Syntactic Trees

Private letter from Fernão Dias, clergyman, to Mateus Pereira, a secretary of the Holy Office

The author reports an incorrect theological behaviour and asks for advice

The header and body of the letter contain information that allows us to conclude this is an accusation, motivated by the statements made by the prior of Santa Maria, Gaspar Barreto, during a public event.

The Inquisition archives contain, apart from the around 40 thousand individual proceedings ("processos"), a collection of scattered charges, for which the Inquisition "Promotor" had to decide whether or not to prosecute. Complaints, confessions, letters by the commissioners or about different stages of each proceedings are some of the document types that can be found in these books. This letter has been kept among such documentation.