Portugal's Jewish Refugees and the Expulsion of 1496

In 1496, King Manuel I of Portugal ordered the forced conversion or expulsion of all Jews in the kingdom—a decision that reshaped Portuguese society and its global empire. This episode explores the Edict of Expulsion, the violent Lisbon massacre of April 1506, and the complex legacy of the New Christians (Cristãos-Novos). We trace the stories of figures like Isaac Abravanel, the Jewish philosopher who fled to Naples, and the crypto-Jews who secretly maintained their faith for centuries. We also examine the economic motivations behind Manuel's decree, the role of the Inquisition in persecuting conversos, and the diaspora that scattered Portuguese Jews to Amsterdam, the Ottoman Empire, and Brazil. How did one monarch's decree turn a once-thriving Jewish community into a shadow network of hidden believers? And what does that history tell us about the foundations of Portugal's maritime empire? #History #FexingoHistory #Portugal #PortugueseEmpire #JewishHistory #ManuelI #CristãosNovos #Inquisition #LisbonMassacre #IsaacAbravanel #Expulsion #Conversos #CryptoJews #1496 #Sephardic #Diaspora #PortugueseHistory #EuropeanHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo