The Spanish Inquisition

• Ferdinad and Isabella signed a decree in 1492, expelling all Jewish people from Spain if they refused to give up their own religion and convert their faith into Christianity.

• As a result of their religion being threatened many Jews transported their

lives from Spain and fled to Portugal.• Because Jewish families were coerced to move, they chose to stay mobile.

Soon they developed international family agencies such as growing brokerage houses involved with shipping, this aided Portugal’s economy greatly.

• Families such as these migrated from port city to city with the Spanish Inquisition and created international networks.

The Portugal Inquisition

•It was not even a decade later in 1497, Portugal followed Spain’s footsteps and decided to expelled all people with the Jewish faith, or forced them into the Catholic religion.

•In 1536, the Pope of Portugal, gave the King permission to establish the Portuguese Inquisition. This religious leader wanted to enforce the “purity of faith” in his country.

•The Jesuit Order was placed in charge of all education

• Between 1540 and 1790 tribunals in Lisborn, Porto, Coimbra and Évoraresulted in the burning of a significant amount of people.

•Between 1674 and 1681 the Inquisition was only suspended in Portugal

•It was not until 1821 that the "General Extraordinary and Constituent Courts of the Portuguese Nation" abolished the Portuguese inquisition.

What have been the effects of the inquisition today?

. In Portugal today, according to Wikipedia, 84 percent of

the population is nominally Roman-Catholic

Even if it is stated that the Church and the State are completely separated, the Catholic Church continually receives special privileges in spite of the disagreement of the political parties.

Even today many holidays, festivals, and traditions in Portugal that are celebrated all have a similarity. They all have a religious origin or connotation.

For a long time, the Church even looked after the health and education systems, providing a blessing from the clergy whenever a new bridge or highway was built.