Table Of ContentPeople of the Iberian Borderlands
This book is devoted to the inhabitants of the Spanish–Portuguese bor-
derlands during the early modern period.
It seeks to challenge a predominant historiography focused on the
study of borderlands societies, relying exclusively on the antagonistic
topics of subversion and the construction of boundaries. It states that by
focusing just on one concept or another there is a restrictive understand-
ing tending to condition the agency of local communities by external
narratives. Thus, if traditionally border people were reduced by some
scholars to actors of a struggle against a supposedly imposed border; in a
more modern perspective, their behaviours have been also framed in
bottom-up processes of consolidation of spaces of sovereignty in a no less
limiting vision. Faced with both approaches, the objective of this work is
not to deny them but, first and foremost, to situate the experiences of
border populations outside of logics that I understand as originally alien
to themselves, and to highlight their own subjectivity. Finally, it also dem-
onstrates that most of the practices developed by border people were
fundamentally aimed at defending their local communities.
It will be useful for both audiences interested in early modern Iberia or
border studies from a bottom-up perspective.
David Martín Marcos holds a PhD in History from the Universidad de
Valladolid. He is currently Ramón y Cajal Researcher at Universidad
Nacional de Educación a Distancia, in Madrid, where he teaches modules
on early modern history.
Early Modern Iberian History in Global Contexts:
Connexions
Series Editors: Harald E. Braun (University of Liverpool)
and Pedro Cardim (Universidade Nova de Lisboa)
Early Modern Iberian History in Global Contexts: Connexions features studies
that address Iberian societies and cultures from a variety of standpoints and theo-
retical perspectives. It understands Iberian history as a plural way of approaching
an ensemble of individuals and groups made up of similarities, connections, con-
trasts and colliding trajectories. Its aim is to connect the different national and
transnational research traditions in the field of Iberian historical studies, and
showcase the multifaceted character of the Iberian past, encompassing its many
voices as well as the tensions, the violence and the conflicts that opposed its vari-
ous components, both across the Iberian Peninsula and across the globe.
Editorial Board: Antonio Álvarez Ossorio Alvariño (Universidad Autónoma de
Madrid/MIAS), Ângela Barreto Xavier (Universidade de Lisboa), Fernando Bouza
Álvarez (Universidad Complutense de Madrid), Arndt Brendecke (Ludwig-
Maximilians-Universität München), Bruno Feitler (Universidade Federal de São
Paulo), Roquinaldo Ferreira (University of Pennsylvania), Mercedes García-
Arenal Rodríguez (CSIC), Xavier Gil Pujol (Universitat de Barcelona), Claire
Gilbert (Saint Louis University), Regina Grafe (European University Institute),
Manuel Herrero Sánchez (Universidad Pablo de Olavide), Tamar Herzog
(Harvard University), Richard Kagan (Johns Hopkins University), Giuseppe
Marcocci (University of Oxford), Amélia Polónia (Universidade do Porto), Maria
M. Portuondo (Johns Hopkins University), Jean-Frédéric Schaub (EHESS),
Mafalda Soares da Cunha (Universidade de Évora), María José Vega (Universidad
Autónoma de Barcelona), Bartolomé Yun-Casalilla (Universidad Pablo de
Olavide).
Genoese Entrepreneurship and the Asiento Slave Trade, 1650–1700
Alejandro García-Montón
Rethinking Catholicism in Renaissance Spain
Edited by Xavier Tubau
People of the Iberian Borderlands
Community and Conflict between Spain and Portugal, 1640–1715
David Martín Marcos
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/
Early-Modern-Iberian-History-in-Global-Contexts/book-series/EMIHIGC
People of the Iberian
Borderlands
Community and Conflict between Spain
and Portugal, 1640–1715
David Martín Marcos
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an
informa business
© 2023 David Martín Marcos
The right of David Martín Marcos to be identified as author of
this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and
78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Martín Marcos, David, 1981- author.
Title: People of the Iberian borderlands : community and conflict between
Spain and Portugal, 1640-1715 / David Martín Marcos.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2023. | Series: Early modern Iberian
history in global contexts | Includes bibliographical references and
index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2022012800 (print) | LCCN 2022012801 (ebook)
|Subjects: LCSH: Borderlands--Spain--History. |
Borderlands--Portugal--History. | Portugal--Foreign relations--Spain. |
Spain--Foreign relations--Portugal. | Spain--History--17th century. |
Portugal--History--17th century. | Spain--Boundaries--Portugal. |
Portugal--Boundaries--Spain.
Classification: LCC DP86.P8 M374 2023 (print) | LCC DP86.P8 (ebook) | DDC
327.460469/090932--dc23/eng/20220505
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022012800
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022012801
ISBN: 978-0-367-75820-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-75821-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-16413-5 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003164135
Typeset in Sabon
by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive)
‘É estreita, sempre igual, a vida no campo. Raros são os
acontecimentos estranhos, tudo se repete. Até quando
qualquer transformação se verifica e persiste, logo se
monotoniza.’
‘Life in the countryside is limited in scope, it is always the
same. Unusual events are unheard of, everything recurs.
Even when some transformation is beheld and persists, it
immediately becomes monotonous.’
Manuel da Fonseca
Seara de Vento, 1958
Contents
Abbreviations ix
List of maps and illustrations xi
Acknowledgements xii
Introduction 1
PART I
Communities between two communities 21
1 The Portuguese of Castile, the Castilians of Portugal 23
2 The unrepresented 47
3 Refuge and destruction 66
4 Contraband, modus vivendi 83
PART II
War and the politics of daily life 99
5 On local truces 101
6 A grand yet local peace 116
7 ‘A wolflike urge’ 144
viii Contents
8 A rayano perspective on borderland custom houses 161
PART III
At peace along the Raya 175
9 Restored sovereignties 177
10 At the back of the world 194
11 Innumerable unresolved conflicts 210
12 The return of Mars 222
Conclusion 239
Bibliography 247
Index 270
Abbreviations
ACL Academia das Ciências de Lisboa
ADSLB Arquivo Distrital de Lisboa
AGS Archivo General de Simancas
AHCB Arquivo Histórico da Casa de Bragança, Vila Viçosa
AHM Arquivo Histórico Militar, Lisbon
AHN Archivo Histórico Nacional, Madrid
AMALM Archivo Municipal de Almendral
AMA Archivo Municipal de Aroche
AME Archivo Municipal de Encinasola
AMM Arquivo Municipal de Moura
AMS Arquivo Municipal de Serpa
ANTT Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, Lisbon
ASTo Archivio di Stato di Torino
BA Biblioteca da Ajuda, Lisbon
BGUC Biblioteca Geral da Universidade de Coimbra
BNE Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid
BNP Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, Lisbon
CG Conselho de Guerra
CFTR Casa Fronteira e Alorna
cit. citation
CJH Consejo y Juntas de Hacienda
CMC Contaduría Mayor de Cuentas
cod. codex
CSU Contaduría del Sueldo
c. circa
cx. caixa
E Estado
ed./eds. editor/editors
exp. expediente
f./ff. folio/folios
GyM Guerra y Marina
IL Iluminado
leg. legajo
