Messianic Prophecy during the Restoration of the Portugese Crown, 1640-1668: The Prophetic Contributions of Bartolomeu Vaz Pinho (O Azul)

[...] the heightened presence of messianic expectations of some of the Jewish and New Christian communities, due, in part, to experiences of the Diaspora and persecution at the hands of the Inquisition, that fed the imagination of Christian and Jewish prophets in early modern Portugal. In particular, the victorious battle of Aljubarrota over Castile in 1385 guaranteed Portuguese independence and the successful dynastic change to the Avis line and cemented, in the words of Lopes, a special role for the kingdom and a role in world events.4 The beginnings of the overseas expansion in the fifteenth century opened up a whole new arena for the flowering and solidification of prophetic hopes and messianic expectations.