“As for my letters, tear them up, as I will destroy yours.”

– Francisco Correa Netto (Translated by Osiris Guimaraes and Professor William Monter)

Within queer history is a long legacy of love letters and scandals. What are considered to be the earliest queer love letters yet discovered are letters between the sexton Francisco Correa Netto and his lover, the musician Manuel Viegas. Within these letters and further records are a queer history of devastation, drama, and secret sexual love notes. 

In 1664, in Lisbon, Portugal, a collection of explicitly gay love letters was passed from the guitarist Manuel Viegas to the Vicar of Silves. The queer history of Portugal is a long and storied one. At this particular time in history, Portugal was most certainly not unused to queer men existing, as their king, Afonso VI, famously had affairs with numerous other men. With that said, it was not a hospitable place by any stretch of the imagination. The Spanish Inquisition was in full swing and wouldn’t be suppressed until 1821.

Queerness in the time of the Inquisition was not safe, though queer people were by no means the main target. In “Love's Labors Lost” by Luiz Mott and Aroldo Assunção, they write:

“[T]he Portuguese Inquisition managed to compile two large “Catalogues of Sodomites”(Repertorios do Nefando), listing alphabetically everyone denounced for or confessing this crime from 1587 to 1794 and containing a total of 4,419 names. Among these we have thus far discovered only 408 who were put on trial for the “abomidable [sic] sin of sodomy,” a scant 10 percent of those accused. [...] Moreover of these 408 actually tried only about thirty were ever convicted of the two “complete acts” and handed over to secular justice to be burned–only a 7 percent conviction rate.”

The main target of the Inquisition was by a wide margin Jewish people, and in the case of Netto, an added accusation of being a quarter Jewish was pinned onto his case. It is also worth noting that there was a requirement of two penetrative sexual acts with two denunciations before a trial would even be considered. 

This does not change the frightening reality that queer people lived through. However, Netto was able to carve out a life which included reportedly more than one queer sexual relationship. In his letters, he writes of more than one sexual experience with another man, though he is careful not to write of penetration. 

The records of the two’s love story begin there, with Netto making an “offer for what is needed” to Viegas. This letter in its entirety is available and translated into English, and includes many clues as to what queer life was like for men in that area and time. 

The whole expanse of the letters serves the same purpose: finding a precedent for queer love, as well as showing glimpses of the realities of that experience. 

There continue to be more letters, six in total, though one has been lost, showing snapshots of a love affair with bright beginnings. What follows is the betrayal of Viegas' engagement to a woman, the public humiliation by said woman, the directive from Netto to destroy the letters — a directive which Viegas did not follow — and a bitter jealousy-filled ending. 

Netto wrote to Viegas:

“As for my letters, tear them up, as I will destroy yours.”

It is clear that this is not what happened. Instead, Viegas gave the letters to a vicar, and an investigation was begun. There was fortunately not enough evidence for the accusation to reach a trial, even though the letters were remarkably detailed. While many people were willing to say that Netto was a “sodomite”, there was no evidence of penetrative sex. 

Little else is known of Viegas and Netto. Entangled together in history, their story of love and betrayal is less than ideal, but it is lucky to have had an ending where it did, and not worse. Netto is now remembered as a man who loved deeply, writing:

“My love and bounty: my feelings cannot rest an hour, either by day or night, without bringing to mind your companionship and your sweet words that are continually reflected in my memory."

As for Viegas, the musician is remembered as a man who was loved and betrayed that love; a fitting ending for an imperfect tale.

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

Disclaimer: some of the sources may contain triggering material

DK. (2023). The LGBTQ + History Book. Penguin. https://books.google.com/books?id=y7q6EAAAQBAJ

Jacob Ogles. (2016, October 21). 15 Gay Romances of the Renaissance Era. https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2016/10/21/15-gay-romances-renaissance-era

Mott, L., & Assunção, A. (1989). Love’s Labors Lost: Five Letters from a Seventeenth-Century Portuguese Sodomite. Journal of Homosexuality, 16(1–2), 91–104. https://sci-hub.se/10.1300/J082v16n01_05

Rictor Norton. (1998). Gay Love Letters through the Centuries: Francisco Correa Netto to Manoel Viegas. http://rictornorton.co.uk/correa.htm

Spanish Inquisition | Definition, History, & Facts | Britannica. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2024, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Spanish-Inquisition