1 The Opening up of the Inquisition's Archives and Statistics Writing the history of Goa's Inquisition involves a balancing act and an unbiased evaluation of primary archival data, not selective repetitions of earlier histories compiled largely from secondary sources and peppered by personal biases. Fortunately, the modern historian can easily access a large volume of recently digitized primary documents in global archives.
Goa's Inquisition survived for 252 years with a short break of four years in between. The first inquisitors arrived in Goa in December 1560. The Inquisition operated from the Sabayo Palace until the king ordered its closure in 1774. It was reinstated in April 1778, but permanently closed in June 1812. The inquisitors recorded the proceedings of every case and preserved them in a secure room (secreto) in accordance with the directives of the Regimento, its governing rules. Inventories of all case files were made in 1623 and 1774. They are preserved along with many other documents in Lisbon's Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo (ANTT) and the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal. The process of identifying globally available archival sources began in the 1970s. Many of them are available online today. Written in Portuguese, their fading lines tell much of the true story of Goa's Inquisition. The ANTT contains auto-da-fe lists from Goa dating from 1650 to 1801, complete process files, correspondence, and much else. The Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal (Lisbon) preserves case details from 1561-1623 compiled by Inquisitor Figueira, and a number of auto-da-fe lists not available at the ANTT compiled by Antonio Moreira. The Biblioteca Nacional do Brasil (Rio de Janeiro) preserves copies of decrees, royal permits, regulations, edicts of faith, private edicts, lists of defendants, and correspondence dating from the sixteenth to nineteenth century. Other crates are still being catalogued and digitized. Here are some statistics compiled by me from these documents: • Numbers: 18,986 persons investigated. This number is 17% higher than the oft-quoted figure given by Antonio Baiao in 1945. • Socially deprived members of society comprised the highest percentage of those sentenced. Of 6,424 persons convicted between 1650 and 1773 (for which details are available), 66% came from lesser privileged castes and professions. During the time of intensifying economic and military reverses between 1685 and 1736, the Inquisition shifted its focus to the Provincia do Norte, and these numbers touched 71%. • Non-Christians constituted 25%, with 88% of these cases conducted between 1685 and 1736, the period of intensifying Maratha conflicts. The North, with 86% of cases, was particularly badly affected. Offences related mostly to defying the ban on the public practice of gentile rituals which was seen as undermining Christianity and the security of the State. Whipping was a common punishment. Other punishments included terms in the gun powder factory or galleys, exile, and fines. Some escaped by converting, and 4% were absolved. Except in the case of two Muslims (from Bijapur and Belgaum) burnt for sodomy in 1612, there is no record of any non-Christian being executed. • At least 287 priests, about 1.5% of the total number, were investigated and punished for various offences, like heresy, which were seen as undermining Christianity. • The number physically executed in 136 autos-da-fe for which details are known is 177. The effigies of a further 154 were burnt, the convicted being absent or dead. For more you will need to read the book, or even better, access and research the numerous primary source documents preserved in global archives. -- Goa's Inquisition Facts Fiction Factoids. Alan Machado (Prabhu). Goa 1556; ATC. 2022. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Join a discussion on Goa-related issues by posting your comments on this or other issues via email to goa...@goanet.org See archives at http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/ *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-