ECONOMY AND SOCIETY IN BAROQUE PORTUGAL

Economyand Society

in Baroque Portugal, 1668-1703

earl A. Hanson

M Macmillan

Financial assistance for this book was provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

© University of Minnesota 1981

Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 1981

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means,

without permission

First published in the USA 1981 by THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOT A PRESS

First published in the UK 1981 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD

London and Basingstoke Companies and representatives

throughout the world

ISBN 978-1-349-05880-8 ISBN 978-1-349-05878-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-05878-5

To my parents,

Fredrick and Alice Hanson

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study could not have been completed without the aid and en­couragement of numerous people. Prof. Manoel Cardozo of Catholic University gave numerous helpful Lggestions during the initial stages of research. In Lisbon, Father Ant6nio da Silva Rego provided valuable information on the Portuguese archives and helpful com­mentary on various aspects of the study. Work in the archives was further facilitated by the knowledgable staff who frequently brought little-known but useful documentation to my attention. Transcription of an important pamphlet in the British Library, which appears herein as appendix 2, was kindly provided by S. George West. Thanks are also due to Ronald Bishop Smith, and his wife Gina, Douglas Porch, and John Vincent-Smith, whose friendship made my stay in Portugal all the more enjoyable. I am very grateful to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, which provided the funding for my re­search in Portugal.

My mentor during the years involved in bringing this study to com­pletion, Prof. Robert W Kern, has given me invaluable help and criti­cism. His vital contribution has been complemented by the efforts of three other scholars, Peter Bakewell, Donald Sullivan, and Alicia V. Tjarks, whose reading of chapter drafts yielded significant insights and suggestions. Conversations with Prof. Stuart Schwartz concern­ing his A Governor and His Image In Baroque Brazil furnished addi­tional information and understanding. I am also grateful to Prof. Dauril AIden, who read the manuscript and offered numerous useful comments.

The Circulation and Inter-Library Loan Department personnel at the University of New Mexico's Zimmerman Library are owed a great deal of thanks for their resourceful pursuit of obscure and often dif­ficult to locate material. The final typescript of the study was skillfully rendered by Judy Buckley and Mary Wicker. My greatest debt is owed to my wife Mary Ellen, who has been a constant source of encourage­ment and inspiration.

C.A.H.

CONTENTS

CHAPTERS I. INTRODUCTION ... 3

11. PRIVILEGE AND PROPERTY ... 10

Pedro the Pacific . . . 12 The Land: Stronghold of the Privileged Estates ... 17 The Nobility ... 21 The Clergy ... 27

111. THE THIRD ESTATE ... 39

The Professional Classes ... 42 The Mercantile Class ... 44 The "Mechanical" Professions ... 50 The Popular Classes ... 55 The Lowest Strata ... 61 The Individual's Place and Social Equilibrium ... 67

IV. THE NEW CHRISTIAN CHALLENGE TO THE ESTABLISHED ORDER ... 70

New Christians and the Holy Office ... 75 Father Antonio Vieira and Jesuit

Support of the Mercantile Class ... 85 The Climactic Decade, 1671-1681 ... 89 The Triumph of the Established Order ... 103

V. THE MERCANTILIST MIND IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY PORTUGAL ... 108

Precursors of Colbertism . . . 112 Mercantilism and Internal Development:

The French Example ... 122 Portuguese Advocates of Colbertism ... 126

VI. PUBLIC FINANCE DURING AN ERA OF ECONOMIC DECLINE ... 141

Raising Taxes and Reforming Collection Procedures ... 143

Devaluation and Protectionist Legislation: The First Steps ... 149

Mounting Expenses and Monetary Reform, 1680-1688 ... 152

VII. ERICEIRA AND THE ECONOMY ... 160

The Portuguese Colbert ... 161 Expansion of Textile Production ... 163 Mining, Metalworking, and Construction ... 176 The Impact of the Manufacturing Pro gram ... 182

VIII. ECONOMIC EXPANSION AND FOODSTUFF SHORT-AGES ... 185

Portugal and the World Economy ... 185 The Growing Trade in Metropolitan Products ... 188 Food Imports and the Trade Deficit ... 201 The Foodstuff Problem: Neglect and Dependence ... 205

IX. RECESSION AND RECOVERY IN THE COLONIES (Part 1) ... 207

Promoting Prosperity in the Eastern Empire ... 209 The Decline of the Brazilian Sugar Economy ... 215 Royal Efforts to Revitalize the Periphery ... 222

X. RECESSION AND RECOVERY IN THE COLONIES (Part 2) ... 238

The Resurgence of Colonial Prosperity ... 239 Controlling the Periphery ... 248

XI. CONCLUSIONS AND CONSEQUENCES ... 260

Defense and Commerce: The Treaties of 1703 ... 262 The Collapse of Colbertism ... 265

Portugal, England, and the Roots of Modern Dependency ... 270

APPENDIXES

1. Persons Tried and Sentenced to Autos-da-fe by the Portuguese Inquisition, 1682-1691 ... 279

2. "Whereas the Portugal Trade is very advantageous to this Nation" ... 280

3. Vesse1 Arrivals in Oporto, 1657-1698 ... 282

4. Ships of the Carreira da india Reaching Bahia, 1663-1703 ... 284

5. The Bahian Frota of 1668 ... 285 6. Prices and Estimated Annual Production of the

Best White Bahian Sugar, 1655-1710 ... 287 7. A Note on Currency, Weights, and Measures ... 288

NOTES ... 291

BIBLIOCRAPHY ... 333

INDEX ... 351

FICURES

1. Selected Commodity Prices in Portugal, 1667-1705 ... 145

2. Some Data on the Number of Foreign Vessels Arriving at Portuguese P.orts, 1670-1705 ... 189

3. The Rise and Fall in the Value of Brazilian Sugar Exports, 1610-1690 ... 216

TABLES

1. The Leading Noble Families of Portugal, 1684 ... 22 2. Monasteries and Convents in Portugal, 1628 ... 31 3. Two Computations ofRoyal Revenues in 1681 ... 155 4. Salt Exported from Setubal, 1680-1705 ... 191 5. English Imports of Portuguese Wines and Duties

Imposed on Their Export by the Oporto Alfandega, 1675-1705 ... 195

6. Trade between England and Portugal, 1697-1715 ... 200 7. Income and Expenditure of Various African

and Eastern Enclaves, 1684-1687 ... 212 8. Rolls of Brazilian Tobacco Shipped to

Portugal, 1680-1704 ... 240 9. Bahian Vessels Carrying Tobacco to Angola and the

Mina Co ast, 1681-1710 ... 242 10. Slaves Delivered to Cartagena de Indias by

the Cacheu Company, 1698-1701 ... 24;3

11. Shipments of Brazilian Gold to Lisbon, 1699-1705 ... 245 12. Brazilian Commodity Exports to Portugal and

Their Estimated Value, circa 1700 ... 248 13. Tobacco Shipments from Bahia to the Mina

Coast, 1698-1704 ... 257

MAPS

1. Portugal in the Late Seventeenth Century ... xiv 2. The Portuguese Empire ... After 209

PLATES (FoUowing page 146)

1. Lisbon's Terreiro do Pac;:o in the seventeenth century. 2. D. Pedro 11, king of Portugal. 3. A Portuguese noble couple of the seventeenth century. 4. Frei Ant6nio das Chagas. 5. Padre Ant6nio Vieira. 6. Fish vendors in Lisbon's Prac;:a da Ribeira. 7. An auto-da-fe procession wending its way through Lisbon's

Rossio. 8. D. Nuno Alvares Pereira de Melo, first duke of Cadaval. 9. D. Luis de Meneses, third count of Ericeira.

10. Salvador da Bahia de Todos os Santos (circa 1671), foremost entrepöt of the Portuguese empire.

11. Manifest of the tobacco cargo borne by the Bahian [rota of 1703.

12. Lisbon harbor (circa 1700).

A CAVEAT ON ORTHOGRAPHY

Portuguese orthography has undergone numerous changes and re­visions during the last four centuries. Thus, when one draws from sources dating from the seventeenth century onward, differences in usage unavoidably crop up. In most instances, I have followed mod­ern Portuguese usage in the text, but quotations from early sources are left in their original form. Citations for publications are taken from title pages. This invests the footnotes and bibliography with considerable variation in spelling and the use of accent marks (for example, Bahia and Baia, hist6ria and historia), for which the reader should be prepared. As to other othographic inconsistencies that may have escaped detection or resolution, I can only, to borrow a line from Stuart Schwartz, "point to the hallowed precedent of centuries of confusion in these matters."

Map 1 Portugal in the Late Seventeenth Century

ECONOMY AND SOCIETY INBAROQUEPORTUGAL