SETUBAL

SETUBAL, port in S. central Portugal; third largest city of continental Portugal. During the reign of John III (1521–57), Setubal became an important crypto-Jewish center as a result of the activities of the so-called Messiah of Setubal, luis dias . Although poor and uneducated, Dias won the devotion of numerous marranos and even Christians. Unlike those of the remote districts, Setubal's Marrano community had become extinct by the 20th century (see portugal ). A   dozen Jewish families settled in Setubal after the liberal realignment of 1910. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Roth, Marranos, 146–8 (bibl.); R. Southey, Letters Written During a Short Residence in Spain and Portugal (1799), 320–50; A. Mendes, O Algarve e Setubal (1916). (Aaron Lichtenstein)