The Suspension of the Portuguese Inquisition, 1674 to 1681: The Female Perspective

Abstract

Using trials and wills of women arrested in the Portuguese inquisitorial purges of New Christian families between 1672 and 1674, which gave rise to negotiations for a General Pardon and unprecedented suspension of the Inquisition, this article argues that there was a concerted strategy of female education amongst New Christian families, teaching literacy and business savvy to girls. This was not as a tool of empowerment or self-determination against a paternalistic society, but a necessity for the family to function under the scrutiny of neighbors and threat of inquisitorial persecution. Literacy was both a political strategy, a tool that could be used to undermine and evade the inquisition’s codes of secrecy, and a way to ensure the family and its vitally important business networks survived in the diaspora. Exploring the idea that reading and writing can be political acts, I will examine here what literacy meant for the practicality of lives lived in the shadow of the inquisition and diaspora.