SUPPLY OF FRANCISCAN CONVENTS IN SOUTH PORTUGUESE AMERICA THROUGH CONNECTIONS WITH THE KINGDOM (17TH-18TH CENTURIES)

• Grant number: 24/22750-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: May 01, 2025
• End date: June 10, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of Brazil
• Principal Investigator: Ana Carolina de Carvalho Viotti
• Grantee: Edson Tadeu Pereira
• Supervisor: Isabel Maria Ribeiro Mendes Drumond Braga
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais (FCHS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Franca. Franca , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/00988-8 - HEALTH AND FOOD IN THE PROVÍNCIA DA IMACULADA CONCEIÇÃO DO BRASIL IN THE 18TH CENTURY, BP.DR

Abstract

In the writing of the thesis, in progress, the chapter referring to the history of the supply of haberdashery in the infirmaries and the pantries of the refectory of the Franciscan convents in southern Portuguese America focused mainly on the local connections between friars and benefactors. From this perspective, despite the kingdom origin of some of the prelates and the appointment of Capuchin procurators in Portugal, constant throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the role of the connection with the Kingdom for food and health was of marginal importance. Such a historiographical stance is not capable of explaining collections dependent on European products nor the relationships established on the other side of the Atlantic. Then, letters, petitions, official documents and other non-administrative documents circulated recording the demand of the religious figures for wine, oil, salt and medicines, among other goods. The little that is known is due to the archives of the Conselho Ultramarino - digitized and made available online by the Fundação Biblioteca Nacional (Brazil) -, which collected complaints against the undue collection of taxes on food. Therefore, the knowledge provided by this fund is limited to the Royal policy of favouring the Order of Friars Minor in the colony. However, research carried out in Portuguese archives is opportune to determine how much, when and how the demand for drinks, food and medicines occurred in the busy ports of Lisbon and Porto. Carrying out searches by the names of custodians, provincials and Minorite procurators seems to be the best consultation methodology since, considering the still initial and dispersed nature of the cataloguing of Franciscan sources from Brazil in Portugal, identifying those responsible by name perhaps offers the safest route for investigation.