Sebastiao Jose de Carvalho e Melo, the Marquis of Pombal and chief minister to King Jose I of Portugal, moved against the Society of Jesus in the aftermath of the September 1758 attempted assassination of the king, an affair he used to implicate the Jesuits through their ties to the accused Tavora family. On 19 January 1759 he issued a decree sequestering Jesuit property across Portugal and its overseas dominions, followed by formal expulsion that September. It was the first of the eighteenth century's wave of Jesuit expulsions, preceding the 1767 expulsion from the Spanish empire and the 1773 papal suppression of the Society worldwide, and it ruptured Portugal's diplomatic relations with the Holy See until 1770.
Facts
The Event
When It HappenedSourced to the subject's own accountProperty sequestration decree 19 January 1759; formal expulsion September 1759; diplomatic rupture with Rome lasted until 1770. 1 PeriodSourced to the subject's own account Principal PartiesSourced to the subject's own accountThe Marquis of Pombal, who directed the campaign; King Jose I of Portugal, in whose name it was carried out; and Gabriel Malagrida, an Italian Jesuit confessor to the Marquesa de Tavora, whose 1761 trial and execution for heresy became the campaign's single most documented individual case. 1 Victim GroupSourced to the subject's own accountMembers of the Society of Jesus resident in Portugal and its overseas dominions; Portuguese Jesuit fathers were deported to the Papal States, while foreign-born Jesuits within Portuguese territory were held in prison rather than deported. 1 Perpetrator RegimeSourced to the subject's own accountThe Portuguese crown under King Jose I, acting on the direction of his chief minister, Sebastiao Jose de Carvalho e Melo, the Marquis of Pombal, who used the 1758 assassination attempt to move against the Society's independence, wealth, control of education and ties to Rome. 1 Consequences
What It SettledSourced to the subject's own accountThe Society of Jesus was suppressed across Portugal and its overseas dominions, its property seized by the crown; diplomatic relations between Portugal and the Holy See were severed until 1770. Pombal's campaign is widely read by historians as a direct precedent and contributing pressure toward the wider eighteenth century expulsions that followed, culminating in the 1773 papal bull Dominus ac Redemptor suppressing the Society worldwide. 2 Displaced (Low Estimate)Sourced to the subject's own accountApproximately one thousand Portuguese Jesuit fathers deported to the Papal States following the September 1759 formal expulsion; foreign-born Jesuits held within Portuguese territory were imprisoned rather than counted in this deportation figure. Displaced (High Estimate)Sourced to the subject's own accountThe same approximately one thousand figure; no source consulted gives a wider range for the deportation count, so the min and max bounds are recorded equal rather than a spread neither account supports. Status
Official RecognitionSourced to the subject's own accountNot formally recognized by any body 1 Recognition BasisSourced to the subject's own accountNo state or international body has issued a genocide or crimes-against-humanity determination specific to the 1759 expulsion; it is addressed in Catholic Church historiography chiefly through the 1773 papal suppression it helped precipitate and through Malagrida's own case, individually documented rather than subject to any formal recognition process. 1 Origins
Defining MomentSourced to the subject's own accountGabriel Malagrida was arrested after the 1758 assassination attempt and, when a treason charge could not be sustained without the Inquisition's cooperation, was tried instead for heresy over writings attributed to him, his actual authorship never proved; the Marquis of Pombal had his own brother installed as Grand Inquisitor to secure the conviction. Malagrida was garrotted and his body burned at Rossio Square in Lisbon on 21 September 1761, the last person executed by the Portuguese Inquisition for heresy and the case that most damaged Pombal's international standing. 1 Disputed
How Its Legacy Is ContestedSourced to the subject's own accountHistorians divide over how much of Pombal's stated justification, that the Jesuits bore genuine responsibility for the Tavora conspiracy and posed a threat to royal authority, reflected real evidence against how much was a pretext for a program of regalist state consolidation he had wanted to pursue regardless. The Malagrida heresy trial in particular is treated by most modern historians as manufactured, given the installation of Pombal's own brother as Grand Inquisitor to secure it. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
The targeted order; its members were expelled from Portugal and its overseas dominions and its property seized.
Portugal, Countries The perpetrating crown; the expulsion was carried out under royal decree directed by the king's chief minister.
Malagrida's formal condemnation was carried out through the machinery of the Portuguese Inquisition, itself an instrument of Roman Catholic ecclesiastical authority even as it acted here under direct crown pressure.
Related To
The first of the eighteenth century's wave of Jesuit expulsions, preceding the 1767 expulsion from the Spanish empire recorded as its own entity; both campaigns targeted the same order within eight years of each other under different crowns.
Malagrida's 1761 trial and execution were carried out through the same Portuguese Inquisition recorded as its own entity, its final heresy execution.
Sources
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