Exercises on New Christians

Read the text and then mark the correct alternative:

“The Dutch invasion of Brazil, in 1630, changed the social and religious framework of the colony and the life of the New Christians. A policy of relative religious tolerance on the part of the invader gave the New Christians a nod of freedom and many returned to the faith of their ancestors, especially after the arrival of hundreds of Jews from Holland. A Jewish community, organized along the lines of the Amsterdam community, flourished in Recife for a few years, with a synagogue, school, cemetery, assistance to the poor and orphans. This was, of all the colonial centuries, the only period when the Jewish religion was freely followed in the New World.” (NOVINSKY, Anita. Inquisition:Prisoners of Brazil - 16th-19th centuries . Rio de Janeiro, Expression and Culture, 2002.)

Based on the author's statements about the freedom of worship of New Christians in “Dutch Brazil”, we can say that:

a) the New Christian was only tolerated in Recife because of what he could offer as work.

b) there was no contact between New Christians and Catholics in “Dutch Brazil”.

c) There was no commercial agreement between New Christians and the Dutch, but their presence was tolerated in Recife.

d) in “Dutch Brazil”, the New Christian was not obliged to pretend to be Catholic and to perform their Jewish rites in secret.

e) The Dutch, as they were Protestants in their entirety, did not care about the practice of crypto-Judaism.

The nickname “New Christian” was given to Jews and Muslims who converted (mostly forcibly) to Catholicism at the turn of the 15th to the 16th century in Portugal. What was the main reason for this conversion to occur?

a) the Hundred Years War.

b) the marriage of D. Manuel I and Isabel de Aragon.

c) the death of Inês de Castro.

d) the Iberian Union.

e) the creation of the County of Portugal.

“And because they could not find new Christians on the streets, they robbed the houses where they lived and dragged them to the streets, with their sons, wives and daughters, and threw mixing us, living and dead, at the stakes, without mercy. And the cruelty was such that they even executed the boys and (themselves) children in their cradles, splitting them to pieces or smashing them against the walls . ”. (GÓIS, Damião de. Chronica do Felicissimo Ray. D, Emanuel of Glorious Memory. [1506])

The text above narrates an event that took place in Portugal in the year 1506. What event was that?

a) Support for the flight of the Moors from the Iberian Peninsula.

b) The destruction of the Monastery of São Domingos.

c) The Great Massacre of New Christians.

d) The Lisbon earthquake.

e) The flight of the New Christians from Portugal to Spain.

The condemnable attitude of the New Christians, according to the Portuguese in the Modern Age, consisted of crypto-Judaism. What does this expression mean?

a) Old Testament Interpretation of the Gospels.

b) Satanic ritual practices mixed with Jewish rituals.

c) Celebration of Holy Masses in synagogues.

d) Celebration of marriages between Jews and Christians.

e) Practice of Jewish rites in secret.

Letter D

Most of the New Christians practiced crypto-Judaism (they performed Jewish rituals in secret) when they were in Catholic territories under the jurisdiction of the Holy Office. In “Dutch Brazil”, they did not need to keep their religious practices secret.

Letter B

With the marriage of D. Manuel I and Isabel de Aragon, in 1497, Portugal had to comply with the guidelines of Spanish legislation, which provided for the expulsion of Jews and Muslims from its territory. Finding himself at an impasse, King Manuel forced the mass of non-Catholic immigrants who lived in his kingdom to convert to Catholicism.

Letter C

The Great Massacre of New Christians began on November 19, 1506. Part of Portuguese Catholics considered New Christians responsible for natural calamities, such as the great drought that Portugal experienced at the beginning of the century. XVI, as well as the plague that also ravaged the country at the same time.

Letter E

Crypto-Judaism consisted in exercising the rituals of traditional Judaism in an intimate forum, away from the eyes of the population and Catholic religious authorities. The crypto-Jew was normally a New Christian, that is, a convert to Christianity, but a Christian only on the surface.