Pimentel Surname Origin Discovery of the Origin of my Pimentel Surname
Fascinating revelations of a Sephardic Jewish heritage that I didn't know existed in my family.
PIMENTEL: field of peppers * grower/seller of pepper - - Email: geors65@gmail.com
Introduction: how it all began.......
My website provides a very general overview of Portugal's Sephardic Jewish past. I gave special attention to the Jewish origin of the Pimentel surname. I do not intend in any way to convince anyone of anything, I simply leave it up to you, my esteemed guests, to take from this material whatever is of interest and value to you, and to arrive at your own thoughts, opinions and conclusions. This website is for everyone, not only those of Portuguese or Brazilian heritage. I sincerely hope that the facts and figures contained in this website provide enjoyment, and are of interest to you. This topic is close to my heart, and one that I am very passionate about. It has taken years of research.
This website is by no means the most comprehensive repository of information about the Portuguese Jews, but I think it is a good starting point. In 1500, the population of Portugal was 1,000,000 of which 1/5 was comprised of Portuguese Jews. Their contributions to Portugal were monumental. Upon their mass conversion to christianity, they tried in earnest to assimilate as best as possible into the fabric of Portuguese society, even if secretly they remained Jewish in their heart. As a result of inter-marriage between Portuguese New Christians and Old Christians throughout the centuries, some experts assert that perhaps 70% of all modern day Portuguese people have at least a drop or two of Jewish blood. Additionally, all modern day Portuguese that have mostly well known 'New Christian' Sephardic surnames in their family tree, it is virtually guaranteed that they had Jewish ancestors anywhere between 3 - 15 generations ago. Birth, death and marriage records are great tools for uncovering specific details about where one's ancestors were born, when and where they died, who they were married to, and what their occupation was.
Throughout the generations, some Portuguese Sephardic families managed to hold on to vestiges of rituals, customs and traditions handed down throughout the generations, but they never really had a clear understanding of the origin and significance of them. For example, my paternal grandmother use to light candles every Friday night, but no one really knew why. Her daughter, my aunt, every Saturday would proclaim "Sabado e o Dia da Gloria" meaning "Saturday is the Day of Glory"'. And If I happened to drop a piece of bread on the floor, she would immediately order me to pick it up and kiss it. These rituals are all undeniably Jewish in origin.
And then there are the surnames. The surnames on both my maternal and paternal side are all strong, very well known and documented Sephardic names, including my own. Some of the surnames in my family tree that I know of are: obviously Pimentel, Furtado, Velho, Tavares, Aguiar, Medeiros, Pereira, Couto, and Rosario. From the beginning, the focus of my research was always on the Pimentel surname. What I have discovered over the years is nothing short of astounding, compelling and thought provoking. And there is still much to discover!
I sincerely hope that you enjoy and use the information contained in my website to aid in your own journey of self discovery. Please do not hesitate to send me an email with any questions. I would also love to know what your thoughts about my webpage are. Please leave them in the comments section.
Sincerely, George Pimentel
AdeusShalom!
********
My Name is George Pimentel. I am the son of Portuguese parents from the Azorean Island of São Miguel. Years ago at a fair in my city, a coat of arms & surname histories vendor did a quick search for me on the origin of my surname. She told me that 'Pimentel' has a Jewish origin. I was at once surprised, and not surprised, but I left without purchasing anything. Many years went by and I never thought about it again. However, one day the thought came back to me about what that lady said concerning the Jewish origin of my surname. I decided to some research at the Toronto Public Library about the Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal. What I discovered was incredible. As it turned out, there was a hugely important and significant part of Portuguese history that I wasn't aware of. I did know that various groups of people had settled in Iberia during the past few thousand years such as the: Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Visigoths, Celts, Moors and Jews, etc.
When I discovered a Jewish connection to the Pimentel surname I was enthralled, and compelled to dig further. The more I researched, the more fascinated I became. As such, over the years I have done a lot of research on this subject. Portuguese Jews were incredibly instrumental in forging the 'Golden Age' of Portugal as a result of their achievements in the spheres of: finance, trade, medicine, science, mathematics, cartography and navigation. In fact, it was the Portuguese Jews who financed many of the voyages of discovery, that in the 15th and 16th centuries made Portugal the richest, most powerful country in the world! The Portuguese mapped 2/3 of the known world and controlled the spice trade. They were so influential, that in Europe it was common knowledge that 'to do business anywhere in Europe you had to have a 'Portuguese partner' - Portuguese was synonymous with 'Jewish'. It was the Golden Age of Portugal and it came about in a very interesting way.
In 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain enacted an edict of expulsion against the Jews of Spain, who themselves are credited with the creation of Spain's Golden Age. But now the Spanish Jews were seen as the witches, heretics, pariahs and outcasts of Spanish society and suddenly had to leave. It is estimated that in 1492 as many as 120,000 expelled Spanish Jews crossed the border from Spain into Portugal. Spain had divested itself of its Jewish population, but many did stay and convert. However, the majority re-settled in Portugal. As the story goes, King Manuel of Portugal wanted to marry the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. But there was a condition: the Jews had to be expelled from Portugal as well. At that time the small Luso (Portuguese) country already had a sizeable Jewish population of approximately 40,000; Jews had lived in Portugal since the destruction of the 2nd temple in Jerusalem in 70 a.d. But now Portugal had an additional 120,000 Jews to expel on top of the other 40,000 or so that were already there. It was a tough dilemma.
In his wisdom, King Manuel realized that the expulsion of his Jewish population would devastate the economy of his country. After all, it was the Portuguese Jews who comprised the better part of Portugal's intelligentsia. They were the merchant class, doctors, scientists, financiers, mathematicians, cartographers, artisans, scholars, etc. But in 1497, King Manuel came up with a clever idea: rather than expel his Jewish citizens, he would forcibly 'convert' them to Christianity - the vast majority stayed and converted. He gave them a period of 20 years to adjust to their new religion, and assured them that during that period of time no inquiries would be made about their faith. Problem solved! King Manuel allegedly told the Spanish Royals, "there are no more Jews in Portugal." By no means was it going to be as simple as that. Officially, 1536 was the start of the 'Portuguese Inquisition' even though it began much earlier, and it was about to unleash a fury the likes of which was never seen before!
No treatise on this subject would be complete without talking about the impossible situation that the New Christians found themselves in regarding the expulsion decree and its corollary of limpieza de sangre (cleanliness of blood). Spanish & Portuguese monarchs prohibited the entry of Jews, Moors, and gypsies abroad, and from serving in civil and religious functions at home. This was institutional racism sanctioned by the Holy Office. Conversos some of whom were really Crypto-Jews did indeed gain entry into royal domains, but such persons could in no way live openly as Jews. The inverse was that some Conversos could, and often did gain the favour of the Royals by providing certain important functions and services in high demand and in short supply. For example, many New Christian Pimentel family members were closely allied with the Portuguese Monarchs which in time allowed a relationship of a certain level of trust to develop. Eventually the New Christian Pimentels were allowed to use the Pimentel coat of arms as their own. As depicted in the Jewish Encyclopedia the Pimentel New Christian coats of arms is exactly the same as the Old Christian one. However, since there was much inter-marriage between the Old Christian and New Christian Pimentels, it has led some Sephardic genealogical experts to question whether two main separate Pimentel branches even existed in the first place, or if only one original Jewish Pimentel branch split off into two. This would make sense especially when you consider that in Iberia there were two main Pimentel family branches: one Gallego - Portuguese and the other Castilian. This would mean that the Portuguese Jews did not in fact adopt the Pimentel surname since it was already a bonifide Sephardic Jewish surname. As yet this has not been proven conclusively, but it is a very plausible scenario. In fact, careful research has already shown that there are a fair number Portuguese Sephardic New Christian surnames of Hebrew origin. In the next section of common Portuguese sephardic surnames I provide some examples of some of those specific surnames. We are only now putting the pieces of this complex Sephardic surname puzzle together. After all, twenty years ago no one was talking about this subject in any serious, concerted way.
WHERE THE SEPHARDIC JEWS WENT WHEN THEY LEFT PORTUGAL & SPAIN
(from Portugal to Azores, Brazil, London, Holland & Hamburg. From Spain to Portugal, Morocco, France, Italy, Greece,Turkey, Israel)
Some labels that were used in reference to the Sephardic Jews of Iberia during the inquisition
After the forced conversions, the Jews of Portugal were supposedly no longer Jews, but Christians - actually 'New Christians'. Sure, they were now Christians on the 'outside', but on the 'inside' the were still Jews. King Manuel also ordered his New Chrisitian subjects to adopt common Portuguese surnames. Some of the surnames were very Catholic sounding so as to deflect any and all suspicion from the Catholic Church such as: Santos, Cruz, de Jesus. Others were everyday patronymic Portuguese surnames such as, Rodrigues, Henriques, Nunes, Mendes, etc. And like the Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe, many surnames were ornamental, nature derived surnames such as, Pereira, Teixeira, Cardoso, Oliveira, and Pimentel. There is some evidence that many of the so called adopted 'Catholic' surnames might have originally been Jewish (and later modified) and not Catholic according to conventional wisdom (please see the following section on Sephardic Portuguese Surnames for some examples). And even though the newly minted New Christians converted, and were now in possession of good 'Christian' surnames, the problem of pretence on the part of the New Christians was still there. But once again the Portuguese king devised another cruel remedy
The Conversos, Marranos (a Spanish derogatory term for 'pigs'), Anusim, all terms that denote New Christians, lived in Jewish Quarters in Portugal known as 'Juderias' in towns such as: Belmonte, Guarda, Castelo Branco, Trancoso, Covilhã, Castelo de Vide, Tomar, Carção, among others. They have been well preserved and are an important portal to the past. In fact, in the small Portuguese town of Belmonte most of residents are 'Crypto-Jews' (secret Jews). They miraculously kept their Jewish faith, rituals, customs and traditions alive for 500 years.They now openly observe their Jewish faith and even have their own synagogue and Rabbi. The Jews of Belmonte managed to keep their faith alive in secrecy throughout an extremely long and dangerous inquisition that officially only ended in Portugal in 1822. The story of the Crypto Jews of Belmonte is a true testament of the strength and resilience of the human spirit, and a great example of remarkable courage, tenacity and survival.
It is said that in some ways the Portuguese Inquisition was crueler than Spain's. The tribunals of the Holy Office were established and sanctioned by Pope Julius II of the Roman Catholic Church. 1492 is the official date of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain better known as the 'Alhambra decree'.The equivalent edict across the border in Portugal in 1497 was the 'Portuguese decree'. Up until then Jews were safe in Portugal, but soon after 1497 the Portuguese Inquisition erupted with a fury. The ultimate endeavour of the King Manuel's new tactic was not only to forcibly convert through baptism as many Jews as possible, but also to make sure they stayed that way. As such, the situation after the forced mass conversions was about to get harrowing for the Conversos. For them, there were realistically only 3 choices: expulsion, conversion, or execution. A few thousand converses were lucky enough to leave. The stubborn ones were killed. And although the vast majority converted, they were still falsely accused of all sorts of invented crimes such as: devil worship, witchcraft, sorcery, heresy, apostasy, treason, etc.
The Portuguese inquisition was unrelenting and nightmarish. It ushered in an atmosphere of constant fear, as the newly converted Jews were constantly watched, threatened, and always under suspicion. The obvious punishment for heresy was to be burned at the stake. But another terrible punishment for allegedly relapsing into Judaism went beyond evil and cruelty. It involved the abduction of Jewish children from their parent's and taking them by ship to the far away Portuguese islands of São Tomé & Principe and Cape Verde - they were Portuguese colonies at the time. Even though the Portuguese Jews were now New Christians (at least on the outside), they were constantly watched, scrutinized and lived in perpetual fear for their lives. A false accusation by a neighbour was all the evidence needed to justify the killing of an innocent Converso (a converted Jew). The infamous 'Auto-da-Fe' in Lisbon in 1506 (literally the mass execution of Portuguese Jews) was an absolutely dreadful event of unbridled hatred, where approximately 3,000 New Christians were burned alive in the public square in Lisbon today known as the 'Rossio'. But there were many smaller auto-da-fe's, equally as cruel, brutal and evil. Without question, the Portuguese New Christians lived in an atmosphere of unyielding psychological terror.
Introduction: how it all began.......
My website provides a very general overview of Portugal's Sephardic Jewish past. I gave special attention to the Jewish origin of the Pimentel surname. I do not intend in any way to convince anyone of anything, I simply leave it up to you, my esteemed guests, to take from this material whatever is of interest and value to you, and to arrive at your own thoughts, opinions and conclusions. This website is for everyone, not only those of Portuguese or Brazilian heritage. I sincerely hope that the facts and figures contained in this website provide enjoyment, and are of interest to you. This topic is close to my heart, and one that I am very passionate about. It has taken years of research.
This website is by no means the most comprehensive repository of information about the Portuguese Jews, but I think it is a good starting point. In 1500, the population of Portugal was 1,000,000 of which 1/5 was comprised of Portuguese Jews. Their contributions to Portugal were monumental. Upon their mass conversion to christianity, they tried in earnest to assimilate as best as possible into the fabric of Portuguese society, even if secretly they remained Jewish in their heart. As a result of inter-marriage between Portuguese New Christians and Old Christians throughout the centuries, some experts assert that perhaps 70% of all modern day Portuguese people have at least a drop or two of Jewish blood. Additionally, all modern day Portuguese that have mostly well known 'New Christian' Sephardic surnames in their family tree, it is virtually guaranteed that they had Jewish ancestors anywhere between 3 - 15 generations ago. Birth, death and marriage records are great tools for uncovering specific details about where one's ancestors were born, when and where they died, who they were married to, and what their occupation was.
Throughout the generations, some Portuguese Sephardic families managed to hold on to vestiges of rituals, customs and traditions handed down throughout the generations, but they never really had a clear understanding of the origin and significance of them. For example, my paternal grandmother use to light candles every Friday night, but no one really knew why. Her daughter, my aunt, every Saturday would proclaim "Sabado e o Dia da Gloria" meaning "Saturday is the Day of Glory"'. And If I happened to drop a piece of bread on the floor, she would immediately order me to pick it up and kiss it. These rituals are all undeniably Jewish in origin.
And then there are the surnames. The surnames on both my maternal and paternal side are all strong, very well known and documented Sephardic names, including my own. Some of the surnames in my family tree that I know of are: obviously Pimentel, Furtado, Velho, Tavares, Aguiar, Medeiros, Pereira, Couto, and Rosario. From the beginning, the focus of my research was always on the Pimentel surname. What I have discovered over the years is nothing short of astounding, compelling and thought provoking. And there is still much to discover!
I sincerely hope that you enjoy and use the information contained in my website to aid in your own journey of self discovery. Please do not hesitate to send me an email with any questions. I would also love to know what your thoughts about my webpage are. Please leave them in the comments section.
Sincerely, George Pimentel
AdeusShalom!
********
My Name is George Pimentel. I am the son of Portuguese parents from the Azorean Island of São Miguel. Years ago at a fair in my city, a coat of arms & surname histories vendor did a quick search for me on the origin of my surname. She told me that 'Pimentel' has a Jewish origin. I was at once surprised, and not surprised, but I left without purchasing anything. Many years went by and I never thought about it again. However, one day the thought came back to me about what that lady said concerning the Jewish origin of my surname. I decided to some research at the Toronto Public Library about the Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal. What I discovered was incredible. As it turned out, there was a hugely important and significant part of Portuguese history that I wasn't aware of. I did know that various groups of people had settled in Iberia during the past few thousand years such as the: Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Visigoths, Celts, Moors and Jews, etc.
When I discovered a Jewish connection to the Pimentel surname I was enthralled, and compelled to dig further. The more I researched, the more fascinated I became. As such, over the years I have done a lot of research on this subject. Portuguese Jews were incredibly instrumental in forging the 'Golden Age' of Portugal as a result of their achievements in the spheres of: finance, trade, medicine, science, mathematics, cartography and navigation. In fact, it was the Portuguese Jews who financed many of the voyages of discovery, that in the 15th and 16th centuries made Portugal the richest, most powerful country in the world! The Portuguese mapped 2/3 of the known world and controlled the spice trade. They were so influential, that in Europe it was common knowledge that 'to do business anywhere in Europe you had to have a 'Portuguese partner' - Portuguese was synonymous with 'Jewish'. It was the Golden Age of Portugal and it came about in a very interesting way.
In 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain enacted an edict of expulsion against the Jews of Spain, who themselves are credited with the creation of Spain's Golden Age. But now the Spanish Jews were seen as the witches, heretics, pariahs and outcasts of Spanish society and suddenly had to leave. It is estimated that in 1492 as many as 120,000 expelled Spanish Jews crossed the border from Spain into Portugal. Spain had divested itself of its Jewish population, but many did stay and convert. However, the majority re-settled in Portugal. As the story goes, King Manuel of Portugal wanted to marry the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. But there was a condition: the Jews had to be expelled from Portugal as well. At that time the small Luso (Portuguese) country already had a sizeable Jewish population of approximately 40,000; Jews had lived in Portugal since the destruction of the 2nd temple in Jerusalem in 70 a.d. But now Portugal had an additional 120,000 Jews to expel on top of the other 40,000 or so that were already there. It was a tough dilemma.
In his wisdom, King Manuel realized that the expulsion of his Jewish population would devastate the economy of his country. After all, it was the Portuguese Jews who comprised the better part of Portugal's intelligentsia. They were the merchant class, doctors, scientists, financiers, mathematicians, cartographers, artisans, scholars, etc. But in 1497, King Manuel came up with a clever idea: rather than expel his Jewish citizens, he would forcibly 'convert' them to Christianity - the vast majority stayed and converted. He gave them a period of 20 years to adjust to their new religion, and assured them that during that period of time no inquiries would be made about their faith. Problem solved! King Manuel allegedly told the Spanish Royals, "there are no more Jews in Portugal." By no means was it going to be as simple as that. Officially, 1536 was the start of the 'Portuguese Inquisition' even though it began much earlier, and it was about to unleash a fury the likes of which was never seen before!
No treatise on this subject would be complete without talking about the impossible situation that the New Christians found themselves in regarding the expulsion decree and its corollary of limpieza de sangre (cleanliness of blood). Spanish & Portuguese monarchs prohibited the entry of Jews, Moors, and gypsies abroad, and from serving in civil and religious functions at home. This was institutional racism sanctioned by the Holy Office. Conversos some of whom were really Crypto-Jews did indeed gain entry into royal domains, but such persons could in no way live openly as Jews. The inverse was that some Conversos could, and often did gain the favour of the Royals by providing certain important functions and services in high demand and in short supply. For example, many New Christian Pimentel family members were closely allied with the Portuguese Monarchs which in time allowed a relationship of a certain level of trust to develop. Eventually the New Christian Pimentels were allowed to use the Pimentel coat of arms as their own. As depicted in the Jewish Encyclopedia the Pimentel New Christian coats of arms is exactly the same as the Old Christian one. However, since there was much inter-marriage between the Old Christian and New Christian Pimentels, it has led some Sephardic genealogical experts to question whether two main separate Pimentel branches even existed in the first place, or if only one original Jewish Pimentel branch split off into two. This would make sense especially when you consider that in Iberia there were two main Pimentel family branches: one Gallego - Portuguese and the other Castilian. This would mean that the Portuguese Jews did not in fact adopt the Pimentel surname since it was already a bonifide Sephardic Jewish surname. As yet this has not been proven conclusively, but it is a very plausible scenario. In fact, careful research has already shown that there are a fair number Portuguese Sephardic New Christian surnames of Hebrew origin. In the next section of common Portuguese sephardic surnames I provide some examples of some of those specific surnames. We are only now putting the pieces of this complex Sephardic surname puzzle together. After all, twenty years ago no one was talking about this subject in any serious, concerted way.
WHERE THE SEPHARDIC JEWS WENT WHEN THEY LEFT PORTUGAL & SPAIN
(from Portugal to Azores, Brazil, London, Holland & Hamburg. From Spain to Portugal, Morocco, France, Italy, Greece,Turkey, Israel)
Some labels that were used in reference to the Sephardic Jews of Iberia during the inquisition
| Crypto-Judaism Jews who had, or pretended to, convert to Christianity | B'nai Anusim descendants of the coerced or ‘forced’ ones | Conversos converts to Christianity | Marranos Conversos who practiced Judaism in secret and so were targeted by the Spanish inquisition | New Christians new converts to Christianity as distinct from ‘Old Christians’ |
After the forced conversions, the Jews of Portugal were supposedly no longer Jews, but Christians - actually 'New Christians'. Sure, they were now Christians on the 'outside', but on the 'inside' the were still Jews. King Manuel also ordered his New Chrisitian subjects to adopt common Portuguese surnames. Some of the surnames were very Catholic sounding so as to deflect any and all suspicion from the Catholic Church such as: Santos, Cruz, de Jesus. Others were everyday patronymic Portuguese surnames such as, Rodrigues, Henriques, Nunes, Mendes, etc. And like the Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe, many surnames were ornamental, nature derived surnames such as, Pereira, Teixeira, Cardoso, Oliveira, and Pimentel. There is some evidence that many of the so called adopted 'Catholic' surnames might have originally been Jewish (and later modified) and not Catholic according to conventional wisdom (please see the following section on Sephardic Portuguese Surnames for some examples). And even though the newly minted New Christians converted, and were now in possession of good 'Christian' surnames, the problem of pretence on the part of the New Christians was still there. But once again the Portuguese king devised another cruel remedy
The Conversos, Marranos (a Spanish derogatory term for 'pigs'), Anusim, all terms that denote New Christians, lived in Jewish Quarters in Portugal known as 'Juderias' in towns such as: Belmonte, Guarda, Castelo Branco, Trancoso, Covilhã, Castelo de Vide, Tomar, Carção, among others. They have been well preserved and are an important portal to the past. In fact, in the small Portuguese town of Belmonte most of residents are 'Crypto-Jews' (secret Jews). They miraculously kept their Jewish faith, rituals, customs and traditions alive for 500 years.They now openly observe their Jewish faith and even have their own synagogue and Rabbi. The Jews of Belmonte managed to keep their faith alive in secrecy throughout an extremely long and dangerous inquisition that officially only ended in Portugal in 1822. The story of the Crypto Jews of Belmonte is a true testament of the strength and resilience of the human spirit, and a great example of remarkable courage, tenacity and survival.
It is said that in some ways the Portuguese Inquisition was crueler than Spain's. The tribunals of the Holy Office were established and sanctioned by Pope Julius II of the Roman Catholic Church. 1492 is the official date of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain better known as the 'Alhambra decree'.The equivalent edict across the border in Portugal in 1497 was the 'Portuguese decree'. Up until then Jews were safe in Portugal, but soon after 1497 the Portuguese Inquisition erupted with a fury. The ultimate endeavour of the King Manuel's new tactic was not only to forcibly convert through baptism as many Jews as possible, but also to make sure they stayed that way. As such, the situation after the forced mass conversions was about to get harrowing for the Conversos. For them, there were realistically only 3 choices: expulsion, conversion, or execution. A few thousand converses were lucky enough to leave. The stubborn ones were killed. And although the vast majority converted, they were still falsely accused of all sorts of invented crimes such as: devil worship, witchcraft, sorcery, heresy, apostasy, treason, etc.
The Portuguese inquisition was unrelenting and nightmarish. It ushered in an atmosphere of constant fear, as the newly converted Jews were constantly watched, threatened, and always under suspicion. The obvious punishment for heresy was to be burned at the stake. But another terrible punishment for allegedly relapsing into Judaism went beyond evil and cruelty. It involved the abduction of Jewish children from their parent's and taking them by ship to the far away Portuguese islands of São Tomé & Principe and Cape Verde - they were Portuguese colonies at the time. Even though the Portuguese Jews were now New Christians (at least on the outside), they were constantly watched, scrutinized and lived in perpetual fear for their lives. A false accusation by a neighbour was all the evidence needed to justify the killing of an innocent Converso (a converted Jew). The infamous 'Auto-da-Fe' in Lisbon in 1506 (literally the mass execution of Portuguese Jews) was an absolutely dreadful event of unbridled hatred, where approximately 3,000 New Christians were burned alive in the public square in Lisbon today known as the 'Rossio'. But there were many smaller auto-da-fe's, equally as cruel, brutal and evil. Without question, the Portuguese New Christians lived in an atmosphere of unyielding psychological terror.
