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Maarten Janssen, 2014-

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1672. Carta de Baruch de Abraão da Costa, chantre, para José da Costa, seu irmão.

Author(s) Baruch de Abraão da Costa      
Addressee(s) José da Costa      
In English

Letter from Baruch de Abraão da Costa, chanter, to (his brother?) José da Costa.

The author recounts what has happened, namely the famine and the uneasiness in which one lives.

Given the suspicion that the Sephardic communities were trafficking goods and information to the detriment of the English Crown, several ships coming from or going to the Netherlands on their behalf were intercepted. In fact, the provisions in the Cromwell Navigation Acts prohibited the commercial contacts of the English colonies with the Netherlands, Spain, France and their overseas possessions. The proceedings that were initiated, under the guard at the Supreme Court of Admiralty, arose in the context of four moments of great tension between those two powers: the 2nd Anglo-Dutch War (1665-1667); the 3rd Anglo-Dutch War (1672-1674); the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763); and, finally, the 4th Anglo-Dutch War (1781-1784). The documentation found on board and preserved in the archive - private correspondence and cargo records - was taken as documentary evidence of the practice of cargo smuggling at sea. The letters described here are also demonstrative of the quality of the relationships within Sephardic families (Jews and converted), with the existence of strategically distributed social networks: on the one side, the settlers positioned below the Equator, more precisely in one area of the West Indies’ Seven Provinces (in the Caribbean), as part of the Dutch overseas territories; on the other, family and business partners, located in the main ports in the North Atlantic, important centers of financial and commercial activities. Incidentally, in some of these letters we may observe the occurrence of loanwords of English and Dutch origin belonging to the lexical-semantic field of trade relations. Examples of this are “ousove” and “azoes”, for the English “hoshead” or the Dutch “okshoofd”, an ancient measure of volume. In the present case, we have a set of letters that were transported on board the Dutch vessels Het witte Zeepaard, Bijenkorf, Fort Zeeland and Gekroonde Prins. They were coming from the port of Paramaribo and bound for an important and strategic port of the Company of the West Indies - Flushing, in North America - through the Caribbean.

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sor Iro Joseph da costa serinão 20 de Agosto 1672

Duas de VM Resebi de 8 novbro E ii dezo; E 8 E i0 de mco Vinda semach de la

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parra Pellas coaes Vejo gosar saude, q El Dio lhe Continue senpre me
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lhoradas tudo o mais que deza, E aja mtas grasas Pella q servido dar
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nos

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cuidado ficamos de q a guerra q ja se Principiou nos Alcanse, E q nos inqui

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ete, o q Pode nos livre, e nos escolha o q nos for; as meas e ocolos que
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vinhão na cxa de semuel nassi não apareserão pq chegou Ratada e tudo
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o q nella Vinha q deverão de cahir fora e não se acharão; o demais q
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VM me mandou Resebi, a botiga de azeite Vazia p ter Buraco as
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baixo da barrigua p onde se foi, o barril de manteigua couza de
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ioto, sẽ saber donde se Consumio se não q o sal a derreteo E se foi
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o demais tudo , são subsesos q se não Podẽ prevenir, nunca seja em Cou
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za de mais dano, o q aguora Veo semuel de la parra Resebeo joseph
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nassi e o ajusto da Conta lhe fiz como VM aviza, grandes forão os gtos
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do Pau, e o preço me pe bom Pa mea livra q aqui Val, a deligensia E
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cuidado agardesemos, VM viva mtos aos; não fala VM na chegada
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do navio em q forão os 4: ocsofs da sra Caseres q me pe as novas diso, esti
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marei gosẽ de boã Venda E lhe Venhão q Pedio, não enbarcou mais
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p Reseos de guerra, avendo VM feito en preso demais hira logo q se
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saiba. não continuo a obra do engo athe Ver como as couzas se
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poem, e os cobres Baixẽ do grande preso q tomarão; fica na Costa
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huã fragata ingreza q Vẽ de barbadas E mais Ilhas a piratear,
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mao Perro q daqui foi p Cabesa grande Indio, Resease os amoti
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ne contra nos, ficase aprestando navio Pa lhe sahir ao encontro
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do q suseder avizarei avendo tenpo, El Dio q Pode nos livre de todo
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mal, e nos mande de breve novas de paz e algũ socorro Pa a terra q
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tão mal se pasa, q não serve de outro, El Dio goarde a VM em con
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panhia da sra ira em quẽ e em VM ma Prima E eu todos nos
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Recomendamos Vesalom

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Iro
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Barũch Da Costa

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