Inquisition
Original title: Inquisição
Notes that the Inquisition had no tribunal in Madeira but had local familiars and sent a visitor in 1612; the poet Francisco Álvares de Nóbrega is its best-known Madeiran victim.
The Tribunal of the Inquisition never existed in Madeira, but it is known to have had familiars here, and the names of some of them are recorded in the books of the Funchal Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal) (see Familiars of the Holy Office).
By a warrant (provisão) of 20 July 1612 the visitor (visitador, ecclesiastical inspector) Francisco Cardoso de Cernejo was instructed to come to this island, but we do not know whether that mission led to any sons of Madeira being thrown into the dungeons of the Holy Office in Lisbon, or handed over to the flames.
The warrant enjoined the island’s officials to give the said Cernejo all the support and help he required, even ordering that the best buildings in the places he was to visit be vacated for his residence!
Of the Madeirans persecuted by the Inquisition, the best known is the poet Francisco Álvares de Nóbrega (see that entry). Like Bocage, he languished in the dungeons of the Holy Office, and even after his death the room in which he had lived was invaded by the familiars of that tribunal, who destroyed many of his writings (see Jews).
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 01Place
Places mentioned · 03
Abroad
- Funchal
Its municipal council books record names of familiars.
The capital of the archipelago and seat of the principal captaincy, where settlement began; it was made a vila c.1451–52. Its bay, the widest in the archipelago, lies between Ponta do Garajau and Ponta da Cruz and offers sheltered anchorage, though its harbour had never been studied oceanographically. The Elucidário discusses it as a health resort with climate data and records the January 1906 disturbances, the Danish prince's visit in May 1846 and recent volcanic cones in the area.
- Lisbon
Portugal. Seat of the Holy Office prisons.
The Portuguese capital, seat of the Relação court and of the Misericórdia whose privileges and statutes were extended to Funchal. Henrique Franco de Sousa studied at its Royal Academy of Fine Arts, and Luiz José Baiardo moved there in 1821.
People
People mentioned · 03-
Portuguese poet cited as another prisoner of the Holy Office, for comparison with Nóbrega.
- Francisco Álvares de Nóbrega1772–1806
Madeiran poet imprisoned by the Inquisition, whose writings were largely destroyed by its familiars after his death.
-
Inquisitorial visitor commissioned by a provision of 20 July 1612 to visit Madeira, with local officials ordered to assist and house him.