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Encyclopaedia Judaica

Persecution of the Jews: The Inquisition of the church against the Jews 1481-1834

How criminal Catholic "Christian" church and the criminal Pope justified anonymous allegations against the Jews and New Christians with torture, degradation, and burning - and confiscation of the property

from: Inquisition; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, vol. 8

presented by Michael Palomino (2007)

The Inquisition in the Spanish Colonies

15. The Inquisition in the colonies of Spain: Peru 1539-1806

[Inquisition since 1539 - tribunal in Peru since 1570-1805 - stakes in 1539, 1578, 1581 - two stakes in 1592]

<PERU. In *Peru, a tribunal was opened in 1570, though an active episcopal Inquisition had been in existence since 1539. From that date down to 1805, 34 autos-de-fé were held at Lima, Judaizers always forming a considerable proportion of the victims. The earliest denunciations (col. 1394)

included the whole of the family of Juan Alvarez, a Converso physician, though they escaped punishment. In the second auto-de-fé series, however (April 1, 1578), two Judaizers figured, one in the third (Oct. 29, 1581), and two in the fifth (April 5, 1592).

[Stakes 1595, 1600, and 1605]

Thereafter, the number steadily increased, their ranks being greatly reinforced by immigrants from Portugal. At the great auto-de-fé of Dec. 17, 1595, ten figured, four of them being relaxed to the secular arm, and one, Francisco Rodriguez, being burned alive.

On Dec. 10, 1600, 14 Portuguese Judaizers figure, two being relaxed in persons and one in effigy. The auto-de-fé of March 13, 1605 exhibited 16 Judaizers reconciled, six burned in effigy, and three in person.

[Stakes 1608, 1612, - Inquisition in Brazil since 1618 leads to new immigration of Judaizers - stake in 1625]

Thereafter, there was a considerable falling off, due in all probability to the general pardon issued to the Portuguese New Christians in 1604. There was a slight recrudescence in 1608, when one Judaizer was burned, and in 1612 when, at the auto-de-fé of June 17, there were five reconciliations for Judaizing.

The outburst of inquisitorial activity in Brazil in 1618 led to a general flight to Spanish territory, despite the opposition of the government, and to an increase in the local vigilance. The results were seen in the great auto-de-fé of Dec. 21, 1625 at which ten Judaizers were reconciled, two relaxed in person, and two in effigy.

[1635: Investigations discover crypto-Jewish connections "Complicidad Grande" - the confiscations provoke a commercial crisis - stake in 1639]

It was ten years later, however, in 1635, that there took place in Peru the greatest outburst of inquisitorial activity known outside the Peninsula. Owing to a chance arrest, a widespread crypto-Jewish connection was discovered among the Portuguese merchants at Lima - the "Complicidad Grande" as it was called. Within a few months, 81 suspected persons had been arrested, many others being left at large owing to lack of accommodations. Simultaneously, property was sequestered in such vast amounts as to precipitate a commercial crisis.

The fruits were reaped at the triumphant auto-de-fé of Jan. 23, 1639, in which a very large number of Judaizers figured. Seven abjured de vehementi, 44 were reconciled, while one was relaxed in effigy and 11 in person. Of these, seven were burned alive, true martyrs to their faith. Among them was one Manuel Batista Perez, known as the capitan grande, the wealthiest merchant in the country; and Francisco *Maldonado de Silva (Eli Nazareno), the most notable martyr of the Inquisition in South America. On the following day, several more condemned persons were scourged publicly through the streets.

[Last effects of the "Complicidad Grande" - stake 1664 - Inquisition in 1720 - stake 1736 - Inquisition until 1806]

In the autos-de-fé of the following years, last remnants of the Complicidad Grande were dealt with, Manuel Henriquez, one of those implicated, being burned as late as 1664. As in Mexico, this display of severity in the second quarter of the 17th century seems to have broken down Judaizing in the province for many years to come, the next case - a light one - occurring only in 1720. However, the last victim burned at the stake by the Peruvian Inquisition was a reported Judaizer, the notorious Ana de Castro, who suffered in Dec. 23, 1736.

In the following year, at an auto particular, Juan Antonio Pereira was punished for the same crime. Though the Inquisition in Peru continued to be sporadically active until 1806, and even had many false accusations of Judaizing brought before it on trivial grounds, no further prosecutions of this nature figure in its records.> (col. 1395)

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