Resistance and Concealment of Assets in the Portuguese Inquisition, 17th-18th Centuries

Abstract

This article examines the concealment of goods by defendants before the Portuguese Inquisition. Drawing on records of assets seized and confiscated by the Juízos das Confiscações (confiscation tribunals), it asks who was responsible for hiding property whether New or Old Christians – their occupations, the types of goods most frequently concealed, their value, and the impact these practices had on the functioning of the Inquisition. It investigates whether specialised agents were involved in denunciations, and whether concealment arose mainly from everyday acts of resistance or from coordinated actions against inquisitorial authority. The article shows that New Christians – especially men and merchants – were the main agents of concealment, though they generally acted individually, and that debts were the asset most commonly hidden. It concludes that the Inquisition responded by granting the informant a share of the concealed goods and by conducting inquiries into the practice.