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This document comprises a series of administrative records from the Portuguese Overseas Council (*Conselho Ultramarino*), dated between November 1679 and February 1684, concerning the protracted efforts of Bartolomeu de Azevedo Coutinho to secure official registration for a royal grant of a Voyage of China. The grant, originally conferred upon his father, Jorge de Azevedo de Mesquita, pertained to a specific vacancy dating from 20 September 1598. The records detail successive petitions from Coutinho, who repeatedly sought the addition of *Postillas* (marginal addenda) to the original *Alvará* (Royal Warrant) to remedy the failure of his agents to pass the document through the Chancery and register it in the requisite books within the prescribed time limits. The Council’s resolutions, issued in Lisbon on 6 November 1679, 30 January 1682, 21 January 1683, and 23 June 1683, consistently recommend that the Crown grant these dispensations, noting procedural impediments including a fire that damaged the registry books. The final entry, dated 21 February 1684, records a royal command to issue a Letter Patent and a Royal Warrant of authorisation for the voyage, allowing Coutinho to renounce the vacancy in favour of a suitable person, with duties charged at six thousand *réis*. Key figures include the petitioner, the Crown Prosecutor, and Council members such as the Count of Val de Reis, Rui Teles de Meneses, and Feliciano Dourado. This material offers researchers insight into the bureaucratic mechanisms of imperial patronage, the legal rectification of administrative negligence, and the management of mercantile privileges in the late seventeenth-century Portuguese Estado da Índia.
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This is a fragmentary administrative and legal document, likely from the Portuguese colonial period (16th–18th century), preserved in the Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino (AHU_CU_Índia, Cx. 14, D). The text records land tenure, inheritance claims, and ecclesiastical appointments involving noble and religious figures in a colonial context, possibly Goa or another territory within the Portuguese Empire. It details property transfers, including holdings such as the estate of Dona Maria de Noronha and lands associated with the Tenhorometod Re Syndicato Eclojophia, referencing local jurisdictions, familial succession, and testamentary arrangements. Key individuals include Pero Maffina, Manuel Caldeira do Canto, Reverend Father François Marquez El Corueta, and various officials such as Corregedores, Vicars General, and members of the Almada and Albuquerque families. The document contains references to judicial procedures, powers of attorney, tithe rights, and disputes over guardianship and asset distribution. Despite significant orthographic irregularities, phonetic spellings, and sections of indecipherable content, it reflects the complex bureaucratic, legal, and ecclesiastical frameworks of Lusophone colonial administration. Seals, marginal annotations, and archival markings indicate formal authentication and provenance within official colonial record-keeping systems. This transcription serves as a primary source for scholarly research into colonial governance, property law, and familial networks in the Portuguese imperial sphere.
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This is a handwritten ecclesiastical letter dated 4th September 1702, addressed to D. Pedro II, King of Portugal, from Alexandre Cícero, Bishop of Nankim, and written in Portuguese colonial script. The document originates from Nankim (likely Nanquim or a variant spelling of a South or East Asian mission station) and forms part of the Portuguese overseas ecclesiastical archive. It discusses the ongoing Chinese Rites controversy, referencing deliberations in Rome and the consultation of missionaries from China regarding the compatibility of Confucian ancestral practices with Catholic doctrine. The author expresses relief that longstanding missionary efforts in China are being distinguished from the actions of disruptive vicars, and conveys hope for a favourable papal decision under the new Supreme Pontiff. The letter also acknowledges royal intervention in securing the provision of the author’s ecclesiastical stipend (*congrua*) through the Viceroy of India, for which gratitude is expressed. Marginalia include an illegible annotation possibly indicating "Humble Chaplain" and the initials "MAOZ". Official stamps from the National Library’s Ultramarine Section appear on the page, confirming archival provenance. The signature, "Alexandre Cícero, Bishop of Nankim", authenticates the document. This primary source offers critical insight into 18th-century Catholic missionary politics, Lusophone imperial patronage, and the intersection of colonial administration and religious authority in Asia.
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Primary Sources
Subject Headings
- Bishops of Macau (2)
- Chinese Rites (1)
Resource type
- Manuscript (89)
Publication year
- Between 1600 and 1699 (25)
- Between 1700 and 1799 (64)