1655. Carta de Gaspar de los Reyes Fraga para su hermano Baltasar.

Letter from Gaspar de los Reyes Fraga to his brother Baltasar.

The author writes to his brother Baltasar to tell him how happy he is for the release from prison of his relatives. He also informs him about other topics, all of them related to the imprisonment and penance of some people who have been condemned for judaizers.

Bernardo López Portelo (also just Bernardo Portelo in some letters), was a draper and a trader resident in Madrid and native to Portugal who was accused of judaizer in 1661. Among other offences, he was accused of being an abettor of a judaizers network by means of different alms that he was giving to some people reconciled with the Holy Office of Toledo, Valladolid and Cuenca. A witness stated that they first suspected him when they saw many superscripts that belonged to the Jews from Bayonne with his name on it (fol.41). The letters provided as exhibit to the trial together with the rest of the documents were seized from the defendant´s house: most of them were alms petitions. This letter has numerous annotation and underlined passages suggesting that the inquisitors carried out an exhaustive reading searching for other names and details in order to delve further into subjects who could belong to the judaizers network. Almost every single name is underlined. Some of the annotations have to do with names and unclear parts of the letter. The author takes advantage of the blank space to write a letter to his nephew (PS7040). Eventually, the defendant was condemned to exile and to the payment of 200 ducats.