1687. Carta de Jorge Pinto de Fonseca, abogado, para Antonio del Castillo Villavicencio, abogado.

Letter from Jorge Pinto de Fonseca, lawyer, to Antonio del Castillo Villavicencio, lawyer.

The author, brother of the defendant, expresses to Antonio del Castillo Villavicencio his feelings about living in exile and the reasons that led him to leave his homeland.

The defendant of this process is Diogo Pinto da Fonseca, lawyer, born in Covilhã and resident in Lisbon. He was accused of living following the «Law of Moses»: he maintained relationships with Jewish people, he celebrated holiday in September and he did not work on Friday afternoon or Saturday. The 23rd of May, 1687, while he was imprisoned in the jail of the Inquisition in Lisbon, Diogo Pinto da Fonseca was found dead. He had committed suicide by hanging himself with a tie. After his death, an enquiry was started, in order to decide about the defence and prosecution of his memory, honour and properties. In the final resolution, the Inquisition Tribunal declared that the defendant «lived and died in his error». He was considered a heretic: therefore, his properties were confiscated and his body was handed over to the secular justice. Most of the family of Diogo Pinto da Fonseca lived in Spain, in Zafra, including a brother, Jorge Pinto da Fonseca, the author of some of the letters here transcribed, who lived part of his life in Brussels. The other cards were seized by the Spanish Inquisition from Jorge and sent to the Inquisition in Lisbon.