1602. Carta privada de Gastão de Abrunhosa a Nicolau Agostinho, secretário do Santo Ofício em Évora.

Private letter from Gastão de Abrunhosa to Nicolau Agostinho, secretary of the Holy Office in Évora.

The author tells his friend and secretary of the Holy Office that he will go to Rome to seek justice for his family, falsely accused and imprisoned by the Inquisition, and criticizes the intervention of the Holy Office.

The defendants in these processes are Alexandre de Abrunhosa and his cousin Gastão de Abrunhosa, who, as other family members, were accused of Judaism in 1602. Alexandre de Abrunhosa, his sister Isabel de Abrunhosa, and his cousin, Ana de Abrunhosa, all lived in Lisbon, parish of Martyrs, where they had taken refuge to escape the wave of arrests made by the Inquisition in Serpa. Nevertheless, they were arrested in 1602. They were released in 1605, thanks to a pardon granted by the pope, largely because of the steps that Gastão de Abrunhosa promoted in Rome. Gastão de Abrunhosa fled to Spain in 1602, following the arrest of his cousins. In letters sent from there to Nicolau Agostinho (PSCR1317 and PSCR1318), it is clear that his intention is to move to Rome in search of justice.