During the 60 years that Spain and Portugal had the same monarch, many Portuguese merchants, a number of whom were Crypto-Jews (passing as Christians but practicing Jews) had engaged in business in the Spanish empire and were resident in Mexico City and Lima. With Portuguese independence, these Portuguese merchants became suspect as foreigners, but also potentially Crypto-Jews. The Mexican Inquisition began intensely investigating the Portuguese merchant community which led to hundreds of prosecutions and ultimately a huge auto de fe in Mexico City in 1649. Despite evidence that as many accused and convicted as possible were included in the auto de fe of 1649, William Lamport was not one of them, perhaps because evidence against him was not strong enough to warrant conviction at the time.