SOSA, SIMON DE:
One of the wealthiest Maranos in Portugal in the middle of the seventeenth century. He was one of the conspirators, led by the Archbishop of Braga, who intended to burn the royal palaces, murder King John IV., and abduct the queen and the princes. The conspiracy, however, was detected in time, and Sosa, with the other conspirators, was executed.
To the same family probably belonged Isaac de Sosa Brito (who carried on a correspondence with Francis de Oliviera) and Gabriel de Sosa Brito. The latter was a famous mathematician and cosmographer, and his works are described in "Mem. de Lit. Port." (iv. 329). These two brothers flourisḥed in the seventeenth century.
Bibliography:
- De Oliviera, Mémoires de Portugal (ed. De Haye), 1743, pp. 379 et seq.;
- Kayserling, Gesch. der Juden in Portugal, pp. 307, 312 (note 2).
