The Expulsion of the Muslims from Portugal (1496–1497)

Abstract

The expulsion of the Muslim minority from Portugal, decreed by King Manuel I in December 1496, has been one of the most overlooked aspects of the end of religious tolerance in the Iberian Peninsula at the close of the Middle Ages. Using unedited documentary sources preserved in the national Portuguese archives, this article focuses on the expulsion of the Muslims from Portugal and seeks to challenge a number of assumptions concerning this unprecedented event. Three major questions concerning this expulsion are examined. What evidence is there that the expulsion of the Muslims did take place? Where did the expelled Muslims seek refuge? What were the causes of this expulsion? This article will endeavour to present a new hypothesis relating to the causes of this expulsion, which radically differs from that advanced by modern historians.