Dialogos de Dom Frey Amador Arraiz

ARRAIS, AMADOR.

Diogo Gomez Loureyro

Coimbra

1604

Second revised edition

Amador Arrais (1530-1600), Carmelite Bishop of Portalegre, is considered one of the most significant prose writers of Portuguese classics. The present work is divided into ten dialogues between a patient and his visitors (a doctor, a preacher, a nobleman, a lawyer, etc.) with each character delivering speeches of historical, political and religious concerns. The Third Dialogue is entitled Da Gente Judaica [“Of the Jewish People”] (ff. 56-102). Arrais records the arguments presented to King Manuel I in favor of the Expulsion from Portugal: 1) The errors of the Jews jeopardize Christians 2) The Jews blaspheme Jesus 3) One cannot trust enemies of Jesus 4) The Jews are inimigos domesticos [“enemies at home”], i.e. fifth columnists, alongside Portugal's external Moroccan enemy and 5) It would be better if the Jews leave Portugal on account of their usurious practices. See F. Soyer, The Persecution of the Jews and Muslims of Portugal: King Manuel I and the End of Religious Tolerance (2007) pp. 185-6