THE PORTUGUESE HEBREW NATION
After the forced conversion of the Jews of Portugal in 1497 and the establishment of The Inquisition there in 1540, many of these ‘New Christians’ or conversos sought refuge in Italy and northern Europe where they could openly return to Judaism - particularly in the tolerant atmosphere of the Netherlands and England - constituting themselves as a distinct ‘Portuguese Hebrew Nation’ (Port. A Nação) with continuing familial and mercantile ties to those remaining in the terras de Idolatria of Portugal, Spain and their empires, and with cultural and commercial ties to other Sephardi Jews in the Eastern Mediterranean; a globalising community along colonial trades routes, linking and crossing intellectual, religious, cultural and national boundaries.
The research possibilities into the demographic, economic, social and cultural importance of this community with its ‘alternative path to modernity’ as Port Jews in the early modern Atlantic world will be greatly enhanced by a global prosopography connecting the network of’ New Jews’ in the countries of Europe, the Levant, The Americas and the Caribbean with the records of New Christians in Portugal and the Iberian empires.
After the forced conversion of the Jews of Portugal in 1497 and the establishment of The Inquisition there in 1540, many of these ‘New Christians’ or conversos sought refuge in Italy and northern Europe where they could openly return to Judaism - particularly in the tolerant atmosphere of the Netherlands and England - constituting themselves as a distinct ‘Portuguese Hebrew Nation’ (Port. A Nação) with continuing familial and mercantile ties to those remaining in the terras de Idolatria of Portugal, Spain and their empires, and with cultural and commercial ties to other Sephardi Jews in the Eastern Mediterranean; a globalising community along colonial trades routes, linking and crossing intellectual, religious, cultural and national boundaries.
The research possibilities into the demographic, economic, social and cultural importance of this community with its ‘alternative path to modernity’ as Port Jews in the early modern Atlantic world will be greatly enhanced by a global prosopography connecting the network of’ New Jews’ in the countries of Europe, the Levant, The Americas and the Caribbean with the records of New Christians in Portugal and the Iberian empires.
A PROSOPOGRAHY DATABASE
At the centre of A Nação will be a website driven by a relational database which will provide access to rich, structured, biographical information relating to as wide as possible a number of recorded Portuguese Jews and New Christians from the mid 16th to the late 18th century drawing initially on primary archives in Portugal and The Netherlands, that will gradually be enriched by archives from other centres; London, Hamburg, the Caribbean and North America and the Spanish Inquisition files. The database will also be further enriched and refined by associated research projects that will utilise (and in the process, contribute to) the database.
It will serve as a powerful research tool (a meta-archive) suitable for a wide range of users with an interest in this period: whether academics in various disciplines, local historians, students in schools and universities, or those exploring the past for reasons of their own (e.g. genealogy), enabling its users to make different kinds of searches, to access information about particular individuals, relationships, and groups, and to move rapidly from the known into the unknown through an accessible and user-friendly interface.
Prosopographical databases have been developed for a number of target populations, particularly ancient and medieval, but three developments make it possible for this methodology to be successfully applied to this particular group:
(1) vastly improved computing power that makes possible the rapid processing and storage of large databases
(2) the growing use of extended networks of enthusiastic ‘citizen scholars’ to process the large amount of information from the sources
(3) the growing number of relevant, digitised and readily accessible archives that can be actively linked to the database in order to readily access the source material.
At the centre of A Nação will be a website driven by a relational database which will provide access to rich, structured, biographical information relating to as wide as possible a number of recorded Portuguese Jews and New Christians from the mid 16th to the late 18th century drawing initially on primary archives in Portugal and The Netherlands, that will gradually be enriched by archives from other centres; London, Hamburg, the Caribbean and North America and the Spanish Inquisition files. The database will also be further enriched and refined by associated research projects that will utilise (and in the process, contribute to) the database.
It will serve as a powerful research tool (a meta-archive) suitable for a wide range of users with an interest in this period: whether academics in various disciplines, local historians, students in schools and universities, or those exploring the past for reasons of their own (e.g. genealogy), enabling its users to make different kinds of searches, to access information about particular individuals, relationships, and groups, and to move rapidly from the known into the unknown through an accessible and user-friendly interface.
Prosopographical databases have been developed for a number of target populations, particularly ancient and medieval, but three developments make it possible for this methodology to be successfully applied to this particular group:
(1) vastly improved computing power that makes possible the rapid processing and storage of large databases
(2) the growing use of extended networks of enthusiastic ‘citizen scholars’ to process the large amount of information from the sources
(3) the growing number of relevant, digitised and readily accessible archives that can be actively linked to the database in order to readily access the source material.
ONLINE EDUCATION AND CROWDSOURCING
A number of recent projects have successfully crowd-sourced enthusiastic ‘citizen researchers’ for research as different as Penguin Watch and transcribing ancient manuscripts, recruited through online training. Such citizen scholars are central to the project.
A vital part of the project will be the development of web-based multimedia educational material developed by leading experts which will cover ongoing research areas:
•The History of Portuguese Jews and the post-1497 diaspora;
•Inquisition and Tolerance in the 16-18th centuries.
•Jews and European Imperialism and colonialism in the Early Modern Period.
•The Religious, Cultural and Social life of the Portuguese Jews.
•Jewish-Christian and Sephardi-Ashkenazi relationships in the Diaspora.
•Introduction to the relevant archives and primary sources.
•Portuguese/Spanish and Hebrew paleography.
•Prosopographical research methodology.
This material will be available for undergraduate and post-graduate courses and (in a suitably modified form) for engagement with the lay participants involved in the mass processing of archive material through an appropriate MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) provider such as the UK-based ‘FutureLearn’ owned by the Open University and currently partnered with 27 UK and 10 non-UK universities as well as other institutions like the British Museum.
A number of recent projects have successfully crowd-sourced enthusiastic ‘citizen researchers’ for research as different as Penguin Watch and transcribing ancient manuscripts, recruited through online training. Such citizen scholars are central to the project.
A vital part of the project will be the development of web-based multimedia educational material developed by leading experts which will cover ongoing research areas:
•The History of Portuguese Jews and the post-1497 diaspora;
•Inquisition and Tolerance in the 16-18th centuries.
•Jews and European Imperialism and colonialism in the Early Modern Period.
•The Religious, Cultural and Social life of the Portuguese Jews.
•Jewish-Christian and Sephardi-Ashkenazi relationships in the Diaspora.
•Introduction to the relevant archives and primary sources.
•Portuguese/Spanish and Hebrew paleography.
•Prosopographical research methodology.
This material will be available for undergraduate and post-graduate courses and (in a suitably modified form) for engagement with the lay participants involved in the mass processing of archive material through an appropriate MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) provider such as the UK-based ‘FutureLearn’ owned by the Open University and currently partnered with 27 UK and 10 non-UK universities as well as other institutions like the British Museum.