Arrival of exiles from Portugal in Amsterdam

They were never officially denied (or granted) freedom of worship.

Since the States, or governing body, of the province of Holland decided in 1619 to leave the responsibility for determining the status of the Jews in the hands of the municipalities, the 1616 document oddly became the definitive statement

It was amended only by an (admittedly significant) regulation of 1632 that denied Amsterdam’s Jews the full rights of burghers.

the resolution of 1612, issued under pressure from the Calvinist clergy, not only called for modesty, but prohibited the construction and use of a synagogue.

Although it is true that the principle of freedom of conscience was gaining increasing acceptance, its adherents were rarely clear about whether it could be applied to non-Christians.

a city ordinance, dated November 8, 1616, prohibited them from speaking publicly against the Christian religion or publishing anything against it, and forbade them to intermarry with Christians

When Holland joined the Union of Utrecht (1579), which, among other provisions, forbade persecution on religious grounds, the Maranos in Portugal fixed their hopes on Amsterdam, and, according to Franco Mendes and Graetz, the first Maranos settled there in 1593.

In the archives of the city of Amsterdam, probably the oldest date dealing with Portuguese Jews is November 28, 1598, when there was entered in the "Puyboek," v.

The community grew apace through the constant arrival of refugees from Portugal and southern France