Portugal Inquisition

Inquisition Records
For three centuries, the Portuguese Inquisition led by the Catholic Church investigated those accused of religious infidelity. Candidates for investigation by the Inquisition had to prove “purity of blood.” Examinations probed the ancestry of both the man and his spouse or fiancée. Those accepted were exempt from taxation, from military service, and were given priority in the distribution of meat, fish, bread, wood, and coal, like all members of the Catholic faith. These records should not be confused with criminal trials.

There were Courts of Inquisition in Lisbon, Coimbra, and Évora. From 1542-1547, there were also courts in Porto, Tomar, and Lamego. The persons targeted by the Portuguese Inquisition were individuals who had converted from Judaism to Catholicism (Conversos), who were suspected of practicing Judaism in secret, and Catholics who practiced unorthodox traditions such as the Cult of the Holy Spirit. Such records were referred to as Diligências de Habilitações,

Online Records
The Central Archives for the History of Jewish People in Jerusalem (CAHJP) contains microfilms of Portuguese Inquisition records from 1497 onwards. This includes Inquisition court records, an inventory of all inquisition records in Portugal’s Torre de Tombo, and documents pertaining to Jewish colonies across Portugal. .
 * CAHJP has an incomplete online catalog, which allows individuals to search for inquisition records by country.
 * Portuguese Inquisition Trials 1853-1653 and 1716-1717 at SephardicGen Resources is a free index of the 514 individuals who were tried in the inquisition courts in Lisbon, Coimbra, and Evora, providing their full name, trial date, court, and the file number containing their court records.

In 2007, the Portuguese Government initiated a project to make available online by 2010 a significant part of the archives of the Portuguese Inquisition currently deposited in the Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, the Portuguese National Archives. Those records can be found through the Torre de Tombo.
 * Torre de Tombo online catalog. Search for "Diligências de Habilitação or Inquisição."

Inquisition Records at the Family History Library
The Family History Library has a variety of primary and secondary records on the inquisition in Portugal. To access, perform a subject search at the FamilySearch Catalog for INQUISITION - PORTUGAL.