Pagina 1-28.qxd - Cátedra de Estudos Sefarditas "Alberto Benveniste"

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FRançOIS SOyeR
ers of Islam. this conviction was clearly not at the root of his persecution
of the Jews, but we should certainly not overlook the significant
role it may have ultimately played in his decision to expel
the Muslims. 54
Conclusion
to conclude, I hope that this paper will have demonstrated that
many aspects of the events that surround the end of religious tole -
ran ce in Portugal in 1496-7 are still open to debate. King Manuel’s
expulsion of the Castilian conversos in november 1496, long ignored
by modern historians, must now be listed alongside that of the Jews
and Muslims and it should be carefully distinguished from these
slightly later expulsions. the part generally ascribed to the Infanta
Isabel in the unhappy events of 1497 must also be rewritten. the
Spa nish Infanta’s reluctance to enter Portugal in 1497, whether or
not it was engineered by her parents, had nothing to do with the
fate of the Jews in Portugal. Rather, it was directly related to the
pro blem of the continued presence of Castilian conversos in Portugal
and Castilian mistrust of the measures King Manuel took to expel
these Castilian conversos.
at the same time, the expulsion of the Jews and Muslims
cannot simply be ascribed to the same causes. In my opinion, at
least, the Muslim minority was not expelled because of Spanish
pressure. the most likely hypothesis is that Portuguese Muslims
were rather the victims of Manuel’s obsession with the crusade
against Islam in north africa and his wish to gain the papacy’s support.
the absence of evidence of any marked anti-Muslim sentiment
in Portugal during the fifteenth century also makes it difficult
to argue that Manuel may have been pandering to anti-Muslim sen-
54 l. F. F. R. tHOMaz, ‘l’idée impériale Manueline’, La découverte, le Portugal et l’Europe,
ed. J. aubin (Paris, 1990), 89-90.
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