Event

Forced baptism in Portugal, 1497

Mass forced conversion of Jews who had gathered at Lisbon in 1497.

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Connections 3

Manuel I of Portugal ordered the Jews to gather at Lisbon Scholarship & press 1 2
Lisbon Scholarship & press 2

Timeline 1 date

Proof 2 sources

Manuel I (Encyclopaedia Judaica), Encyclopaedia Judaica, via Encyclopedia.com. Scholarship & press
To stem the departures, he ordered all Jews desiring to emigrate to come to Lisbon, supposedly for embarkation.
When some 20,000 had convened in Lisbon, Manuel herded them together for forced conversion.
As the mass emigration got under way, Manuel realized that the loss of his Jewish citizenry would have dire economic results for Portugal.
When some 4,000 of the New Christians were massacred by a Lisbon mob in 1506, Manuel responded by executing the Dominican friars who had incited the riot
Jews, Expulsion of (Spain; Portugal), Encyclopedia.com (Gale). Scholarship & press
and Manuel's actions emphasize that his primary concern was conversion.
When October 1497 arrived, the thousands of Jews assembled there were forcibly converted.

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