Bryan Givens . Judging Maria de Macedo: A Female Visionary and the Inquisition in Early Modern Portugal . Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. 2011. Pp. viii, 255. $48.00.

Abstract

In November 1635, Maria de Macedo, a ten‐year‐old girl in Lisbon whose mother had died and who had a difficult relationship with her stepmother, began to claim she was being touched at night. Maria then suggested she was being visited by creatures, including a giant lizard. Encouraged by her aunt, who was hopeful of good fortune, Maria began to see the creatures as enchanted Moors who could shift shape and bring treasure. During fourteen years, in her imagination, Maria became their servant, working daily in the mines of their lands and bringing them water. As Maria grew older, and more aware of her own Christian faith, the creatures whom she served were gradually transformed. In May 1650, when Maria became associated with sebastianistas, the Moors of her original visions became the Christian people of King Sebastian (1557–1578) and their land his Hidden Isle, from whence he would return with his fleet to Portugal. In May 1658, Maria was denounced to the Holy Office, but her case was not acted upon until 1665, when her visions had become more widely known. After a process lasting about a year, Maria was found guilty of falsely claiming revelations, transportations, and visions and was sentenced to five years of exile. Refusing to confess, she was tortured and then admitted to inventing her story so her stepmother would treat her better. Maria repeated this confession without torture, appeared in an auto‐da‐fé, but was spared a public whipping because it was decided that her husband, Feliciano Machado, was of noble stock. Maria was ultimately spared exile as well, because Feliciano had died during the trial and she was thus a widow with four children.