The Judiaria de Monsaraz was the Jewish quarter of the medieval walled village. References to Jews in Monsaraz appear from at least 1276, when the foral of King Afonso III ordered that Moors and Jews who suffered physical aggression should present complaints to the alcaide, the local military or castle governor, or to the alvazis, royal-appointed judges or municipal magistrates of the town.
Jewish Presence in Monsaraz
In 1382, Abraão Alfarime, a Jew living in Monsaraz, took on the collection of the royal revenues of the almoxarifados of Monsaraz and Mourão for two years. An almoxarifado was a royal fiscal and administrative district. The contract, made under King Fernando I, covered revenues from bread, wine, customs, tolls, fines, butchery and other royal rights. It involved an annual payment of 5,000 libras.
The Jewish community of Monsaraz grew during the fifteenth century, especially after the expulsion of the Jews from Castile in 1492. The documentation places Jewish houses between Rua de Santiago, Travessa da Cisterna and Rua Direita, inside the walls of the village.
The Judiaria de Monsaraz in Later Records
In 1502, King Manuel I granted D. Jaime, Duke of Braganza, a tença, a royal pension or allowance, connected to the lost revenues of several former judiarias after the prohibition of Jews and Moors in Portugal. Monsaraz appears in this document with an annual value of 5,000 reais, the Portuguese monetary unit of the period.
A document from the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Monsaraz, dated 1601, states that the Judiaria de Monsaraz was located inside the walls, near the azinhaga, a narrow lane or passageway, that went from Porta de Évora to Rua de Santiago.
The Casa da Inquisição of Monsaraz is located at Travessa do Quebra-Costas 7, inside the walls of the medieval village. The building is known through local tradition as the “House of the Inquisition”. However, Monsaraz did not have its own permanent tribunal of the Holy Office. Inquisitorial cases connected to residents or natives of Monsaraz were mainly handled by the Tribunal of the Holy Office of Évora.
Casa da Inquisição and local tradition
The building has been described as a possible lodging place for a familiar of the Holy Office, or as a temporary place where accused persons may have stayed before being sent to trial in Évora. This interpretation is cautious. It separates the local name of the building from the existence of an actual inquisitorial court, which is not documented for Monsaraz.
The Casa da Inquisição was later requalified as the Centro Interativo da História Judaica and inaugurated on 16 July 2016. The centre presents the Jewish history of Monsaraz through documents, digital interpretation and thematic rooms.
Jewish history and exhibition
The exhibition includes areas dedicated to the history and heritage of Monsaraz, the so-called Religions of the Book, and Judaism in Monsaraz. The section on Judaism was developed from existing documents and artefacts connected to the Jewish presence in the village. The centre also includes a workspace for researchers and students.
Between 1553 and 1767, 86 inquisitorial proceedings were opened against residents or natives of Monsaraz. Of these, 77 were processed in Évora, 8 in Lisbon and 1 in Coimbra. The records show that 67 proceedings were related to accusations of Judaism, heresy and apostasy. The accused included 53 men and 33 women. Two men and one woman were sentenced to secular justice.
Inquisitorial records from Monsaraz
Some proceedings describe practices interpreted by the Inquisition as Jewish. These included sweeping the house from the street door inward, using a low table, avoiding pork, rabbit, hare and fish without scales, praying to Moses, and lighting a candle on Shabbat.
The Casa da Inquisição is therefore relevant not because it proves the existence of a tribunal in Monsaraz, but because it preserves the local memory of persecution and now functions as a documented interpretive centre for the Jewish history of Monsaraz.
