A venalidade de ofícios como prática social: Minas Gerais no século XVIII

Abstract

The venality of administrative occupations was an easily located and well spreaded practice in the Spanish monarchy, being used by the Crown as a way out at the moments of financial distress. In the Portuguese case, on other hand, still to this day that practice lacks of a deeper investigation, which seeks to notice its frequency and extension. Thereby, this current paper seeks to continue with the research intiated in the master’s degree, in which it was sought to determine the existence of venality in the Lusitanian administration and to define the ways in which it used to happen, focusing its analysis at the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais in the eighteenth century first half, period of political institutionalization of the metropolitan administration in the region and a several increase of the populational density. Now in the thesis, keeping the focus on Minas Gerais in the eighteenth century, the main goal was to further detail the knowledge about the practice by carrying out a study on venality in society, the forms it took and its role in institutional and personal power relations, which lines sometimes got confused at the time. For that, within the scope of the possible allowed by the limitations, the Book of Terms of Sale found for the mining Brazilian State served as the main source, in addition to the initial investigation regarding the subjects involved in the practice. Furthermore, this research also intended to carry out two other goals that were considered extremely important to complete the analysis of venality in more detail fashion. In the first place, an attempt was made to study the hierarchical structure of occupations in the Portuguese government existing in America, in order to help the better understanding of the asset that was being negotiated and also to make a synthesis of this structure that serves as a foundation for administrative studies. Finally, a comparison with Spain was designed in order to try to understand the reasons behind the differences regarding the venal practice in both Monarchies, in addition to using venality in Hispanic territories and the conceptual discussions generated by it to illuminate the practice in the Portuguese Empire. Thereby, it is expected that this thesis contributes in some way to research on the subject, helping to clarify many points regarding venality in Portuguese territories.