The anti-Jesuit climate in Portugal and the causes of expulsion
Miguel Maria Santos Corrêa Monteiro
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
University of Lisbon
ORCID: 0000-0001-5563-2812
Published: 23/09/2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31338/ahi.2022.1.3
ABSTRACT: Abstract: A careful reading of the correspondence of Francisco Xavier de Mendonça Furtado, Pombal’s brother and governor of the Amazon, leads us to the conclusion that the complaints against the Jesuits were old and provoked an atmosphere of resentment. But not only in relation to the owners of sugar mills, who welcomed the possibility of confiscating their properties and other assets, and claimed that the Jesuits withdrew from the administration of their functions to allow, not only political control over indigenous labor, but also the economic ownership of the Amazon region. In 1741, two papal bulls forbade the missionaries to exercise any commercial activity and secular authority, a fact that the marquis of Pombal later used to minimize the power of the Ignatians.
KEYWORDS: Jesuits, 18th century, Amazon, anti-Jesuitism, expulsion.
