Heitor Furtado de Mendonça’s First Visitation to Bahia

Record summary

The first Portuguese inquisitorial visitation to Brazil, led by Heitor Furtado de Mendonça, generated denunciations and confessions involving blasphemy, divination, love magic, healing, Judaizing, and local religious practices. Published visitation records preserve named witnesses and defendants, making this a strong documentary lead for studying how European demonological categories were applied in colonial Brazil. The proceedings also reveal social rivalry and pressure to denounce. Their evidentiary value is limited by selective recording, institutional aims, and the possibility that defendants adapted statements to inquisitorial expectations.