As memórias paroquiais de 1758 : uma microfonte para a macro-história do vinho do Douro

Abstract

The approach to a Historical theme by the investigator will be as richer and attractive as more information is collected. If for each subject there are documental series that immediately and naturally are imposed, there are other sources that although apparently have nothing to do with the inquired matter, in the end show that they contain very important data about it. The historian of the Douro cultivation wine will get advantage from the use of all the data contained in the statements made by the Priests of the Portuguese Kingdom in 1758, kept in the National Archive of Torre do Tombo under the designation of Dicionário Geográfico and usually known as Parochial Memories. For this communication only the assertions respecting to the Região Demarcada do Douro (Demarcated Region of the Douro) were used. The Parochial Memories revealed themselves of extreme importance in the answers to three kinds of questions: a comparative study of the importance of the vineyard in the several parishes of the region and its relation with other cultivations, the question of the precocity (yes or no) of the monoculture in the Douro and finally the importance of the wine in the parochial incomes. These selected questions do not exhaust the potential of the information contained in the Memories.