Order issued by King John II [Portugal] [Unconfirmed]
Commentary from other sources:
1) “…the vast majority of the Jews who left Spain in 1492 went to Portugal. King John II made them pay for the privilege of settling in his kingdom. He charged each individual for the right to stay in the country for eight months. When that time was up, the person had to go elsewhere or convert to Christianity. Wealthier Jews paid even more money for the right to settle permanently in the country.”
Phyllis Goldstein: “A Convenient Hatred: The History of Antisemitism.” p. 110
2) “King John II did not extend his anger against the Abarbanels to the other Jews of Spain. He invited the expelled Jews [from Spain in 1492] to come to Portugal, over 150,000 of them. Portugal with a population at that time of a million and a half now had more than 300,000 Jews. Lots of pressure was put on the king to either convert the Jews or expel them. By the time he died in 1495 he began to treat the Jews brutally, even enslaving some of them and sending Jewish children to the Island of Sao Tome in West Africa where most died or were never heard from again. Fortunately for the Jews he died and was succeeded by his cousin and brother in law, Manuel I.”
“The Abarbanel Family’s Sojourn in Portugal.” Online article