Monographic collection "Estudos e Documentos"

29 - O Concelho de Vila Franca do Campo em 1566: espaços, gentes e recursos

  

O concelho de Vila Franca do Campo em 1566: espaços, gentes e recursos, Artur Teodoro de Matos e Igor Espínola de França (recolha e introdução), Lisboa, Universidade Católica Editora, 2021, 143 p. (Estudos e Documentos, 29), ISBN 9789725408025 13,50 €   > see UCE link

As a result of the financial difficulties revealed in the courts of 1562, the peoples present there undertook to contribute to the Royal Treasury with one hundred thousand cruzados, to be paid within two years. It is as a result of this commitment that the residents of Vila Franca do Campo (as in the other municipalities) carry out the calculation of the assets of their residents, giving rise to the so-called «Auto of Assessment of the Residents of Vila Franca do Campo in 1566» , which is now in the British Library. Remember that even at that time, this municipality occupied a little more than half of the island of S. Miguel. This source made it possible not only to calculate the county's population, the wealth of each resident by parish and place, as well as those who were left out, either because of their privileged status or because their assets did not reach the minimum required for taxation.
But in addition to this information, which predates that of Gaspar Frutuoso by around 20 years, this survey is a sure indicator of the social order of the municipality's inhabitants, of the many professions in it, of its economic value and of its geography. The elaboration of various tables, graphics and images, provided a systematization of information, in addition to allowing the survey of buildings, streets and many other sites. It is after all the new town that emerged after the 1522 earthquake.

| Back |