António José da Silva
| António José da Silva Coutinho אנטוניו ז'וזה דה סילווה |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
May 8, 1705 Brazil |
| Died | October 18, 1739 (aged 34) Portugal |
| Genre | dramatist |
António José da Silva Coutinho (8 May 1705 – 18 October 1739) was a Portuguese dramatist born in colonial Brazil, known as "the Jew" (O Judeu). The Brazilian spelling of his first name is Antônio; António José da Silva in Hebrew is אנטוניו ז'וזה דה סילווה.
His parents, João Mendes da Silva and Lourença Coutinho, were descended from Jews who had emigrated to the colony of Brazil to escape the Inquisition, but in 1702 that tribunal began to persecute the Marranos or anyone of Jewish descent in Rio, and in October 1712 Lourença Coutinho became a victim. Her husband and children accompanied her to Portugal when António was 7 years old, where she figured among the "reconciled" in the auto-da-fé of July 9, 1713, after undergoing the torment only.
Her husband, having then acquired a fixed domicile in Lisbon, settled down to advocacy with success, and he was able to send António to the University of Coimbra, where he matriculated in the faculty of law. In 1726 António was suddenly imprisoned along with his mother on August 8; on the 16th he suffered the first interrogation, and on September 23 he was put to the torment, with the result that three weeks later he could not sign his name. He confessed to having followed the practices of the Mosaic law, and this saved his life.
He went through the great auto-da-fé held on October 23 in the presence of King John V and his court, abjured his errors, and was set at liberty. His mother was only released from prison in October 1729, after she had undergone torture and figured as a penitent in another auto-da-fé.
Meanwhile, António had gone back to Coimbra, and finishing his course in 1728–1729 he returned to Lisbon and became associated with his father as an advocate. He found what he believed to be an ignorant and corrupt society ruled by an immoral yet fanatical monarch, who wasted millions on unprofitable buildings though the country was almost without roads and the people had become the most backward in Europe. As his plays show, the spectacle struck António's observation, but he had to criticize with caution.
...
Wikipedia