Manuel Batista Perez (2 July 1589 – 23 January 1639) was a Spanish-born merchant, and multi-millionaire active in Africa, Europe, the Americas and Asia. Though Spanish, Manuel called himself Portuguese because Spanish New Christians were not allowed in the New World. Perez became extremely wealthy, according to the ''

Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on the ...

'', Perez amassed a fortune which would have been the equivalent of $1,000,000 in 1906 (worth $ in ). Perez moved to Lima with his wife and three children. He was sent with a large sum to invest for his brothers-in-law back in Spain. He was born to a

Marrano ''Marranos'' is a term for Spanish and Portuguese Jews, as well as Navarrese jews, who converted to Christianity, either voluntarily or by Spanish or Portuguese royal coercion, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but who continued t ...

family, that is to say a

Sephardic Jew Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

whose family outwardly conformed to Catholicism for socio-political reasons, but privately practiced

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

. Already persecuted by the Spanish inquisitors especially in 1620 and in 1635, Perez and a number of other Jews in Peru fell foul of the

Peruvian Inquisition The Peruvian Inquisition was established on January 9, 1570 and ended in 1820. The Holy Office and tribunal of the Inquisition were located in Lima, the administrative center of the Viceroyalty of Peru. History Unlike the Spanish Inquisition an ...

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

as part of the so-called "Great Jewish Conspiracy" trials of the 1630s, where he and other merchants were accused of Judaizing and supposedly plotting to hand over the

Viceroyalty of Peru The Viceroyalty of Peru (), officially known as the Kingdom of Peru (), was a Monarchy of Spain, Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in ...

to the

Dutch Empire The Dutch colonial empire () comprised overseas territories and trading posts under some form of Dutch control from the early 17th to late 20th centuries, including those initially administered by Dutch chartered companies—primarily the Du ...

. He was among twelve Jewish slave trading partners and others, handed out the strongest punishment possible for their alleged involvement and was burned alive at the stake as part of an ''

auto-da-fé An ''auto-da-fé'' ( ; from Portuguese language, Portuguese or Spanish language, Spanish (, meaning 'act of faith') was a ritualized or public penance carried out between the 15th and 19th centuries in condemnation of heresy, heretics, Aposta ...

'' in 1639.

Biography

Background

Perez was born on 2 July 1589 at Ançã,

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ), officially the City of Coimbra (), is a city and a concelho, municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2021 census was 140,796, in an area of . The fourth-largest agglomerated urban area in Po ...

Kingdom of Portugal The Kingdom of Portugal was a Portuguese monarchy, monarchy in the western Iberian Peninsula and the predecessor of the modern Portuguese Republic. Existing to various extents between 1139 and 1910, it was also known as the Kingdom of Portugal a ...

. His parents were

Sephardic Jews Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

who had become "

New Christians New Christian (; ; ; ; ; ) was a socio-religious designation and legal distinction referring to the population of former Jews, Jewish and Muslims, Muslim Conversion to Christianity, converts to Christianity in the Spanish Empire, Spanish and Po ...

"; outwardly conforming to the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

to avoid being expelled from the Iberian Peninsula. He was sent to live with his maternal aunt Blanca Gomez in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

in the early 1590s. When he was around 10 years old, Perez and his aunt moved to

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

Kingdom of Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. An

Iberian Union The Iberian Union is a historiographical term used to describe the period in which the Habsburg Spain, Monarchy of Spain under Habsburg dynasty, until then the personal union of the crowns of Crown of Castile, Castile and Crown of Aragon, Aragon ...

had occurred in 1580 under Spain's

House of Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful Dynasty, dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout ...

after the decline of Portugal's

House of Aviz The House of Aviz (Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Casa de Avis'' ), also known as the Joanine Dynasty (''Dinastia Joanina''), was a dynasty of Portuguese people, Portuguese origin which flourished during the Portuguese Renaissance, Renaissanc ...

; this made the movement of Portuguese (including the

Marranos ''Marranos'' is a term for Spanish and Portuguese Jews, as well as Navarrese jews, who converted to Christianity, either voluntarily or by Spanish or Portuguese royal coercion, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but who continued t ...

who had fled from Spain a century or so earlier) more common. Here, he fell under the influence of his uncle, Diego Rodriguez de Lisboa, who was involved in the

Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of Slavery in Africa, enslaved African people to the Americas. European slave ships regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Pass ...

: transporting Black African slaves across the Atlantic Ocean to the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

. Perez married his second-cousin Guiomar Enriquez in 1626 and had six children with her in Lima.

Slave trade and multi-millionaire fortune

Perez and his brother, Juan Bautista Perez, began involving themselves directly in the slave trade by travelling to Cacheu,

Portuguese Guinea Portuguese Guinea (), called the Overseas Province of Guinea from 1951 until 1972 and then State of Guinea from 1972 until 1974, was a Portuguese overseas province in West Africa from 1588 until 10 September 1974, when it gained independence as G ...

. The Portuguese-born involved in the Atlantic slave trade conducted their business as individual private traders, rather than as part of state-owned joint-stock companies. From around 1614, the Perez brothers were involved in bringing these African slaves to

Cartagena de Indias Cartagena ( ), known since the colonial era as Cartagena de Indias (), is a city and one of the major ports on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Region of Colombia, Caribbean Coast Region, along the Caribbean Sea. Cartagena's past ...

Viceroyalty of New Granada The Viceroyalty of the New Kingdom of Granada ( ), also called Viceroyalty of New Granada or Viceroyalty of Santa Fe, was the name given on 27 May 1717 to the jurisdiction of the Spanish Empire in northern South America, corresponding to modern ...

. From 1595 until 1640, the Portuguese-born held the ''

Asiento de Negros The () was a monopoly contract between the Spanish Crown and various merchants for the right to provide enslaved Africans to colonies in the Spanish Americas. The Spanish Empire rarely engaged in the transatlantic slave trade directly from A ...

'', a kind of monopoly contract to export African slaves to the colonies in

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...

. The Portuguese had long established their influence in

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

through trade and so the Spanish found it useful to simply lease out the rights to them instead of directly getting involved themselves. Significant figures such as ''asiento'' holders such as António Fernandes de Elvas and Manuel Rodrigues Lamego were also of ''Cristão-Novo'' ''

converso A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert" (), was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of their descendants. To safeguard the Old Christian popula ...

'' or Marrano Jewish ancestry, like the Perez brothers and were able to enrich themselves greatly by their involvement in the trade of enslaved African people. Between 1613 and 1619, Pérez personally undertook two slave-trading ventures to

Upper Guinea Upper Guinea is a geographical term used in several contexts: # Upper Guinea () is one of the four geographic regions of the Republic of Guinea, being east of Futa Jalon, north of Forest Guinea, and bordering Mali. The population of this region ...

(what is today

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

The Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

and

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to Guinea-Bissau–Senegal border, its north and Guinea to Guinea–Guinea-Bissau b ...

). Perez' brother died prematurely in Guinea in 1617, so he and his wife decided to relocate permanently to

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. He maintained his business contacts in Upper Guinea, Cartagena de Indias and

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. Personal records pertaining to Perez held in the ''Archivo General de la Nación'' in Lima gives the most detailed existing record of the process of the Atlantic slave trade in the 1610s. According to Linda Newson of

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

, Perez became "one of the most prominent slave traders in Lima, Peru, in the 1620s and 1630s, when he was responsible for the importation of about 300 to 400 African slaves a year". Here he established himself as the richest man in Peru of the day. According to the ''

'', from his activities in the Atlantic slave trade, Perez amassed a fortune which would have been the equivalent of $1,000,000 in 1906 (worth £ in ). Perez even owned the Royal

Plaza Mayor, Lima The Plaza Mayor (English: ''Town square''), also known as the Plaza de Armas, is the Plaza de Armas, main public square of the Historic Centre of Lima, historic centre of the city of Lima, Peru. It dates back to the foundation of the city by Franc ...

. Aside from his uncle and his brother, Perez formed the lynch-pin and was referred to as the "Gran Capitan" of an international "New Christian" slave trading network from the Iberian Peninsula to Africa to the Americas; his key trading partners were Felipe Rodriguez, Sebastian Duarte (married to his wife's sister, Isabel Enriquez), Antonio Rodriguez de Acosta, Duarte Rodriguez de León, Pedro Duarte, Pablo Rodriguez, Juan Rodriguez Duarte, Luis de Vega, Manuel de Acosta, Simon and Garcia Vaez Enriquez (brothers of his wife) among others.

Trial and death under the Inquisition

Perez, "one of the world's most powerful men in international commerce" and nearly one hundred fellow "New Christians" were arrested by the

in Lima on 11 August 1635, accused of being a party to what is called the ''complicidad grande'', or "Great Jewish Conspiracy" to commit heresy and treason. The specific charge levied by Inquisitor of Lima, Antonio de Castro y Castillo, was that the group were

Judaizers The Judaizers were a faction of the Jewish Christians, both of Jewish and non-Jewish origins, who regarded the Levitical laws of the Old Testament as still binding on all Christians. They tried to enforce Jewish circumcision upon the Gentile ...

, who pretended to society that they were faithful Catholics, but secretly, in private continued to practice their ancestral religion of

Rabbinic Judaism Rabbinic Judaism (), also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, Rabbanite Judaism, or Talmudic Judaism, is rooted in the many forms of Judaism that coexisted and together formed Second Temple Judaism in the land of Israel, giving birth to classical rabb ...

. In addition to this, they were accused of orchestrating a plan to turn the

over to the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

(the

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

enemies of Spain). The main figureheads investigated most in depth as part of this by the Inquisition were Perez, Doña Mencia de Luna and Manuel Henríquez. Something similar had happened a mere five years earlier during the

Dutch–Portuguese War The Dutch–Portuguese War (; ) was a global armed conflict involving Dutch forces, in the form of the Dutch East India Company, the Dutch West India Company, and their allies, against the Iberian Union, and after 1640, the Portuguese Empire. Beg ...

, where at

Recife Recife ( , ) is the Federative units of Brazil, state capital of Pernambuco, Brazil, on the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of South America. It is the largest urban area within both the North Region, Brazil, North and the Northeast R ...

in 1630, after the Dutch forces had captured

Portuguese Brazil Colonial Brazil (), sometimes referred to as Portuguese America, comprises the period from 1500, with the arrival of the Portuguese, until 1815, when Brazil was elevated to a kingdom in union with Portugal. During the 300 years of Brazilian col ...

, the mercantile community of "New Christian" slave traders at Recife, openly began practicing Judaism under

Dutch Brazil Dutch Brazil (; ), also known as New Holland (), was a colony of the Dutch Republic in the northeastern portion of modern-day Brazil, controlled from 1630 to 1654 during Dutch colonization of the Americas. The main cities of the colony were the c ...

(which was more favourable to Jews than the Catholic powers and had a prominent Jewish community in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

and throughout the

). The prosecuting attorney had over twenty witnesses against Perez over the course of the hearings from September 1635 to February 1636, including relatives of his wife. Around fourteen Castillian witnesses defended Perez, including some members of the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

, who claimed that, as far as could be shown, Perez was faithful to Catholicism. Despite his protestations of innocence, Manuel Bautista Perez was found guilty at his trial of the charges laid against him and sentenced to death. The crackdown on these Portuguese-born accused Crypto-Jews by the Inquisition involved 63 Jews who were given various punishments, such as public flogging, humiliation and exile, while Perez was one of twelve sentenced to death by being burned alive at the stake in the largest ''auto-da-fé'' in history. One of the Jews convicted committed suicide during the trial so was burned in effigy. Francisco Maldonado de Silva, a noted physician, was one of the other Jews who were burned at the same time as Perez (he had been in prison since 1628 and converted prisoners to Judaism).

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Perez, Manuel 1589 births 1639 deaths 16th-century Sephardi Jews 17th-century Sephardi Jews 17th-century Peruvian people Peruvian Jews Portuguese Jews Conversos Portuguese slave owners Executed Peruvian people People executed by the Spanish Inquisition Spanish merchants