Costa de Mattos, Vicente da°

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COSTA DE MATTOS, VICENTE DA°

COSTA DE MATTOS, VICENTE DA ° (16th century), antisemitic Portuguese writer. His book Breve discurso contra a heretica perfidia do Iudaismo ("A Brief Discourse Against the Treacherous Heresy of Judaism," Lisbon, 1622, 16342), in 27 chapters, was intended to justify the Inquisition's burning of Judaizing *Marranos. In 1625, a second part appeared, Honras Christãas ("Christian Virtues"). The work is a collection of libels and invective against Judaism; the Jews are described as "the pestilence of the world" and charged with homosexuality, ritual murder, etc.

bibliography:

Kayserling, Bibl, 115; idem, Geschichte der Juden in Portugal (1867), 293; Mendes dos Remedios, Os Judeus em Portugal, 1 (1895), 398–402.