When the crypto-Jew Francisco Maldonado de Silva was arrested by the Inquisition in Concepción de Chile in 1627, on the accusation of judaizing, officials of the tribunal in Lima immediately sequestered and inventoried his possessions (at least those considered to be of value), a procedure that followed every arrest. The inventory they drew up, while not giving us a full account of the family’s household contents, offers considerable insight into the conditions of life of a distant descendant of forcibly baptized Portuguese Jews, a creole living in a frontier town in the Viceroyalty of Peru.

Maldonado de Silva was born in Tucumán province, located today in Argentina near the Chilean border, to a surgeon of Portuguese New Christian origin and an Old Christian mother. He followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming a surgeon, marrying an Old Christian woman, and struggling to achieve economic security. Although he lived modestly with his wife and child, the inventory of his belongings reflects the kind of effort Europeans and creoles in Spanish America made to maintain a European style of life. The household included four slaves, one with an infant. Two mules and a horse provided the family’s transportation, but the inventory mentions only one saddle, for a mule. The list of clothing and linen – ordinarily the greatest household investment for colonial Spaniards – reveals several items imported from Europe, including a number of articles manufactured in Rouen. The furnishings were quite spare. A number of the belongings are described by the inquisitorial notary as “worn,” “somewhat worn,” or “old.”

Given the extreme asceticism to which Maldonado de Silva subjected himself during the twelve years he spent in an inquisitorial prison, it is striking to note among the belongings found in his possession a hairshirt – evidence, perhaps, of a crypto-Jewish piety that borrowed from Spanish Catholic practices. The inventory notably fails to mention any explicitly Catholic object – a crucifix or a rosary; but such items may have been given to Maldonado’s wife along with her clothing.

What stands out in the inventory is Maldonado de Silva’s large library of books from Europe – many but not all of them on medical subjects. Unfortunately, the notary often lists the “title” as simply the author’s name – for example, “Plinio” (Pliny). The library contains both classics of medical science (Galen, Vesalius, Avicenna) and more recent medical works, as well as manuals on surgery, obstetrics, and pharmacology. At least some of the books were inherited from Maldonado’s father, including a copy of Paulo de Santa Maria’s Scrutinium Scripturarum – an important work in Maldonado de Silva’s crypto-judaizing career. The one work of belles-lettres that can be clearly identified is a collection of comedies by the popular Spanish playwright Lope de Vega, who at the time of Maldonado’s arrest was still active.

In 1638, Maldonado’s wife made the long journey to Lima to plead with the tribunal to recognize her great need and grant her compensation for her dowry, giving her the use of the sequestered house and land and having the slaves auctioned. The tribunal argued that she had already been compensated. After she provided the legal proof needed, the slaves were sold, and she received 200 pesos. However, she did not receive them until after Maldonado de Silva had been burned at the stake as a pertinacious judaizer in January, 1639.

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