Page 185 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo I

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aCta
English and Dutch. They seem to have left deep and indelible marks on the naval vitality of
the port of Vila do Conde. Since there are no reliable indicators that allow us to measure this
projection, we shall use the complaints of the municipal authority. In 1589, the town council
officials declared that the town could not provide more than 12 men in the recruitment of sea-
men requested by the king “…and this because the town has been shattered by seafaring and
many men have left the town for Lisbon…” . A letter dated November 1625 from Philip III
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reproduces information from the religious order of Santíssimo Sacramento de Vila do Conde,
according to which many of their shortages were the result “…of the harm and poverty that
befell the residents of this town, due to the many ships and people that the enemies and pi-
rates have taken from it…” .
32
To corroborate these statements let us, lastly, focus on the expenses recorded in the books
of the Misericórdia of the town which were used to help local inhabitants and foreigners who
arrived there, plundered and wounded, following attacks from privateers between 1585 and
1602 . The figures and trends recorded bear out the widely known incidence of this activity
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in the seafaring universe. Beside the English, also the powerful Dutch armadas systemati-
cally targeted the Portuguese and Spanish fleets after 1566, the year in which the Protestants
rebelled against Spanish rule, and even more so after 1576, when Antwerp was plundered by
Spanish soldiers .
34
Records from 1638 shed some light on the other side of this issue, which is generally un-
der evaluated: the setting in motion of means of returning spoiled seafarers to the kingdom.
A case in point is one of a woman who sells her possessions to pay for the debts incurred to
send her husband the resources necessary to return to the kingdom, after he had been taken
by the enemy .
35
There are other procedures less random. We are referring to the mechanisms for rescuing
or freeing captives, known in Portugal since medieval times. As is well known, the practice
of ransoming prisoners was common between Christian and Muslim armies during the Cru-
sades and Christian Reconquista and this practice was kept up and encouraged throughout
the modern period. the sums gathered to ransom captured individuals relied on public col-
lections, as well as actual town council revenues. These sums were, in fact, one of the main
forms of revenue mobilised in an institutional manner to provide support for the victims of
this type of informal war.
In addition to this framework, who point out to attacks on the sea, other events emerge
from this study, as a result of attacks on coastal regions that affect the whole populations
of these maritime communities. Some Portuguese historians have already researched these
events, though not systematically . In-depth research of this matter is required, which in-
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volves developing focused local studies. A cartographic representation of reports of attacks

31 A.M.V.C. - Lv. 23, fl. 114.
32 Cf. A.M.V.C. - A/188.
33 A.S.C.M.V.C. - Lv. Rec./Desp. - Anos 1585; 1592/93; 1599/1600; 1600/1601.
34 Vd.Guerreiro, Luís R. – op. cit..
35 Idem, 4ª sr., lv. 2, fl. 17.
36 Godinho, Vitorino Magalhães – op. cit., pp. 459-476 and Silva, Francisco Ribeiro from - O corso inglês e as
populações do litoral lusitano (1580-1640) … e Pirataria e corso sobre o Porto. .. (op.cit)