1589. Carta de Miguel Rodrigues para sua tia, Ana Mendes.

Family letter from Miguel Rodrigues to his aunt, Ana Mendes.

The author writes his aunt, giving her news about the charges pressed against his father and asking for her to lend him some more money.

Diogo Castanho, a New-Christian resident in Vila Viçosa, was mentioned in several proceedings, charged for Judaism. In 1589, the Court of the Holy Office ordered the judge of the High Court, Sebastião Barbosa, to arrest Diogo Castanho and his current wife, Inês da Costa, both now living in Abrantes, Diogo Castanho's hometown. Among the documents gathered during Diogo Castanho's arrest, several family letters were found and were considered of interest to the case. Other documents were also considered relevant to the proceedings: the taking of evidences on his arrest in Évora and an exposure to the judge of the High Court, written by the official who arrested the couple. Diogo Castanho was arrested that same year, in Évora, where the preparatory inquiry took place.