Izaque de Castro

Based on documents, describes the life and trial by the Inquisition of a Portuguese Converso, Izaque de Castro. Born as a Christian in southwestern France, he lived as a Jew in Holland and in Dutch Brazil until he crossed into Portuguese Brazil to escape Dutch justice. He was arrested by the Inquisition in Bahia as a renegade Christian and a Dutch spy, and was sent to Portugal for trial. Imprisoned in Lisbon, Castro heroically resisted all pressures to embrace Christianity, successfully confronting Catholic scholars in a theological disputation (1645-47). He was forced to denounce Judaizing Conversos living in Brazil. He was burned at the stake in Lisbon in 1647.