Sephardim: The Portuguese story

Here is a new and fascinating book of great interest to Sephardim around the world. Unfortunately, it is currently available only in Hebrew.

Thanks to Ruth Almog for her Haaretz review of “Portuguese Jewry at the Stake: Studies on Jews and Crypto-Jews,” (Hebrew) edited by Yom Tov Assis and Moises Orfali (Magnes Press and the Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, 259 pages, NIS 89).

In the preface to “Portuguese Jewry at the Stake,” Yom Tov Assis writes: “This is the first book in Hebrew that is dedicated exclusively to Portuguese Jewry, a subject that has been rather neglected by scholars in Israel. This book is designed to partly remedy the situation.”

This extremely interesting compilation of scholarly articles does indeed reveal new facets of an extinct Jewish community. That said, it is not by chance that the study of Portuguese Jewry has been neglected, but because Portugal’s Jews have in large part been lumped together with those of Spain, since the two countries, whose borders fluctuated throughout the Middle Ages, were both part of medieval Iberia.

There’s a short description of how Portuguese came to be. It developed in the 11th-12th centuries following encounters between Galician and Lusitanian languages, and influenced by Arabic. Historically, Moslems conquered much of Portugal in 713. It was reconquered at the end of the 9th century and only a century later did Portugal separate from Galicia. In the second half of the 12th century, Lisbon was conquered when Portuguese were assisted by troops on their way to the Second Crusade. The Moslems left, the Jews stayed. At the time, estimates are of only 35,000 people in the whole country.

The Jewish history of Portugal is short, some five centuries:

The first Portuguese king, Alfonso Henriques (1109-1185 ), encouraged Jews to settle in the areas he had conquered. By appointing a Jew, Yahya Ibn Yaish (also known as Yahia Ben Rabbi), as state treasurer, Alfonso paved the way for his successors to employ Jews in financial and administrative positions. Ibn Yaish was not only “chief rabbi,” but also the “chief cavalier.” The king’s heirs expanded the employment of Jews as administrators in the kingdom. So it was that during the reign of Portugal’s first five kings, the situation of the Jews was good and they lived in security. The problems began later, but even during the period surrounding the 1391 pogrom against the Jews of Spain, Portugal served as a haven for the Jews of Castile.

According to Assis, the well-organized community (alfama) lived in its own neighborhoods was headed by a chief rabbi, was recognized by the crown and protected by the king. Persecution came from the church. The Jewish population increased and after the 1492 Expulsion from Spain, some 120,000 of them went to Portugal.

The Jews were never expelled from Portugal in 1496. Manuel I wanted to marry the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, who demanded he first get rid of his Jews. He didn’t want to lose them, but announced a plan for their departure. When the Jews arrived to board the ships, priests demanded they convert, and no one was allowed to leave. Thus baptised, the king could claim there were no Jews in his country and he could marry the princess.

Says Assis, most of the Jews became Conversos – converted under force – and the Jewish percentage there was the highest in Europe. Many of them succeeded in leaving and reaching other safe geographic destinations. There are the Conversos of Belmonte, whose matriarchal society has kept Judaism alive since the Inquisition.

Articles include:

— Historian Elvira Azevedo Mea’s “New Christian Women and the Inquisition” is based on her study of Inquisition files, which suggest that almost until the 20th century, it was the women in New Christian families who were responsible for passing on Jewish traditions.

— Eric Lawee writes about philosopher and financier Isaac Abarbanel (1437-1508 ), during his Portuguese years.

— Late historian Elias Lipiner deals with Jewish religious law problems that concerned the Conversos.

— co-editor Moises Orfali’s “Jews and Judaism in Christian Polemics in Portugal,” shows how, even after Jews had “disappeared,” accusatory writing against them did not stop. This article also relates the long reach of the Inquisition – into Goa, India (then a Portuguese colony) – where many Sephardim lived. In 1560, the Goa Inquisition center was founded and persecuted Jews, Hindus and Moslems.

— Edgar Samuel writes about the Curiel Sephardic family over a century (16th-17th centuries) as some branches remained in Portugal, others went around the world, some were burned alive at the stake, others acquitted, some became devout Catholics and others became public Jews again in South America.

— Historian Jose Nunes Carreira’s “Portuguese Diaspora in the Near East (in the 16th and 17th Centuries ) in the Light of Travel Reports,” covers the travelogues of Portuguese missionaries. He describes travelers who reported on meetings with Portuguese Jews in Aleppo, Tripoli, Basra, Cairo, Persia and Palestine. He includes clergyman Gaspar de Bernadino who says most Jews he met in Aleppo were Spanish speakers; he met Portuguese Jews in the Galilee, where there were more than 400 “Portuguese origin” households. The reports reveal that Sephardim were on the Persian Gulf island of Hormuz and Syria’s community longed for Portugal. And he includes Frey Pantaleao de Aveiro, who discovered many Portuguese Jews in the Middle East (in Jerusalem, Galilee, Damascus and Tripoli). Aveiro wrote about Dona Gracia Mendes Nasi who leased Tiberias from the Turkish sultan in 1558. In Damascus, he met a man from Braga, Portugal, who had fled after his father was burned.

— Claude (Dov) Stuczynski’s article deals with religious identity and economic activities of the “New Christians.”

Now we need the English version to make these articles accessible to the worldwide community.

Sephardim, Crypto-Jews: Article abstracts

“The Journal of Spanish, Portuguese and Italian Crypto Jews” (JOSPIC-J) offers 10 truly fascinating articles in Volume I (Spring 2009).

Available online, in addition to the abstracts, is the entire first article and an article on three major DNA studies.

To learn more about the journal, click here. Read the entire first article – “The Secret Jews of Spain, Portugal, and Italy and Their Descendants Today: Major Issues in a Growing Field of Academic Research” – here, with an extensive bibliography.

According to author Dr. Abraham D. Lavender’s detailed article:

“Crypto-Judaic Studies is a rich field of potential research, with multi-disciplinary interests, especially as it is integrated with other areas of study. For the truly curious and open-minded, the field is unlimited.”

Read “Recent Research Articles: From Roth to DNA,” which discusses three recent articles about the growing field of Sephardic and Crypto Jewish DNA.

For many people, the consequences of the Inquisition still live today, as we will see these consequences in this and future issues of JOSPIC-J. Sociology, history, religion, and other areas of study join together to analyze and explain these consequences. Crypto Jews lived in Spain, Portugal, and Italy, and today their descendants live in a large number of countries, providing a fascinating international flavor to this area of study.

The journal is published by the School of International and Public Affairs, within the College of Arts and Sciences, at Florida International University in Miami, Florida.

If Sephardic or Crypto Jewish studies is an interest, you will want to subscribe to this journal.

Here are the abstracts:

— “The Secret Jews of Spain, Portugal, and Italy and Their Descendants Today: Major Issues in a Growing Field of Academic Research”
Dr. Abraham D. Lavender

The Journal of Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian Crypto Jews (JOSPIC-J) brings together in one place, for the first time in a refereed academic journal, research on the three countries whose historic Jewish communities, each predating the Inquisition for centuries, suffered directly and greatly from Inquisitions. There is no consensus on whether to use the term marranos, conversos, crypto Jews, secret Jews, hidden Jews, lost Jews, New Christians, or anusim. But, whatever the term, significant research continues in international, sociological, cultural, religious, political, historical, and other areas, and the number of books and articles is increasing. Research on crypto Jews and their descendants should be integrated more with other interdisciplinary research, a major goal of this journal.

— “The Crypto Jews of Spain and Portugal”
Dr. David M. Gitlitz

Prior to the riots of 1391, Spain’s Jewish community was the largest in Europe. By 1491, following expulsions and conversions, Spain had the largest single community of former Jews in the post-biblical history of Judaism. Depending on the definition of Jewishness applied, these conversos were arrayed along a continuous spectrum ranging from fully Jewish to fully Christian. This article analyzes four groups on this spectrum—Christians, Jews, seekers of truth, and skeptical dropouts. Brief attention is also given to Portugal which originally had less violence and less forced conversions than Spain, but which also developed a more tenacious crypto-Judaism which led to the establishment of an Inquisition in 1539.

— “The Barajas Women, Madrid 1634″
Dr. David M. Gitlitz

For the past quarter century, the author has immersed himself in Inquisition trial testimony in the archives of Spain and Mexico. The historical documents are difficult to read, but are worth extensive research, revealing fascinating and inspiring lives of unfortunate conversos. The following, based on these historical documents but with the addition of fictional narration, describes the lives of one representative family, Beatriz Álvarez and her daughter of the same name, known in 1630s Madrid as Las Barajas. It is an excerpt from a forthcoming book with the working title The Lost Minyan.

— “The Jews of Sicily and Calabria: The Italian Anusim that Nobody Knows”
Rabbi Barbara Aiello

Rabbi Barbara Aiello is the first woman rabbi and first non-orthodox rabbi in Italy, where she has served a progressive synagogue in Milan. She is currently rabbi of Ner Tamid del Sud, the first active synagogue in Calabria in 500 years. Rabbi Aiello has written extensively about her crypto-Jewish background and her efforts to uncover the hidden Jewish traditions of Calabrian Jews that date back to Inquisition times. Her work in the deep south of Italy and Sicily includes directing the Italian Jewish Cultural Center of Calabria (IjCCC), an organization dedicated to the anusim of southern Italy to help them discover and embrace their Jewish roots.

— “Crypto Judaism in New Mexico and the American Southwest”
Dr. Seth D. Kunin

Crypto Judaism in New Mexico is a highly complex phenomenon, both respecting history and modern ethnography. This paper outlines many of the significant aspects of both of these areas. It presents the historical arguments relating to the movement of conversos and descendents of conversos into New Mexico, and the aspects of the settlement of the colony that may have shaped aspects of crypto-Jewish culture as manifested in New Mexico today. The paper also touches on some of the ethnographic research relating to modern crypto Judaism, examining the forms of identity and the cultural elements out of which those fluid identities are formed. Given the significance of arguments about authenticity in relation to this community, the paper examines Neulander’s arguments in light of both empirical and ethnographic data. It suggests that when tested on that basis Neulander’s work cannot be seen as academically credible. The uniting theme of the paper is the need to eschew simple explanation in the light of a historically and ethnographically complex community.

— “The Sephardic Legacy in the Spanish Caribbean: Crypto-Jewish Settlement in Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica”
Dr. Stanley M. Hordes

The Latin American and Iberian Institute of the University of New Mexico has initiated a research project to document the history of crypto-Jewish settlement on the Spanish Caribbean islands of the Greater Antilles, comprising Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and pre-British Jamaica. Based on archival research in Europe and the Americas, as well as ethnographic analysis, this study will examine the role played by the descendants of Iberian conversos in the economic, religious and cultural life of an area of Spanish America that was situated on the major trans-Atlantic shipping lanes, yet administratively remote from centers of Inquisitorial persecution. The data derived from these investigations will be of great value not only in helping to understand the socio-cultural fabric of a vital part of the Caribbean, but also in bringing to light the activities of the earliest Jewish communities in the Americas.

— “The Jewish and Crypto-Jewish Participation in the Age of Discovery”
Dr. Barry L. Stiefel

The following article is on the Jewish and crypto-Jewish participation in the age of discovery, from the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries. Though relatively small in number compared to their Catholic and Protestant counterparts, the Jews and Crypto Jews played a pivotal role in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas as financiers, scientists, and explorers. Not only did they contribute to the prosperity of the empires that they lived under (even when the respective monarch did not show the same kindness to those of Jewish extraction), but also to the perpetuation of crypto-Jewish and Sephardic Jewish life and culture wherever they ventured.

— “Jews, Catholics, and Converts: Reassessing the Resilience of Convivencia in Fifteenth Century Plasencia, Spain”
Dr. Robert L. Martinez

A systematic reappraisal of fifteenth century Jewish and Christian convivencia, or coexistence, is long overdue because within it resides a hidden history of cooperation among Old Christians, conversos, and Jews. Utilizing a historiographical lens to evaluate interfaith relations in several Castilian and Aragonese communities, one finds a broader range of communal outcomes than is traditionally acknowledged. New findings pertaining to the cohesive collaboration and intertwined relations of Jews, conversos, and Old Christians in the Extremaduran city of Plasencia refute the long-held assumption that Jews and Christians were routinely segregated from one another and corrects the misguided belief that the converso Santa María family persecuted former co-religionists. This study reveals the previously unknown strategic partnership of the converso Santa María and Old Christian Carvajal family in Plasencia and it’s role in maintaining medieval norms of interreligious cooperation.

— “Catholic, Jewish, and Crypto Jewish in the 1600s: The Geographic and Spiritual Peregrinations of Pacheco de Leon in Spain, Italy, and Mexico”
Dr. Matthew Warshawsky

Due to his knowledge of Judaism and his influence among Judaizers in Mexico City, Juan Pacheco de León (Salomón Machorro) was a prize catch among conversos arrested in 1642 for crypto-Jewish heresy. Yet his name is less well known than those of more famous crypto Jews in Latin America, including Luis de Carvajal the Younger, Tomás Treviño de Sobremonte, and Francisco Maldonado de Silva. This essay rescues Juan de León from such relative anonymity by exploring the interrelated questions of why the Inquisition prosecuted him so painstakingly, what his case teaches us about crypto Judaism in colonial Mexico and the ordeal its practitioners suffered at the hands of the Inquisition, and why he did not achieve fame more proportional to the gravity of his trial. In order to answer these questions, it examines how León differed from other Inquisitorial victims due to his biography, knowledge of Judaism, and personality.

— “Cecil Roth’s Disrupted Love Affair With the Secret Jews of Italy: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants”
Dr. Abraham D. Lavender

Cecil Roth’s 1932 book A History of the Marranos popularized the term “marrano,” and increased knowledge about the secret Jews of Portugal and Spain, and also discussed secret Jews in Europe and the Americas. But, the secret Jews of southern Italy were mostly neglected. Roth corrected this omission in 1946 in The History of the Jews of Italy, discussing the secret Jews in Sicily, the Kingdom of Naples, and Sardinia. Cecil Roth and his wife, Irene, who was also his constant research companion for forty-two years, expressed strong emotional attractions for Italy and had planned to retire there before their plans were disrupted by World War II and the Holocaust.

— “Recent Research Articles: From Roth to DNA”

Many historical research resources have been used to study crypto Jews. But, especially since the 1990s, DNA research also has been able to add more information to crypto-Judaic studies. DNA research frequently cannot provide definitive answers about a specific individual’s possible secret Jewish ancestry, but it can provide insightful information about history. There are many articles on Sephardic DNA, but this brief report describes three recent reach projects about crypto-Jewish DNA, including the research project from Iberia which documents that about 20% of all Hispanic males (mostly Christian today) whose ancestors came from Spain or Portugal have a Jewish genetic ancestry.

Learn more about the journal and subscriptions. Single issues are $10 (+$4 p&h), while annual subscriptions for individuals are only $10 (+$4 p&h). International subscriptions are $6 for postage and handling.

DNA: Portuguese conversos’ genetic identity

“How has a small Portuguese Jewish community retained its genetic identity,” is the title of a recent Haaretz story, concerning a new genetic study recently published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

Of course, the writer meant a Converso or Crypto-Jewish community. Those of us with interests in Sephardic, Converso and crypto-Jewish history, as well as DNA and genetics, answered the question posed by this story rather quickly: How about not marrying others with different backgrounds?

Tracing the Tribe asks why this is always so surprising to people who don’t know or don’t want to believe the history of these communities? In various Southwestern US states, the same marriage pattern prevails in many families of Jewish descent. Even though they do not declare themselves public Jews, they tend to only marry others “like” themselves. We know what “like” means – why don’t these scientists?

A genetic analysis of northern Portuguese crypto-Jews recently yielded a mysterious discovery: It exposed an isolated Jewish community that has somehow retained its genetic identity for centuries – while avoiding the inbreeding that usually occurs in such situations.

Now scientists are trying to understand how these Jews managed to bypass a condition which worries most small, closed Jewish communities in the world.

The new study by researchers from Porto and Coimbra Universities showed that Jews from the Braganca area are genetically closer to Middle Eastern Jews than to the surrounding Portuguese – even after living there for 500 years. This emerged from an analysis of the Y chromosome, which is passed exclusively from father to son with negligent recombination.

[NOTE: What is more interesting is that the article indicates in several places that there appears to be a larger converso population than these small communities indicate. They retained their genetic identity without inbreeding, meaning that the pool of individuals is much larger. While earlier studies indicated that Spain’s genetic analysis showed some 2o% of Jewish descent, Portugal’s should be similar.]

The story indicates that genetic match was observed also in the Jews of Belmonte, a small town about 200 kilometers south of Braganca. This study is the first time that the genetic makeup of northern Portuguese Jews had been analyzed.

[NOTE: Anyone reading up on Sephardic Jewish history and the Inquisition knows that many Jews escaping the 1492 Exile went through Braganca into Portugal where they thought they would be safe, although it was short-lived.]

However, the genetic analysis of Belmonte Jews showed a dramatic drop in genetic diversity, indicative of inbreeding. This is normal for isolated communities, simply because less genetic material is introduced each generation.

“All small-sized gene pools tend to lose diversity, but the communities from the Braganca area have succeeded in maintaining a very high diversity, with a relatively small non-Jewish introgression,” said Professor Antonio Amorim, a
geneticist from the University of Porto who performed the research.

The recently published – a few weeks ago – research in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology showed paternal lineages of 57 unrelated males of established Jewish origins from around Braganca.

A high lineage diversity was found, at both haplotype and haplogroup levels (98.74 and 82.83%, respectively), demonstrating the absence of a strong genetic drift, the research said. Professor Amorim was surprised at both the low level of inbreeding and the retention of Jewish genes.

[NOTE: Tracing the Tribe knows that if you marry only others with your same background in a small number of local families or “similar” families in a wider geographic region, the Jewish genetic identity will be retained.]

“These results can only be explained assuming that the effective size of the population is much greater that it would seem at the first sight,” Amorim concluded, “and/or that there is a reproductive strategy minimizing the loss of male lineages but not avoiding totally the input of non-Jewish males.”

The research team indicates that “a deeper and more detailed investigation is required to clarify how these communities avoided the expected inbreeding caused by over four centuries of religious repression.” The team is still waiting for the mtDNA (maternal DNA).

[NOTE: Considering the fact that women were the leaders of the Belmonte community for centuries and kept the spark of Judaism alive, and that converso communities around the world often have matriarchal leaders who preserve tradition and knowledge, Tracing the Tribe expects that mtDNA results will show the same Jewish connection.

Jews have lived around Braganca since the late 12th century at least, but the major influx was after the 1492 Expulsion during the Inquisition. At first, they thought they would be safe, and they were for a few years, but then Portugal demanded, as Spain had done, that they convert to Catholicism. Some left again, some had their children forcibly kidnapped (and sent to Sao Tome Island, where many died) to force the parents to convert, and larger numbers converted publicly, but maintained their adherence to Judaism in secret.

Over the centuries, without interaction with established Jewish communities, the people lost much of their Jewish knowledge but maintained what they knew. The families in this genetic study are part of that community.]

Michael Freund, head of Shavei Israel, says that thousands of people – in Portugal and elsewhere – are turning towards Judaism as they believe they are descendants of crypto-Jews.

“This study demonstrates the extent to which the Jews of Portugal who were forcibly converted more than five centuries ago sought to preserve their Jewishness down through the generations,” he said. “They made heroic efforts to sustain their Jewish identity in secret, and many only married among themselves, as the findings of this study indicate,” he said.

Read the complete story at the link above.

Resource: Crypto-Jewish Links

Are you searching for your Crypto-Jewish/Sephardic/Converso ancestry or are just interested in this fascinating story? Here’s a good source of links.

Poet M. Miriam Herrera has compiled a good list of Crypto-Jewish resource links on her website.

Crypto-Jews of the Southwest & New World

History & Definitions – includes explanations and definitions of such words as “marrano,” “converso,” “new Christian,” history, usage and origins. Sources include the Jewish Virtual Library, Shulamit Halevy, Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies, Bloom Southwest Jewish Archives, Arthur Benveniste, PBS Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, David Goldblatt, JewishGen, Georgetown University scholar Estelle Irizarry, George Washington University Professer Howard M. Sachar, Nan Rubin, Beit Hatfutsot, Jewish Journal, JUF News and more.

The Spanish & Mexican Inquisitions – includes the 1492 Edict of Expulsion, Books, Papers, Inquisition rosters, Robert J. Ferry, Stanley Hordes, Richard C. Greenleaf, Mary Elizabeth Perry, Anne J. Cruz, Clara Steinberg-Spitz, Dennis P. Geller, Gracia Mendes, Dr. Yitzchok Levine (Jewish Press), Luis de Carvajal, Mexico, Dr. Samuel Nunes and more.

Tools for Researching Crypto-Jewish Heritage – includes Michael Freund’s Shavei Israel, Kulanu, Richard C. Greenleaf (tools, DNA, guidelines, etc.), SephardicGen.com, Ezra l’Anusim (several languages), Be’echol Lashon, Rabbi Juan Mejia’s Kol Tuv Sepharad (English/Spanish), Colorado’s Secret Jews (article).

Writers & Artists – Gabriela Bohm’s “The Longing,” Gannit Ankori’s “Hidden Frida,” Menachem Wecker’s “Unchosen Artist,” New Mexican artist Diana Bryer, author Kathleen Alcala, Cary Herz’s photographs/books, photographer Peter Svarzbein’s Crypto-Jews Project, Stephanie Rachum’s articles on Camille Pissarro, scholar Abraham Haim’s work on Miguel de Cervantes, New Mexico singer Consuelo Luz,

Personal Stories – Carlos Salas Diaz (Congregacion Hebrea de Baja California), musician Vanessa Paloma (Ladino music and her family’s story), Rabbi Juan Mejia (personal story, plans for a Southwest US yeshiva for anusim, Latin American oral traditions and more), Rabbi Nissan Ben Avraham (a Chueta of Mallorca), Californian Enrique A. Navarro-Pinto’s story, California Rabbi Daniel Mehlman (Mexicali group), Rabbi Daniel Ginerman and Shulamith Havi (why Crypto-Jewish families do not come out openly), New York Rabbi Marcelo Bronstein (Amazon conversion), Barcelona’s Nuria Guasch Vidal, Chicano Crypto-Jews in Whittier California, Andree Aelion Brooks (hurdles faced by bnai anusim), and Gloria Trujillo.

Culture & Folklore – Rosemary Levy Zumwalt’s book on Sephardim and evil eye, Renee Levine Melammed’s “Question of Identity,” 15th century cancioneros, Anne deSola Cardoza on Jewish food and traditions, Charles M. Robinson’s culinary traditions of Rio Grande Valley, Rachel Laudan on pan de semita,” history of capirotada bread pudding, gravestone photos, Shylamith HaLevy articles, editor/publisher Ana Pacheco’s La Herencia magazine, Mair Jose Benardete’s collection of Judeo-Spanish ballads and the Rio Grande Valley’s Jewish customs.

Book Reviews – Gloria Golden’s “Remnants of Crypto-Jews among Hispanic Americans,” Stanley M. Hordes” “To The End of the Earth,” Tamar Alexander-Frizer’s “The Heart is a Mirror.”

Although I didn’t see it – and I’m sure Miriam will be updating her lists – Sephardim.com‘s valuable name search engine is also excellent, as it indexes many books, while Sephardim.org has a list of and links for Sephardic congregations around the world, information on Sephardic music, and Jamaican Sephardic history, which provide links to families of similar names.

Canary Islands: Crypto-Jewish history

Thanks to Harry Stein’s Sephardim.com, Tracing the Tribe learned about a century-old paper on Crypto-Jews in the Canary Islands, delivered by Lucien Wolf to the Jewish Historical Society of England in London on December 12, 1910.

The paper is a treasure chest of Jewish names and history. Here’s a map of the islands:

Read the complete paper here, but understand that it was posted using OCR (optical recognition software) and there are many errors caused by software inaccuracies (for various reasons). I recommend reading the online version carefully.

Information covers secret synagogues, kosher butchers, the Inquisition, Sephardim in London, buccaneers, sea captains, French merchants, Holland, the plague. Records discussed refer to dates as early as 1480. For many of those names listed below, there is detailed information on their fates, by public burning or other means, such as serving 10 years in the galleys.

In May 1524, several anti-Converso edicts were published in the Cathedral Church of St. Ana in Las Palmas:

— 1. A general call for the elimination of heresy and confession of erroneous practices.

— 2. This was directed specifically at Jews and Moslems, providing detailed accounts of their religious and social manners and customs at great length. It is a record of Jewish ceremonies and customs which had survived among the Conversos and helped informers to detect the heretics.

— 3. This prohibited masters, owners and ship’s captains, visiting and leaving the Canary ports, from allowing on board or providing passage to “converts or New Christians, converted to our Holy Catholic Faith from Judaism ” under pain of excommunication and confiscation of their ships and other property.

These three edicts generally encouraged “religious maniacs,” according to Wolf, and resulted in a large number of denunciations (1524-26).

Here are the names from the paper. If these are of interest, then do read the paper to learn more such as occupations and many geographical location.

Antonio Fernandez Carvajal
Duarte Henriques Alvares
Antonio Rodrigues Robles
Simon de Souza
Domingo de la Cerda
Antonio de Porto
Rodrigo de Leon
Beltran
Rabbi David
Goncalo de Burgos
Luis Alvares
Mayorga
Luis de Niebla
Goncalo de Cordova
Juan de Ler
Juan Fernandez
Pedro Dorador
Alvaro Esteves
Beatrice de la Cruz
Gutierrez de Ocana
Diego Frances
Alvaro Gonsales
Mencia Vaes
Silvestre Goncales
Maistre Diego de Valera (Isaac Levi pre-1496)
Pedro Gonsales
Alonzo Yanez
Ana and Duarte Goncales
Hector Mendes
Hernan Rodrigues
Fernando Jaryam
Aldonca de Vergas y Vargas
Duarte Goncales
Duarte Perez
Pedro Berruyo
Pedrianis
Juan Yanez
Catalina Nunez
Fernan Pinto
Jorge Fernandez
Duarte Henriques Alvares
Diego Rodrigues Aries
Duarte Henriques Alvares
Antonio Rodrigues Robles
Leila Henriques
Antonio Fernandes Carvajal
Domingo Rodrigues Francia
Jorge Francia
Domingo de la Cerda
Joseph Carrera y Coligo
Lourenco Rodrigues (Isaac Lindo) Lindo and wife Perpetua
Goncalo and Lucina Rodrigues Vaes
Manuel Lindo
Manuel Pereira
Jaques Faro
Nunez
Antonio Fernandez Nunez
Juan de Tarifa

Place names include:

The Canaries:
Santa Cruz
Tenerife
Los Santos
San Lucar
San Lucar de Barremeda
Las Palmas
La Laguna
Gibrileo

Spain:
Andalucia
Seville
Cadiz
Cordova
Castile
Marchena, Andalucia

Portugal:
Castel Blanco
Villaviciosa
Lisbon
Coimbra

Elsewhere:
Dublin
London
Azores
Morocco
Cape Verde
Bayonne
Nantes
Rouem
Bordeaux
Rochelle
Amsterdam

A very interesting paper! For more resources on Sephardic names, go to Sephardim.com and SephardicGen.com.