By Miriam Assor
It is commonly said that alheiras (a type of sausage) were invented by Jews to deceive the Inquisition. Do historical sources actually confirm this theory?
To find the answer, you will need to read the book “Mirandela, a Belém Transmontana”, published by Lema d’Origem in March.
Synopsis:
At the beginning of December 1496, King Manuel I of Portugal decreed the expulsion of Jews and Moors from the kingdom if they refused to convert to the Christian faith. Most remained and were forcibly baptized, becoming known as New Christians, in contrast to traditional Christians, the so-called Old Christians.
Unable to travel east, some Jews looked to Trás-os-Montes as a kind of Promised Land. Some even saw in Mirandela a new Bethlehem, where the Messiah promised in the Law would be born, and in the surrounding mountains a Mount Sinai, as Jacob Lopes declared before the inquisitors.
According to oral tradition, alheiras—the product most closely associated with Mirandela—were created by Jews to deceive the watchful eyes of the Inquisition. But do the sources support this legend?
About the author:
Jorge Alves Ferreira was born on January 18, 1959, in Dorna, parish of Póvoa de Agrações, municipality of Chaves. He received his early education at the primary school in his village, where he completed the former fourth-grade level.
He holds a degree in History and a master’s degree in Multidisciplinary Portuguese Studies (specializing in History), from the Open University of Lisbon, with the thesis “The New Christian Presence in Chaves during the Philippine Period (1580–1640).”
He has delivered lectures on the Jewish and New Christian presence in Chaves at the Seminar on Religious History at the Catholic University of Porto, at the Regional Houses of Transmontanos in Lisbon and Porto, at Valadares Secondary School, in Lebução, in Bragança, at the Terra(s) de Sefarad Congress, and in Vila Real.
Since 2019, he has been the director of Revista Fórum, the publication of the Galician–Transmontane Forum, notable for its bilingual character.
He is the author of several monographs on parishes in the municipalities of Chaves and Valpaços.
Between 2017 and 2021, he participated in organizing four editions of the Jewish History and Heritage Symposia, presenting papers at the first and fourth editions (“The Rescue of the Transmontane Marranos” and “The Jews in the Municipality of Vinhais”).
In 2015, he helped found the Center for Jewish Studies of Alto Tâmega (CEJAT), serving as its director until 2019, when it was succeeded by the Academy for the Study of Sephardic History and Heritage of Trás-os-Montes (Academia Montsefarad), where he led the installation committee.
