An example of collaboration between the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions: The Trials of the Converso Diogo Ramos and his Family (1680-1683)

Abstract

The nearly three centuries that extend from 1536 to 1820 witnessed the existence of two separate Inquisitions operating in the neighbouring kingdoms of Spain and Portugal. These two institutions, and the various tribunals that composed them, shared the same goal of expurgating Christian society of any activity deemed to be heretical. The study of the various tribunals of the Holy Office in these two realms has been increasingly gathering impetus during the last two decades, but one aspect of this history remains little examined: namely, the level of interaction and active cooperation between the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions. This article will present a case study as a means of exploring the manner in which these institutions collaborated in the repression of heresy. The case under consideration concerns the trials of Diogo Ramos– or Diego Ramos, as he is named in those parts of the trial dossier that are in Spanish – his wife Joana da Paz, as well as their two daughters, Beatriz da Paz and Maria da Paz. These four individuals were all prosecuted by the tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition of Lisbon for crypto-Judaism in 1682-3 and the complete trial dossiers (processos) recording the cases brought against each of them have been preserved in the National Portuguese Archives of the Torre do Tombo with the respective numbers 1237, 6304, 7674 and 11264.