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

Abstract

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.