1589. Carta de Jimón Hernández para su hermano Juan Rodríguez Bermejo.

Letter from Jimón Hernández to his brother Juan Rodríguez Bermejo.

The author asks his brother Juan Rodríguez Bermejo to do everything he can to save Melchor Meguezí from being burned by the Inquisition Tribunal, because he is captive in Tetuán (Morocco) and the same would be done to him in retaliation.

The accused in this process was Melchor Meguezí, from Benehavís (Málaga). In 1589 he was accused by the Inquisition Tribunal of being a Morisco, when it was discovered that he had fled to the Barbary Coast to reject Christianism and convert to Islam, adopting the name of Hamete Zama. Melchor Meguezí was, moreover, a pirate, who captured Christians from the coast of Málaga and Gibraltar, to sell them as slaves. During one of these raids he was arrested and handed over to the Inquisition Tribunal. This letter was joined to the proceedings as a proof of the revolts provoked by the arrest of Melchor Meguezí in North Africa, and of the danger run by the Christians who were held captive in that area. Eventually, the accused was released in a public auto-da-fé and he was condemned to major excommunication and to the confiscation of all his possessions.