CHAPTER IV- THE JEWS IN PORTUGAL
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Since the Council of Toledo in the
year 633 A.D., the situation of the Jews was well defined, and were obliged
to live in a separate quarter of town. Thus we have the”ghetto” in
Italy, “carrière” in France, “Judenviertel” in Germany,
“Judería” in Spain, and “Judiaria” in Portugal.
However with massive christianization, voluntary or coerced, the Portuguese
Jews, with their family links with Christians, and resultant dissemination in
all towns and villages, the “Judiaria” of Lisbon by the time of King
John III (1521/1557) was no longer an exclusive quarter of the Jews. Thus
it
was in Portugal that the existence of a Jewish quarter disappeared quickly,
quite different from other European countries.
It is significant to note that the first King of Portugal, Afonso Henriques
- 1139 - had a half-brother whose mother was Jewish, and he was knighted as
Dom Fuas Roupinho, and fought along with his brother. Throughout the 12th-15th
century, the most powerful financial agents in Portugal were Jews, not only
as bankers, shipbuilders, and tax collectors, but also Ministers of Finance,
as well as sages and scientists, protected by the Crown and the Order of the
Templars. When this Order was extinguished in the rest of Europe, the Christianized
Jews were herded with the ex-Templars
in the Order of Christ.
When during the 15th century, Spain was expelling the Jews, confiscating their
estates and wealth, Portugal was doing the utmost to conserve them in their
country. The Jews enjoyed a privileged situation in Portugal, choosing
their own quarters, and occupying the most desired places.The nobles in Portugal
took beautiful Jewish maidens as mistresses and recognized their offspring,
making them Knights and having their illegitimate sons join the Order of Christ.
When the fist King Afonso Henriques conquered Santarém from the Moors, the Jewish
population was allowed to remain, and permitted to build their first synagogue,
which was not possible under Moorish rule. The Jews built towns that were exclusively
theirs. The King gave them the same rights as any other of his subjects, and
the Jews could appeal to the Justice to right any wrongs. This same King, in
payment of services rendered in the conquest against the Moors, gave to Jahia-aben.Jaisch,
descendant of the Royal House of David, some villages, and permission to use
a coat-of-arms of a Knight - hidalgo.
The next King Sancho I made Joseph-aben-Jahia, son of the former, a high title
in the Kingdom, and allowed him to found the first synagogue in Lisbon, in a
beautiful place.
The Jews were money lenders, and usury was allowed, and the Jews went as far
as to look for Christians in debt, in Church, during mass, making them ashamed
and forcing the debtors to pay.
The bishop of Lisbon, Dom Soeiro complained to Pope Gregory IX in Rome (1227/1241)
that the King of Portugal gave preference to the Jews in public governmental
jobs. The Pope censured King Sancho I, who dismissed this reprimand, and limited
to exact certain taxes from the Jews, such as the obligation to equip each vessel
built by the Crown, with “an anchor and a mooring rope”.
During the reign of Dinis I (1279-1325), the King called a Jew by the name of
Judah, to be Finance Minister of the Kingdom. His son Ghedabia-aben-Judah, succeeded
his father in this post in the year 1303.
The Jews in general were very useful to the Kingdom, but as human beings,
sometimes took advantage of their regal jobs. Whilst in Castile, the Jews were
not allowed to have properties, this was not so in Portugal Thus many Jews in
Spain emigrated to Portugal. For example, Rabbi Moyseh, from Navarra who went
to Portugal in 1359, King Pedro I made him “Almo xerife-mór”, a high
position, and authorized him to be called Dom Navarro, and his progeny continued
with the name Navarro. His
son, Dom Judah-aben-Mosseh Navarro succeeded him in his post; in the city of
Oporto, the Chief Tax collector was Dom Jusah-aben-Abasis.
Whereas more than 15000 Jews were being killed in Toledo, Burgos, Valencia,
Cordoba, thousands sought refuge in Portugal; at this time the Jews were being
cruelly persecuted in all of Europe, and had been expelled brutally by the British
King Edward I. In 1391, the Chief rabbi and doctor of the Portuguese King John
I, Mosseh-aben-Navarro sought the sovereign and showed him a papal bull of
Bonifacio IX whereby the Church intended to protect the Jews. The Portuguese
Jews considered King John I as their protector, and beseeched him not to authorize
compulsive conversion to Christianity.
The Portuguese in general did not interfere with the religious laws and customs
of the Jews, as long as they did not hurt the Christian people. There were ups
and downs for the Jews in Portugal, and one must not gloss over the fact that
there were isolated persecutions.
However, many high class Jews had been made noble, receiving lands, and other
titles, allowed to use the hidalgo prefix “Dom”, and use the sword
of a knight. Authorized - and only in Portugal- to acquire land, they
became lords of big ranches, farms and mansions, by means of disadvantageous
transactions with certain decadent Christian nobility.Thus, the situation of
the rich Jewish men linked them to rich noble Christians. If they became converted
to Christianity, they were allowed to marry their daughters, and in this manner
the Jews amalgamated gold and nobility.
During more than 300 years, the Kings of Portugal had protected the Jews, allowing
them to become rich, and making many of them nobles. The Kings abstained from
expelling the Jews, and gave them privileges in case they became Christians.
Among the Jews, there were not only excellent doctors, as Master Leâo, Diogo
Rodrigues Zacuto, Diogo Mendes Becinho, Master Antonio, surgeon-general of the
King, but also famous scientists in the field of mathematics, astronomy and
geography. It was the Jews who introduced the press to Portugal.
Where to send so many Jews fleeing from Spain? King John II had already sent
many converted Jews to colonize the archipelagos of Azores, Madeira,Cabo Verde,
and also to settle in the fertile island of Sâo Tomé, all of which were uninhabited.
It was only during the reign of King Manuel I (1495-1521) on the occasion of
his second marriage in 1500, due to a sine qua non condition imposed by Maria,
sister of his first deceased wife Isabel, and likewise daughter of Ferdinand
and Isabel of Spain, Manuel was required to purify Portugal of Jews. The former
King John II had admitted many Jewish refugees, had them taxed heavily but also
obliged them to supply ships for them to leave Portugal. This was not
done, and now Manuel, rather than establish the Inquisition in Portugal, ordered
all Jews to leave within ten months. Every effort was made to secure their convesion
by promises or by force, and thus there came about the appearance of New Christians
(marranos), adopting names of colors: Branco = white,Negro = black; of animals:
Lobo = wolf, Carneiro = sheep,Cordeiro = lamb, Leitâo = pìglet, Coelho
= rabbit, Peixoto = fish. And very common names of trees such as Oliveira =
olive tree, Carvalho = oaktree, Nogueira = walnut tree,Pereira = pear
tree, Macieira = apple tree, Trigo = wheat,and Cerejeira = cherry
tree. Even recently, between 1940-1965, the Cardinal of Lisbon was called Cerejeira,
a descendant of a converted Jew.
In effect, by the beginning of the 17th century, much more than a third of the
Portuguese population was of Jewish extraction, such were the massive conversions,
voluntary or compulsory, verified during the reigns of King John II and
King Manuel I. The majority of the Professors of Medicine and Chemistry, likewise
surgeons and pharmacists consisted of “new Christians”. Garcia de
Orta studied cholera, and became famous with his treatise written after a long
sojourn in India, which opened the eyes of the entire Europe.Pedro Nunes, the
most famous mathematician of his time wrote the first book of experimental science;
Tomé Pires, in his “Epistles” describes the “drugs” (remedies)
of the Orient, Yellow fever, and tropical diseases, and discovered “quinine”
as a remedy against malaria.
At this point, it is important to comment on the Kabbala, an esoteric Jewish
mysticism as it appeared in the 12th century in Spain and Portugal. The “Sefer
ha-temuna” - Book of the Image - appeared in Spain and advanced
the notion of cosmic cycles, each of which provides an interpretation of the
Torah according to a divine attribute. Judaism, consequently was presented not
as a religion of immutable truths, but as one for which each cycle, or eon,
was said to have a different Torah.
Spain also produced the famous “Sefer ha-zohar” (Book of splendor
) a book that in some circles was invested with a sanctity rivaling that
of the Torah itself. It dealt with the mystery of creation and the functions
of the sefirot, and it offered mystical speculations about evil, salvation,
and the soul.
The Jews of Iberia were more inclined towards magical speculations, as chemistry,
the cabbalistic secret than with astronomical studies. In 1433 Master
Guedelha prophesied to King Duarte terrible events if he did not postpone his
ascent to the throne of Portugal. A year later, Duarte and his army met
with disaster at Tangiers and four years later - 1438 - King Duarte died
of the plague - the Black Plague which decimated all of Europe.
All the Portuguese Kings up to John II (1481-1495) had around them,Jewish doctors
and astrologers who predicted future happenings in a mixture of real and superstitious
science.
Alchemy had its profound roots in the Orient - China 4500 B.C. ,
hindu Tantrism and Buddhism, which spread to Egypt - and during the 11th
century were introduced in Europe by the Jews and the Crusaders, particularly
the Knights Templars.
The Templars of the 12th century had founded a “College of Alchemy”
which was a tributary of Astrology.
The western Kabbala, also called Templar or alchemy, was developed from the
13th century and reached its zenith at the end of the 14th century, and went
on throughout the 15th century; indeed from Iberia it spread to Europe, especially
Germany and England, whose philsophers were of the Order of the “Rose Collar”
attributed to the Templars already extinct. Sir Thomas Moore is depicted with
the Rose Collar of 24 S, and King Henry IV of England wore the Livery Collar
of 18S.
The importance of Jewish influence in the life of Portugal, of the Middle Ages,
be it civil, political, religious, scientific or literary cannot be underestimated.
Commerce, industry, politics, law, erudition, science, especially medicine,
literature, all the forms of civilized life bears the seal of the Jewish race,
so active, industrious and creative.
"The book tries to unearth the
real identity of Christopher Columbus, - which name is a misnomer, because he
should be remembered as Cristóvâo Colón, or Cristóbal Colón, as he introduced
himself to Spain in 1484. However this was not his name, but let us say, his
pen name. His real name was Salvador Fernandes Zarco.
In short, Colon was a Portuguese Jew, illegitimate son of prince Fernando, duke
of Beja, and being illegitimate, used the surname of his unwedded mother: Zarco
He was however a noble, as he was the grandson of a Portuguese king, Duarte
(brother of Prince Henry the Navigator) and great-grandson of the English Philippa
of Lancaster, Queen of Portugal, who initiated the Aviz dynasty.
On his mother's side, he was grandson of Joâo Gonçalves Zarco, Converso, who
discovered the island of Madeira.
He was a "new christian", of the 4th (?) generation, who maintained
secret vestiges of his Hebrew heritage, as can be seen in the letters written
to his son Diogo .
He was evidently a secret agent of the Portuguese king Joâo II, his "brother-in-law"
(since Joâo II married Leonor, daughter of Prince Fernando, and half-sister
of Salvador Fernandes Zarco, alias Cristóvâo Colon. As a spy, unable to reveal
his identity, he invented the enigmatic name Colon,
full of cabbalistic symbolism, which he signed only with a punctuation sign:
colon. In order brush off any inquiries, he allowed the rumour that he might
be Genoese, although he never said so, either verbally or in writing.
My book was first published in New York in 1993, "Columbus" by Carlton
Press. In 1995-96 I was asked to write the book in Spanish, which I did, under
the title "El verdadero Colón" ( (The true Colon), which included
many of the findings of Dr. Manuel Luciano da Silva, who was in touch with me,
after reading the English edition.
Professor Alfredo F. de Mello
ademello@adinet.com.uy
Calle Parva Domus 2388 /701
11301 Montevideo
Uruguay.
E-mail: Rufina Bernardetti Silva Mausenbaum
