ABSTRACT
In the wake of a royal decree issued in December 1496, Jews lost their right to exist in Portugal in legal terms (in the sense of Latin term lege). e decree’s alleged reason for this move was that both Jews and Muslims were responsible for causing large numbers of Christians to abandon their faith.1 Although it was not specified in the texts of the decree, one can conclude that it sought to address the problems of New Christians, that is, those Jews and Muslims who had already converted to Christianity as well as those individuals who, in the opinion of Dom Manuel I, could be converted easily, under religious and political pressure, with the passage of time.
