The New Christian Cadornega and his work on the Angolan wars in the seventeenth century

Abstract:

The article analyzes the trajectory of Antônio de Oli veira Cadornega, author of História Geral das Guerras Angolanas (1680). We examine aspects of the work linked to the author’s concerns - the wars involving the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the kingdoms of Congo and Angola - highlighting his Lusocentric position. The 1972 printed edition is used, as well as the bibliography about the work and its author. We seek connections between the writing of the text and the Portuguese political crisis in the seventeenth century, including the inquisitorial one, as well as between the history of its editions and the Portuguese context in the 20th century. The focus of our reflection, however, is that Cadornega was a New Christian, through his mother, and may have practiced Crypto-Judaism, whether in his youth in Vila Viçosa, or in Africa, like the group of Portuguese New Christians studied by Horta and Mark in Senegambia, in The Forgotten Diaspora (2011).

Keywords:
Cadornega; Angolan Wars; Inquisition