Angst and Lourens
Claesz, servants of the sheriff. In the back cellar they found two cases with
11 large rolls and 2 small rolls of tobacco and some parts of rolls and a few
loose pieces of tobacco. Although Jan Ras and Agge Ottens said that there
should be more tobacco, none of the Portuguese who were there in great
numbers, admitted to this.
In the same afternoon around six o’clock the notary returns with Ras and
Ottens and with Jan Rogge, another associate of the impost, to the house of
Coutinho to investigate further. In the front cellar a white case with six
large rolls of tobacco was found. This case had been in the cellar earlier but
they had not been told that it contained tobacco.

1627 August 7
Not. Arch. 846 f. 275-276
Not. Jozef Steijns



No. 3571
Notice served at the request of Jacques Boursse, merchant in Amsterdam, upon
Francisco Coutinho who is rumoured to be absent because he is insolvent.
Boursse says that on March 30 last he underwrote an insurance for Coutinho
concerning the ship De Gratie Godts of skipper Anthony Henricksz for a journey
from Amsterdam to SalÈ and back at a premium of 20 percent for the outward
bound and return journey and that he received only half of the premium. Now
that the ship is on its return journey and Coutinho is absent without having
paid the remaining half of the premium for the return journey, Boursse
considers the insurance for the return journey null and void and refuses to
carry any further risk. Coutinho’s wife answers that she knows nothing about
this and that her husband is out of town.

1627 August 13
Not. Arch. 395A f. 120
Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs.



No. 3572
Jozef da Costa, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, declares that on 23
September 1626 he received from Cornelis van Coeschot de Jonge two gilded
covered cups, one silver platter, one silver jug and twelve silver spoons for
which he paid some money in advance. He received the sum due to Van Coeschot
of 177 guilders and twelve stivers from Valerius van Gistelen de Oude,
merchant in Amsterdam, to whom he handed over the said silver ware.

1627 August 13
Not. Arch. 700A f. 545
Not. Jan Warnaertsz.



No. 3573
Statement by Francisco Rodrigues Crasto, Portuguese in Amsterdam, aged 50 and
by Samuel de Leon, Portuguese, aged 25, made at the request of Duarte
Rodrigues Mendes. The statement is made in Portuguese and translated into
Dutch by the notary.
Crasto declares that around June 20, 1624 he received from Mendes 29 guilders
and 7 stivers that Mendes had to pay him on the orders of Jacques Masuere,
wine seller as the brokerage fee for 587 bound cask staves. Masuere had sold
these to Mendes in several consignments from 29 May till 8 August 1623. De
Leon declares that he was present and that he heard Masuere order Mendes to
pay this sum to Rodrigues.

1627 August 15
Not. Arch. 395A f. 126
Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs.



No. 3574
Statement made by the notary at the request of Rodrigo Alvares de Pas,
Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam. In February of this year Jan Stuart from
Scotland asked him several times to talk to the said De Pas about the fact
that Stuart had been imprisoned in Spain in his capacity as skipper of the
ship St Andries, which ship belonged to De Pas and associates. He had had to
make quite some expenses because of this. Stuart threatened to harm De Pas
financially and bodily if he would not comply with his demands.

1627 August 16
Not. Arch. 634 f. 140v-141
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.




No. 3575
Freight contract between Francisco and Manuel Mendes Trancoso, Diogo and
Rodrigo Drago, Francisco Lopes de Azevedo and Manuel Alvares Henriques as
freighters on the one side and skipper Michiel Dircksz from Huisduinen as
hired skipper on the other side.
The ship Bıa Ventura, large 60 lasts will sail with goods from Amsterdam to
Terceira, sailing around England; unload and reload with goods and back to
Amsterdam. The freight amounts to 220 guilders as rent for the whole journey.
There is a primage of about 100 guilders for the skipper. The skipper will
engage six men and a boy with the owners’ advice. The crew will be paid two
months’ wages in advance and the rest upon return. If there is no return cargo
the ship will either be sold in Terceira or wait there. The skipper and the
crew can return to the Netherlands with other ships. The crew’s wages will run
until their return to Amsterdam.

1627 August 18
Not. Arch. 395A f. 133-134
Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobsz.



No. 3576
Maria Marcijs from Koningsbergen, single, aged 22, makes the following
statement at the request of deputy sheriff Tengnagel. From March of this year
until about a month ago she had intercourse with Mozes Nunes Pina, son of
Thomas Nunes Pina. This took place in her home at Anjeliersgracht for about
six weeks and then at the house of master Jeremias in De Meerman in
Koningstraat. From May until one month ago he paid her one crown a week for
her food and also her rent till All Saints’ Day next. She never knew that
Mozes Nunes Pina was a Jew. She agreed to pay the deputy sheriff 30 guilders
for this mistake, which money he received from her.

1627 August 20
Not. Arch. 395A f. 141
Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs.



No. 3577
Statement made by Michael de Crasto, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam. He has
bought a ship in Enkhuizen from the widow of Lambert Cornelisz Cruyff. The
ship, called Estrele Dourada (Gouden Ster) was rebaptised as St Miguel. The
ship is about 50 lasts large and its skipper is Harke Gerritsz from Enkhuizen.
Michael de Crasto and the other shareholders agree that this ship will sail to
Terceira and from there back and forth to Brasil with a Portuguese skipper and
a Portuguese crew. Shareholders are: Diogo Martins, David Abeniacar, Jacob
Franco, Manuel Lopes Nunes, Afonso Henriques, Thomas Fernandes, Antonio Lopes
Pereira, Felipe Henriques. In Terceira also: Sebastiao d’Andrade and Manuel
Roiz d’Oliveira.

1627 August 20
Not. Arch. 634 f. 142-142v.
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.
Instrument in Portuguese.



No. 3578
Daniel Nunes, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, authorises Duarte Fernandes
Vega, Portuguese merchant in Rotterdam, to attach in Rotterdam the ship St
Pieter, formely skippered by Jan Willemsz. The ship was taken there by ships
of the Rotterdam Admiralty. Fernandes Vega is to claim from the Admiralty the
goods that had been loaded in this ship for his account or the proceeds of the
goods.

1627 August 20
Not. Arch. 634 f. 143-143v.
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3579
Bento Osorio, Denis Jenes and Manuel Baruch, Portuguese in Amsterdam, make the
following statement. In Lisbon Pieter Cornelisz. loaded in the ship De
Eenhoorn of skipper Nicolaes Croon, 44 cases of sugar, among which 20 cases of
white, 19 cases of muscovado and 5 cases of panelado sugar and 19 bags of
pepper. The ship was destined for Venice and its cargo was consigned to Martin
Hurean and Aluise du Bois. Bento Osorio received the goods from the warehouse
of the Admiralty in Amsterdam in the name of Lucanelli, proxy of the
interested parties and living in Venice. In all probability three to four
hundred pounds of sugar were removed from 5 or 6 cases of white and muscovado
sugar and four to five hundred pounds of pepper from eight bags of pepper.
They believe that one will find that there is also a shortage in the other
cases of sugar and bags of pepper.

1627 August 20
Not. Arch. 634 f. 143v-144
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3580
Philip Dorta Henriques, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, relinquishes his
right as preferential creditor of the estate of Jan van den Eijnde de Jonge
and is content to act as co-creditor with the other creditors. He also
abandons all cases and suits brought before the Court or elsewhere.

1627 August 23
Not. Arch. 846 f. 288-289
Not. Jozef Steijns



No. 3581
Agreement in which Guiomar Henriques buys from Jullien Lauson a consignment of
French cloth or linen for 325 pounds Flemish. Lauson receives in payment a
similar sum in insurances underwritten for Guiomar Henriques, viz. by Albert
Schuyt for 100 pounds Flemish, IJsbrant Dobbesz for 200 pounds Flemish and by
David Otsenborn for 25 pounds Flemish according to several policies,
transferred with the verdict given by the Amsterdam Insurance Chamber. Guiomar
Henriques will give this to Lauson at the earliest opportunity, at the most
within 17 months. Should she fail to do so, she will have to pay the 325
pounds Flemish in cash promptly. If the transference takes place after six
months, Guiomar will have to pay an interest of 7 percent a year for the
remaining period. In any case she will have to pay three months interest.

1627 August 24
Not. Arch. 395A f. 150-150v.
Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs.



No. 3582
Statement made by Bento Osorio, Abraham da Costa, Joan Peres da Cunha and
Denis Yanes (Jenes), merchants in Amsterdam. They have received a letter from
their correspondents in Hamburg, informing them that Miguel Lopes Fernandes,
who is presently living in Hamburg and who used to live in Amsterdam for eight
or ten years, is now seriously ill. He is trembling all over his body as if he
has been stricken with paralysis and there is nobody in Hamburg who can cure
him. They have heard of a Dutch doctor or master who lives in Wormer and who
can cure serious illness with God’s help. After having discussed Fernandes’s
condition with them, this doctor had answered them positively, saying that he
could cure Fernandes if Fernandes should decide to come to The Netherlands.
They advise him to do this since Fernandes has little money and is burdened
with a large family. After his recovery he could then provide for his family
by working as a broker, in which capacity he has worked in Hamburg for quite
some time and thus improve his financial position.

1627 August 25
Not. Arch. 634 f. 145-145v.
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3583
David Abeniacar, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, transfers to Diogo Martins
Bondia a policy of 400 pounds Flemish. Willem Voermans and Arnout van
Liebergen underwrote this sum for an insurance of the ship of Michiel
Laurensen and its cargo. Besides this a 1/4 share of the ship St Michiel of
skipper Harck Gerritsen and its cargo and 1/16 share of the ship St George of
skipper Claes Duijs and the goods that remain with Sebastiao d’Andrade on the
island of Terceira and the proceeds of these goods. Bondia declares that with
this tranference he is fully paid and content.

1627 August 27
Not. Arch. 395A f. 161-161v.
Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs
Instrument in Portuguese.



No. 3584
Freight contract between Francisco Lopes d’Azevedo, Portuguese merchant in
Amsterdam, as freighter on the one side and skipper Jan Janssen Vollehoof,
burgher of Amsterdam, on the other side. The ship De Swarte Leeu, large 40
lasts, will sail from Amsterdam to Faro with wood and other goods; unload and
reload with goods within 2 months and back to Amsterdam (even if the bills of
lading mention Hamburg or elsewhere) and unload.
The freight amounts to 80 guilders a last, taking as one last: 160 small
baskets of figs, 4000 pounds of figs in casks, 3600 pounds of almonds, 4 pipes
of oil, 8 cases of sugar and other goods according to the customs of the
Condado. There is a primage of 5 pounds Flemish. Extra lay-days will be
compensated according to a verdict by arbiters in Amsterdam.

1627 August 27
Not. Arch. 634 f. 147v-148
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3585
Statement by Gerrit Mattheusz, 50 years of age, packer of linen in Amsterdam,
made at the request of Pieter van Houten, seller of plumage in Amsterdam.
A few years ago he delivered for Van Houten a bale of linen to Francisco
Mendes de Medeiros. This bale, that he inspected at the house of Pedro Homem
about half a year ago, contained 40 half pieces of flatly folded crimson linen
with a gold border. He declares that it was first quality Frisian linen with a
length of more than 1000 yards, according to the notes that were attached. He
himself had measured and packed the linen.

1627 August 30
Not. Arch. 846 f. 300
Not. Jozef Steijns



No. 3586
Freight contract between Joan de Haro, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, as
freighter on the one side and skipper Harmen Wilkes from Enkhuizen on the
other side. The ship De Fortuyne, large 40 lasts, will sail with goods from
Amsterdam to Tavira in the Condado; unload and reload and further to Faro to
load the rest there and back to Amsterdam after a lay-time of two months and
unload. The freight amounts to 80 guilders a last, taking as one last: 160
small baskets of figs, 4000 pounds of figs in casks, 3600 pounds of almonds, 4
pipes of oil and 8 cases of sugar. Extra lay-days will be compensated
according to a verdict of arbiters.

1627 September 1
Not. Arch. 635 f. 5-6
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3587
Statement made by Jeronimus le Febvre and Francisco Vas de Leao, merchants in
Amsterdam. De Leao has delivered to Le Febvre 4000 pearls of 16 stivers each,
amounting in total to 3200 guilders, one diamond of 400 guilders and further
paid to Isack Ellis a bond of 2000 guilders, to Master Leendert in the house
of correction (Rasphuis) 114 guilders and another 30 guilders in cash and on
the orders of Le Febvre and accepted in his own name 41 guilders to be paid to
Francisco Gomes, all together amounting to 6985 guilders. He further delivered
to Le Febvre 40 pieces of Kersey cloth at 30 guilders a piece as part of the
above amount of money.
In return Le Febvre has delivered to De Leao 21 half pieces of cloth,
measuring 400 yards in total at 4 guilders a yard, another 60 pieces of Kersey
cloth at 36 guilders a piece, another 43 pieces of Kersey cloth at 35 guilders
a piece, 35 pieces of white Kersey cloth at 28 guilders a piece, 6 half pieces
of burled cloth measuring 114 yards at 6 guilders a yard, another 36 guilders
for 9 yards that were twice the customary size and 20 guilders for the
exchange of half a piece of cloth, in total amounting to 6985 guilders.
Manuel Pimentel act as witness.

1627 September 2
Not. Arch. 782 (folder 10) f. 45
Not. Jan Verheij



No. 3588
Johannes Huer, aged 24, hatter in Amsterdam, makes the following statement at
the request of Pieter van Houten, plumage seller in Amsterdam. When around
February 10, last Pedro Homem, Portuguese, arranged the sale of linen and
plumage belonging to Van Houtem through the conciÎrge of Amsterdam, Pieter van
Houten had travelled to The Hague. When Van Houten returned the day after the
sale, he was extremely upset to hear that Homem had arranged the public sale
of these goods. Willem Verstegen, 18 years of age and in the service of the
said Huer, confirms that the above statement is true.

1627 September 8
Not. Arch. 846 f. 318
Not. Jozef Steijns


No. 3589
Diego Fernandes Dias, Portuguese merchant who has resided in Amsterdam for a
long time, gives a power-of-attorney to Johan Helt, merchant in London. Helt
is authorised to claim in London and elsewhere 5 pipes, 2 casks and 1 case of
tobacco that had been loaded in Bayonne by Jacome Luis in the ships of
skippers Claes Fransen from Rotterdam and Jan IJsbrantsz from Krommeniedijk,
to be delivered in Amsterdam. Both ships were taken to Dover by English ships,
where the tobacco was unloaded by officers of the English King.

1627 September 9
Not. Arch. 634 f. 153v-154v
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3590
Statement of skipper Pedro Alvares de Sette from Masarelles in the headland of
Oporto in Portugal, sojourning in Amsterdam, made at the request of Antoni de
CaÁeres, Portuguese merchant in Hamburg, also sojourning in Amsterdam.
When his ship, loaded with sugar and other merchandise sailed from Bahia de
Todos los Santos in Brazil destined for Oporto, it was seized by a ship of the
West India Company (Amsterdam Chamber) and taken to Amsterdam. There this ship
and its cargo were confiscated. The Admiralty assessed the goods to be sold.7

1627 September 10
Not. Arch. 635 f. 2
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3591
Statement made by Francisco Coutinho, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam and by
IJsbrant Dobbesz, merchant and representative of the insurers who insured for
Coutinho the hull of the ship De Gratie Goden. This ship, skippered by Antoni
Hendricx, was captured on its journey by an Algerian pirate and taken to
Algiers. After the ship had been robbed of all goods, it was released and
sailed to Livorno. They authorise Jacomo Mille, Jan Noirot and David Machorra
Leon, merchants in Livorno, to attach the ship there.

1627 September 13
Not. Arch. 635 f. 19-20
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.


No. 3592
Freight contract between Francisco Vas Pinto, Simao Gomes Dias and Joao de la
Faya, Portuguese merchants on the one side and skipper Jan Jansz Spaignaert on
the other side. The journey will be made with the ship De Coninck David, large
44 lasts, armed with 2 iron guns and 4 stone guns and a crew of 7. The ship
will sail with a cargo of goods from Amsterdam to Texel and from there to
Angra (Terceira); unload and reload there within a lay-time of 3 months minus
3 days and back to Amsterdam and unload there. The freight amounts to 3000
guilders. The primage is a new flag. The skipper is to take 15 passengers from
Tereira to Amsterdam. They will provide for themselves. Jullien l’Ansou signs
for the skipper.

1627 September 14
Not. Arch. 395A f. 224-225
Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs



No. 3593
Statement made by Jan de Wael, aged 50 and Jan Jansz den Uyl, aged 45,
flatboat men, at the request of Joao de la Faya, Portuguese merchant in
Amsterdam. This afternoon they transported to the house of De la Faya three
casks of tobacco from the ship of Claes Cornelisz from Limmen that had arrived
from Bayonne. One of the casks from which the bottom had broken and fallen
into the cask that had been repaired a bit, was much lighter than the other
two casks.

1627 September 15
Not. Arch. 395A f. 229
Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs



No. 3594
Freight contract between Francisco and Manuel Mendes Trancoso, Diogo and
Rodrigo Drago, Francisco Lopes de Azevedo and Manuel Alvares Henriques as
owners and freighters on the one side and hired skipper Mieuwesz Jansz from
Zaandam on the other side. The ship St Pieter, large 30 lasts will sail to
Saint-Malo with goods or ballast, unload and load with fish or other goods and
then to Terceira and unload there. The freight price consists of a fee of 240
guilders for the skipper. The skipper, advised by the owners, will hire a crew
of 5. The ship will remain in Terceira and the crew will have to return with
other ships. The wages of the crew will run until return in Amsterdam. Two
months’ wages will be advanced.

1627 September 16
Not. Arch. 395A f. 248-249
Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs



No. 3595
Matias Rodrigues Cardozo, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, conveys to Samuel
Sautin, merchant in Amsterdam, two parcels with 12 pieces of baize and 12
pieces of serge and a small case with 108 pairs of English stockings. He had
loaded these goods in Rotterdam in 1626 in the ship St Andries of skipper
Evert Jansz Waterhondt from Rotterdam. The ship had been destined for Madeira
but was seized and taken to England. The ship was released because of the
verdict of a judge from the Admiralty in London.

1627 September 17
Not. Arch. 635 f. 23
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3596
Janneke Alverman, Hendrik Alverman’s widow, sojourning in Amsterdam,
authorises Hans Stegeman, the husband of her daughter Anneke Alverman, living
in Hamburg, to claim from Gonsalvo Lopes Coutinho, Portuguese merchant in
Hamburg, that which he owes her. Before he left for Hamburg Coutinho used to
live in Gl¸ckstadt.

1627 September 17
Not. Arch. 635 f. 25-26
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3597
Duarte Fernandes de Pas, merchant in Amsterdam, authorises his son Francisco
Fernandes de Pas in Alkmaar, to renew the attachment of the money that was
consigned by him to the clerk of the court’s office in Alkmaar.

1627 September 23
Not. Arch. 395A f. 268
Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs



No. 3598
At the request of Jan Ras, impost master of tobacco, the notary is in the
conciÎrge’s warehouse at the Heiligewegspoort. A smith has opened an oaken
chest in which there are four large rolls and two small rolls of tobacco.
There are also five pieces from rolls of mouldy tobacco. Jan Ras declares that
this tobacco comes from Francisco Coutinho’s house.

1627 September 23
Not. Arch. 846 f. 340
Not. Jozef Steijns



No. 3599
Thomas Nunes Pina, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, declares that David
Abeniacar, alias Sebastiao Mendes Pimentel, also Portuguese merchant in
Amsterdam, is shareholder for 1/8 share of the ship St Jago and its cargo. The
ship with skipper Manuel Henriques from Viana will sail to Madeira and from
there to Pernambuco with merchandise.

1627 September 24
Not. Arch. 634 f. 158v
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.
Instrument in Portuguese



No. 3600
Copy of an affidavit by Fredrick Pietersz from Hamburg, skipper of the ship De
Hope, saying that he is lying ready in Viana to depart for Hamburg.
He also declares that he received from Manuel Alvares Gondin 11 cases of sugar
and 3 oxheads of tobacco for the account of Jacomo Coronel in Hamburg, to be
delivered there to the said Coronel at a freight price of 252 marks.

1627 September 24
Not. Arch. 636 f. 20
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3601
Freight contract between Simon Gomes Dias, Francisco Vas Pinto and Joao de la
Faya, Portuguese merchants in Amsterdam as owners and freighters on the one
side and Jacob Volckertz Bobbert as hired skipper on the other side. The ship
De Engel Gabriel, large 35 lasts will sail from Amsterdam to Terceira with
goods or ballast; unload there and deliver the ship to skipper Manuel
Pinheiro, Antonio Alvares from Brazil and Joan d’Avila or one of them. The
freight consists of a salary of 220 guilders, half of which will be paid
before departure and the other half after return in Amsterdam. The
owners/freighters further hire Rut Andries Noortcaep, first mate, Adriaen
Claesz, high boatswain, Pieter Jansz, carpenter, two sailors and a boy, who
will receive a monthly wage of 36, 20, 19, 11, 11 and 6 guilders respectively.
Two months of their wages will be paid in advance. The ship will remain in
Terceira and the crew will have to return to Amsterdam on other ships. The
crew’s wages will start from the departure from Texel and run till arrival in
Amsterdam. Should the skipper and crew have to return to Zeeland because of
ice or other circumstances, the owners will pay for their trip on land
including their luggage.

1627 October 4
Not. Arch. 395B f. 295-296
Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs



No. 3602
Beatris da Fonseca, Rui Fernandes Correa’s widow, declares that she owed 185
pounds Flemish to Francisco Gomes Henriques, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam.
Miguel Fernandes da Fonseca, her son, pays 65 pounds Flemish and the remaining
120 pounds will be paid by Duarte Henriques from Bordeaux.

1627 October 4
Not. Arch. 635 f. 38
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.
Instrument in Portuguese.



No. 3603
Sebastiao Mendes Pimentel, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, conveys to Diego
Martins, also Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, a 1/8 share of the ship St
Jago, including a 1/8 share of its cargo and the insurance.8

1627 October 5
Not. Arch. 634 f. 158v.
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.
Instrument in Portuguese



No. 3604
Because he is ill Francisco Ramires Pina, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam,
authorises Louis Vas, also Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, to declare before
the Court of Holland that his estate does not exceed 12000 guilders and that
he cannot pay the double thousandth penny. Witnesses are Isac Zacuto and
Manuel Baruch.

1627 October 8
Not. Arch. 635 f. 46-47
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3605
Mendo Lopes, aged 50, Michiel Despinoza, aged 38 and Jorge Fernandes Canero,
aged 31, Portuguese in Amsterdam, make the following statement at the request
of Diego da Silva, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam. In April 1627 the said Da
Silva came to Amsterdam from Gl¸ckstadt. He has remained here because of a
lawsuit that Da Silva and his brother-in-law have started before the High
Council against Johan Kuysten, Arnout van Libergen and associates concerning
an insurance they underwrote for goods from Viana to Hamburg, loaded in the
ship of skipper David van der Heijden.

1627 October 8
Not. Arch. 635 f. 47-48
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.


No. 3606
Arent Vechteresse from Medemblik, skipper of the ship St Pieter, authorises
Claes Pietersz to claim from Thomas Nunes Pina, Portuguese merchant in
Amsterdam and freighter of his ship on Terceira, the money due to him from
this journey.

1627 October 9
Not. Arch. 259A f. 159
Not. Jacob Meerhout



No. 3607
Sebastiao Mendes Pimentel, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, conveys to Diego
Martins, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, the following goods and shares for
money that the latter has paid for him and will pay for him.
Firstly, half of his share of the ship Jonas of skipper Bartelt Olthuys from
Hamburg and half of its cargo. The other half of the cargo concerns Andre
Fernandes Pais, Portuguese merchant in Hamburg. In Faro the ship will be
loaded by licentiate Pero Machado or someone else. This also includes the
insurance for 1500 pounds Flemish from September 24 till October 6, 1627 that
was first underwritten by Izak Bevelot and continued by Albert Velecar.
Secondly, a consignment of baize sent for his account from Hamburg to Lisbon
in 1626 by Andre Fernandes Cardozo or Pais to Francisco Morelli and LaurenÁo
Pestana with the ships of skippers Pieter Tam, Jacob Fox, Jochem Martens and
Pieter Witgrove including the insurance taken out in Amsterdam in four
different policies amounting to 500 pounds Flemish.

1627 October 14
Not. Arch. 634 f. 161-161v.
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3608
Copy of an affidavit by Fredrick Pietersz from Hamburg, skipper of the ship De
Hope, that is ready in Viana to depart for Hamburg. The skipper declares that
he received on board from Michiel Jacome Peixoto ten cases of sugar to be
delivered in Hamburg to Francisco and Manuel Ramires Pina at a freight price
of 19 marks a case.

1627 October 19
Not. Arch. 635 f. 170-171
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3609
Copy of an affidavit by Fredrick Pietersz from Hamburg, skipper of the ship De
Hope that lies ready in Viana to depart for Hamburg. The skipper declares that
Fernan Ferreia loaded six cases of sugar in his ship for the account and risk
of Sebastian Aires to be delivered in Hamburg to Rui Gomes da Silveira at a
freight price of 19 marks a case.

1627 October 20
Not. Arch. 636 f. 20-21
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.




No. 3610
Power-of-attorney given by Francisco and Manuel Mendes Franco, Diego and
Rodrigo Carlos, Francisco Lopes d’Azevedo and Manuel da Cunha, Portuguese
merchants in Amsterdam and owners of the ship De Goede Fortuijn. This ship,
large 60 lasts and skippered by Michiel Dircxz from Huisduinen, was seized by
a French privateer from Vlissingen on its journey from Amsterdam to Terceira
and taken to Vlissingen. The above ship owners authorise Joannes de Renialme,
merchant in Middelburg, to claim from the Councils of the Admiralty in Zeeland
and elsewhere this ship and its cargo and to obtain compensation for the
damage that they suffered.9

1627 October 25
Not. Arch. 635 f. 61-62
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.


No. 3611
Statement by Adriaen Dircx from Huisduinen, aged 48, first mate and Pieter
Adriaensz from Huisduinen, aged 24, both members of the crew of skipper
Michiel Dircx from Huisduinen, made at the request of Francisco and Manuel
Mendes Franco, Diego and Rodrigo Carlos, Francisco Lopes d’Azevedo and Manuel
da Cunha, Portuguese merchants in Amsterdam. Recently they sailed on the ship
De Fortuijn or Beneventura, skippered by Michiel Dircx. Loaded with goods from
Amsterdam they sailed from Texel around England and Scotland bound for
Terceira on August 27. On 2 October, after a storm they came to the island St.
Michiel.10 There they were attacked by a ship owned by a Frenchman from
Vlissingen, a privateer. Heavy guns were fired at them and the privateers came
on board and took over the ship. The crew, 13 men and a boy, were transferred
to the privateer’s ship and taken to Vlissingen on October 18. On the way the
privateers opened all casks, cases and parcels and took goods from them and
sold them in Vlissingen.

1627 October 25
Not. Arch. 635 f. 62-64
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.


No. 3612
Copy of an affidavit by Pieter Witgrove from Hamburg, skipper of the ship St
Pieter that lies ready in Viana to sail for Hamburg. Michiel Jacome Peixoto
has loaded in his ship ten cases of sugar for the account and risk of
Francisco and Manuel Ramires Pina in Hamburg at a freightprice of 20 marks a
case. If other merchants pay less for the freight he will also charge less.

1627 October 25
Not. Arch. 635 f. 169-170
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.




No. 3613
Gabriel Fernandes conveys as guarantee to Jacques Pietersz in Amsterdam a bond
of 466 pounds, 13 shillings and 4 groats Flemish, chargeable to Cornelis van
Nispen, issued in The Hague.

1627 October 26
Not. Arch. 704B f. 283
Not. Jan Warnaertsz. (b)



No. 3614
Ritchert Bae, aged 33, merchant in London makes the following statement at the
request of Hillebrant den Otter, seigneur of Ravensbergen and Floris den
Otter. He used to live in Viana for about 14 years and was well acquainted
there with Jean Dies Geves, brother of Manuel Dies Geves. Jean Dies Geves is a
highly respected man there and is clerk of ‘three to a hundred’ which is an
extremely honourable position for which only the most honest people qualify.
He further declares that he was in Viana on June 3, 1627 and that Jean Dies
Geves got into trouble with the judicial authorities about a ship with masts
that had belonged to Geves for a few years and that, according to the
authorities, had been sent to him from Holland. Jean Dies Geves had to pay a
lot of money to the judicial authorities to solve these problems.

1627 October 27
Not. Arch. 692B f. 550-551
Not. Jan Warnaertsz.



No. 3615
Branca Lopes, alias Rifca Namias Torres, widow of Gaspar Nunes Torres, acting
as her daughter’s guardian, authorises the parnassim of the congregation in
Livorno to collect from David and Abraham Navarro there the money due to her
in the above capacity. Diego Fernandes Dias signs for his sister Branca Lopes.

1627 November 2
Not. Arch. 632 f. 34
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3616
Because of his illness Francisco Ramires Pina, Portuguese merchant in
Amsterdam, authorises Steven Groulart in The Hague to swear under oath before
the States of Holland and West Frisia that his estate does not amount to more
than 12,000 guilders and that he cannot pay the double thousandth penny on
that sum.

1627 November 2
Not. Arch. 635 f. 71-72
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3617
Copy of a notice served by Abraham Pina, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam,
upon Jan le Roux, merchant in Amsterdam. Pina had agreed with him about a
shipment of 30 lasts of fine coal to be loaded in his ship that was skippered
by Arie Schellinger and that was destined for St. Malo at a freight price of 6
guilders a last.
After the ship had been fitted out and had its ballast removed, a heavy storm
hit it. Le Roux had failed to load the coal so that the ship, that had already
been moved outside the palisade had gotten into danger. Le Roux answers that
the coal had not been loaded because the lighter carrying the coal, had run
aground inside the palisade. As soon as this boat is afloat again it will go
to Pina’s ship.

1627 November 2
Not. Arch. 635 f. 168
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3618
Freight contract between Diego Lopes Telles, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam,
as freighter and skipper Jan Bouwensz from Rotterdam. It concerns a journey
with the ship De Fortuijne, large 50 lasts, lying in Rotterdam that is to sail
to Santa Cruz (on Tenerife) with 150 pipes in sheaves, 5 or 6 parcels of
retail goods and 3 or 4 pipes of goods. The freighter may load these goods
free of charge. In Santa Cruz he will have a lay-time of two months to unload
and reload with 25 lasts or 50 barrels of goods, consisting of wines, brandy
or other goods and sail back to Amsterdam. The freight will be 90 guilders a
last. During the lay-time the skipper can make a journey to Lanzarote to get
salt. The skipper may have to load 8 or 10 lasts more in Tenerife.

1627 November 4
Not. Arch. 635 f. 75-76
Sibrant Cornelisz.


No. 3619
Freight contract between Joan de Haro, Portuguese merchant, as freighter on
the one side and skipper Willem Jacobsz from Monnikendam on the other side. It
concerns a journey with the ship St Pieter, large 70 lasts of French salt,
that will sail from Amsterdam to Faro; unload and reload there and back to
Amsterdam, even if the bills of lading mention Hamburg or elsewhere. The
freight amounts to 4350 guilders. Extra lay-days will be compensated according
to a decision of arbiters in Amsterdam. If necessary the skipper will be given
70 to 80 reals of eight in Faro, which will be deducted from the freight. If
the authorities in Faro confiscate or attach the ship because of contraband
goods, the freighter will have to pay the skipper and his owners 1000 guilders
for the ship and its appurtenances. Should the ship be released later and
return to The Netherlands, the skipper and his owners will regain possession
of the ship if they repay the 1000 guilders with interest and expenses to De
Haro.

1627 November 10
Not. Arch. 635 f. 80-82
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3620
Philips Bournon, burgher of Amsterdam, authorises Jan Willemsz Swart, attorney
before the tribunal in Amsterdam, to affirm an IOU in his name before the
Amsterdam judicial authorities to the benefit of Duarte Fernandes, to a sum of
260 guilders.

1627 November 11
Not. Arch. 721 f. 371
Not. Pieter Carels



No. 3621
Freight contract between Jeronimo Rodrgiues de Sousa, Francisco Vas de Leon,
Francisco Gomes Henriques and Duarte de Palacios, Portuguese merchants, as
freighters and skipper Willem Jansz Spangiaert from Monnikendam. It concerns a
journey with the ship ‘t Postpaert, large 80 lasts, armed with 8 iron guns and
6 stone guns, that will sail from Amsterdam to Terceira with a cargo of goods;
unload and reload within 8 weeks and sail back to Amsterdam (even if the bills
of lading mention Hamburg or elsewhere). The freight amounts to 4600 guilders.
The skipper will get 23 guilders for every extra lay-day in Terceira.

1627 November 17
Not. Arch. 635 f. 94-95
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3622
Statement by Harck Gerritsen, aged 48, and Foppe Gerritsz, aged 52, both from
Enkhuizen, made at the request of Diego Martins and Sebastiao Mendes Pimentel,
Portuguese merchants in Amsterdam. On their last journey they sailed as
skipper and first mate respectively on the ship St Michel, large 60 lasts. On
August 8, 1627 they left Texel with this ship with goods loaded by Martins and
Pimentel, destined for Terceira. Between Wight and Beachy Head their ship was
seized by an English privateer. The parcels and cases with general goods that
had been loaded in the ship, were opened and their contents divided among the
privateers. Their ship and its remaining cargo were taken to Dover and
confiscated by the owners of the privateer. The ship was sold to an Englishman
who equipped it for a journey to Barbary. Harck Gerritsen travelled from Dover
to London where he appealed to the ambassador of The Netherlands and to Jan
Luce and other merchants in order to try and get the ship and its cargo
released. Their advice was to return home because it would be a waste of time
and money, in view of the experiences of other skippers.

1627 November 17
Not. Arch. 635 f. 97-100
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3623
Pieter van Heijst, cloth merchant and Gabriel Fernandes, jewel merchant, both
living in Amsterdam, stand surety for Joris Gijsen, attorney, for 160 guilders
concerning the rent of the house in which he is living, this to the benefit of
Jacob de Goijer, to be paid in May 1628.

1627 November 22
Not. Arch. 704B f. 308
Not. Jan Warnaertsz (c)



No. 3624
Hans Lorick, David Hansen, Severijn Nielsen and Christian Kullsen, all from
Copenhagen, commit themselves to indemnify Ernst Roetert, former alderman,
Paulus Wilhelm and Egbert Gerritsz Backer, merchants in Amsterdam, against the
surety given by Roetert and the others for Boy Laersen to the benefit of Arent
Querido, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, for the sum of 2000 guilders to be
paid within 5 months.
Boy Laersen in his turn, promises to indemnify his guarantors of their
commitment and to pay this sum of 2000 guilders with costs and interest in
Amsterdam within five months.

1627 November 22
Not. Arch. 781 folder 17
Not. Jan Verheij



No. 3625
Freight contract between ship owner Joan Huijgens, merchant in Rotterdam and
freighter Antonio Martins Viegas, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, on the one
side and skipper Pieter Sijmonsz from Monnikendam on the other side.
The ship St Jacob, large 25 lasts, armed with four iron guns and two stone
guns, will sail from Amsterdam to Faro with a cargo of goods; unload and
reload within 6 weeks and sail back to Amsterdam (even if the bills of lading
mention Hamburg or elsewhere) and unload there. The freight amounts to 85
guilders a last, taking as one last 160 baskets of figs, 3600 pounds of
almonds, 4 pipes of oil and 8 cases of sugar.11

1627 November 24
Not. Arch. 635 f. 104-106
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3626
Cogie Saharat, Persian, aged 65, makes the following statement assisted by
interpreter Isack Chamis, a Portuguese who speaks Persian as well as Dutch.
On several occasions, starting from 20 June 1626 he handed over to Dirck
Alewijn, merchant in Amsterdam, 14 bags of Dutch talers, totalling 11566
talers, together with two golden chains. These have now been restored to him.
He promises to pay within 8 or 10 days to Alewijn through the intermediary of
Bartolt Bartoltsz, a sum of 1583 guilders, one stiver and eight pennies, which
money is due to Alewijn because of merchandise and cloth that he received from
Alewijn.

1627 November 25
Not. Arch. 233 f. 194v.-195v.
Not. Jacob Meerhout



No. 3627
Joriaen Hendrixsz from Bergen in Norway, who is about to depart for the East
Indies as sailmaker on the ship Schiedam, appoints his sister Geertuijdt
Hendrix, who is presently living with Isack Marcusz, a broker living on
Vlooienburg, as his only and universal heir. At the time of his death his
father or mother or the surviving parent will get the legitimate share.

1627 November 27
Not. Arch. 782 folder 17
Not. Jan Verheij



No. 3628
Godge Sarhardt, Armenian merchant, authorises Dubbelt Worst, merchant in
Amsterdam, to collect that which is due to him from the division of 2,843 1/2
reals of eight that came with other money from the ship De Drije Coningen of
skipper Henrick Cornelisz Denijs. This ship was seized by the Emir Alij at
midnight on June 23, 1624, after which the goods were robbed.
He also authorises Izak Chamis, who acts as interpreter with Jean Sacharias to
explain the case and to bring the divisions about, but not to collect the
money. Dubbelt Worst can substitute his father or brother in his place.


1627 December 2
Not. Arch. 395B f. 478-478v
Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs



No. 3629
Notice served upon Abraham de Pina, Portuguese, at the request of Jean le
Roux, merchant in Amsterdam. Le Roux chartered the ship De Hope, with skipper
Aris Schellinger from Medemblik, from De Pina and loaded it with about 30
lasts of coal destined for Saint Malo in the beginning of November 1627. The
stipulation was that the ship was to sail immediately and complete its journey
without any loss of time. The ship left Amsterdam for Texel on November 10 and
the whole fleet of ships that was lying there sailed to Saint Malo with a
special convoy on November 17. Three well armed ships were also sent to Saint
Malo with the fleet of Rouen and several other ships so that the above ship
could safely go. Yet, Le Roux was informed that the said ship did not sail.
Since it is very important for him to take the coal to market in Saint Malo as
quickly as possible, he will claim all damage and expenses from De Pina. De
Pina accepts the notice.12

1627 December 3
Not. Arch. 395B f. 482-482v.
Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs.



No. 3630
Notice served at the request of Miguel and Lopo de Luna Montalto, Portuguese
merchants in Amsterdam, upon Jeronimus le Febvre, cloth seller in Amsterdam.
They request him to pay the sum of 1000 pounds Flemish within 24 hours
according to the agreement made on 29 October. Le Febvre had promised to pay
this sum on penalty of 100 pounds Flemish to be paid to the poor. Le Febvre
answers that he has always been willing to pay, provided that the Montaltos
would also comply with the agreement.13 Montalto answers that they have
already complied with the contract and that it is up to Le Febvre to do the
same.
1627 December 8
Not. Arch. 371A f. 254-254v
Not. Willem Cluijt



No. 3631
Matias Rodrigues Cardozo, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, declares that
skipper Claes Cornelisz from Limmen paid him 130 guilders. This sum was paid
because of the three rolls of tobacco that were part of a larger consignment
that had been loaded in his ship in Bayonne by Antonio da Costa Cortissos.
These rolls have been stolen. The sum is for half of the tobacco that was
‘Varina’ tobacco and weighed on average 11 pounds and costed 7 guilders a
pound. If the skipper manages to find the tobacco and if the proceeds are more
than 130 guilders, he will pay the extra money to Cardozo.

1627 December 10
Not. Arch. 635 f. 128
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3632
Freight contract between Diego Fernandes Dias, Portuguese merchant, as
freighter on the one side and Sijbrant Cornelisz from Amsterdam, as skipper on
the other side. The ship ‘t Postpaert, large (...) (d) lasts will sail in
ballast or with some goods from Amsterdam to Aveiro. It will sail from Aveiro
within a fortnight with salt to Betanzos in Galicia or Ribadeo or Siciren14 in
Asturia and unload there within a fortnight.
The freight amounts to 75 guilders for every thousand salt. This is 21
guilders and 10 stivers a last, taking one thousand salt as 3 1/2 last. This
sum is to be paid to the shipowners in Amsterdam. The primage is a new flag
for the skipper. The skipper commits himself to three similar jouneys, that is
from Aveiro with salt to one of the above mentioned places at the above
conditions.
Expenses for letters and passports will be shared by the freighter and the
skipper.

1627 December 15
Not. Arch. 635 f. 130-132
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3633
Notice served upon Bento Osorio by Jan Stassart, Albert Schuyt, Godert
Kerckringh, Adriaen Andriesz, also acting for the widow of his brother Claes
Andriesz and Jan Smit. In November 1618 Osorio took out an insurance for wheat
with the above mentioned insurers. According to a verdict of the Insurance
Chamber of 12 September 1620 the insurers had to provide surety for the sums
underwritten by each of them respectively to the benefit of Osorio. The
interest was 12 percent a year.
On November 1626 the judicial authorities decided that they agreed with the
verdict of the Insurance Chamber. Osorio, however, did not return the surety
notwithstanding several requests and he also kept back documents from the
insurers.
In a similar case the insurers paid a surety to the late Barent Sweerts and
Luca Claesz’s children and this case proceded according to the rules.
On 10 December, Osorio failed to show the notice of the Insurance Chamber of
10 November 1620 to the judicial authorities, while all parties were to show
all their documents, none excluded.

1627 December 15
Not. Arch. 662 f. 108v-109v.
Not. Jan Warnaerts



No. 3634
Notice served by Jean le Roux, merchant in Amsterdam, upon Abraham de Pina,
Portuguese. Le Roux repeats his notice of 3 December, saying the following. On
17 November De Pina failed to allow the ship De Hope with skipper Aris
Schellinger from Medemblik to depart with the fleet of ships that was lying
ready to depart for Saint Malo with a special convoy. Le Roux had loaded two
parcels of baize and about 30 lasts of coal in this ship. De Pina also let
every good opportunity of wind and weather go by. He requests De Pina to let
the ship depart, now that another fleet of ships destined for Saint Malo is
lying ready at Texel. If De Pina fails to do this Le Roux will claim the
damage of a possible lower price for the coal and baize from De Pina. De Pina
answers that the attachments in France are still going on and that he asked Le
Roux to rent a lighter to unload the coal and bring it back to Amsterdam.
Since Le Roux did not do this, he himself rented a lighter with which the coal
will arrive in Amsterdam today or tomorrow.

1627 December 16
Not. Arch. 395B f. 530-531
Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs



No. 3635
Notice served at the request of Jacques Boursse, merchant in Amsterdam, upon
Sebastiaen Mendes Pimentel, Portuguese. On 18 December 1626 Boursse insured
for Pimentel 100 pounds Flemish for a journey of the ship St Joris of skipper
Claes Douwesz from Amsterdam to Terceira and back. The ship went to Terceira
and made several trips there from one island to the other so that because of
the lengthy journey most of the crew left the ship. The ship was to have
sailed back around England, which cannot be done now. Boursse says that the
insurance is invalid for the return journey because he did not receive the
premium. Pimentel answers that Boursse will have to carry the risk of the
return journey. Boursse did not carry any risk for the trips made there.

1627 December 17
Not. Arch. 395B f. 540-540v.
Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs



No. 3636
Notice served at the request of Abraham de Pina, Portuguese merchant in
Amsterdam, upon Jean le Roux, merchant in Amsterdam.
De Pina says that he notified Le Roux on 1 December that because of the
continuing attachments in France, he does not intend to send the ship De Hope
with skipper Aris Schellinger from Medemblik, in which ship Le Roux has loaded
coal, to Saint Malo. He requested Le Roux to rent a lighter and have the coal
unloaded and brought to Amsterdam. Le Roux failed to do so and that is why De
Pina himself rented a lighter that brought the coal to Amsterdam. He asks Le
Roux to accept the coal and pay the expenses.15 The notary notifies De Pina of
the above answer on 23 December 1627. De Pina answers that he adheres to his
earlier notice and says that Le Roux can collect the above mentioned goods,
ship them or leave them, because these goods do not concern De Pina and that
Le Roux should do as he thinks best.

1627 December 21
Not. Arch. 395 f. 559-559v.
Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs.



No. 3637
The notary makes the following statement at the request of Diego Martins and
Sebastiaen Mendes Pimentel, Portuguese merchants in Amsterdam. On September 21
or 22, 1627 Martins showed him a letter at the Exchange, written by Harck
Gerritsz, skipper of the ship St Michiel or Den Engels St Michiel. In this
letter he notified the insurers who insured goods in this ship for Martins and
Pimentel, that this ship was brought to Dover by the English on its journey
from Amsterdam to Terceira. On September 9, 1627 the notary drew up an
insurance policy for Jeronimo Doria d’Andrade, Portuguese merchant in
Amsterdam, concerning goods loaded in the above ship, which were underwritten
and insured for D’Andrade for a sum of 50 pounds Flemish by Albert Schuijt,
merchant in Amsterdam.

1627 December 22
Not. Arch. 635 f. 138
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3638
Freight contract between Lopo Ramires, merchant in Amsterdam, as freighter on
the one side and skipper Jan Albertzen Poy, burgher of Amsterdam, on the other
side. The ship De Abrahams Offerhande, large about 55 lasts, will sail from
Amsterdam to Le Havre. The lay-time is 14 days. The skipper will receive 10
pounds Tournois for every extra day. The freight price amounts to 800 pounds
of 20 sous Tournois each. If the skipper does not get paid in Le Havre for
some reason, the freighter will have to pay the freight in Amsterdam plus
interest. All expenses will be for the freighter, should the ship be attached.
If the ship is impounded the freighter will have to pay 5000 guilders.
Francisco Ramires Pina, merchant in Amsterdam, stands surety for Lopo Ramires.


1627 December 23
Not. Arch. 234 f. 26-27
Not. Jacob Meerhout.



No. 3639
Freight contract between Lopo Ramires, merchant in Amsterdam, as freighter on
the one side and skipper Gerrit Jansse Bort, burgher of Amsterdam, on the
other side. The ship Den Engel Gabriel, large 60 lasts, will sail from
Amsterdam to Le Havre. The lay-time there is 14 days. The skipper will receive
10 pounds Tournois for every extra day. The freight price amounts to 850
pounds of 20 sous Tournois each.
If the skipper is not paid in Le Havre for some reason, the freighter will pay
him in Amsterdam plus interest. The freighter is to pay all expenses if the
ship is attached. In case the ship is impounded, the freighter will have to
pay 6000 guilders. Francisco Ramires Pina, merchant in Amsterdam, stands
surety for Lopo Ramires.

1627 December 23
Not. Arch. 234 f. 27v.
Not. Jacob Meerhout



No. 3640
Statement by Juan GonÁales, 37 years of age, sworn Portuguese broker, made at
the request of Miguel de Pas, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam. On 13 January
1626 he acted as broker in an insurance of 50 pounds Flemish taken out by De
Pas and company and underwritten by Dirck Honckelboer. The insurance concerns
a journey with the ship of skipper Antoni Hendrixsz from SalÈ to Amsterdam at
12 percent. He received the premium of 6 pounds Flemish from De Pas and
settled it with Honckelboer with 9 pounds and 10 shillings Flemish that he
received from Honckelboer for Matias Rodrigues, Portuguese merchant in
Amsterdam. This sum concerned a premium of 10 pounds Flemish for an insurance
that Honckelboer had underwritten for Matias Rodrigues. This insurance
concerned a journey with the ship of skipper Robbert Word, whose ship was
seized at the Azores before any goods had been loaded. At the request of the
said Rodrigues GonÁales he agreed with the insurers who had underwritten the
policy, viz. IJsbrant Dobbesz and Honckelboer, to return the premium they had
received, minus one half percent for their signatures. He received from
Honckelboer three pounds and 10 shillings Flemish from the remaining money.
Honckelboer deducted three pounds Flemish because these were due to
Honckelboer from Rodrigues for goods sold to him.

1627 December 27
Not. Arch. 636 f.15-17
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3641
Affidavit made by the notary at the request of Belchior Lopes, Portuguese
merchant in Amsterdam. At the request of Lopes he went to the cellar under the
house of Diego Fernandes Dias, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, behind
Breestraat near the lepers, on Thursday, 23 December. There was a case of
sugar there, of which Lopes said that he had received it from Madeira with the
ship of skipper Harmen Dirxcsz. The case had been opened by a cooper and
appeared to have been damaged by water and had lost about a third of its
contents. Lopes had declared that to prevent damages, he would sell the wet
sugar as best he could and claim the damage from his insurer. The notary
further declared that on that same day he went to see one of the insurers,
Jean van Harinckhoucq and asked him to come and inspect the case of sugar and
determine the damage. Harinckhoucq, however, did not come.

1627 December 29
Not. Arch. 636 f. 13-15
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.



No. 3642
Statement by Dirck Conijnenbosch, aged 56, from Amsterdam, made at the request
of Miguel de Pas. About six months ago he received from De Pas a bond of 154
guilders, 1 stiver and 8 pennies, chargeable to Dirck Honckelboer. The latter
had promised to pay the bond, but after he had asked Honckelboe for payment
several times in vain, he returned the bond to De Pas.

1627 December 29
Not. Arch. 636 f. 17
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

***

(a) No first name was mentioned. The alias of David Abeniacar is Sebastiao
(Mendes) Pimentel: N.A. 634/158v., 24 September 1627.

(b) draft instrument, undated.

(c) Incomplete draft instrument.

(d) Not filled in.

Notes
Top
Notes


Prepared by the staff of the Amsterdam Municipal Archives. Translations by
S. Hart.
On the same day a similar statement is given at the request of the brothers
Pedro and Joan de la Faija, Portuguese merchants in Amsterdam.
In the margin it says that this authorisation was passed in another form.
10 June 1627. David Pallache in Amsterdam, authorises Pieter Janssen
Cachiopin, merchant in Rotterdam, to have Manuel Morais Tavares, Portuguese
nobleman in Rotterdam, arrested and to attach his goods until Tavares will
have paid him 1000 guilders and until the case between him and Tavares has
been settled before the States General. (N.A. 634/121v.-122; not. Sibrant
Cornelisz.)
See also: N.A. 633/18v-19, 20 February 1626
Place name is unknown. Perhaps Cedeira is meant.
Probably Abraham de Nantes.
On October 16 this is confirmed by Francisco da Costa d’Elvas and Diego
Fernandes Dias, Portuguese merchants in Amsterdam. At the request of De
CaÁeres they make the following statement. They were told by the skipper
that his ship had been seized by the West India Company and that the cargo
also contained a consignment of sugar loaded by Duarte Luis and consigned to
Francisco de CaÁeres in Oporto.
On November 1, 1627 Diego Martins renounces the above conveyance.
The instrument contains a marginal note telling that on 25 October 1627 the
power-of-attorney was transferred to Jeronimo de Haro.
Sao Miquel, Azores
The deed mentions that on December 22, 1627 Viegas and the skipper agree to
change the destination to Madeira, this to prevent difficulties with the
authorities in the Condado. The freight price will be calculated with 8
cases of sugar for one last, 4 pipes of wine or 4000 pounds of preserves. It
is further stipulated that instead of 8 cases of sugar for one last, the
usual measures of weight will be used, viz. 108 arrobas and 32 pounds an
arroba.
On fol. 484-484v. the same instrument in French.
The deed also mentions that on December 10 the notary serves a notice upon
Miguel de Luna Montalto at the exchange, at the request of Jeronimus le
Febvre, saying that Montalto and his brother have to comply with the
agreement they made with Le Febvre within 24 hours and that if they fail to
do so, they will have to pay the fine for the poor.
It is uncertain which place is meant. Possibly Cedeira in Galicia.
The notice contains the following answers: Le Roux answers on 22 December
1627. He denies having received De Pina’s notice of 1 December 1627 in which
he was to have asked him to unload the coal. He adheres to his earlier
notices and again notifies De Pina that he will have to ship the mentioned
goods to Saint Malo, viz. 900 1/4 weights of coal, two parcels with seven
pieces of baize and four small casks of fish. If De Pina fails to do so, he
will have to pay the highest price that the goods would have fetched after
the arrival of the ship De Roose of skipper Claes Wijboutsz, that sailed
from Texel on November 17 and arrived in Saint Malo five days later. Le Roux
is willing to collect the four parcels of baize and the four casks of fish.
He also requests De Pina to return to him the letters that he had written

---

Studia Rosenthaliana, Volume 34, Number 1, 2000

(1 of 2) Notarial Records relating to the Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam before 1639 ¹

---

No. 3499

Anna Jans, widow of Willem Claesz, living in Amsterdam, declares that she owes Samuel de Leon the sum of 70 guilders as the remainder of a larger sum concerning the sale and delivery of tobacco. She promises to repay 6 guilders a week, starting from 8 January 1627.

1627 January 3

Not. Arch. 394A, fol. 3

Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs.²

No. 3500

At the request of Thomas Nunes Pina, merchant in Amsterdam, the notary asks Jan Gerritsz Kinckhuijsen, merchant in Amsterdam, broker Hans Verschuere and Manuel Pinto, Portuguese in Amsterdam, whether they know that Francisco Lopes Gomes, Portuguese merchant, formerly residing in Lisbon, is now trading in Amsterdam and whether they are willing to declare what they know about this. Pinto declares that for some of time he and Cornelis Jansen Melcknap, sworn broker in Amsterdam, helped to negotiate an exchange agreement between Gomes and Lenart Lenartsz, merchant in Amsterdam. The agreement concerned 13 pipes of oil at 76 pounds Flemish a barrel, that Lenart Lenartsz delivered to Gomes, in exchange for a silver jug and some pieces of processed silver with a consignment of money that Gomes delivered to Lenartsz. The exchanged goods were worth 500 pounds Flemish. Before this he helped to negotiate some other exchange agreements between Gomes and other merchants in Amsterdam concerning paper, perpetuana and other goods. Kinckhuijsen declares that about a year and a half earlier he had sold a consignment of linen worth 1,500 guilders to Gomes in Amsterdam. Hans Verschuere declares that some time ago he had negotiated an exchange of goods as sworn broker and that he had been requested to do some others transactions and that Gomes is a peculiar person and is difficult to negotiate with. At the request of Pina, the notary declares that in August 1625 Gomes sold and delivered a string of pearls at 1,180 guilders to Johan Vernadt in Amsterdam. Later, when Vernadt left, the affair was settled through the intervention of himself and of Izak Florianus between Gomes’s brother and Philibert Vernadt, brother of Johan Vernadt. Gomes received the sum of 800 guilders for this string of pearls, paid in installments.

1627 January 5

Not. Arch. 633, f. 129-129v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3501

Pieter Mefferdt, manufacturer of playing cards and Simao Vas de Fontes, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, make the following contract of sale in advance. Starting 1 January 1627 Meffert will deliver at the end of every month 32 dozen Spanish playing cards at a price of 30 stivers a dozen for a period of two years. Mefferdt has 90 or 92 dozen ready that he may deliver immediately instead of the 64 dozen that are due for the first two months at the end of March. During these two years Mefferdt is not allowed to make or to have Spanish cards made for others, to sell them or have them sold at a fine of 100 guilders to the benefit of the poor. Should either party fail to deliver or receive and pay, he will have to pay the other party a fine of 50 guilders, and he will have to comply with the contract if that is what the other party desires. Valerius van der Hoeven and Thomas Fernandes Junior stand surety for Pieter Mefferdt and Simao Vas de Fontes respectively.

1627 January 7

Not. Arch. 394A, f. 10-10v.

Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs.

No. 3502

Copy of the will of Jozef Nahemias, alias Gaspar Nunes Torres, dated 26 October 1626. He appoints his brother Jacob Nahemias Torres, alias Antonio Nunes Torres and Jacob Israel Dias, alias Gonsalo Dias Pato as the executors of his will.

He bequeaths a silver lamp that is used by the Beth Jacob congregation to the same. He leaves to his wife Reijna Nahemias 1,200 pounds Flemish and half of all gold and silver jewellery, in addition to what is due to her in the ketuba: he leaves the other half to his daughter Judica Nahemias Torres. He leaves to the congregations Beth Israel and Neve Salom 20 guilders each for escava to be divided among the poor. He leaves 1,500 guilders to his late brother Manuel Lopes’s daughter, living in Livorno, for her dowry. He leaves to her brother Daniel, his nephew, 500 guilders for the necessary medicine for his mother. He leaves to the two daughters of his late brother Matthias Lopes 1,000 guilders each for their dowries. He leaves to each of the three daughters of his brother Jacob Nahemias Torres 1,000 guilders for their dowry. He leaves to the four sons of his sister Violante Nunes and Abraham Navarro 400 guilders each and additional 10 guilders to her eldest son Izak Navarro. To the daughter of his niece Felipa Nunes in Lisbon he leaves 3,000 guilders for her dowry. To the daughter of his cousin Clara Nunes, wife of Vastanho, he leaves 300 guilders for her dowry.

To the three daughters of his cousin Maria Nunes, who are living with her mother, the daughter of Manuel Laurenço in Amsterdam, 50 pounds Flemish each. To the daughter of Ergas and his cousin Ilena Nunes he leaves 40 pounds Flemish for her dowry.

To the three daughters of his cousin Sebastiao Nunes 500 guilders each. To Izak de Jonge, who is growing up in his house, 2,000 guilders. To his nieces, daughters of Felipa Nunes 120 guilders each for their marriage. To his nieces, daughters of his cousin Beatrix Nunes, wife of Laurenço Rodrigues, 120 guilders each for their marriage. He leaves 40 pounds Flemish to the poor of Amsterdam. He leaves to his niece Francisca Nunes, who is daughter of his sister Rodriga Nunes, and married to Vasco de Mesquita, 150 guilders. To his nephew Francisco Nunes, son of his sister Rodriga Nunes, he leaves 150 guilders. To his cousin Izak Israel Nunes, alias Domingos Nunes 100 guilders that will be administered for him by Diego Fernandes Dias.

He appoints his daughter Judica Nahemias Torres as his principal heir. He wishes her to marry his cousin David Nahemias Torres, son of Jacob Nahemias Torres, alias Antonio Nunes Torres. In which case he will give David Nahemias Torres 500 pounds Flemish. Should the relatives to whom he leaves a gift for their marriage, remain single, these gifts will remain with his daughter Judica. A sum of 1,000 crusados (400 pounds Flemish) will have to be used to set up a fund, the proceeds of which should be used to support his relatives or for gifts at their marriage.

Witnesses are Rodrigo Fernandes, alias Abraham Navarro, Samuel Israel Dias, Izak Israel Dias, David (Israel) Dias, Jacob Baruch, Daniel Nunes, Jacob (Fernandes) Burgos and Izak Navarro. On 26 October 1626 Gaspar Nunes Torres ratifies his testament in the presence of Gaspar Febos, Daniel Nunes, Matias Rodrigues Cardoso and Jozua Egas as witnesses. He wants his wife Rifica Nahemias Torres to be the guardian of his daughter Judica.

1627 January 10

Not. Arch. 633, f. 134-135

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

Instrument in Portuguese.

No. 3503

Isabel Rodrigues, widow of Manuel Rodrigues de Olivença, assisted by her son Jacob Messia, conveys to Diego Nunes Belmonte an insurance of 225 pounds Flemish in a policy of 350 pounds Flemish, the rest of which concerns another person. The insurance was taken out on money and goods loaded in Salé for the journey to Amsterdam in two ships. These ships are De Bloempot with Skipper Abraham Jansen and De Blauwe Duif with Skipper Aert Ariaensen. The insurance was underwritten by the following insurers.

Willem and Henk de Vries for 100 pounds, Jean le Roux for 100 pounds, Fernando de la Faille, Michel Cornelisz Blau and David Otsenborn each for 50 pounds. She further conveys to Belmonte her share in 20 cases of muscovado sugar that are in the hands of Manuel Esteves in Hamburg and further all securities that are administered by Aron Querido in Salé.

These conveyances serve in payment and reduction of 2,666 guilders and 9 stivers that Belmonte paid for her to her son Izak Messia. Witness is Jacob Jesurun.

1627 January 15

Not. Arch. 394A, f. 29-29v.

Not. Jacob and Nicoleas Jacobs

Instrument in Portuguese.

No. 3504

Guillaume Quibors, serge worker, 67 years old, makes the following statement at the request of Felipe Dorta Henriques, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam. All serge workers who work outside the house of their employer, are given money by him to buy two warp frames and to pay for the spinning and combing. If the serge worker quits his master’s employment, he will have to pay this money back. This money is reserved for the serge worker as wages because the masters, besides bringing each piece of serge to their homes, pay their serge workers for their labour and give them money to buy a new warp frame. These conditions were also drawn up in his presence between the said Henriques and Sijdrach Danielsz, also serge worker, who was employed by Henriques. On 22 January 1627 Aron de Pas, Portuguese merchant, 28 years old, declares, also at the request of Henriques, that he was present when this contract was drawn up between Henriques and Danielsz. Henriques then provided Danielsz with two warp frames and money for the spinning and combing of two pieces. Danielsz still owes the greater part of this money.

1627 January 18

Not. Arch. 394A, f. 38-38v.

Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs.²

No. 3505

Willem Erick from Lübeck, aged 27, Claes Croon from Hamburg, aged 25 and Mattheus Vet from Hamburg, aged 25, skippers of the ships De Twaelf Apostelen, De Eenhooren and De Paerle respectively, make the following statement at the request of David Senior, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam.

On 10 August last they left from Lisbon with their ships, Willem Erick destined for Livorno, and the other two destined for Venice. After they had dropped anchor near Almeria, they were approached by captain Cornelisz Moens, who commanded a large man-of-war armed with 20 pieces and a crew of about 100 men, and by captain Anthony de Ledekerke, commander of a man-of-war with 10 pieces and a crew of about 60, who was accompanied by an English ship armed with 18 pieces and another six Dutch ships that were mostly well armed. When this fleet approached them, they neared the coast as much as they could. They were approached by a boat from this fleet twice and were ordered to come to the fleet, but they answered that they did not know if they were Moorish or what kind of ships they were. Then the whole fleet sailed up to them. When they saw this they went by boat to the man-of-war of Captain Moens who was the admiral of the fleet. When they showed him their passports he took over and occupied their ships. Their ships were looted and taken to Holland with the cargoes. The De Twaelf Apostelen arrived at Texel around 12 October last and was taken to Amsterdam. The ships were unloaded on the orders of the Admiralty and the goods were stored. Part of the goods from De Twaelf Apostelen was sold by the Admiralty.

1627 January 18

Not. Arch. 692B, p. 246-248

Not. Jan Warnaerts.

No. 3506

Wiggert Jansz, rope-maker, declares for himself and for Marry Jansz, Jan Olfert’s widow, to have sold to Jeronimo Rodrigues de Sousa, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, 200 to 220 ship’s pounds of rope-work of genuine Westkappel yarn with the Amsterdam hallmark, smooth and well structured and tarred. The sellers will have to have half or more of this consignment ready as soon as the ice has melted and the rest a fortnight or three weeks later if the waterways remain open. The rope-work is to be shipped from Amsterdam to St Malo at the expense of the sellers, to be delivered there to the buyer’s agent. When news is received from St Malo that the rope-work has been delivered, the buyer will have to pay the sellers the sum of 33 guilders and 5 stivers for each ship’s pound of rope (reckoning 300 pounds as a ship’s pound). Juan Gonçales signs as broker.

1627 January 21

Not. Arch. 846, f. 32-33

Not. Jozef Steijns

No. 3507

Bartholomeus Sijmonsz and Hendrick Aggesz, rope-makers, sold to Jeronimo Rodrigues de Sousa, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, 200 ship’s pounds of rope-work of genuine ‘Westkappel’ yarn with the Amsterdam hallmark, smooth and well structured and tarred. The sellers will have to have half or more ready as soon as the ice has melted and the remainder in a fortnight or three weeks after if the waterways remain open. The rope-work is to be shipped from Amsterdam to St Malo at the expense and risk of the sellers, to be delivered to the buyer’s agent there. When the message is received that the rope-work has been delivered, the buyer is to pay the sellers in Amsterdam the sum of 34 guilders for each ship’s pound, reckoning a ship’s pound as 300 pounds.

1627 January 21

Not. Arch. 846, f. 41-42

Not. Jozef Steijns

No. 3508

Notice served at the request of the Tobacco Impostmasters of Holland and West Friesland upon Emanuel Lopes de Lion, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam. The Impostmasters request Emanuel Lopes de Lion to have the five casks of tobacco that he received from outside the city and the cask that he is to receive at the Weigh House of Amsterdam or at his own home, to be weighed by sworn weighers in the presence of the Impostmasters or their collector in accordance with the third article of the Ordinance on the strength of which this impost was leased out. De Lion answers that he will comply with the notice.

1627 January 29

Not. Arch. 846, f. 51

Not. Jozef Steijns.

No. 3509

Notice served at the request of Rodrigo Alvares de Pas, acting for his father Francisco de Pas, upon Pieter Seullijn, Jan Bicker and Bartolomeus Bertels, merchants in Amsterdam, who insured for the said Francisco de Pas hemp and other goods loaded in the ship of Skipper Goosen Gerritsz. The journey went from Danzig to Porto and the said hemp was unloaded in Hoorn and is now in the hands of Francisco Coutinho in Amsterdam. Coutinho keeps the hemp as security for the bail that he put up for the freight price that is claimed by the skipper, with whom he is involved in a litigation. De Pas requests that the insurers collect the hemp according to the abandonment made to them and to reach an agreement with Coutinho as if it were their own case, and requests them to allow him to transfer the policy to the Insurance Chamber to be dispatched.

1627 February 3

Not. Arch. 394A, f. 64

Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs.

No. 3510

Notice served at the request of Barbara Thomasdr. upon Abraham da Costa, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam. The rolls of tobacco that she bought from Da Costa at 1,400 guilders, of which the first payment of 350 guilders was made by her, are partly rotten and dried. She does not want to keep the tobacco and wants restitution of the sum she paid, with deduction of the tobacco that she sold, possibly to be determined by arbiters. Abraham da Costa acknowledges receipt of the notice.

1627 February 4

Not. Arch. 634, f. 7v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3511

Dr Joseph Bueno, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, serves the following notice upon Jan van Nudt. Van Nudt bought from Bueno 6 bags of Segovian wool at 600 guilders. Van Nudt was to pay immediately but failed to do so. On the day of the sale, contrary to good business practice, he obtained letters of cession from the High Council of Holland, which letters are only meant for those who suffered damage and loss but not for those who transfer goods in bad faith to others or embezzle them and thus commit fraud upon the legal owner. He notifies Van Nudt to restitute the wool to him or to pay immediately. Van Nudt’s servant asks for a copy of the notice.

1627 February 5

Not. Arch. 634, f. 8v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3512

Francisco de Caceres, 54 years old, burgher and Joao Rodrigues, 42 years old, inhabitant of Amsterdam, declare at the request of André Alvares that the said Alvares has lived in Amsterdam with his wife and children for more than 10 years. Some time ago, after his wife died, he made a trip to France and returned to his house and children in Amsterdam about two months ago. They have known Alvares for more than ten years and are well acquainted with him on the whole.

1627 February 15

Not. Arch. 394 A, f. 88

Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs.

No. 3513

Pieter Jansen Flassenbaert, Walich Cornelissen and Wijer Janssen, living at Wieringen, declare, also in the name of their helpers, to have received 340 guilders from Sebastiao Mendes Pimentel, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam.

This sum was awarded to them because of a verdict of arbiters Wessel Becker and Dirck de Leeu, merchants in Amsterdam for their trouble in salvaging the ship Sta Maria with Skipper Hendrick Schult from Lübeck and its cargo. This ship, coming from the Condado had been sailed aground at the northern side of ’t Vlaeck, ⁴ by a pilot from Huisduinen after which they raised the ship and its cargo and sailed it around Wieringen and then to Amsterdam.

1627 February 23

Not. Arch. 634, f. 20v.-21

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3514

John Stuart from Dumbarton (Scotland) declares he has reached an agreement with Jozef Justo, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, concerning his claims on the late Francisco de Pas, Justo’s father and Michael Cardoso and Rodrigo Alvares de Pas. It concerns expenses made by them for his ship on its journey to Malaga in 1623 and during his imprisonment there. He declares that Justo paid him a sum of 100 guilders.

1627 February 26

Not. Arch. 634, f. 32v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3515

Testament of Isabel Nunes, wife of Izak Chamis, living in Amsterdam in which she appoints her sister Francisca Rodrigues as her universal heiress.⁵

1627 March 5

Not. Arch. 394A, f. 133-133v.

Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs

No. 3516

Statement made by Maria Nunes, Manuel Lourenço’s widow. After the death of her brother Gonçalo Lopes a sum of money was handed over to her brother-in-law Diogo Lopes Estonçes. Moreover the late Gaspar Nunes Torres gave him a little money for some raisins (?)⁶ on the orders of Gaspar Nunes Castello. On 26 January last the said Estonçes gave her all the money, capital as well as interest through the intermediary of Diogo Fernandes Dias. She paid this sum to Dr Diogo Lopes Telles together with the value of 500 crusados for the account of her brother Antonio Nunes de Oliveira on 25 February last, all this for the marriage of her daughter Rachel. She declares that the said Estonçes gave her a sum of 29 guilders and 5 stivers, with which all accounts between her and her brother-in-law have been settled so that she has no further claims on him. Rodrigo Fernandes signs as witness.

1627 March 5

Not. Arch. 394A, f. 134-134v.

Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs

Instrument in Portuguese.

No. 3517

Manuel d’Orta, merchant in Amsterdam, makes the following statement at the request of Duarte Fernandes. About three years ago he was in Paris where he heard that a certain Rusco, Italian merchant there, had been condemned to be hanged for having forged some notarial instruments but that through a petition for clemency to the queen he had been pardoned and released. The notary however, with whom he had committed the forgery, was hanged.

1627 March 8

Not. Arch. 394A, f. 139

Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs.

No. 3518

Jan Werbrouck, merchant in Haarlem, acting for himself and as guardian of the minor children of the late Jan Verschuyren de Oude, gives power-of-attorney to Hans Collosijs, burgher of Amsterdam, to settle a dispute with Jan Gonsalvo, Portuguese. The dispute concerns certain pieces of woven cloth that were sold for him and for the said Jan Verschuyren de Oude, his grandfather, by his brother-in-law Hans Verschuyren, sworn broker, to Jan Gonsalvo in June 1617. He is authorised to collect the money due to them.

1627 March 18

Not. Arch. 550B, f. 78

Not. Jacob Westfrisius

No. 3519

Statement made by Antonio Martins Viegas, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam and his son Manuel Viegas. Mattheus de Quester, postmaster in London, and his son have committed themselves before the Court of the Admiralty in London as surety for the sum of 12,000 guilders concerning the release of goods loaded in Faro for the account of Antonio Martins Viegas in the ship, the St Pieter of Skipper Cornelis van Berchem. The ship ran into trouble in England and was released on bail paid by the said Mattheus de Quester. Now that IJsbrant Dobbesz, merchant in Amsterdam, has committed himself as counter-surety for De Quester and his son, Antonio Martins Viegas and Manuel Viegas stand surety for 12,000 guilders for the sureties and counter-sureties. On 27 April 1627 Pedro Homem de Medeiros stands surety for Antonio Martins Viegas and Manuel Viegas, his father-in-law and brother-in-law respectively.

1627 March 18

Not. Arch.634, f. 35-35v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3520

The notary makes the following statement at the request of Jeronimo Doria d’Andrade, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam. Yesterday he went to Jan van Hoorn for Doria d’Andrade to notify him that because of his insolvency ⁷ he would not carry any risk for the 100 pounds Flemish that he had insured for Doria d’Andrade for a journey to the Azores and back with Skipper Claes Douwesz from Vlieland, unless Jan van Hoorn provided security for his own signature. Moreover Doria d’Andrade would remain creditor to Jan van Hoorn for half of the premium at 10 pounds Flemish that was paid to him for the insurance. Van Hoorn answered that he was satisfied that he had been released from the risk and that he had not received any premium for the insurance from the broker.

1627 March 24

Not. Arch. 634, f. 42

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3521

Skipper Hijmrijck Schutte from Lübeck declares that Sebastian Mendes Pimentel, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, paid him the freight-price for a journey with the ship Sta Maria from Hamburg to the Condado and then to Amsterdam, which ship was freighted in Hamburg by André Fernandes Cardoso.

1627 March 25

Not. Arch. 634, f. 43v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3522

Statement made by the notary at the request of Pedro Homem de Medeiros, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam. On 26 February last he went to the St Anthonisluis in this city to see a flatboat with a consignment of sugar that Simon de Goijer declared to have unloaded from the ship of Skipper Hendrick Hoijer, coming from Lisbon. He found that one case of muscovado sugar of this consignment that concerned the said Medeiros, was two-thirds empty. Apparently the sugar had been washed away by water and the remaining sugar was watery. Simon de Goijer had declared that this case had been stowed at the main mast and that other cases that had been stowed there and concerned other people, were also damaged. On 15 March the notary went to the Weigh House where De Medeiros delivered 10 cases of muscovado sugar to Hans Wijn, confectionner in Amsterdam, including the said case of muscovado sugar. This one appeared to have a gross weight of 302 pounds.

1627 April 12

Not. Arch. 634, f. 57v.-58

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3523

At the request of Jeronimo Rodrigues de Sousa, Portuguese merchant, Hans Hendricksz, aged 37 and Hendrick Claesz, aged 23, labourers at the Weigh House with the Scottish warehousing company, make the following statement. Around 24 December 1626, they were in the attic of De Sousa’s warehouse with the ‘De Morgenstont’ signboard, handling four bales of Portuguese pepper in double bags. These bags had been cut open and had been inspected by the buyer Anthony Aertsz. They sewed up the holes of these four bales of pepper that were the foremost of 36 similar bales of pepper, and had them weighed at the Weigh House in the city. The bales were dry and in good condition at the time. They had not noticed any dampness or damage. ⁸

1627 April 13

Not. Arch. 846, f. 109-110

Not. Jozef Steijns

No. 3524

Daniel Nunes, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, makes the following agreement with Skipper Jan Willemsz from Amsterdam and his owner Daniel de Vos in Amsterdam. With the approval of Diego Fernandes Dias who transferred the charter to Daniel Nunes, the skipper will make four journeys according to the freight contract of 16 November 1626 adhering to the conditions specified in the contract. Nunes will make an advance payment of 150 guilders to the skipper and his owner for which 600 reals in silver will be deducted from the freight price. This sum is to be paid back plus 100 guilders if the journey is not made or if the ship is wrecked or seized by privateers. The skipper and his owner have been sentenced to pay this sum by the judicial authorities of Amsterdam and Nunes may charter another ship at their expense to make this journey. If after the release of the attachment the skipper does not begin his journey immediately or if he accepts another charter, this sum of 150 guilders should also be paid back.

1627 April 16

Not. Arch. 632, f. 232

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz. ⁹

No. 3525

Copy of an affidavit of Pieter Janssen from Lübeck, skipper of the ship Den Jaeger, that lies ready in Viana to sail to Hamburg. He declares he has received from Gaspar Caminha Rego 14 cases of sugar for the account and risk of Diego Carlos in Hamburg, to be delivered to the said Diego Carlos at a freight price of 21 marks a case.

1627 April 18

Not. Arch. 634, f. 124

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3526

At the request of Pedro Homem Coronel, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, the notary declares that on 3 March last he went to Coronel’s house in Breestraat near St Anthonispoort where 21 cases of panelado sugar were stored in the cellar. Coronel had received the sugar from Lisbon with the ship Den Engel Gabriel of Skipper Hendrick Hoijer from Hamburg. The notary established that some of the cases were wet and damaged by seawater. Some cases had a gross weight of 542, 618 and 420 pounds according to the Weigh House in this city.

1627 April 19

Not. Arch.634, f. 59v.-60

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3527

Francisco de Caçeres from Amsterdam, about 54 years old, makes the following statement at the request of Antonio Martins Viegas. In 1622 he mediated between Viegas and Leonard de Beer so that both parties would submit their dispute concerning certain accounts to arbitration by Francisco Mendes de Medeiros and Michael Corael. De Beer effected an attachment with some grocers who owed Viegas money. De Caçeres had the attachment lifted by Willem Pietersz, sheriff’s officer, according to an instrument passed to that effect. From information supplied by De Beer, De Caçeres knows that Manuel Viegas, the son of Antonio Martins Viegas, looked after his father’s affairs in Spiritu Santo in Bahia. De Beer had asked Viegas junior in a letter to help Dirck Pietersz with a ship with Brazil wood. All expenses, including gifts, would be refunded by him. In his letter De Beer promised De Caçeres a share in the wood. When the affair was discovered Dirck Pietersz was imprisoned and the ship sailed out. Manuel Viegas was suspected and arrested in Bahia and was found to be carrying De Beer’s letter. Viegas junior was then tried and put in jail endangering his life. Through gifts he managed to get his sentence converted to 7 years forced labour in Africa. De Beer, who had told all of this to De Caçeres, said that he considered the expenses to be very high and that he would settle the matter with an verbal agreement. When Viegas senior noticed that De Beer failed to comply and was about to leave for Hamburg, he tried to have him jailed but failed. De Beer then went to Hamburg. Viegas senior then applied to the courts in Amsterdam and Hamburg to compel De Beer to settle the matter before he returned to Amsterdam and if he failed to do so, to have him tried in absence. De Caçeres refers to the applications to the courts for particulars.

1627 April 20

Not. Arch. 394B, f.278-278v.

Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs.

No. 3528

Freight contract between Francisco Vas de Leon and Ruy Gomes Fronteira, Portuguese merchants in Amsterdam, as freighters, each for one half and Lucas Jansen from Enkhuizen, skipper of the ship De Swarte Leeu, large 60 lasts, armed with 4 iron pieces and 4 stone pieces and a crew of 10. The journey will go from Enkhuizen with a cargo to Salé, unload and load within eight weeks and back to Amsterdam. The ship is to sail around the back of England and Scotland or through the Channel in case of bad tides and heavy storms. The freight price amounts to 3,300 guilders. Arbiters in Amsterdam will determine the compensation for extra lay-days. The freighters will only pay the expenses for anchorage and piloting in Salé.

1627 April 20

Not. Arch. 634, f. 61-62

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3529

Protest of non-payment. Jeronimo Rodrigues Mendes, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, requests Michael Cardoso and Rodrigo Alvares de Pas, Portuguese merchants in Amsterdam, to pay the remainder of a bill of exchange of 35 guilders and 1 stiver. The bill was drawn in Hamburg on 2 October 1626 for a sum of 1,080 thaler at 34 stivers a thaler, to be paid within 26 weeks. The drawer is Jacob Justo, the value received from Manuel Esteves. Cardoso and De Pas accepted the bill. The reason for non-payment is not given.

1627 ¹⁰ April 21

Not. Arch. 634, f. 62-62v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3530

Statement made at the request of Duarte Saraiva and Michael Cardoso, Portuguese merchants in Amsterdam, by Albert Dauberck, alias Alberto Montera, sojourning in Amsterdam, also acting for Rodrigo Alvares de Pas.

He borrowed 2,400 guilders on bottomry conditions from Saraiva and De Pas on the ship St Philippo of which he was skipper. The ship later returned to this country as a result of the crew’s lawlessness and was given a new skipper, Hendrick Pietersz from Norden. The destination was changed to Viana. The bottomry remained valid for the journey to Viana, according to the two letters of bottomry for Saraiva, Cardoso and De Pas that were passed before notary Sibrant Cornelisz for that sum.

1627 April 21

Not. Arch. 634, f. 63v.-64

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3531

Statement made by Gabriel Fernandes, merchant in Amsterdam, who has a conveyance from Philips van der Steijn, merchant in Antwerp, according to a notarial instrument passed before Guilhaume Rousseau, notary in Antwerp on 28 September 1621. He owes Wilhelm van Welij, merchant in Amsterdam, the sum of 133 pounds, 6 shillings and 8 groats Flemish for money received from Van Welij. He promises to pay this sum on October 1 next. He gives the following items as securety. First of all the sum of 600 pounds Flemish that is owed by Lamoral, Baron de Tassis, postmaster-general of Brabant to Philips van der Steijn, according to a bond of 8 February 1618, to be paid in three annual terms, the last term of which fell due on 8 February 1621. Secondly the sum of 500 pounds Flemish that the said Baron de Tassis owes to Philips van der Steijn, according to a bond of 10 December 1620, to be paid within three years that became due on 8 February 1621. Thirdly a bond of 250 pounds Flemish given by Philips van der Steijn to the benefit of Fernandes, to be paid to him or on his orders to someone else. Fourthly a bill of exchange of 100 pounds Flemish drawn by Harman van der Pellens on Nicolaes van der Pellens, which bill has been accepted. Even though the bill reads: value received from Wilhelm van Welij, to be paid to Daniel Deegbroot or order, this bill concerns him only. Fifthly a bill of exchange of 150 pounds Flemish drawn by Harman van der Pellens on Nicolaes van der Pellens, which bill has been accepted, to be paid to Jehan Paulo Dorco or order. Although the value was received from Gaspar Fernandes Vega, this bill concerns him only. Then twelve large maritime paintings, each three ells long and as high as the linen and one narwhal horn weighing more than ten ounces. Finally a ‘Lucretia’ of palmwood, supposedly made by Albert Dur.

1627 April 25

Not. Arch. 394B, f. 286-287v.

Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobs

No. 3532

Jacob Nehemias Torres and Jacob Israel Dias, Portuguese merchants in Amsterdam, executors of the will made on 26 October 1626 by Josef Nehemias Torres, alias Gaspar Nunes Torres, authorise Israel and David Nehemias and Pascoal and Daniel Nehemias Torres, living in Livorno and Pisa respectively, to defend the said persons against David and Abraham Navarro and to collect from them the money that they owe to the estate of the late Josef Nehemias Torres.

1627 April 26

Not. Arch. 632, f. 33

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

Instrument in Portuguese.

No. 3533

Freight contract between Jeronimo and Duarte Rodrigues Mendes as freighters, both for one half and Michael de Pas and Francisco Coutinho for the others half, with Skipper Antoni Heijnderick, burgher of Amsterdam who is assisted by his owner Francisco Coutinho. The journey will be made by the ship De Gratie Godes, large 80 lasts, armed with 8 iron pieces and 4 stone pieces and a crew of 15. The ship will sail from Amsterdam with a general cargo and wood to Salé, where the ship will be unloaded and reloaded in 8 weeks by Abraham de Leon, agent of the freighters, or in his absence by Daniel de Leon and Jozef de Pas. Back to Amsterdam and unload there. The primage is 30 guilders for a new flag. The freight price is 3,950 guilders. Arbiters in Amsterdam will determine the compensation for extra lay-days. If one freighter cannot load his half completely, the other freighter can make use of this space at payment of the freight price pro rata. This freight price may not exceed 45 guilders a last.

1627 April 26

Not. Arch. 634, f. 67v-68v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3534

Sworn statement made by Pieter Bussel, 36 years of age, tailor and Jacob Harmanssen, 24 years of age, shoemaker, living in Amsterdam, at the request of substitute sheriff Tengnagel for Stijntgen Tijsdr., widow. Bussel declares that on Saturday eight days ago he travelled to Delfzijl at the request of Tengnagel and the said widow to hear from a Jew called Samuel, brother of a certain Isack who recently received corporal punishment in Amsterdam, what had happened between this Samuel and a certain Julius Cruijsberghen who had been there earlier. Both declare that Samuel had a letter written about this by someone that he signed in Hebrew in their presence and that he handed it to Bussel to be delivered to the substitute sheriff. In this letter Samuel described what had happened; he also mentioned that he had given Cruijsberghen 80 guilders to be handed to the widow to compensate her for the goods that had been stolen from her and that had been sold by his brother Isack, this to prevent a scandal for his brother. He had also given Cruijsberghen 4 rix-dollars for his travel expenses and a diamond ring for his wife, which was confirmed by many Jews who were present. Both further declare that in Emden Cruijsberghen posed as a servant of the sheriff and that he showed a letter that, according to him, was signed by two Amsterdam burgomasters and by the said Izack, who was then in prison here, authorising Cruijsberghen to investigate certain articles of clothing and goods that were supposed to belong to Izack. The said Jews in Dam ¹¹ had confirmed that by these means Cruijsberghen had obtained clothing from some people and money from others, so that he would not bring trouble upon them.

1627 May 3

Not. Arch. 749, f. 410-412

Not. Pieter van Perssen ( Jozef Steijns)

No. 3535

Freight contract between Francisco da Costa d’Elvas and Matias Rodrigues Cardoso, Portuguese merchants in Amsterdam, as freighters and Skipper Pieter Franssen, burgher of Amsterdam. The ship De Lieffde, large 50 lasts, will sail from Texel to Madeira with goods; unload and load within two months and back to Amsterdam and unload there. The freight price amounts to 3,000 guilders. Arbiters in Amsterdam will determine the compensation for extra lay-days.

1627 May 11

Not. Arch. 634, f. 73v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz. ¹²

No. 3536

Hendrick Pietersz from Hamburg, notifies Simao Pinto and Manuel Rodrigues to accept the 29 rolls of tobacco that he sold to them 10 days ago through the intervention of Manuel de Campos, sworn broker. Manuel Rodrigues answers that he will appear before the authorities and say to them what he has to say.

1627 May 12

Not. Arch. 704B, f. 124

Not. Jan Warnaertsz ¹³

No. 3537

Protest of non-acceptance. Marten Aernouts requests that Duarte de Palaçios, merchant in Amsterdam, pay a bill of exchange of 500 thalers at 34 stivers a thaler. The bill was drawn in Hamburg on 15 January 1627 with a term of 21 weeks by Henrique de Lima. The payee is Diderich Boshart. The bill was endorsed by Marten Aernouts in Hamburg on 28 April 1627. Duarte de Palaçios answers that he accepted the first bill of exchange and that he therefore does not accept the second one and that he will pay either one of them on the date of maturity. The notary says that he has no evidence of the acceptance of the first bill and he therefore protests against the bill.

1627 May 19

Not. Arch. 543A, f. 18 (portfolio 1627)

Not. Jacob Westfrisius

No. 3538

Hendrick Ruben, living in Altena and sojourning in Amsterdam, husband of the daughter of the late Thomas Leamer, an Englishman who died in Amsterdam, authorises Thomas Couper, burgher of Amsterdam and Francisco Coutinho, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, to start legal proceedings before the Court of Amsterdam against Fredrick Leker, merchant in Amsterdam.

1627 June 2

Not. Arch. 634, f. 87-87v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3539

Protest of non-payment. Pedro Homem de Medeiros, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, requests from Antoni and Leonardo de Schot payment of a bill of exchange of 800 thalers at 34 5/8 stivers a thaler. The bill was drawn in Hamburg on 21 April 1627 by Jean Rijcquelsmo and is due on 8 June 1627. The value was received from Louis Gomes. Antoni de Schot is rumoured to be insolvent. De Schot’s servant answers that there are no orders for payment.

1627 June 10

Not. Arch. 634, f. 93

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3540

Protest of non-payment. Thomas Fernandes and Pedro Homem de Medeiros, Portuguese merchants in Amsterdam, request Antoni and Leonart de Schot, merchants in Amsterdam, to pay a bill of exchange of 500 thalers at 33 a thaler, with a term of 8 weeks. The bill was drawn in Hamburg on 2 May 1627 by Antoni and Leonart de Schot. The value was received from Luis Gomes de Medeiros. Antoni de Schot accepted the bill. His servant declares that Antoni de Schot is not at home and that he has no orders for payment. Antoni de Schot is rumoured to be insolvent.

1627 June 10

Not. Arch. 634, f. 94-94v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3541

Protest of non-payment. Diego Fernandes Dias, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, requests Antoni de Schot to pay a bill of exchange of 303 1/3 crowns (écus) at 125 groats a crown. The bill was drawn in Rouen on 2 May 1627 by Henri van Okhuisen. The payee is Jacob Hendrix; the value received from Rene Pietersz and Nicolaes Dircksz; the endorsed party is Abraham van Cleef. Antoni and Leonart de Schot accepted the bill. Antoni de Schot’s servant says that his employer is not at home and that he has no orders to pay the bill and advises Dias to go to Paulus and Samuel Timmerman. Antoni de Schot is rumoured to be insolvent. Hendrick de Picquer, merchant in Amsterdam, declares that he will pay the bill for the account of the drawer, in the name of the refinery in Rouen.

1627 June 12

Not. Arch. 634, f. 98-98v.

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3542

Protest of non-payment. Diogo Martins, Portuguese merchant in Amsterdam, requests that Antoni de Schot pay a bill of exchange of 917 thalers at 33 5/8 a thaler; the bill is due on 15 June. The bill was drawn in Hamburg on 14 April 1627 by Antoni and Leonart de Schot; the value was received from Louis Gomes de Medeiros. Antoni de Schot’s servant answers that his employer is not at home. He is rumoured to be insolvent. The notary declares that the current rate of exchange from Amsterdam to Hamburg is 33 1/8 stivers a thaler if paid from Hamburg.

1627 June 12

Not. Arch. 634, f. 99v.-100

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.

No. 3543

Stephanus Rodrigues da Costa, ¹⁴ Portuguese, at present in prison, 31 years old, makes the following statement at the request of Captain Benedictus de Rego, also in prison. About eight months ago he agreed with a button-maker that the latter would make 20 dozen buttons for him according to a sample, at 30 stivers a dozen. When these buttons were delivered it appeared that they did not match the sample and he refused to accept these buttons. At the insistence of the button-maker he accepted and paid 17 dozens of buttons but there was no mention of further buttons to be made. About 12 days ago the button-maker visited him in prison with a few other dozens of buttons that had been made perfectly according to the first sample. He refused to accept these since he had not given such an order, contrary to the button-maker’s claims.

1627 June 21

Not. Arch. 550B, f. 168-168v.

Not. Jacob Westfrisius

No. 3544

Pedro and Jan Pinto, Portuguese merchants who have been living in Amsterdam for a long time, give power-of-attorney to Jean Letheullier, merchant in London. Letheullier is authorised to claim in Dover and elsewhere three casks of tobacco that were loaded for their account in Bayonne in the ship De Schoenmaker of Skipper Jan IJsbrantsz from Krommeniedijk by Jacomo Luis. The ship was arrested by English ships and taken to Dover.

1627 June 28

Not. Arch. 634, f. 109-110

Not. Sibrant Cornelisz. ¹⁵

	Notes

Top Notes

1. Prepared by the staff of the Amsterdam Municipal Archives. Translations by S. Hart.
2. The instrument was not signed.
3. On f. 37 a combined copy of both instruments.
4. Probably Wieringer Vlack.
5. She revokes this will on 22 April 1627 (f. 133v.)
6. Litterally: ‘pasas’.
7. The instrument reads: ‘insolentie’.
8. Annexed to this instrument the following statement: On April 14 Antonio Fernanades, 35 years old, Portugese in Amsterdam, makes the following statement at the reqeust of De Sousa with David Abiatar, Portugese, acting as interpreter. Around 23 December 1626 Artsz bought four fardels of cinnamon and four bales of Portugese pepper in double bags in the attic of De Sousa. Before the purchase Aertsz took some pepper from the bags and inspected it in a wooden bowl or dish and being satisfied, asked for the pepper to be delivered at the Weight House (Not. Arch. 846, f. 110-111, Not. Jozef Steijns. 1626 April 14).
9. This instrument is written in the margin of the instrument passed on 16 November 1626, f. 231-232.
10. Erroneously: 1626.
11. Probably Appingendam.
12. In the margin it is mentioned that this freight contract was not passed.
13. Draft instrument.
14. Notary: a Costra.
15. In the margin the notary refers to the following power-of-attorney as having been passed in a different form: Pedro and Jan del la Faya, brothers and Portugese merchants who have lived in Amsterdam for a long time, authorise Jean Letheullier, merchant in London, to claim 3 casks of tobacco in Dover or elsewhere. Jacomo Louis had loaded these casks for their account under the name of Pedro and Jan Pinto – which is the name they use in business because of the threat from the Inquisition in Spain – in the ship De Schoenmaker of skipper Jan IJsbrantsz from Krommeniedijk. This ship was taken by the English and brought to Dover. A similar power-of-attorney was passed on the sane day by Diego Fernandes Dias, Portugese merchant in Amsterdam, for Jan Luce, merchant in London, to claim tobacco that had been loaded by Dias in the ship of Jan Ijsbrantsz from Krommeniedijk and Claes Fransz from Rotterdam (Not. Arch. 634, f. 115. Not. Sibrant Cornelisz. 1627 June 28).

AMSTERDAM NOTARIAL RECORDS-AZORES, TERCEIRA


No. 3577

Statement made by Michael de Crasto, Portuguese merchant in
Amsterdam. He has
bought a ship in Enkhuizen from the widow of Lambert Cornelisz
Cruyff. The
ship, called Estrele Dourada (Gouden Ster) was rebaptised as St
Miguel. The
ship is about 50 lasts large and its skipper is Harke Gerritsz from
Enkhuizen.
Michael de Crasto and the other shareholders agree that this ship
will sail to
Terceira and from there back and forth to Brasil with a Portuguese
skipper and
a Portuguese crew. Shareholders are: Diogo Martins, David Abeniacar,
Jacob
Franco, Manuel Lopes Nunes, Afonso Henriques, Thomas Fernandes,
Antonio Lopes
Pereira, Felipe Henriques. In Terceira also: Sebastiao d’Andrade and
Manuel
Roiz d’Oliveira.

1627 August 20
Not. Arch. 634 f. 142-142v.
Not. Sibrant Cornelisz.
Instrument in Portuguese.



No. 3575

Freight contract between Francisco and Manuel Mendes Trancoso, Diogo
and
Rodrigo Drago, Francisco Lopes de Azevedo and Manuel Alvares
Henriques as
freighters on the one side and skipper Michiel Dircksz from
Huisduinen as
hired skipper on the other side.
The ship Bõa Ventura, large 60 lasts will sail with goods from
Amsterdam to
Terceira, sailing around England; unload and reload with goods and
back to
Amsterdam. The freight amounts to 220 guilders as rent for the whole
journey.
There is a primage of about 100 guilders for the skipper. The skipper
will
engage six men and a boy with the owners’ advice. The crew will be
paid two
months’ wages in advance and the rest upon return. If there is no
return cargo
the ship will either be sold in Terceira or wait there. The skipper
and the
crew can return to the Netherlands with other ships. The crew’s wages
will run
until their return to Amsterdam.

1627 August 18
Not. Arch. 395A f. 133-134
Not. Jacob and Nicolaes Jacobsz.

AZORES GENEALOGICAL RESOURCES

GOVERNMENT ARCHIVES/VITAL RECORDS/LIBRARIES (ONLY if you know the
town)

1. The Bibliotecas and Arquivos (generally, write here for
information 100 years or older). They
do not do research for you. They only issue certificates for the
vital events.

SANTA MARIA & SÃO MIGUEL: Biblioteca Pública e Arquivo de Ponta
Delgada, Rua Largo Colegio, 9500 Ponta Delgada, São Miguel, Açôres
(Azores)
TERCEIRA, GRACIOSA, SÃO JORGE: Biblioteca Pública e Arquivo de
Angra do Heroísmo, 49 Rua da Rosa, 9700 Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira,
Açôres (Azores) (Holds records up to 1911).
FAIAL, PICO, FLORES, CORVO: Biblioteca Pública e Arquivo de Horta,
Rua Dom Pedro IV, 25 Horta, 9900 Faial, Açôres (Azores)

2. The Civil Registries (generally, write here for the past 100
years or so). (Established 1 Apr. 1910)

Address the letters the following way:
Conservatória do Registo Civil
ZIP City -Island, Açôres (Azores)

Municipal councils and their Civil Registries: (ZIP, city)
SANTA MARIA: 9580 Vila do Porto
SAO MIGUEL: 9560 Lagoa, 9630 Nordeste, 9500 Ponta Delgada, 9650
Povoação, 9600
Ribeira Grande, 9680 Vila Franca do Campo
TERCEIRA: 9700 Angra do Heroísmo, 9760 Praia da Vitória
GRACIOSA: 9880 Santa Cruz da Graciosa
SAO JORGE: 9850 Calheta, 9800 Velas
FAIAL: 9900 Horta
PICO: 9930 Lajes do Pico, 9950 Madalena, 9940 Sao Roque do Pico
FLORES: 9960 Lajes das Flores, 9970 Santa Cruz das Flores****
CORVO: 9980 Vila Nova

For both the Bibliotecas and the Civil Registries, you must send the
name of the ancestor, date of event (or at least a span--e.g. 1881-
1883), the freguesia (the town) and the municipal council. Enclose
$15 U.S. dollars, personal check or U.S. money order (this covers
return postage and the document). International money orders do not
exist for Portugal.

3. The Family History Center (FHC) of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints (LDS), aka the Mormon Church:

Your local phone book should list a local branch or stake. They are
open to the general public, free of charge. Records can be found
under "Topic List" PORTUGAL, AZORES. Topics include: archives and
libraries, biography, church directories, church records, civil
registration and more. You will want to order the church records.
Although your FHC may not have the film at their center, it may be
ordered (for about $3.50 for 2 months) and viewed at the center.
(The film may be renewed for a fee, and a second renewal will keep
the film permanently at your center.)

Also, the FHC publishes a booklet to assist you in the reading of
documents: "Genealogical Word List, Portuguese." The booklet "Basic
Portuguese Paleography" is now only available on fiche from the LDS
and the fiche may be used only at their libraries. Photocopies can
be made from the fiche.

COMPUTER SOURCES
Azores-Online: http://www.azores-online.org Good general info and
history site.

Azores World GenWeb Project:
http://www.pacifier.com/~kcardoz/azoresindex.html

Destination Azores: http://www.destinazores.com/ (general info and
history)

THE AZORES: A FASCINATING PIECE OF THE DIASPORA,
By Myrna Katz Frommer and Harvey Frommer

(Speech delivered in Longmeadow, Mass., Summer 1999)

We thought this afternoon to take you back with us to the Iberian world although not the Iberian peninsula. Instead let us share with you a double story with Jewish themes in one of the most unique places we have ever visited -- a volcanic archipelago known in mythology as the remnants of the lost continent Atlantis, the Azores.

Living in Massachusetts, you have undoubtedly come across Azoreans -- most of the Portuguese who immigrated to the United States came to the New Bedford area from these islands and spread out to other parts of New England. Their connection with New Bedford goes back to the days of the whaling industry. Azoreans worked on American boats that hunted whales in the Atlantic. Whales are still populous in the waters surrounding the islands, and whale-sighting is a major activity.

The Azores were discovered by Portuguese navigators in the 15th century, and since then they have been a stopping point for traders heading both east and west, and all have left their mark on the islands. In the early days of transatlantic flight, the Azores were a refueling station. The English had an airbase there during the Second World War, we have one there today.

These days, Azorean-Americans keep going back and forth from New England to the Azores, one generation lives here, another there. It’s kind of analogous to the Jews in the northeast going back and forth to Florida. Although the Azores are nothing like Florida. They are like no place else on earth.

When they were first discovered around 1427, there were no people, no animals on the islands, only birds and vegetation. There had however been many volcanic eruptions. Because these sparkling green islands are actually the tips of underwater mountains with volcanoes at their peaks.

There is a profusion of vegetation, flowers, many, many birds, great mountain peaks, volcanic craters, lakes, terraced vineyards, rolling pastures. The feel is European and at the same time Caribbean -- although the Azores are not tropical. There is a paradoxical, conflicting quality to the islands. The Azoreans are indebted to the volcanoes for their lush landscape and fertile earth. Azaleas, hydrangeas, even hot-house flowers like calla lilies, white irises, and roses grow wild like weeds in the fields. Vegetable and grain crops are plentiful. There are thermal baths, hot springs, yellow pools with curative properties on the islands.

But when these same volcanoes erupt, there is great devastation. They have erupted before, and undoubtedly they will erupt again. Azoreans live with this uncertainty.

They also live on nine islands, stranded in the middle of the Atlantic. The sea is a major source of food and also a maritime industry. But it is a fickle friend who has many times turned treacherous and wrought its own kind of destruction. Imagine what it’s like to live on an island far from any continent, during a major hurricane or tornado - and you’ll get the idea.

So the mood in the Azores is a strange mixture of optimism and fatalism. And you see it. There are the dramatic vistas, the beautiful scenery, the lush vegetation on the one hand. And the 17th century Baroque architecture on the other -- which is heavy and brooding.

We were there in April 1997, right after Passover. We went to three of the nine islands in search of a Jewish story. From what we were able to learn beforehand, Jews had been among the original Portuguese settlers of the islands in the 15th century, and like those on the mainland, they had been forced to convert. But unlike the situation in Spain, no trace of their existence remains, not a former synagogue, or cemetery, or neighborhood.

But there was another Jewish story that began in the 19th century, we were told. And that was what we were after. Let Harvey tell you what happened. We began our journey on San Miguel, largest of the islands. There are about a quarter of a million people in all the Azores and nearly half of them live here. And of those, 63,000 live in its capital city Ponta Delgado. It is a bustling place with a beautiful harbor front promenade and colorful gardens.

Most of the buildings are 17th century Baroque,and nearly all are restored. There are many plazas with statues, but the most dominant is that of St. Michael, San Miguel’s patron saint, which overlooks a fountain-filled pool.

We were headed just across the way from St. Michael’s statue to the offices of a small import/export company where we had an appointment to meet its owner, a man with an unusual distinction: he is the last Jew in the Azores.

Jorge Delmar is a stocky, good-looking man in his early 50s. He is warm and friendly, but he has an air of sadness about him.

Thirty years ago, he told us, there were sixteen Jewish families on the island of San Miguel. They were a community. They held services in a synagogue. They celebrated the festivals in each other’s home. But little by little, all of them have died or converted or moved away. Jorge Delmar is the only one left.

“I try to observe Jewish laws,” he says. “On Saturdays, I close my store. But it is sad to be the only one.

“My wife and children are Catholic. We have no problems over religion, although my wife is curious. She’ll ask, ‘Why do you say you are a Jew? What happened to the Jews?’

I say, ‘As my mother is a Jew, I am always a Jew. That’s all.’”

Jorge Delmar’s connection to the Azores goes back 180 years to the time a Moroccan family named Bensaude took a look at the islands and saw possibilities with the orange trees that grew so profusely there. The Bensaudes came to this isolated and sparsely populated area and began growing oranges, harvesting them, and exporting them to England. Sometimes they were paid with cash, sometimes with bills of exchange. They took these bills of exchange on trading journeys to Brazil , sold them there or traded them for sugar and rum. They became very, very rich and in the process, they transformed the Azorean economy. By getting into the bill of exchange business, they effectively began banking in the Azores. They went on to establish a chain of retailers throughout the archipelago who sold imported goods on easy terms. They developed a maritime transport industry.

Today the Bensaudes are an international financial empire -- a mini Rothschilds -- and they remain the chief economic entity in the Azores -- in banking, insurance, travel agencies, retail stores. Only they are no longer Jewish. Most converted during the Second World War fearing the Nazis would invade Portugal. The last Jew of the dynasty died some twenty years ago. But interestingly enough, the current president of Portugal, Jorge Sampaio, is the grandson of a Jewish woman from this Bensaude family.

What happened in the Azores was typical of Jewish emigration patterns -- someone led the way, others followed. Starting in the 1820s, the Bensaudes became a beacon for other North African Jews who followed them to the Azores

and established Jewish communities in all the islands. One of them was Jorge Delmar’s great-grandfather. He emigrated from Tangiers to work in one of the Bensaude’s tobacco factories.

At one time, there were synagogues throughout the Azores. Today, only one remains, Sahak Hassamain, and it is falling apart. It is the synagogue in Ponta Delgado that Jorge Delmar attended as a boy. And it has become his life’s mission to rescue and restore it.

“Let me show the synagogue to you,” he said to us and so we followed him down a busy street to a rundown sixteenth century building. We climbed up a rickety staircase and walked through an arched wooden door, and suddenly we found ourselves in a high-ceilinged sanctuary with a bima of beautiful old wood, and an ark draped with a green curtain on which the Ten Commandments were embroidered in gold. Standing on the bima, Delmar pointed out the second row where as a child he would sit beside his uncle. His grandfather sat next to the reader’s desk.

“We never had a permanent rabbi,” he told us. “The oldest Jew was in charge, and that for many years was my grandfather.

But there was a rabbi on the American Naval base in Terceira and sometimes he came here by plane.

“I spent many hours of my life here with all my family,” he added. “I was educated here. This is where I learned to read Hebrew and daven.” Delmar led us up a second unstable stairway to the women’s balcony. Its walls were decorated with plaques dedicated to the synagogue’s founders; three were members of the Bensaude family. But the entire place was in a terrible state of disorder and disrepair. Books were mildewed from the humidity. Plaster was falling off the walls.

We looked out a window and saw a restored building across the way whose cornerstone read 1719. It seemed every building in the area, except for this one, had been restored. Walls were whitewashed. Pretty gardens were dotted with little orange trees and enclosed by neat stone walls; narrow cobblestone lanes were swept clean. Only in this aging house of worship did we see such desolation.

This synagogue was consecrated in 1893. It was in use until the mid 1960s, and afterwards it was maintained by two Jewish sisters who lived in the building. But since their death, it has fallen into disrepair. Only Jorge Delmar stands between the synagogue’s existence and extinction. “I pay the taxes and for the electricity and water.” he says. “As I am the last, I keep everything in my home, the Torah, six silver candelabras, and the other heirlooms. What will happen to them after I am gone? Maybe my oldest girl will take care of these things. She is Catholic, and she lives in Lisbon, but she knows that my big dream is that one day the synagogue will be rebuilt and all these things can be put back in their rightful place.

“It is easy to be a Jew anyplace now,” he says. “But here we are soon to be no more. This synagogue should remain as a reminder that once we were here. Many good things happened here. People who played an important part in the local history worshipped there.

“We did a study and found restoration would cost about $200,000. I keep trying to get it done. I write letters, I meet with government officials and potential donors. I don’t give up. The government spends lots of money rebuilding churches, why not this synagogue? We have a new government now so I am more hopeful.

“Why do I do this?” he asks. “Because I feel I have to do something. It all ends with me.”

From the synagogue, we accompanied Jorge Delmar on a ten minute drive from downtown Ponta Delgado to a suburban area. There, unidentified, behind a basalt wall, was the Jewish cemetery. A number of the Bensaudes are buried here. All the Delmars are. Jorge pointed out his grandfathers, mother’s and uncle’s graves and the one last place reserved for him. He regularly recites Kaddish for his relatives at the appointed times, but he knows there will be no one to say Kaddish for him.

From San Miguel, we headed out to the second island on our itinerary: Faial. Some of you may remember hearing of it in 1958 when one of its volcanoes erupted. Before the eruption, the island had a population of 28,000 people. After, the population dropped to 16,000. There was a special allowance for emigration to the United States, and many people from Faial came here to Mass and to California. Horta, the capital city of Faial, is a famed seaport. To this day, it draws clippers and yachts from all over the world, and sailors gather and swap tales in the world renowned Peter’s Sports Bar. When the first submarine telegraph cables were laid across the Atlantic, Horta was a relay station and interchange point for telegraph companies from the United States, England, Germany, and Italy. So there is sophisticated, international flavor to the island.

There was once a thriving Jewish community here too.

But when the orange growing industry declined towards the end of the 19th century , it declined as well. The synagogue closed in 1886, and its rabbi took the Torah and religious objects to Lisbon.

The last Jew in Faial died some years ago, but his daughter still lives on the island and we met her. Oddly enough, her name is Luna Benarus -- the same name as the wife of the head of the Spanish Jewish Federation we spoke of this morning. It is Benarroch in Spanish, Benarus in Portuguese. She is an amiable middle aged woman who, together with her husband, operates Quinta Das Buganvilias, a luxurious seaside inn on the renovated property of her mother’s family’s farmstead.

In the guest house, one experiences a mini- history of Faial. One of the bedrooms has a dresser made in Boston that came over on one of the old whaling ships. The dining room is filled with Chippendale furniture purchased from some Germans who were working on the submarine cable lines. The bar is an old grist mill filled with domestic items from times gone by like butter churns, tankards, and mortars and pestles.

Luna is a practicing Catholic. But she is also the final link to a Jewish presence on this island and she told us she feels a need to hold on to a heritage she dimly remembers from her childhood. “My father used to talk to me about his family’s history all the time,” she says. “He would tell me about his grandfather, Joseph, who came to the Azores in 1860 and his father, Moses, who became a diplomat and hosted visiting dignitaries from the United States. In 1907, his guest was President Theodore Roosevelt.

“Moses was a practicing Jew,” Luna adds. “He would go to the synagogue in Lisbon and observed all the Jewish customs. My father identified himself as a Jew, but he could have no Jewish life here because by the time he was grown, there was not one other Jew left on the island.”

Luna maintains the townhouse in Horta that belonged to her father and grandfather, and it is here that she stores the treasured mementos of a Jewish past. There are fading photographs of family members including her grandfather’s sister Luna for whom she is named. This Luna married a Jewish man but moved to Lisbon with him. There is an old oak bookcase fronted by glass doors that holds siddurs, worn copies of the Old Testament, a book of Psalms, a Haggadah, all of which are succumbing to the island’s humidity. There is great carved desk with a framed photograph of Luna as a little girl that is draped with a golden ornament on which, in Hebrew, the word “Shalom” is inscribed. And in her mind are the memories of a former Jewish life. She remembers there were mezzuzahs on the door. She remembers the trips to Lisbon when they would attend services in the big synagogue. But there is not much else.

Late in his life, Luna’s father converted to Catholicism so that he would be buried beside his wife. But before he died, he arranged for someone to take care of the Jewish cemetery where his father, grandfather, and brother who died in infancy are buried.

We wanted to visit this cemetery. The man hired to attend to the graves had promised to leave the key for us, but mysteriously he was not at home when we called. Then, hours before we were to leave, we received word that if we went down to the cemetery, the workmen there would let us in.

We were taken to a Catholic cemetery on a hillside overlooking the sea. The setting was calming and peaceful. Tombstones were arranged in neat rows and heaped with calla lilies and white irises. Not a blade of grass was out of place.

But this was not our destination. The workmen directed us to a low wall beyond a flower-dotted field at the bottom of the hill.

Here the Catholic cemetery ended; on the other side was the old Jewish cemetery established by royal decree in 1851. It was a steep descent to the other side, and we had to climb down a ladder to reach the ground.

What a difference a wall made. This cemetery was unkempt and overgrown. Clearly, the man Luna’s father had hired was not doing his job. Still we were able to see seventeen Jewish gravestones, all marked with names and dates.

The most recent grave is that of Luna’s grandfather, Moses Benarus, who died in 1942. Beside him is a very small grave marked Samuel Benarus. That was Luna’s uncle who was born in July 1920 and died the next month.

We wanted to leave our presence in this forsaken spot and so we looked about for little stones to put on the graves. But we could not find a single one. Then we noticed some broken glass lying about. And so we picked up several shards and placed them on the graves.

The moment gave us pause. We looked up and saw the sea in the distance and thought to ourselves, “When will another Jewish person set foot in this lonely resting place?”

Later that day, we headed to our third island, Terceira, the final stop on our itinerary. We had already learned that all that remains of the 19th century Jewish presence on this island is a cemetery. There are no known descendents of Jews so it seemed there would be no story for us to go after. Well, we thought, we’ll just enjoy the pleasures of this beautiful island like ordinary tourists.

We stayed in a renovated manor house just outside of the capital city Angra -- a place worth visiting on its own. It is a UNESCO world heritage site by virtue of the way the streets are laid out in geometric precision according to Renaissance ideals. Angra had became a port of call during the sixteenth century for ships going to and from the Americas, Africa, and India, and it developed a rich economic life which is still reflected in the splendid palaces and churches that overlook the sea.

But our plan to be just ordinary tourists did not work out because by chance we met a man who directed us to yet another story of the Jews of the Azores, perhaps the most fascinating of all.

Francisco dos Reis Maduro Dias is the Director of the Department of Culture and History in Terceira. He is a formal, intellectual, very well spoken man with a great passion for his island, the Azores and Portuguese history.

And he is intrigued with Jewish history. Maybe that is because he believes the name Maduro is the key to his own Jewish heritage.

We had come across the name Maduro before, in Curacao. The Maduros are one of the oldest and most distinguished Jewish families on that Caribbean island. Maduro Dias was not surprised to hear this.

“Today I must tell you I am a Christian,” he said. “I was baptized, as was my father, grandfather, and so forth. What I know of my ancestors is that they came here in the 17th century. They were running away from something, but, as my great grandmother used to tell my grandfather, they were not bad people.

“One of my ancestors decided to stay here, the others decided to go to the Indies. At the time it was not easy to understand where that was because when they said Indies, it could be the West Indies or the East Indies. But I must tell you I was at a conference in Boston several years ago, and I met a Jewish woman who represented the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, and her name is Sarah Maduro. She told me there is a branch of the Maduros in Boston. We spent some interesting time speculating about the possibility of our being related.”

Then he turned to the subject of the Azores. “The Jewish presence in the Azores had two moments,” he said. “The second, moment you already know about. It began at the start of the 19th century with the Bensaude family and continued through the 20th century. This is well documented.

“The first moment you know nothing about. It coincided with the discovery and settlement of the Azores in the 15th-16th centuries, and it is not documented at all.”

Well that was what we had heard before we came here, we told him.

He interrupted us. “But we are just beginning to recognize there is something of that earlier presence here in the Azores. There are attitudes, habits that have persisted. We believe today that there was some connection between the Jews of that long ago time and the evolvement of the Cult of the Holy Spirit.” He asked if we had noticed little chapels as we drove around the islands. Indeed we had, and we wondered what they were. There are scores of them in the countryside, on the sides of roads in little towns, structures that look something like a cross between a one-room schoolhouse and an elaborate wedding cake decoration. Each was different, some were fancier than others. Generally they were white-washed stone and trimmed with bright vivid colors: yellow, green, pink, bright blue and decorated with all kinds of geometric and floral designs. We had seen people working around these little houses, painting, cleaning, landscaping. What could they have to do with a Jewish presence from 500 years ago?

Maduro Dias filled us in. These structures are known as chapels or emporiums. And they are used to house a uniquely Azorean festival that is held each year on the seven Sundays following Easter, roughly corresponding to the period between Passover and Shavout -- or the counting of the omer. Throughout the rest of the year, they are closed up and unused. But for the seven Sundays after Easter, they come to life. Re-painted, re-decorated and profusely adorned with flowers, they become the place where people gather to worship the Holy Spirit. Children go through confirmation-type ceremonies in these chapels and pledges made earlier in the year are fulfilled usually with elaborate feasts to which the entire community and even strangers are invited.

Sometimes they use a peculiar kind of bread in these feasts, a flat bread made without yeast and stamped with the seal of the crown of the Holy Spirit.

“No one will tell you the cult of the Holy Spirit is a Jewish custom,” Maduro Dias says. “It was born within Christianity during the 11th and 12th centuries through brotherhoods who contested the divinity of Christ. But we are now beginning to think that it was used and perhaps developed by the Jews at a certain moment as a means of coexisting with the larger culture.” Maduro Dias is speculating that Jews used the festivals of the Holy Spirit to be, as he put it, “together in a separate moment

where they could keep some of their original attitudes and perform some acts meaningful to them while, at the same time, appearing to be within the frame of Christianity and accepted as normal by the Christian community.”

How obvious! It is easy to see why New Christians, still Jewish in their hearts, would be attracted to the cult. The entire procedure has nothing to do with the church. The emporiums have no crosses, and no representations of Jesus, Mary or any of the saints. Those in charge of the chapels have no position of authority in the church.

And most important of all, the Holy Spirit is the most abstract part of the Catholic trinity. It is God with no Christ, an abstract God. Maduro Dias told us that feasts and brotherhoods connected with the cult of the Holy Spirit were widespread in Medieval Europe and lingered in Portugal into the 19th century. But while the cult died out everywhere else, inexplicably it developed a powerful following in the Azores, and to this day it continues to be a defining aspect of the islands’ culture.

Azoreans focus their prayers to the third aspect of the Trinity: the Holy Spirit to spare them from the destruction of the volcanoes. They are always an unpredictable presence. You never know when they will erupt. Why the Holy Spirit?

“I can’t explain it,” Maduro Dias said. “Maybe because it seems more accessible.”

The cult of the Holy Spirit has even been brought over to the United States where confirmation ceremonies take on the proportions of lavish bar and bat mitzvahs. Perhaps you have heard about them. And there is a group of Azorean-American that still maintains its emporium on the island of Flores. Every year, a number of people return to Flores, paint and decorate the chapel they left behind, perform the rituals and partake of the festival. Afterwards, they clean up, close the doors to their little temple, and return to America.

What an amazing and unexpected twist of Jewish history. Who would believe that a totally Catholic institution had once served as a spiritual sanctuary for Azorean Jews. Forced to convert, they found in the festival of the Holy Spirit an opportunity to use a time of the year that resonated with sacred overtones, to relate to their vision of God in an environment absent of Christian symbolism.

After we left Maduro Dias, we drove around the island and stopped off at some of these little emporiums. Young girls were attending to them, cleaning and decorating them in anticipation of the festival to be held that Sunday. Were any of them descendents of New Christians? Did any of them know how Jews had used these festivals hundreds of years before? Not yet.

The historical theories Maduro Dias shared with us are brand new. There are books that have yet to be written, There is a message that has yet to be spread.

But our visit to the Azores had ended with a happy surprise.

We left the islands feeling we had come away with some really unique knowledge, a particular bit of Jewish history not publicized, not earth-shattering, yet a revealing and fascinating piece of the enormous jig-saw puzzle that is the Diaspora.

NEW CHRISTIANS/BNEI ANOUSIM FROM THE AZORES

Sergio Mota mota_xn_47@yahoo.com

(Sergio Mota is a journalist and historian from Brazil. He is an indefatigable researcher of Portuguese Jewish history. Below is an edited version of one of his letters to Saudades-Sefarad web forum regarding the Bnei anousim/ New Christian diaspora).

The number of bnei-anusim in the Azores
was great but we do not know exactly this number
because many documents are lost. Historians talk about
children sent to the islands but the adults went to Azores
(Madeira and Canarias too) aiming to go to the Americas, this
is a fact.Many of them had to stay there but others got to
go abroad. Here I give here some examples:

In the Mexico Inquisition there is an
accused man of Jewish habits,Pedro Hernandez de Albor
(or Pedro Fernandes de Alvor) born in Vila da Praia,
Azores.

In Salvador,Bahia, Brazil: Manuel Homem,born
in the Island of São Miguel, Azores son of Gonçalo
Homem de Almeida (born in Algarve, Portugal
and went to the Azores coming to Brazil about 1606)
brother of Doctor Antonio Homem who was a kind of
hacham of the secret synagogue in Coimbra
and died in the bonfires of the Inquisition.

In Amsterdam, the Netherlands, returned to
Judaism in 1611, Manuel Homem de Almeida, 46 years old,
born in Ponta Delgada, São Miguel Island. He lived in
Salvador, Bahia, Brazil where he was friend of Diogo
Dias Querido and father-in-law of Diogo Lopes from
Recife.Inprisoned by Inquisition in 1620 and released
in 1621. He lived as a Jew also in Hamburg, Germany
where there was a Portuguese Jewish Community.

In Santa Fé, Argentina, in the list of the
portuguese suspected of being Jews and expelled to
Cordoba, Argentina, there was a man called Baltasar de
Acosta (maybe da Costa) 40 years old, born in Terceira
Island, Azores. He was a widowed with his daughter.
In the same Argentine city there was
Albaro de Andrada (probably Alvaro de Andrade or
Andrada) 28 years old born in Santa Maria Island
Azores, married, with a son.

There is a list of XVII century Azoreans
New-Christians who payed the Crown the Finta, a tax
they had to pay for being converts published in the book of
Prof. Paulo Drummond Braga "The Inquisition in Azores"
a doctorate thesis in Portuguese. It is the best work till
now about the bnei-anusim presence in the Azores.

Here goes the partial known list of
bnei-anusim surnames in Azores from 1604 to 1623 again:

Andrade, Azevedo, Álvares,Alemão,
Braga,Borges,Barcelos,Câmara, Cunha,Carvalhais,
Cerqueira,Carlos, Carvalho, Costa,Dias, Delgado,
Duarte,Eça, Fernandes,Fontes,Gralia,Geralda,
Gonçalves,Henriques, Heitor,Jacinto,Lopes,Mendes,
Medeiros,Morais,Manuel,Pereira,Preto,Piseiro,Rodrigues,
Ruivo,Santiago,Soares,Thomas or Tomás,Vaz and Vieira.

There are many more names of Jewish origin in
Azores and Madeira of which I am researching from all
possible sources, mainly in books and articles and thesis.

Shalom

Sérgio Mota e Silva
Porto Alegre, Brazil

A Summary on the Presence of Jews in the Azores
JOHN MIRANDA RAPOSO

"Not too long ago I was asked to give a talk on the early presence
of Jews in the Azores. The following is a summary which I hope will
help: The Holy Office of the Inquisition came to Lisbon in 1531 by a
Bull of Clement VII in response to an appeal from the King and in
1550, the Cardinal D. Henrique, Inquisitor General in Portugal,
promulgated its extension throughout the kingdom. Its the Azores,
beginning in 1555 the Holy Office was composed of a Commissioner and
clerk, head quartered on Terceira, and agents or familiares,
throughout all the islands. (Francisco Carreiro da Costa, Esboço
Histórico dos Açores, Instituto Universitário dos Açores, Ponta
Delgada, p. 64. ) The Inquisition prosecuted many sins: Judaism,
Islamism, Protestantism, heresy, blasphemy, attacks against the
Catholic faith or the Holy Office itself, sorcery and witchcraft,
bigamy, solicitation of a penitent by a confessor, sodomy, sigilism
and freemasonry.
The ratio of Jews and New Christians to old Christians in the Azores
continues to be highly contested with exaggerations on both the high
and the low end of the statistics. (Isaías da Rosa Pereira, "A
Inquisição nos Açores: Subsídios para sua História," Arquipélago:
Ciências Humanas, :2, Instituto Universitário dos Açores. Ponta
Delgada, January 1980. ) Jews and New Christians came to the Azores
soon after the first settlers. They came to avoid the scrutiny of
their Christian neighbors and the Inquisition to islands where the
struggle of the settlers to gain a foothold on undeveloped lands
would mean less scrutiny and more tolerance from their neighbors.
They intermarried and were assimilated so that many of the
archipelago's principle families can claim some degree of Jewish
ancestry.( Carreiro da Costa,p.64.)

Tax rolls for the first quarter of the 17th century record 11 New
Christian males in Ponta Delgada, 1 in Vila Franca, 2 in Ribeira
Grande, 1 in Rabo de Peixe, 26 in Angra, 2 in Vila da Praia, 10 in
Horta, 1 in Feteira, 3 in Lages do Pico and 1 in Graciosa. A 1606
tax roll lists 18 New Christians in Ponta Delgada. In 1623 there are
14 in Ponta Delgada, 1 in Rabo de Peixe, 2 in Ribeira Grande, 27 in
Angra, 2 in Vila da Praia, 10 in Horta, 2 in Lages do Pico and 1
from Graciosa.(Paul Drumond Braga, A Inquisição nos Açores,
Instituto Cultural de Ponta Delgada, Ponta Delgada: 1997, pp. 492-
497.) These numbers clearly represent heads of households and the
totals should therefore be multiplied by 5 or 6 in order to arrive
at an approximation of the number of Jews and New Christians in the
archipelago in the first quarter of the 17th century.

In 1501, stormy weather forced a ship load of Jews and New
Christians fleeing to North Africa to put into port in the Azores.
The passengers were detained, and then enslaved on orders of Manuel
I and given to the Captain of Terceira and S. Jorge, Vasco Eanes
Corte Real.(Pedro de Merlim, Os Hebraicos na Ilha Terceira, Angra do
Heroismo, 1995, pg. 27)

In a pastoral visit in 1555 the Bishop of the Azores imprisoned some
Crypto-Jews, sending some of them to the Inquisition in Lisbon.
(Paulo Drumond Braga., p. 209. ) It was the beginning of their
tribulations at the hands of the Holy Office and the beginning of
the Inquisition's presence in the Azores.

The records of the Inquisition indicate that the majority of those
turned into the Holy Office were suspected of being Jews or Crypto-
Jews based on their practices and customs, believed to be Jewish in
origin. Such practices might include abstaining from pork, doing no
work on Saturday, keeping Queen Ether's fast and performing certain
rituals associated with the Jewish rites of purification. Most of
the accused readily acknowledged the practices but seemed unaware of
their origin, claiming that the practices had been handed down from
their grandparents and parents. Although abstaining from pork, many
of the accused slaughtered and handled pork for others. Many of the
accusations were several years, and sometimes a decade or more old,
by the time they were brought before the Inquisition.(Paulo Drumond
Braga.,254. ) Sometimes accusations were brought against even the
dead.( 9-9-1575 Hilária Pimentel accused Inês Maia, deceased, of
having been a relapsed Jew. It seems the deceased had, some 18-19
years before, said that all Christian Kings and Princes would be
slaughtered in a great battle, except for one who would favor the
New Christians. [Arquivo Nacional da Torre de Tombo, Inquisição de
Lisboa, Book 794, p. 19)

Most of those brought before the Inquisition denied that they were
Jews and were released after abjuring. Some were sentenced to a term
(usually a year) in prison and a period of public penance. Some were
forced to attend Mass in penitential garb, heads uncovered and
candle in hand. Of the many cases originating with the Azorean
Inquisition between 1555 and 1620, only 28 cases were sent for trial
and judgment to Lisbon. Of those, one man and two women were
condemned to death, several were imprisoned. Approximately 90 were
brought before the visiting Inquisitor to the Azores.

Perhaps the most heart wrenching of all of the cases brought before
the Inquisition is that of an old widow, Maria Lopes, and her son
Fernão Lopes of Ponta Delgada.( Paulo Drumond Braga, pp. 213-215. )
In 1573 the then 19 year old Fernão was arrested for relapsing and
he quickly blamed his elderly mother for his apostasy. It seems she
spoke to him of the fasts of Jesus in the desert and those of Queen
Ester and they celebrated Easter with unleavened bread. His mother
spoke of the fasting at Yom Kippur, but since she did not know on
what day Yom Kippur fell, they did not observe those fasts. Her son
was apparently full of doubts about his beliefs and a neighbor urged
him to read the reflections on Christ's passion authored by Frei
Luis de Granada. After reading the book, he made his confession to
Frei Brás de Soares who urged him to speak with none other than
Gaspar Frutuoso. The celebrated historian, genealogist and author of
Saudades da Terra, sent him up the hierarchical ladder and he was
eventually ordered to appear before the Holy Office. After a very
long process, he was found to have been a good Christian and was
absolved in 1587. His poor mother was not so lucky.

She was detained in March 1573. She was interrogated and seems to
have given contradictory accounts of her beliefs so that she was
condemned as an apostate. Even in prison she seems to have continued
her rituals and fasts. The Inquisition determined that she was
persisting in the error of her ways. She was found guilty,
excommunicated and turned over to the secular authorities on 13 May
1576 and burned at the stake in an auto da fé. Even while she
remained imprisoned, her son continued to provide new evidence
against her.

The last documented denunciation against an alleged Jew was made in
July of 1669 against one "Souto", a silversmith in Angra. It seems
that a Manuel da Silva, while visiting the silversmith's house, had
noticed that one of Souto's little boys was circumcised. The
Inquisition ordered its commissioner to investigate the charges, but
nothing is known of the results of the investigation.(Arquivo
Nacional da Torre de Tombo, Inquisição de Lisboa: Vol. 242, pp. 211-
219.)

The Inquisition continued its work in the Azores until the very
beginning of the 19th century although its power and influence was
already much reduced by the later half of the 18th century. In 1802
a priest from Flores was sent to the Inquisition in Lisbon accused
of being a free mason. In 1821 Parliament declared an end to the
Inquisition in Portugal.(Francis Millet Rogers, Atlantic Islands of
the Azores and Madeiras,The Christopher Publishing House, North
Quincy, MA: 1979, p.50.)

John Miranda Raposo

(Authors Antonio Andrade and Fernanda Guimarães, cover artist Samuel Pereira (ivanseveriano.blogspot.com) in the middle)

BOOK LAUNCH
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 6.30 pm LISBON

A Short History of the Jews in Portugal
by Jorge Martins

The Torment of the Mogadouros in the Lisbon Inquisition
by Antonio Julio Andrade and Maria Fernanda Guimarães

A Editora Nova Vega tem o prazer de vos endereçar um convite para o lançamento da colecção Sefarad, dedicada aos estudos judaicos portugueses, que terá lugar na Livraria Círculo das Letras, em Lisboa, no próximo dia 24, quinta-feira, pelas 18h30. Serão apresentados os dois primeiros números da colecção, Breve História dos Judeus em Portugal, de Jorge Martins, e A Tormenta dos Mogadouro na Inquisição de Lisboa. Agradecíamos a divulgação do evento junto dos vossos amigos e associados.

Com os nossos melhores cumprimentos,
A Editora

NOVA VEGA
Alto dos Moinhos, 6A
1500-459 Lisboa
Tel: 21 77 81 028
Fax: 21 77 86 295
Telemóvel: 961621394
E-mail: editorial@novavega.mail.pt
www.novavega.pt

JEWISH PORTUGAL TODAY

http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1113807. html

Haaretz, September 11, 2009

Secret no more

By Cnaan Liphshiz

A bearded man in a red velvet skullcap, chain-smoking on Shabbat at a garden cafe while preaching to friends about the Torah, would be an odd sight anywhere. And he would particularly stand out in Lisbon, with its small Jewish community.

The man, Joao Santos, a regular at Cafe Principe Real, could easily be written off as another colorful urban character. But in today's Portugal his eccentricity is not out of context. It is part of a national trend: The turning toward Judaism of thousands of Portuguese who believe they are descended from Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity hundreds of years ago.

They trace their Jewish roots to the 15th and 16th centuries, to the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions in which thousands of Jews were murdered and countless others were forced into exile or to convert. Many became crypto-Jews, practicing secretly. They were classified in Jewish law as Anusim, Jews who are forced to abandon their religion against their will, but continue to practice insofar as possible.

Their modern-day descendants call themselves Bnei Anusim - sons or children of the Anusim. They are also known by the derogatory Spanish term "Marranos" ("swine").

Recent genetic studies show that some 30 percent of Portugal's population has Jewish blood. Around 7,000 Portuguese identified themselves as Jewish in a 2006 national survey, although only 1,000 have formal affiliation. As more Portuguese discover their Jewish roots, leading Bnei Anusim figures are taking up prominent positions in Portugal's Jewish community.

The reemergence of the Bnei Anusim phenomenon has created challenges for Portugal's mainstream Jewish community, for the Chief Rabbinate in Israel and for the Bnei Anusim themselves - many of whom seem to share a deep sense of exclusion and frustration alongside a profound desire to belong to the rest of the Jewish people. This summer, hundreds of Bnei Anusim convened in Barcelona for a conference focusing on Israel advocacy.

Santos, an architect in his late thirties, says he found out he was Jewish a few years ago when he came upon typical Jewish candlesticks that had been passed down through his family. Others speak of deathbed confessions by grandparents, unexplained family customs or the findings of extensive genealogical research.

In the elevator of his parents' apartment building, Santos removes his skullcap and conceals the Star of David he usually wears around his neck. "We don't speak much about religion," explains Santos, before beginning his weekend visit. He says he has no interest in converting to Judaism. "Why should I?" he asks. "I'm already Jewish."

Other Bnei Anusim, however, seek formal recognition as Jews, including conversion. They are aided by Shavei Israel (formerly Amishav), a Jerusalem-based organization that seeks to strengthen the connection between the Jewish people and "lost Jews" from around the world. The group, which maintains a permanent emissary in Portugal, has assisted dozens of Bnei Anusim converts in the country.

One of Shavei Israel's partners in Portugal is Jose Ferrao Filipe, the leader of the Jewish community in Porto, in the north of the country. In November he became the only member of the Bnei Anusim to head a Jewish community that is formally recognized by Israel's Chief Rabbinate.

Asked about resistance from the Catholic Church to conversion efforts in this deeply Catholic country, Filipe and Shavei Israel emissary Rabbi Daniel Litvak say they have not encountered any hostility. But this was not always the case. Opposition to the Bnei Anusim phenomenon goes back to one of its very first proponents, involving the sad story of the man dubbed "the Portuguese Dreyfus" - Captain Artur Carlos de Barros Basto, a military hero who in 1943 was expelled from the army on false charges.

In the 1920s Barros Basto, a descendant of Anusim, converted to Judaism and helped establish a synagogue and seminary in Porto. He toured rural areas encouraging others to rejoin the Jewish people.

Before long he headed a community of several dozen, and acted as rabbi and mohel (ritual circumciser) , although he had never been certified as such. That created enemies for him within the Jewish community. Under the dictator Antonio Salazar, the right-wing Catholic Action movement began a smear campaign against Barros Basto, aided by members of the Jewish community. His seminary was closed down and he was court-martialed on charges of immorality.

The charges stemmed from the fact that while acting as a mohel, Barros Basto would suck the blood from the circumcision wound to clean it, as is customary in some streams of Judaism. He died in 1961, half-blind and "broken," by some accounts. Efforts to clear his name continue, and Porto's modern synagogue has a small museum in his honor that contains his desk, typewriter and part of his library.

Little remains of Barros Basto's original community, but Porto's Jewish community today has a few dozen people who identify themselves as Bnei Anusim. The nucleus for this community was formed a few years ago, when Filipe and 16 other Bnei Anusim underwent a mass conversion that was approved by Israel's Chief Rabbinate.

The long, hard path

"The conversion process was very long and hard," Filipe says. "It was a battle we fought to prove we are part of the Jewish people," Filipe explains while standing in the hall of Porto's modern-style synagogue, which his community built and dedicated in 2005.

Paulo Vitorino, another descendant of Anusim from Lisbon and a former activist in the Socialist Party, says he understands the desire to receive the Chief Rabbinate's approval, but nonetheless resents the reality that demands it. "We don't need to become Jewish, we are and have always been Jewish," he says. Vitorino, his wife and five children underwent Orthodox conversion in 2004, with help from Shavei Israel. The Chief Rabbinate has not yet recognized the 2004 conversion, which was approved by Lisbon's chief rabbi.

Litvak, who in addition to being an emissary for Shavei Israel serves as Porto's rabbi, teaches Torah lessons three times a week to Bnei Anusim groups.

Vitorino, 42, says that even after converting some Bnei Anusim are not treated as equals by Portugal's Jewish community or by Israeli religious authorities. "I can't pray in my own city because the Jewish community leaders won't let me in," he says.

Prof. Esther Mucznik, vice president of the Lisbon Jewish community, confirms that Vitorino is persona non grata at the synagogue, owing to "some of his activities," which she says she cannot discuss. As a rule, she says, the community does not differentiate between Bnei Anusim converts and other Jews.

"We are a very liberal community and anyone who is Jewish is welcome to join us," says Mucznik, a scholar of Jewish studies, during an interview held at Lisbon's main synagogue, the Sephardi Sha'arei Tikva. It is a relatively small yet opulent building, with elaborate antique decorations and old wooden furniture that contrast with a modern milk-glass ceiling. "Some of our members are Bnei Anusim, others are converts. Some of us are Ashkenazi, others are Sephardi. There is no 'us' and 'them' here," she explains.

Filipe describes the relationship between his Bnei Anusim community and the Lisbon community as "cordial," but says there have been "some unfortunate cases of exclusion." He also notes that Lisbon has much more in the way of financial resources.

As proof he points to the walls of the library, adjacent to the museum room honoring Captain Barros Basto. The walls are blue and green with moss due to a leaky roof the community cannot afford to fix. "We built this synagogue to accommodate hundreds, as a sign of hope, but we have trouble maintaining it," Filipe says.

Jewish tourism might provide some funds, and some Portuguese towns are preparing to tap into that potential resource. The northeastern Portugal city of Covilha, for example, is renovating its old Jewish quarter. City officials in Covilha, which has no Jewish community today, plan to create a tourist route through the historic Jewish district and to build a stylish Jewish museum and culture center on the ruins of one of the community's ancient structures.

Other towns offer guided tours of their old Jewish quarters. In nearby Trancoso, most of the guides are Bnei Anusim. They show visitors special markings that crypto-Jews incised on stone walls after the Portuguese Inquisition. Remarkably well-preserved, they include Hebrew letters that, when read inversely, spell: "Horror," or flattened door frame panels marking the absence of a mezuzah. The city has recently completed a project to catalog every such marking. It is also planning to hold a Jewish festival soon, which will be the first Bnei Anusim cultural event in Portugal, one the city hopes will become annual.

Jewish revival

Asked about the Hebrew letters that baptized Jews dared to engrave above their doors during the Inquisition, Mucznik says: "Crypto-Judaism is a Portuguese phenomenon, not a Spanish one. In Spain the expulsion was simpler, clearer. Either you convert, or you go away. In Portugal it was more complex than that because in fact the Portuguese didn't want the Jews to leave. Though ruthless by any standard, the Portuguese Inquisition was less definite than the Spanish one." She adds, "Some towns were so heavily Jewish that the people there depended on the Jews. And so they had to show some flexibility. "

Michael Freund, the founder of Shavei Israel, gives three reasons when asked about the roots of the Bnei Anusim revival. The first is that both Spain and Portugal only recently opened up to the world following the fall of their respective dictators, Franco and Salazar. Freund, who was deputy director of communications and policy planning in the Prime Minister's Office during the first term of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, adds that the Internet also plays a role: "In the past, a person wanting to reconnect to his Jewish roots or to study the subject had to make a public act by going to the library or the bookshop. The Internet changed all that."

Freund also points to a general European desire to transcend political boundaries and create a broader entity. "Human beings are tribal by nature. We all seek a sense of identity. It could just be that, ironically, the attempt to get beyond narrow identities is driving more individuals to seek out an identity to belong to."

Freund says that the Bnei Anusim's link to Judaism translates into support for Israel, noting that during the recent war in the Gaza Strip, members of the community took part in a pro-Israel demonstration.

Others say the Bnei Anusim involvement in Israel advocacy is marginal and that their interest in Judaism seldom extends to Zionism.

"The demonstration during the Gaza war was organized by Christian evangelicals, not Bnei Anusim," says one Israeli who works in Portugal and is involved with Israel advocacy. "Generally speaking, the Anusim movement is not Zionist in nature but it does create a very positive background for Jews and Israel," the source adds, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Shavei Israel and the source also disagree on the potential for immigration to Israel by converted Bnei Anusim. Freund and Litvak put the number on thousands, while the anonymous source says that "realistically speaking," the movement will not result in significant numbers of immigrants.

"I realize that Bnei Anusim are a very appealing subject because it's an interesting phenomenon," says the Israeli source, who has been in Portugal for two and a half years. "But in truth, it's a very marginal affair that concerns about two percent of the Portuguese population, and that's probably how it's going to stay."

New generation seeks to reclaim Sephardic cultural roots

By Amy Klein
JTA
Published: July 12, 2009

DeLeon, an Indie rock band—shown performing in the summer of 2008 at Celebrate Brooklyn—features music with 15th-century Spanish influences.
(Photo: Jori Klein)

By Amy Klein

HOBOKEN, N.J. — Daniel Saks' crazy black curls bounce on stage with him to the wiry, deafening sound of guitars, horns and drums as the front man for DeLeon — an indie rock band with 15th century Spanish influences infused with cadences of the ancient Sephardic tradition — belts out plaintive tunes in English, Hebrew, Spanish and Ladino.

For the most part, the 150 twenty-something hipsters dancing to DeLeon's music at Maxwell's lounge, 20 minutes from Manhattan, have no idea what the songs mean. It doesn't seem to matter.

“It wasn't a Ladino-fluent crowd,” Saks jokes after the show, referring to the Judeo-Spanish language from the Middle Ages. “I think people can get past the language barrier. In a place like New York City, we're acclimated to hearing music in foreign languages.”

Saks grew up near Washington listening to Sephardic music played by his mother, whose family lived in Italy for centuries after the expulsion from Spain before coming to the United States.

Years later he would name his band after his great-grandfather Giorgio DeLeon and philosopher Moses DeLeon. With its haunting melodies and the Spanish timeless themes of love and God and murder, he thought the music “held up well, better than most songs.” He knew there were plenty of people recording traditional music, but “I thought I could bring it to my peers and bring new light to them.”

DeLeon is part of a new crop of modern Jewish artists drawing on their Sephardic roots — from Spain and Portugal, to Morocco, Iran and Syria, to India and Greece. Many of those Jewish communities, although not all, were created by Jews who left Spain following the Inquisition, when they were ordered to convert or leave the country by July 31, 1492 (Tisha B'Av of that year).

Now, more than five centuries later, dozens of musicians, writers, poets, playwrights, filmmakers, historians, educators and chefs are reclaiming that culture to create a veritable Sephardic renaissance.

Many artists mine Sephardic culture because they want to popularize a lesser-known Jewish heritage.

“People who came from Poland stick together, and they are not so interested in the people who come from Morocco or Spain,” says Nathalie Soussana, arranger of “Songs From The Garden Of Eden: Jewish Lullabies And Nursery Rhymes,” a book and CD of songs in Hebrew, Arabic and Spanish, including Y'aommi Yamali, an Algerian lullaby in Arabic whose words mean “King of the Home/May God touch you and lift up your soul.”

Soussana wanted something that reflected her own mottled family — originally from Morocco, living in France, with an uncle with a wife from Turkey, an aunt married to an Ashkenazi, family members in Israel.

“I think that it's like that for a lot of Jewish families,” she says.

One might not know that from seeing the history of Jewish culture in America.

“Jewishness has tacitly been assumed to be synonymous with Germanic or Eastern European descent,” Aviva Ben Ur writes in the new book “Sephardic Jews in America: A Diasporic History” (New York University Press, 2009). “What began at the turn of the 20th century as denial of shared ethnicity and religion (whereby Ashkenazim failed to recognize Sephardim as fellow Jews) continues today in textbooks, articles, documentaries, films and popular awareness. More often than not, Sephardic Jews are simply absent from any sort of portrayal of the American Jewish community.”

Ur prefers the term non-Ashkenazic Jews, dividing those called Sephardim into three groups: Sephardi Jews (Spanish and Portuguese-speaking Jews of Western Europe and Ladino-speaking Jews of the Ottoman empire); Mizrahi Jews (Arabic-speaking Jews native to the Middle East and Western Asia); and Romaniotes (Greek-speaking Jews native to the Byzantine Empire).

“In America there was 'Fiddler on the Roof' and gefilte fish and Orthodox and Conservative and Reform Judaism,” says Rabbi Daniel Bouskila of Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel in Los Angeles. The various non-Ashkenazic groups “had every desire to be American when it came to living their lives, but in terms of their Judaism, they didn't have much interest in assimilating into the American Jewish community.”

That's why Sephardim formed their own synagogues like Tifereth Israel (founded by a small group of Sephardic, Ladino-speaking immigrants in 1920) or more recently the Sephardic Cultural Center in Scottsdale, Ariz., both with congregants from communities such as Iraq, Iran, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, Brazil and Israel.

Bouskila believes that a Sephardic resurgence in Israel has fueled a wider movement in America and around the world.

“Once upon a time there was one definition of being Israeli — the prototypical Sabra being from Europe had blond hair and listened to a particular kind of music — I think that's changed in Israel,” he says, citing the pop stars Sarit Hadad, Eyal Golan and Israel's first “Idol” winner, Maya Bouskila (no relation). “There's a unique sense of cultural identity through music and even names” — people don't Hebraicize their Sephardic names as much.

It has “spilled over” to America, Bouskila adds.

“I think people feel more secure in their identity today than they did a long time ago,” he says.

For some artists, exploring Sephardic culture is a way to explore their own Jewish identity. Sephardim account for 3 percent to 4 percent of the Jewish population in the United States.

“The communities that people lived in before were so much more closed, and you were only defined by one thing,” says Vanessa Paloma, a singer and scholar who specializes in Sephardic women's songs like “Mose de Salio de Misrayim,” a Ladino song about the burning bush and Moses' journey from Egypt, which women would sing at Passover.

For Paloma, being American means having many different identities -- actor, writer, yogi, etc.

“It's like we're hungry for some kind of deeper meaning and these roots are where we came from,” she says.

Now Paloma is living in Morocco, where she can investigate her past.

“What did my grandmother sing? What kind of smells did she smell?" she wonders. "If I know more about that, I know more about my ancestors and know more about myself.”

Others want to preserve a culture they fear might be lost.

“I just thought about writing my family story — it's a very eccentric, eclectic family,” novelist Gina Nahai says of the beginning of her journey writing fiction based on the Persian Jewish community in Iran and Los Angeles. When she began her seven years of research for her first novel, “Cry of the Peacock,” she saw that there was barely anything written about the community or its history.

Iranian Jews make up “the oldest Jewish community in the Diaspora and no one had recorded their stories,” she says. “And it didn't look like people were going to survive.”

Many artists may be teaching their culture to their own people.

Jennifer Abadi, author of the cookbook-memoir “Fistful of Lentils: Syrian-Jewish Recipes from Grandma Fritzie's Kitchen” (Harvard Common Press 2007), was surprised to find that many students in her classes were Syrian women who grew up eating food prepared by their mothers and housekeepers but had not learned to cook it.

“All of a sudden they get married to Syrian men, and it's expected [for them to cook Syrian food] and they have to go to their mothers and aunts," Abadi says, adding later, "so the book does provide a service.” She says her audience also is Ashkenazi women “who like what they consider 'better' Jewish food.”

That's why many artists are mining Sephardic culture — because they like it. Majadrah (rice with lentils) might be better than kugel, and DeLeon “might be cooler than klezmer,” jokes Jacob Harris, the chief operating officer of JDub records, which produces both DeLeon and “Songs From The Garden Of Eden.”

JDub wasn't seeking out Sephardic artists per se, Harris says, but wanted “to promote authentic Jewish culture within the mainstream.” And the mainstream likes world music.

“I don't think it's an accident that it's become so popular now — we are becoming more global, seeing Jewish history in a broader way,” says Ilan Stavans, editor of “The Schocken Book of Modern Sephardic Literature” (Schocken, 2005), an anthology that includes fiction, memoirs, essays and poetry from 28 writers over 150 years, including a short story by Cuban-Jewish writer Ruth Behar titled “Never Marry a Man Who Doesn't Beat You.”

“The Jewish community is increasingly heterogeneous, not only politically but ethnically. People come from different parts of the world through immigration and mixed marriages, and they are pushing the collective identity in different ways,” Stavans says, including contributions from Asian and Hispanic cultures. “The need to understand the Sephardim is to understand a very important part of Jewish history.”

No longer does Jewish identity have to be “the standard flagpoles of Israel, the Holocaust and the shtetl,” he says.

Yet even the term "Sephardic Renaissance" can be seen as Ashkenazi-centric; after all, these cultures have been flourishing for centuries, even if invisible to Ashkenazim.

“We live our religion — there is no resurgence,” says Sheila Schweky, the program chair for the Sephardic Community Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., a JCC-like institution that serves 50,000 to 70,000 Jews — mostly Syrian, but also Egyptian, Iraqi, Moroccan and others.

Schweky cites the strong family ties and tight-knit community for preserving the Syrian Jewish heritage.

“As far as our traditions and customs, they're basically the same as when our fathers came here,” she says, so the idea of a “renaissance” doesn't apply. “We don't turn around and say we have to teach our children our heritage — they live it.”

Many tight-knit Sephardic communities that have thrived, but remained nearly invisible to the rest of the world, are learning that art can sometimes show less than positive portrayals. The Syrian Jewish community, for example, was not happy with David Adjmi's “Stunning,” a recent Off-Off-Broadway play that The New York Times called “a stinging portrait of an insular Syrian Jewish community in contemporary Brooklyn.”

“Smaller communities think that everyone is going to judge everyone by that one play,” the novelist Nahai says. “People overreact — it's not like every time you meet a Greek person you think of 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding.’ ”

On the one hand, people like seeing their community portrayed.

“So many young people write to me and tell me finally I can understand why my family is the way they are,” Nahai says.

Others, however, become upset at some of the issues she raises, such as the treatment of women in the Persian Jewish community or how the rabbis were not always just.

“All novelists need to tell the truth. It doesn't mean it's the only reality, it doesn't mean I 'm trying to capture the entire population," Nahai says. "Telling the truth is the only thing I have a responsibility to do. The rest a publicist needs to do.”

Perhaps the Sephardic communities will become accustomed to the spotlight — and the good and bad lights shone on them.

“It's interesting that this is happening now,” Stavans says. “It's because the Ashkenazi community is really solid, and it can look into other aspects of Jewish life without feeling threatened.”

What they are seeing from Sephardic culture, in all its multiplicity and history, is that Sephardim “are more ethnic and more attractive in close-knit families that traveled across time and kept their identity," he says.

"At a time when it's very easy to lose one's identity, you admire their ability to keep their identity across time and space,” Stavans says. “You feel an allure to Sephardic culture.”

http://jta.org/news/article/2009/07/12/1006428/new-generation-seeks-to-reclaim-sephardic-cultural-roots

PARDON FOR PORTUGUESE DREYFUS?

By Jerome Socolovsky · October 1, 2003

JTA - Jewish & Israel News
(http://jta.org/ news/article/ 2003/10/01/ 10757/IfPortugue seDreyf)

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The Mekor Haim synagogue in Porto, Portugal. (Jerome Socolovsky)

PORTO, Portugal, Oct. 1 (JTA) — The walls of the spacious synagogue are filled with the chanting of the Shalom Aleichem prayer as a small group of worshipers welcomes the Sabbath. The congregation numbers no more than 20 and has no rabbi. But they sing with enthusiasm amid splendor one would expect to find in a Portuguese cathedral: pink marble pillars, high, narrow church windows, golden letters and colorful patterns adorning the holy spaces. The Mekor Haim Synagogue symbolizes the hope for a renaissance of Judaism in Portugal, where some believe millions of people may have Jewish ancestry. "The potential is enormous. Enormous," says the synagogue´s president, Moshe Medina. The synagogue also is home to a historic past. Mekor Haim was built in the 1920s at one of the poshest addresses in this bustling port city by a decorated Portuguese army captain, aided by wealthy Jews from as far away as London, Paris and Shanghai. Arturo Carlos de Barros Basto had dared to embrace openly his Jewish roots more than four centuries after the Inquisition in Portugal. He also persuaded thousands of other "crypto-Jews" — those who continued to practice Judaism in secret — to do the same. But these descendants of hidden Jews disappeared into the woodwork almost as quickly as they surfaced because of a campaign against Barros Basto backed by the Catholic church, historians say. A local priest fabricated charges of homosexual and indecent acts, such as sucking the infants´ blood during circumcisions, and the army court-martialed Barros Basto. That´s why he´s known as "the Portuguese Dreyfus," after the French army officer who was stripped of his rank on fabricated charges a few decades earlier. Barros Basto died a broken man in 1961. But now, after more than a quarter-century of religious freedom and democracy in Portugal, Jewish organizations here, in Israel and in the United States are pressing the government to rehabilitate Barros Basto. The Porto Jewish community — along with Amishav, an Israeli-based organization working with descendants of Jews around the world — hopes such a move will help spark a Jewish revival. "As far as I´m concerned, 4 million Portuguese today have Jewish blood," said Medina, the community´s Israeli-born leader. His calculation is based on Portugal´s religious makeup before 1496, when King Manoel I — under pressure from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain — ordered all Jews in the kingdom to become "New Christians." At the time, after a wave of refugees fled the Inquisition in Spain, between one-fifth and one-third of Portugal´s 1 million people were estimated to be Jewish. Today 10 million people live in Portugal. And many of the New Christians who continued to practice Judaism — the crypto-Jews — settled in villages in the remote regions of northern Portugal around Porto. Ethnographers say there are or may be pockets of crypto-Jews in villages in northern Portugal. The difficulty in tracing them comes from an identity confusion that is rooted in a centuries-old strategy designed to throw off inquisitive Christians. "One day they tell you they´re Jewish, the next they say they´re Christian," said Elvira Mea, a history professor at the Universidade do Porto and, along with Tel Aviv-based journalist Inacio Steinhart, a biographer of Barros Basto. For his part, Medina doesn´t want to guess how many crypto-Jews there are or how many might return to Judaism. But his eyes widen as he talks about the "many families, many families" he expects to fill the carved wooden benches of Mekor Haim. Estrela Oliveira and her sons Simao, 12, and Carlos, 13, are among those already attending. "My grandmother always told me that we were Jewish," Oliveira said after the service. "But we had to hide it." A 49-year-old philosophy professor, Oliveira grew up secretly lighting candles on Sabbath. Her Jewish conviction was only strengthened when her parents sent her to a school run by nuns. "When I would ask why the nuns wouldn´t give me an answer. They would just say: ‘If you don´t believe without asking questions, then you don´t have faith,´ " she said. Oliveira´s surname means "olive tree." When Jews converted, many adopted names from nature, a kind of code that allowed them to identify each other. "Pear tree" is the translation of Carlos Pereira´s last name. After leading the service with Moshe Medina´s brother Marcos, Pereira, 76, recalled how his parents resisted the blandishments of the local priest by saying he´d been baptized at the hospital. "But there was a well-known Jew in the neighborhood who was a barber, who also shaved beards and pulled teeth," said the retired engineer. "He was the one who circumcised me." Medina argues that a Jewish renaissance would be a boon for Portugal, a country that still has one of the weakest economies in the European Union. He notes that Portugal went into decline after its most prominent Jews fled and contributed to the blossoming of Holland and England and Portuguese colonies in India and the Americas. "With the Jews, Portugal was a world power," he says. But despite the role Jews played in Portuguese history, Medina says there is widespread ignorance today about Jewish culture. He recalls a university professor who asked before entering the synagogue whether he needed to remove his shoes — mistaking a Muslim ritual for a Jewish one. That ignorance is also a major obstacle for Portuguese of New Christian origin who want to explore their Jewish roots. In recent months, however, the Mekor Haim community has received weekly visits from an Israeli Orthodox rabbi sent by Amishav to do outreach work in northern Portugal among descendants of the crypto-Jews. The president of Amishav, Michael Freund, calls the crypto-Jews by the Hebrew term "anusim," which means "the coerced." He said the outreach effort goes hand in hand with the campaign his organization is spearheading to rehabilitate Barros Basto posthumously. "Our goal in clearing Barros Basto´s name," he said, "is to show the anusim in Portugal that times have changed and now there is a new atmosphere and they can feel safer in coming out of the closet." Amishav´s campaign so far has led to letters to the Portuguese ambassador in Washington from the Orthodox Union, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the Religious Zionists of America, the Jewish War Veterans of America and Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.). In Lisbon, a Defense Ministry source said the requests are being studied, and a "positive result" is expected.

PARDON FOR PORTUGUESE DREYFUS?