Denunciation of Duarte Esteves de Pina, June 16 and 18, 1639

Source Description

In 1639, Diogo de Lima denounced Duarte Esteves de Pina, a Portuguese Jew living in Hamburg, to the Portuguese Inquisition. The present source is comprised of the charge (seven handwritten pages) as well as the testimonies of two witnesses (each four handwritten pages). An official of the Inquisition questioned the informants under oath and produced a brief report for each. Subsequently, several priests testified to the credibility of the informants and the authenticity of the reports. Such protocols formed the basis for the total of approximately 32,000 court cases carried out by the Inquisition in its almost 300-year existence in Portugal. Upon the Liberal Revolution of 1821, the Portuguese Inquisition came to its official conclusion. The archive of the Lisbon Tribunal, from which this source originates, was given to the Lisbon Public Library. Just four years later, however, it was again withdrawn from public view and placed in the royal archive (Torre do Tombo, today, the National Archive). Only in 1901, was this archive opened to regular scholarly research. Following the turn of the 20th century, a comprehensive digitalization of its holdings was carried out. At present, a majority of the documents of the Inquisition are freely accessible on the Internet.

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Recommended Citation

Denunciation of Duarte Esteves de Pina, June 16 and 18, 1639 (translated by Richard S. Levy), edited in: Key Documents of German-Jewish History, <https://dx.doi.org/10.23691/jgo:source-162.en.v1> [March 29, 2024].