Consultas de partes
Item
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Country
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PT
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Name of institution (English)
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Overseas Historical Archive
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Language of name of institution
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por
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Contact information: postal address
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Calçada da Boa-Hora 30, 1300-095 Lisbon
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Contact information: phone number
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00351 210 30 91 00
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Contact information: email
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ahu@ahu.dglab.gov.pt
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Reference number
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PT/AHU/CU/032
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Type of reference number
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Archival reference number
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Title (English)
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Queries from parties
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Title (official language of the state)
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Consultas de partes
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Language of title
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por
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Creator / accumulator
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Conselho Ultramarino
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Date(s)
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1620/1833
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Language(s)
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por
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Extent
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45 books
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Type of material
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Textual Material
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Scope and content
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The Consultas de partes sub-collection is part of the Conselho Ultramarino (Overseas Council) fonds. This institution had jurisdiction over all overseas territories of the Portuguese Empire, and its fonds includes numerous letters, royal orders, and documentation exchanged between this Council and other institutions of the Portuguese Crown. This collection contains inquiries addressed to the Portuguese Crown concerning petitions and other questions. Royal institutions could be ordered to ask for opinions on matters that required advice from officials outside the Overseas Council. This collection is composed of that sort of advisory documentation.
Among the numerous documents that are part of this collection, a few contain information regarding Portuguese New Christians and Sephardim. Some examples are the following:
CU/032/0041/00145, c. 1635: Consultation regarding the legitimacy of the appointment of Rodrigo António Bravo for the office of "feitor das fábricas dos galeões" (foreman of the galleons factories) as he was a New Christian. This issue was debated in the Overseas Council after the royal appointment.
CU/032/0044/00300, c. 1640: Consultation on whether wheat and olive oil belonging to imprisoned New Christians could be applied to supply the ships with the necessary provisions.
CU/032/0045/00600, 1652-1656: Consultations related to a petition presented by Abrão Coem, who was identified as a "judeu de nação" (a Jew) in the document.
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Archival history
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The Conselho Ultramarino (Overseas Council) archive had different locations in Lisbon. The archive moved to Campo Santana, near the city centre, in 1750. It was relocated to a building in Rua do Ouro in 1796 and later to another in Rua Augusta. Later, the archive moved to Terreiro do Paço, where the Conselho Ultramarino was located. In 1834, still quite disorganised, the archive was placed in the Secretaria de Estado dos Negócios da Marinha e Ultramar (Secretariat of State of Navy and Overseas). In 1842, Filipe Roberto Da Silva Stockler, former archivist of the Conselho Ultramarino, was charged with organising the archive.
In 1931, the documents of the Conselho Ultramarino fonds were transferred to the Arquivo Histórico Colonial (Colonial Historical Archive), later renamed Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino (Overseas Historical Archive). The archive was placed in Palácio da Eva in Junqueira, Belém (west of Lisbon). After that, some other fonds produced by the Conselho Ultramarino were added to the archive collection, namely some that were in the Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo (National Archive of Torre do Tombo).
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(source: Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino database)
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Administrative / Biographical history
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The Conselho Ultramarino (Overseas Council) was regulated on July 14, 1642, and instituted one year later. This body was responsible for all affairs related to the Portuguese overseas territories. Its duties included the financial (with jurisdiction over all assets of Portuguese colonies, except the Azores, Madeira, and North African territories), judicial and military administration, the regulation of shipping, the appointment to overseas positions, and the attribution of benefits for services rendered in colonial territories. Later, some of these duties were transferred to the Junta do Comércio, Agricultura, Fábricas e Navegação (Board of Trade, Agriculture, Industry and Navigation) and the Conselho do Almirantado (Council of the Admiralty) after their creation in 1755 and 1795, respectively.
During the period in which the Portuguese court was in Brazil (1808-20), the activity of the Conselho Ultramarino was reduced to routine procedures, such as the payment of wages or issuing licenses. Then, the Mesa do Desembargo do Paço e da Consciência e Ordens, created in Rio de Janeiro in 1808, assumed some of the functions of the Conselho Ultramarino and other state bodies. The Conselho Ultramarino was abolished on August 30, 1833.
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(source: Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino database)
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System of arrangement
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The collection is arranged chronologically.
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Author of the description
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Kevin Soares, 2023
