House of Bandarra - Trancoso

The prophetic medieval heritage of Bandarra.

Located on the same street as the Judaica Isaac Cardoso Interpretation Centre for Jewish Culture, the House of Bandarra aims to preserve a memory that is part of the Portuguese identity, through the figure of this mystic poet. Gonçalo Anes Bandarra (1500-1556) was born in 1500, in Trancoso, and became known for his prophetic ballads, where he announced the return of D. Sebastião (1554-1578), a monarch who disappeared in a battle in North Africa, in Ksar el-Kebir. With the disappearance of King D. Sebastião, Portugal was under the rule of a Spanish dynasty for sixty years.

Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935), one of the greatest Portuguese poets, considers Bandarra, shoemaker, poet and prophet the Portuguese Nostradamus. Inspired authors such as Father António Vieira (1608-1697), 17th-century Jesuit priest, defender of the rights of Indians and the end of discrimination among new Christians (descendants of Jews forcibly converted in 1497) and old Christians, and greatly inspired Messianic thinking in Portuguese culture.

Bandarra was recognised socially: he interacted with Old Christians and New Christians and many considered him an exegete and a religious leader. In 1541, the Inquisition judged him, and forbidden him to interpret the Bible or write about theological issues. Even today, no one knows for sure whether he was of Jewish descent. The unusual themes that he addressed, “O Encoberto” (or “Rei Encoberto”, a king doomed to defeat the Ottoman Empire and establish world monarchy) and the future of Portugal as a universal kingdom, were considered Judaism marks by the Inquisitors.

He died in 1556 and his body lies in the St. Peter’s Church, in the historic centre of Trancoso.

In Bandarra's house, there is a courtyard where his ballads can be "heard" at the bottom of a well. In addition to oral testimonies from residents of the village where Bandarra took refuge after getting out of the Inquisition, the visitor also have access to the re-enactment of the trial, some reproductions of the Prose and various archival documents.

The space is an entertaining, educational and scientific interpretation centre.