Isaac de Castro Tartas

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Isaac de Castro Tartas (ca. 1623, Tartas, Gascony—December 22 [O.S. December 15] 1647, Lisbon) was a Marrano and Jewish martyr.

Castro Tartas was born in France, where his parents had found refuge. He was a brother of David Castro Tartas, and a relative of the physician Elijah Montalto, and was trained in philosophy and the classical languages. Early in life he went to Paraíba, Brazil, where he lived for several years. Against the wishes of his relatives there, he went later to Bahia dos Santos, where he was recognized as a Jew, arrested by the Inquisition, and sent to Lisbon. Although a Dutch citizen, he was summoned before the tribunal of the Inquisition, where he at once avowed his belief in Judaism and his determination to remain true to the faith. All the endeavors of the inquisitors to convert him to Christianity were in vain.

On December 15, 1647 (OS) (not September 23, as was erroneously supposed), this young man was led, together with five fellow-sufferers, to the stake. In the midst of the flames he called out in startling tones, "Shema' Yisrael! [Hear, O Israel!] The Lord our God is One!" With the word "Echad" (One), he breathed his last. For several years the public of Lisbon repeated his last words, so that the Inquisition was finally compelled to interdict this confession of the Jewish faith, under the threat of severe punishment. It is said that the martyrdom of Castro Tartas so affected the hardened inquisitors that they determined to cease burning heretics at the stake.

In Amsterdam the tragic end of this promising young man occasioned deep mourning. A memorial sermon was delivered by Saul Levi Morteira, and elegies in Hebrew and in Spanish were written in his honor by Solomon de Oliveyra and Jonah Abravanel.

[edit] Bibliography

Cardoso, Isaac, Las Excelencias de los Hebreos, pp. 324 et seq.
Kayserling, Meyer, Geschichte der Juden in Portugal, pp. 308 et seq. (available here)
—, Sephardim, pp. 204 et seq.
Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, iv 130 et seq.
This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia article "Isaac de Castro Tartas" by Gotthard Deutsch and Meyer Kayserling, a publication now in the public domain.