FOUND: Secret memior of a Jewish victim of the Inquisition in Mexico

The manuscript of de Carbajal the Younger has been returned to Mexico.

Luis de Carvajal, the Younger, was the son of the Spanish Governor of the province of Nuevo Leon in Mexico. His father, of the same name, was an infamous man. A friend to the king, a merchant, a slaver, and a ruthless governor. And everyone in his family harbored a secret.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) -- Luis de Carvajal the Younger, like his father the governor, was a Jew. In 16th century Spain, being a Jew was a crime punishable by death.

In 1590, around the time his father was being persecuted and imprisoned, the young Carvajal was forcibly converted to Christianity. He was forced to live with monks, but he remained steadfast in his Jewish faith, although secretly. He did not eat their non-kosher meals, and often subsisted on bread alone. He commonly retreated to the monastery's stables, feeling more comfortable around the horses than the monks.

During his time at the monastery, de Carvajal composed his memoirs, as well as several poems, verses and other musings. He wrote everything secretly, in the tiniest possible letters, on sheets of paper no larger than a few inches wide, and a few more inches taller. Modern historians have compared the size of the page to the screen of a cell phone.

The compact size allowed him to keep the manuscript hidden as he composed it. He decorated the pages with gold leaf stolen from a Bible.

In 1596, he was discovered to still be practicing his faith, and was arrested. This time, authorities were not inclined to be lenient. He was tried and sentenced to death at the stake.

The day before his burning, de Carvajal was extensively tortured. He was put on the rack for more than four hours until he gave up the names of 121 people, including his own mother and sister.

He was forced to listen as they tortured his mother and sister in an adjacent cell. He attempted to jump from a window to his death, but survived. He was burned alive at the stake the next day, on December 8, 1596.

His manuscripts were eventually saved and stored in the national archives of Mexico for the next several centuries. Then they disappeared. Authorities and historians were unable to find where they went. The loss of the manuscripts was a tragedy as they belonged to the first Jewish author in the Americas.

In 2016, a London auction house offered a replica of the manuscripts for auction. This attracted the attention of Leonard Milberg, a collector from the United States. Why would anyone create a replica of the original with its difficult-to-read script?

He checked the Mexican Archives only to learn the originals were still missing. Further examination revealed the manuscripts were not a replica, but the originals. It remains a mystery how they ended up at the auction house 80 years following their disappearance.

The manuscripts have been returned to Mexico and are now on display as a national treasure. They serve as a reminder that religious intolerance should remain a thing of the past.

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