Liebman - The Great Conspiracy in Peru

Academy of American Franciscan History
The Great Conspiracy in Peru

Author(s): Seymour B. Liebman
Source: The Americas, Vol. 28, No. 2 (Oct., 1971), pp. 176-190
Published by: Academy of American Franciscan History
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THE GREAT CONSPIRACY IN PERU*
URING the seventeenth century in Spain's colonial empire,

there were two "Great Conspiracies"and the arrestsresulting
from the discovery of each of these conspiracies in the vice-
royalties of Peru and New Spain culminated in an auto de f6. Only
these two autos, out of almost 250 held in Spain's colonies, bore the
title "El Auto Grande." The first with this title was held in Lima,
Peru, on January 23, 1639, and the second in Mexico City on April 11,
1649.' Practically all those penanced in both autos were Jews. Of the
sixty-one Jews in the Lima auto, one deceased went to the stake in
effigy with ten living prisoners. Many of those whose lives were spared
and who were "reconciled" were sentenced to serve as oarsmen with-
out pay on the Spanish galleys plying between Spain and the New
World. Their periods of servitude varied between three and ten years.
There is no record of any galley oarsman ever being released alive at
the termination of his sentence.
Of the 109 penanced in Mexico City, forty-nine were deceased;
Their bones were disinterred and were burned, while thirteen Jews
went to the stake alive. Many of the men in this auto were also con-
signed to the galleys for similar periods and under identical conditions.
There would have been many more in each of these "acts of faith"
if there had not been numerous escapees and if the Holy Office had
* Mr. Liebman is the author of The Englightened: The Writings of Luis de Carvajal,
el Mozo (Univ. of Miami Press, 1967) and The Jews in New Spain (Univ. of Miami
Press, 1970), and is presently doing research on the socio-economic relationshipsamong
the Jewish communities of Europe and the New World during 1492-1850. He has
taught at the University of the Americas, University of Miami, and Florida Atlantic
University, and has lectured at Brandeis, Columbia, and New York University. Re-
search in Spain and Holland in 1968 was made by possible by a grant from the
American Philosophical Society.
SRicardo Palma wrote that Licenciado Fernando Montesinos termed the Lima auto
de f6 el castigo de los Portugueses, (Tradiciones Peruanas Completas, Madrid, 1961,
p. 1218). Jos6 Toribio Medina also noted that Montesinos in his Relaciones of
this auto termed it "la relacidn del auto grande que celebr6 el ano 1639." (Historia
del Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisicidn de Lima, 2 vols. Santiago de Chile,
1956, II:144, hereafter cited as Medina, Lima.)
Luis Gonzilez Obreg6n wrote, "El 11 de abril de 1649 celebr6 la Inquisicidn uno
de los mas notables y pomposos de sus Autos . . ." (Mexico Viejo, Mexico. D. F.,
1959. p. 254). Jose Toribio Medina used the name El Auto Grande for the 1649 auto.
(Historia del Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la lnquisicidn en Mexico, Mexico, D. F.,
1952, p. 196, cited hereafter as Medina, Mexico.)
176
SEYMOURB. LIEBMAN 177
had more cells available for those who would have been apprehended
under normal circumstances.
The principal event leading to the mass arrests in Peru of more than
100 Jews in August, 1635, was the discovery of La Complicidad
Grande.2 The discovery of the conspiracy in the viceroyalty of New
2 Medina, Lima, II:45. Medina referred to this auto as Complicidad
grande, II:145.
Spain in 1642 led to the arrest of more than 200 persons between 1642
and 1644.' Despite the several references to the "great conspiracies"
found in some Spanish texts, one finds no mention of them in any
English language standard texts on Latin American history. Yet the
arrests and subsequent autos-de-f6 influenced the economic history
of the viceroyalty of Peru and the demographic development of the
viceroyalty of New Spain.
This article will treat only of the Great Conspiracy in Peru. The two
conspiracies were unrelated although, as indicated, the Jews were the
only participants in both.
As background, it is interesting to note that the economic role of the
Jews in the seventeenth century Peru is usually glossed over or treated
cavalierly, although documents of the period depict these Jews as being
in control of trade and commerce. In 1636 an observer wrote con-
cerning the Portuguese Jews in Lima:
For the past six to eight years, a great number of Portuguese have
entered the kingdom of Peru and there were a great number already
there. They come through Buenos Aires from Brazil, New Spain, the
kingdom of Granadaand Puerto Bello. This city is thick with them.
Many are marriedbut more are single. They have made themselves
the mastersof commerce. The street which is called that of the
shop-
keepers is theirs; the passagewayis all theirs as are most of the dry-
goods stores. They swarm through the streets selling from trunks
as do the linen-drapersat this court. All of the best spots where
people congregate are theirs. Such luck has been theirs that they
are in absolute control of the traffic in merchandiseranging from
brocade to sackcloth and from diamonds to cumin seeds.4
The situation described in Lima where "everything is
going through
their hands" existed to a similar extent in the provinces of
Paraguay,
Rio de la Plata, and Tucumin. In the early decades of the seventeenth
SMedina, Mexico, pp. 189, 192, 195.

4 Medina, Chile, p. 360, quoting from a letter of
Alcayaga of May 15, 1636. Alcayaga
also attributed to the Jews control "desde el m"dsvii negro de Guinea hasta le
perla
mds preciosa." This last phrase is quoted by C. R. Boxer, Salvador de Sd and the
Struggle for Brazil and Angola, 1602-1686. London, 1952, p. 81.
178 THE GREATCONSPIRACYIN PERU
century, the viceroyalty covered all of South America except Brazil,

the Caribbean coast of modemrnVenezuela, and the Guianas. The
wealthy Portuguese Jews who had fled the Inquisition frequented these
provinces and "secured for themselves not only most of the local trade
but also many of the government administrative posts . 1 ." The
Portuguese Jews penetrated Peru not only from Brazil and the Rio
de la Plata but many also entered via Cartagena.
Among the reasons for the establishment of a Tribunal of the Holy

Office in Cartagena in 1610 was the presence of many crypto-Jews.
For the same reason there were several requests for the establishment
of a tribunal in Buenos Aires. "The headquartersof the Inquisition at
Lima were inundated with complaints about the entry of Portuguese
crypto-Jews through Buenos Aires. All of the Perulerios [people mi-
grating from Brazil to Peru] beginning with their illustrious pioneer,
Bishop Francisco Victoria (sic) were commonly considered to be "de
casta y generaci6n de judios.' "
Professor Boxer notes that the Negro slave trade was virtually a
monopoly of the Portuguese Jews7 but he fails to add or state that
this monopoly was limited to the role of agent or broker for the
crown. In addition, the export of silver from Potosi was claimed to
be almost exclusively in the hands of the crypto-Jews. The exact
number of Jews in Peru is unknown, although the number ran into
the thousands. Julio Caro Baroja wrote that in the seventeenth century
there were, proportionately, twice as many Jews who had converted
in Peru as there were in Spain.8 Most of the inhabitants between the
Amazon and the Rio de la Plata were crypto-Jews "who would rather
see two Orange flags than one Inquisitor.. ." ~ Their economic success
seems ultimately to have bred envy, jealousy, and avarice which led
to the persecution of Jews in the vice-royalty of Peru.
Interesting and illuminating relationships among the Jewish com-

5 Boxer, op. cit., p. 78.
SIlbid,p. 81, 72; and Henry C. Lea, The Inquisition in the Spanish Dependencies, New
York, 1922, p. 337. The Bishop, Francisco de Vitoria, was the son of a noted Jewish
family. (I. S. Revah, "Fundo de manuscritos por I'histoire des nouveaux chretiens
portugais," Boletin Internacional de Bibliografia Luso-Brasilera, 2, April-June 1961,
p. 293. Although the bishop was a devout Catholic he did nothing to harass the Jews
in Tucumin or subsequently when he served in Mexico.
Slbid, p. 80.
8 Julio Caro Baroja, Los Judios en la Espaiia Moderna y Contemporanea, 3 vols.'
(Madrid, 1961), II: 337.
9Boxer, op, cit., p. 44.
SEYMOUR B. LIEBMAN 179
munities of Amsterdam, London, Salonica, and some of the cities of

Italy with those of Lima, Cartagena de Indias, Veracruz, and Mexico
City, to mention but a few in the New World, appear in many of the
procesos of the Tribunals of the Holy Office of the Inquisition to be
found in the archives in Mexico and Spain, in the Geemente Archief of
Amsterdam, and in the records of the Portuguese Sephardic community
of Amsterdam. The number of ships owned or leased by Jews and
which sailed from the Old World to the New under the flags of several
nations is only now being revealed.'0 My reference to the great num-
ber of ships is exclusive of those operated by Jews in connection with
the delivery of slaves from Africa to all parts of the Spanish Empire
in the New World."
Ricardo Palma gives the following version of the conspiracy in Peru:
A few months before August 11, 1635, the Inquisition had arrested
more than one hundred Portuguese accused of gathering together
in the House of Pilate. I have already related in my Anales de la
Inquisicionde Lima the details of the auto de f6 celebratedon Sunday,
January23, 1639,in which eleven Portuguese,all men of great wealth,
were burned. The real crime against these and the 2,000 Lusitanians
residing at that time in the country and who, by order of the Monarch,
were crushed by the Inquisition,was that they had made great for-
tunes as a result of honest effort. I do not know the source of the
following but there was imputed to them a plot to seize the kingdoms
of Peru from Spain. This was a political pretext and a religious pre-
text! . . . There was no escape: [they were bound to be caught]
either as Jews or as revolutionaries.12
While in New Spain, the alleged plotters sought to eradicate the
Inquisition, the Jews in Peru had as their goal the downfall of Spanish
dominion and the accession of Holland over the viceroyalty. In both
plans the Portuguese Jews were the conspirators. In the New World
during the seventeenth century, as in southern France and in the
English Caribbean possessions, the terms Portuguese and Jews were
synomymous.'8 Others, including C. R. Boxer, use the terms crypto-
Jews and New Christians interchangeably.
10 Some of the notarial acts of Holland pertaining to Jews and their ships have been
digested by Elie Koen in Studia Rosenthaliana in each number commencing with
Vol. 1, No. 1, January, 1967. I have also been informed that I. S. Emmanuel will
include a separate index of Jewish ships in his history of the Jews in the Netherlands
Antilles. This book is scheduled for publication in 1970.
11For the role and status of Jews in Mexico see this author's history, The Jews in
New Spain, (Coral Gables, Fla., 1970).
•
2Palma, op. cit., p. 363.
1"Josephine Yocum McCloskey, "Inquisition Papers of Mexico
I, The Trial of
180 THE GREAT CONSPIRACYIN PERU
There are other theoriesfor the massarrestsin Peru and New

Spain.HenryC. Leaattributes the vigorousactionsto the disclosures
madeby the Jewsin the Inquisition torturechambers in Spainbetween
1625and 1640. Duringthoseyearstherehadbeenan effortto exter-
minatethe Portuguesejudaizersin the IberianPeninsula.The trials
in Spainrevealedthe namesof manyso-calledaccomplices of the Jews
in the New World."1Lea infersthat the New Christians were at-
to
tempting monopolize the colonial trade. This writer has found
nothing to confirm the existenceof sucha concertedeffort, much less
plot, althoughhe concurswith the statements that a greatprecentage
of the colonialtradewas in the handsof the Jews. The Jews of
Holland,Spain,andPortugalpreferredto dealwith theircoreligionists
in the New World becauseof mutualtrust,the facilityof clearing
payments,and the kinshipthat has alwaysexistedamongSephardic
Jews. This kinshipis that of the "extendedfamily,"whichincludes
cousinsmanytimesremoved.The remarkable financialsuccessof the
Portuguese Jewsmaybe attributed in partto the fact thattherewere
secretJews in every part of the then civilizedworld and they, to
a greatextent,actedas representatives of or partnerswith eachother."
Since a greatdeal of the tradewas illegaland in contraband items,
trustwasa mostsignificant factor.
Lea doesmentionthe Complicidad Grandein Peru,but he failsto
state any detailsof the plot or indicateany specificplotters. His
explanation of this "plot" is thatlargenumbersof Portuguese(read
Jews) had enteredPeru from BuenosAires, Brazil,Mexico,New
Louis de la Cruz, 1656,"Research Papers of the State College of Washington, vol. XV,
(March 1947), p. 4, fn. 11. Henry C. Lea wrote, "The conquest of Portugal,in
1580,had led to a large emigrationto Castilewhere Portuguesesoon became syn-
onymous with Judaizer."(Lea, op. cit, p. 420). Judaizeris usually defined as one
who practicesJewish rites. A study of numerousprocesosin the Archivo General
de la Naci6n de Mexico,Ramo de la Inquisici6n(hereafterAGN) and the Archivo
Historico Nacionalde Madrid(hereinafterAHN) indicatesthat judaizeralso meant
a Jew who practicedhis faith. J. Horace Nunemakerwrote of Sim6n de Le6n, "a
Judaizeror practicingJew" (ResearchStudies of the State College of Washington,
vol. XIV, (March 1946), p. 9). Boxer, op. cit., p 72, wrote, "We have seen that
the terms Portugueseand Jew were synonymousfor many Spaniards."R. de La
Fuente Machainstated, ". . . Como en toda la America espailola,el ser portugues
implicaba para el concepto popular ser judio." (Los Portugueses en Buenos Aires.
(Buenos Aires, 1931), p. 52.)
For France, Adolph Cremieux, "Pour Contribuer a l'Histoire de l'Accession des
Jugs,"Revuedes EstudesJuives,vol. XCV (1933)pp. 45, 46.
14Lea, op. cit., p. 229.
151I.S. Emmanuel,"New Light on Early American Jewry," AmericanJewish
Archives,vol. VII (January,1955), p. 4.
Granada, and Panama, thereby increasing the "numerous band of their
compatriots" and becoming masters of the commerce of the king-
dom." "' They waxed in importance to the extent that in 1634 they
negotiated for the farming of the royal customs. All of this and more,
however, seems merely to evidence economic competition and financial
success.
Another writer attributes to the Jews-as well as to Freemasons
and Jesuits-the disruption or downfall of the Spanish Empire.' Ma-
dariaga contends that the Spanish Jews, the 1492 expellees, and their
descendants actually sought to undermine the religious and imperial
areas of Spain's life, but he does not label the activities of the Spanish
Jews a conspiracy.'- He fails to distinguish between some Jews acting
as individuals or small unrepresentative groups in isolated periods and
the majority who did nothing during the 22 year period that he surveys.
Madariaga'sevidence for his theory is drawn from mid-sixteenth cen-
tury data and is obviously unconnected with any Complicidad Grande
in Peru of the seventeenth century.
Madariagarelies heavily upon J. A. Goris, who dealt in depth with

the activities of the secret Jewish community in Antwerp from 1488 to
1567.1 Goris stresses the activities of the Jews in Antwerp and environs
who allegedly first promoted Luther and his doctrines but who later,
after finding evidence of Luther's anti-Semitism, turned to dissemi-
nating Calvinism as a means of undermining Catholicism. The principal
effort of these Jews consisted of printing and distributing the
writings
of Luther and Calvin in Spain and the New World. In 1606, the
Bishop of Puerto Rico complained about the great number of heretical
books entering the Indies,2" but there was nothing to link these with
books printed or paid for by Jews. This writer believes that the
pres-
ence of the books on the same ships that bore many "Hebrews "
(according to the Bishop) was coincidental, especially since the He-
brews were coming from the Canary Islands and from
Portugal. By
1606, the Jews and their communal organizations were well established
16
Lea, op. cit., p. 425. See also the letter of the Bishop of Puerto Rico to the Consejo,
AHN, Inquisition, Libro 1037, pp. 62, 63, and 191.
17Salvador de Madariaga, The Fall of the Spanish Empire. (New York,
1963),
Chapter 15.
8s bid, p. 229.
19
J. A. Goris, Etude sur les Colonies Marchanda Meridionales: Portugais, Espagnoles,
Italiens: (Louvain. 1925), pp. 553-590.
20 Madariaga, op. cit.,
p. 231.
in Amsterdam with complete religious autonomy. Many of the Jews

had abandoned Antwerp.
There are many letters from the inquisitors in Peru reporting on
the numerous heretical books that were entering the viceroyalty in
1620.21 A letter written in 1623 by the inquisitor in Peru to the Inquis-
itor General about the results of an examination of cargos on ships from
Holland and England revealed the presence of prohibited books. These
were, however, intended for the use of the new Protestant sects, which,
in conjunction with Holland and England, planned to undermine sup-
port of Europeans for SpainandPortugal.-2The spreadof the Black
Legendwasalsopartof thiseffortto turnEuropeanti-Hispania. There
is no evidenceto showorganizedJewishefforton behalfof the afore-
mentionedbooksor the spreadof the BlackLegend.
Both the Spanishthroneand the Inquisitionknew as earlyas 1625
of the existenceof a plan,if not a conspiracy,aimingat the capture
of Peruby Holland.Evenif they wereunawareof any role thatthe
Jews mighthave playedin such a plan,PhilipIV was informedby
the Councilof Portugalthat the captureof Bahiain Brazilby the
Dutchin 1624was "not so muchto makethemselvesmastersof the
sugarof Brazilas of the silverof Peru."23
The Dutch triedto takeCallaode Limain PeruaboutMay 1624
but the attemptfailedandthe blockadewas withdrawnat the end of
threemonths.24Shortlythereafter, the DutchburnedGuayaquil.The
failureto reactforthrightlymay havebeena lack of concernby the
kingor the failureto assignappropriate to hismanyproblems.
priorities
The reignof PhilipIV (1621-1665)was markedby severalcrises,
one of whichprecededhis accessionto the throne.The ThirtyYears'
War, which had commencedin 1618,saw Spainon the side of the
HabsburgEmperorFerdinand.In 1629,an incipientrevolutionbroke
out in Catalonia.The Catalans resentedthe stationingof Castilian
and
Aragonese soldiersin theirtownswhile Catalansoldiersservedoutside
theirown province.In Portugal,whichhadbeenunderSpanishthrone
'21
AHN, Inquisition, Libro 1038, f. 285 vta.
22Reproduced verbatim by Lucia Garcia de Prodian, Los Judios en America.
(Madrid, 1966), pp. 270-272. See also the letter following the foregoing which dis-
cusses the town of Potosi (Peru) which is ". . . full of Portuguese . . . who generally
are all of the Hebrew nation . . ." (pp. 272-274).
238Boxer, op. cit., p. 55.
24Engel Sluiter, "Dutch Maritime Power and the Colonial Status Quo," The
Pacific Historical Review, vol. XI (March, 1942), p. 35.
since 1580, revolutionary fires for complete independence were smol-
dering. In addition, trouble was brewing with France.
All of the foregoing notwithstanding, the very capture of Bahia and
its surrounding area in 1624 should have alerted Spain to the potential
danger of greater encroachments by the Dutch. Jews had enlisted in
the sea and land forces that had been raised for the capture of Brazil.25
The Dutch received the aid and connivance of the Jews resident in
northern Brazil in the capture and holding of Bahia from May, 1624
to April, 1625.26 The Hollanders did not abandon their desire to ac-
quire Brazil and, in March 1630, they overran most of the settled areas
in the northern half of the country and established Recife as the capital.
The principal guide for the conquering troops was a Jew, Antonio
Dias, also known as Paparrobalos,who had resided in Pernambuco for
several years prior to 1630.27
The character of the Portuguese secret Jews in the 1620's was also
well known. Many of these people were the descendants of those
who received baptism in Portugal "by force and without
any possible
alternative."28 When Spain took over the Portuguese throne in 1580,
some of the secret Jews there moved to Spain for reasons not
germane
here. Many others emigrated to New Spain or Peru. This
emigration
was called penetracidn portuguesa.-2 These Portuguese Jews were more
knowledgeable about their faith and more religiously observant than
the Spanish Jews who had adopted the cloak of Catholicism in 1492
but continued to adhere to Judaism in secret practice. Medina noted
that the Portuguese Jews continued their Jewish
practices in the In-
quisition cells "bathing themselves on Fridays [before sundown], pray-
ing at certain hours [thrice daily] with heads covered and other truly
Jewish rites."30
25GeorgeA. Kohut,"ServicesRenderedto the Dutch by the Jews in Brazil,
1623-1644,"in Simon Wolf, The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier, Citizen. (Phila-
delphia, Pa., 1895), pp. 443-453.
28Arnold Wiznitzer, "Jewish Soldiers in Dutch
Brazil,"Publications of the American
Jewish Historical Society (hereafter PAJHS), vol. XLVI (September, 1965), p. 149.
Boxer takes almost a contrary position. He declared, "A few-but
only a few-of
the New Christians had joined the Dutch from the
day of the occupation, and a
handful of other subsequently deserted to them." (Boxer, op.
cit., p. 54 and pp. 50, 51
for a further elaboration of his views and authorities.) See fn.
39, infra.
27Wiznitzer, op. cit., p. 148.
28Julio Caro Baroja, La Socciedad Criptojudia en
la Corte de Felipe IV. (Madrid,
1963), p. 23.
29Caro Baroja, Los Judios, II:336.
8oMedina, Mexico, p. 134.
The distinction between the Jews of Portugal and Spain is important

for an understanding of what transpired in the New World. Julio
Caro Baroja declared that "the Portuguese converts adhered more
stringentlyto the Old Law and so did the descendantsof those baptized
by force."1 Whenthey beganthe free andopenpracticeof Judaism
in Amsterdam, and
they spokeandprayedin a mixtureof Portuguese
Spanish,but their first synagogue was known then, and to this day,
as the PortugueseSynagogue. In examininghundredsof Inquisition
procesosof Jews (the total numberof namesrevealedin Peru, accord-
ing to Medina,and in New Spainin the AGN exceeds3,000), it is
evident that in Peru the PortugueseJews were more numerousthan
theSpanish
Jewswhilein New Spainthe difference
in numbers
between
SpanishJews and those from Portugalwas not so great. In fact, the
Spanishwouldconstitutea majorityin New Spainif therewereadded
to theirnumberthe childrenbornin New Spainof Spanish-bornpar-
ents.
The attachment of the Portuguese Jews to Peru was very strong.
Peru had become la tierra promesa. They regarded Spanish Christians
as interlopers, because the Spanish interest was confined to the extrac-
tion of silver and the Spanish way of life represented an intrusion of
a foreign element into the land.2 The Portuguese Jews who had struck
it rich began to feel that they had a vested interest in the commerce
and trade of Peru. This undoubtedly contributed to their concern
for the country and for their desire to eliminate the Spaniards from
the territory, but the connections of family and trade between the Jews
of Peru with the Portuguese Jews in Holland and England must also be
stressed. Although Jews had been expelled from England in 1290 and
were not permitted to reside there legally until 1656, there were groups
of Jews in London during the sivteenth century and for the decades
prior to 1656.1 The presence of these Jews was known to the authori-
ties. For example, Rodrigo Lopes was physician to Queen Elizabeth
and Hector Nfiiez was an importantinformantof the activitiesof the
Spanishfleetsfor Elizabeth's
ministers.
Spainknew of the activitiesof the IberianJews on behalfof Holland
and England. Engel Sluiter reported an interesting case from the
Audiencia of Santo Domingo in 1596 and which terminatedin 1604.
He wrote:
31 Caro Baroja, La Sociedad, p. 23.
32
Medina, Lima, p. 134.
3 Albert M. Hyamson, The Sephardim of England. (London, 1951),
pp. 7, 13;
Cecil Roth, History of the Jews of England. (London, 1964), pp. 139-148.
Three Portuguese Jews-Simon de Herrera, Manuel Cardozo, and
Juan de Riberos-had been apprehendedfor possessingtwo passports,
one from Maurice of Nassau and one from Queen Elizabeth, author-
izing them to take a ship of 250 tons and all their belongingsto Nether-
lands and England. Among Simon de Herrera's confiscated effects,
said to be worth thirty thousand ducats, were found account books,
bills of lading and letters which connected him with foreign com-
mercial interests.34
The acquisition of Peru by the Dutch would relieve the Jews of all
religious disabilities and would permit them to expand beyond their
fondest dreams. It is a frequently used clich6 that the Spaniards were
prompted in their conquest of the New World by "God, gold, and
greed," although not necessarily in that order. Similarily, it might be
said that the desire of the Portuguese Jews to have Holland incorporate
Peru into its expanding New World empire was prompted by Torah,
trade, and tolerance-religion, commerce, and full citizenship.
As early as 1596, the Suprema in Seville received word from its
branch Holy Office in New Spain that Jews in the New World were in
communication with Holland. One piece of evidence of this con-
nection came from the proceso of Manuel G6mez Navarro." G6mez
Navarro had been reared in Salamanca and became a soldier, serving
in Cartagena,Guatemala, the mines of Sichu, and Pachuca and environs.
Among his papers confiscated when he was arrested for being a Jew
was a letter from Holland.
The 1621 proceso against Manuel Diaz Enrriquez and Pedro de
Silva Sauceda reveals that three Portuguese Jews had fled the Holy
Office in Brazil in 1621 and escaped to Guatemala." Among the
papers of Diaz Enrriquez was correspondence from Holland. Caro
Baroja, in writing of the Jews in the New world, commented, "Desde
fecha no muy moderna ya las Indias dan pie a que se creen firmas
poderosas, que no solo traian mercancias de alli, sino que las repartian
luego por Europa, poseyendo una tupida red de corresponsales.""
The Dutch Jews, under false names, and in ships flying the flags of
the Provinces and doing a large trade in contraband, "were impoverish-
34Engel Sluiter, "Dutch-Spanish Rivalry in the Caribbean Area, 1594-1600,"His-

panic American Historical Review, vol. XXVIII (February, 1948), p. 174.
35Proceso of Manuel G6mez Navarro, AGN 151, Expediente 6.
36Proceso contra Manuel Diaz Enriquez and Pedro de Silva Sauceda, AGN,
Guatemala 7.
7 Caro Baroja, Los Judios, II:341.
ing Spain and enriching her enemies."38 In 1634, Captain Esteban de

Ares Fonseca reported to the Suprema that Jews in Holland were ac-
tively working against Spain and that they were maintaining a constant
correspondence with spies residing in the New World in the guise of
merchants."
The discovery of La Complicidad Grande occurred in Peru in 1635
and led to the arrest of more than 100 Jews. A study of the available
records of those arrested in 1635 fails to disclose any questions by the
inquisitors concerning any conspiracy. (Many of the Inquisition pro-
cesos of Lima stored in the Biblioteca Nacional were unfortunately
destroyed by fire in 1943.) Although many writers mention the con-
spiracy, none disclose any overt acts or direct involvement by Jews.
Henry C. Lea and Jos6 Toribio Medina make reference to the plots.40
Lea wrote, "We shall see hereafter the details of the complicidad grande
when nearly all the merchants of Lima, of Portuguese extraction, were
arrested on charges of Judaism and their property sequestered."4 Des-
pite this statement, he never gives any details, although he did write,
eighty pages later: "This auto of 1639, the greatest that had as yet been
held in the New World, was a culmination of the complicidad-the
name given by the inquisitors to a number of Jews whom they had
discovered."42
Did Lea and the inquisitors mean that the mere presence of the
Jews in Peru was a conspiracy? The answer should obviously be "no."
The inquisitors also used the words complicidad de judaismo in con-
nection with the arrests of 1635 and the auto of 1639, but this term also
was never amplified or explicated by the inquisitors or any historian.
The failure to reveal the details of any conspiracy to make Peru
free of Spanish hegemony need not militate against the existence of
such a plot. The evidence in support of its existence is slim, but enough
has been exposed in primary sources to shift the burden of proof to
the shoulders of those who would deny it. The authenticity of a
Jewish plan to make Peru a colony of Holland is supported by some
38
Henry C. Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, 4 vols. New York, 1907
III: 279.
39Ibid. Lea supplies the names of two Jews who resided in Bahia and aided the
Dutch in the 1625 capture.
40Medina, Chile, p. 365; Medina, Lima, II: 45, 145, 146; Lea, Spanish Dependencies,
pp. 347-425.
41 Lea, Spanish
Dependencies, p. 347.
42ibid, p. 425.
testimony and documents and the piecing together of many of the

events heretofore mentioned; the Dutch activities in trade and com-
merce; the place of the Jews in Amsterdam, Brazil, Rio de la Plata,
Paraguay, Tucumin, and Peru; the incipient revolt against Spanish rule
of Portugal; and the existence of La Cofradia de los Judios de Holanda.
Another factor not previously mentioned is that the revolt at Evora
in late 1630's was fomented "it is said by Richelieu's dealings with
4
Portuguese Jews."
Among the Jews penanced in the auto de fe of 1639 in Lima was
Don Sim6n Ossorio, alias Sim6n Rodriguez. He was born in San Com-
badan, Portugal, was reared in Flanders, and subsequently migrated
to Quito. The evidence in his proceso revealed that he had sent 8,000
ducats to Brazilfor "la compaiiade los olandesescontrasu magestad."
"
This company was not the Dutch West India Company, as some might
believe. The company's correct name was La Cofradia de los Judios
de Holanda, referred to by some Jews as La Compainiade los Judios.
In an Inquisition document (Simancas, Council of Inquisition Book
49, f. 45) translated by Henry C. Lea appears the statement that the
rich Jews of Brazil gave their money to the West India
Company,
a Braziliancompany, and that among such Jews "who are in secret with
Holland " was Bento de Osorio, alias David Ossorio. Because Ossorio
is not a common name, the similarity with that of Sim6n Ossorio
might
be more than coincidental.
Boxer notes that '"'by about 1630, all of the principal towns of
Paraguay and Tucumin had confradias or religious brotherhoods organ-
ized for and by them." " (The Portuguese word has the "n" which is
absent from the Spanish word. The Inquisition amanuenseswere
Span-
ish and would have used Spanish spelling even if the
prisoner used the
Portuguese word. Among the meanings of the word is para ejercitarse
en obras de piedad.) Whether the Jews used the name of their
cofradia
publicly is doubted, although in Brazil during the Spanish era, "owing
to the high proportion of Israelite blood in the
seventeeth-century
Portuguese nation, persons of Jewish ancestry were often elected as
councillors" even though the metropolitan Ordenapes forbade such
service.46 The Peruleiros came from Brazil, and the
high percentage
43 David Ogg, Europe in the Seventeenth
Century, (2nd. ed. New York, 1965), p.
358 and fn. 15.
44Medina, Lima, II: 115.
45Boxer, op. cit., p. 80.
4 Ibid,
p. 33.
of crypto-Jews in Brazil in the seventeenth century is attested to by

colonial officials in neighboring Spanish America, visitation records of
inquisition officials in 1590-1618, and by several other sources.47
Manuel Alvarez Prieto testified about the cofradia in 1636.48 In his
audience of April 30, 1636, he gave some interesting facts about the
Brotherhood. It appears that it operated via cells consisting of three
to five in each cell, one of whom served as treasurer. Apparently
only the treasurer knew the higher persons to whom he could deliver
money. Members of the Brotherhood were prepared to die at the
stake. If apprehended, they were to quickly confess that they were
Jews, that they observed the Law of Moses, and that they "wished to
live and die in said Law."
Contributions came from Peru, New Granada, and elsewhere in
South America, and they did not cease despite the autos de f6 of 1639
and 1649. Evidence that the Brotherhood continued appears in the
testimony of Luis G6mez Barreto.4' He was born in Viseo, Portugal,
and had been circumcized. He lived in Angola before migrating to
Cartagena. He had been arrested in 1636, was tortured but did not
confess, and was then absolved. His case was reopened by the Suprema
when it reviewed his file (the Inquisition rules had no bar to double
jeopardy) and he was rearrested. During his testimony in 1652, he
related that contributions were made to the "Cofradia de Olanda" so
that war could be waged against the "Reynos Cath61icos."
Leonor Maria del Valle testified in Seville in 1662 against one of
her brothers, Miguel Arias del Valle, who lived in Cartagena.50Miguel
was apprehended in 1666. He admitted that he had been circumcized
in Amsterdam and that he had lived for many years in Maracaibo before
coming to New Granada. (He also stated that many of the English
in the Canary Isles were Jews.) His papers and letters which were
seized by the Inquisition showed an international relationship among
the Jews in Spain, Teneriffe, Salonica, Amsterdam, the Canary Isles,
New Spain, New Granada, and Peru. Many of the messages were
written either in code or in Hebrew.
Ricardo Palma wrote, "Apropos of the famous auto de f6 of the
Portuguese, Pelliza y Tovar, the famous chronicler of Aragon, says
7 Ibid, p. 15.
48Proceso of Manuel Alvarez Prieto, AHN. Inquisition, Legajo 1621, No. 15.
49Proceso of Louis G6mez Barreto, AHN, Inquisition Legajo 1621, Nos. 9, 18.
5oProceso of Miguel Arias del Valle, AHN, Inquisition Legajo 1621, No. 11.
that on the day the Spanishauthoritiestook possessionof the letters

and correspondence of the residentPortuguesethey found keys and
lettersin code and they discoveredthat the synagoguesof America
were in intimaterelationswith the Jews of Holland."51 Even during
theirincarcerationin the Inquisition
cellsin Limafrom 1635to 1639,
Jews boredholesin the outerwall of the Casade la Inquisicidnso
that messagescouldbe passedto friendlycourierson the outsidefor
transmissionto Holland.52
In additionto contributingto a war chest for the Dutch against
Spain,the confradiareceivedmoneyfor fundsto be usedby the Jewish
communityin Amsterdam for the benefitof the Holy Landand for
the ransomof Jews who had been capturedand sold into slavery.
ArmandoHerrerawrotethatin 1640thereappearedan articlein the
SemanarioEruditoof Madridreportingthat in 1639 "se habiades-
cubiertoquelebabancorrespondencia seguidey en cifrascon los judios
de Holanday de otros puntos,enviandoademascrecidosauxilios
pecuniarosa diferentessinagogas." 5
The Jews made regularcon-
tributionsfor the fourholy citiesin the TerraSanta:Jerusalem, Safed,
Hebron,and Tiberias.These contributions were sent to the Jewish
communityin Amsterdam, which, in turn, remittedthe moneysto
Jerusalem via Venice."5
The information concerningthe purchaseof Jews sold into slavery
is gleanedamongmanyothers,fromthe procesosof Ruy Diaz Nieto
andTomasTrevifiode Sobremonte.Thereis aninferenceof a further,
unstatedpurposeof the cofradiathatis basedupona studyof the Jews
in the seventeenth century.This writerassumesthatpartof the funds
wereto be for thecreationof investments in varioussyndicatesoperated
by the Jewsin Holland.This investment wasto be partof a nestegg
thatwouldbe availableif, as, and when the Jewsof the New World
shoulddesireto emigrateandestablishthemselves in Holland.
HenryC. Lea'stranslation andsummaryof an Inquisition document
noted, "In 1640,the tribunalsof Limaand Cartagena reportedthat
51Palma,op. cit., p. 218.
52 Medina,
Lima,II: 145, 146
58ArmandoHerrera,"Un judiolimefiodel siglo XVI,"Judaica,No. 63 (Septiembre,
1938), p. 85.
54Emmanuel,op. cit., p. 35.
55Procesocontra Ruy Diaz Nieto, AGN, Expediente1; 276, Expediente14; 177,
Expediente2. Proceso ContraTomas Trevifio de SobremontAGN 401, Expediente
3; AGN 426; AGN 684, Expediente63.
in recent autos de f6 it had been discovered that many Judaizing

Portuguese in the colonies had correspondence with synagogues in
Holland and the Levant assisting the Dutch and the Turks with infor-
mation and money." 56 Lea refers to a million and a half [currency
not stated] as the sum to be used to defeat Spain.
As with so much of Latin American history, that which is, is not
always what it appears to be, and total confidence and reliance upon
our predecessorsmay often perpetuate errors. The primary sources still
exist as a comparatively virgin field, and until they are fully explored,
findings can be regarded only as tentative. The decline that affected
Peru beginning with the second half of the seventeenth century may
be attributed in part to the suppressionof the economic role of the Jews.
The wave of bankruptcies subsequent to 1635 is attributed by all
authorities to the imprisonment of the Jews and the consequent drying
up of capital and commerce.
SEYMOURB. LIEBMAN
Miami,Florida
6 CyrusAdler,"A Contemporary MemorialRelatingto Damagesto SpanishInterest

in AmericaDone by the Jews of Holland,1634,"PAJHS,vol. 17 (1909) pp. 46, 47.

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Academy of American Franciscan History

The Great Conspiracy in Peru

URING the seventeenth century in Spain's colonial empire,

SMedina, Mexico, pp. 189, 192, 195.

century, the viceroyalty covered all of South America except Brazil,

Among the reasons for the establishment of a Tribunal of the Holy

Interesting and illuminating relationships among the Jewish com-

munities of Amsterdam, London, Salonica, and some of the cities of

There are other theoriesfor the massarrestsin Peru and New

Madariagarelies heavily upon J. A. Goris, who dealt in depth with

in Amsterdam with complete religious autonomy. Many of the Jews

The distinction between the Jews of Portugal and Spain is important

34Engel Sluiter, "Dutch-Spanish Rivalry in the Caribbean Area, 1594-1600,"His-

ing Spain and enriching her enemies."38 In 1634, Captain Esteban de

testimony and documents and the piecing together of many of the

of crypto-Jews in Brazil in the seventeenth century is attested to by

that on the day the Spanishauthoritiestook possessionof the letters

in recent autos de f6 it had been discovered that many Judaizing

6 CyrusAdler,"A Contemporary MemorialRelatingto Damagesto SpanishInterest

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