The recent ‘discovery’ that prompted the meeting of a working group around the Barley Account Books.

The manuscripts

This source comprises 26 books, dated between May 1509 and August 1521, preserved in the Arquivo Nacional Torre do Tombo. There are also others from the time of Manuel I of Portugal and the following reign which, at some time, were separated from the set and ended up ‘lost’ in another archival collection. Each one contains a monthly record of the amount of barley – or, less commonly, other cereals – spent on feeding the equines in the royal stable or given to officials in the royal household who kept an equine to serve the king. These books, which all follow the same common structure, always present two lists of equids. The first lists saddle animals and the second pack animals. Each of the lists identifies each horse and indicates its respective daily consumption of barley.
In them we can find a reflection of a reality, between the medieval and modern periods, in which a complex human society was subordinated to the rhythms of the natural world which, paradoxically, sought to increasingly domesticate it.
Thus, these account books reveal, above all, both the human dependence on animal power – played by equines – and on cereal – a fuel of that time – which were vital to the functioning of the royal household, its itinerancy and all its branches that spread out, in the most varied activities, throughout a 16th century kingdom (and empire) that was moving towards globalisation.

Objectives

The aim of this working group is to transcribe, study and disseminate this fantastic source. To this end, a forthcoming open-access book is being prepared, which will contain the transcriptions of all Barley Account Books from the reign of Manuel I of Portugal that have been located so far.
Until then, we will continue to publicise this source at scientific events and publish articles that are currently being prepared for publication.

Researchers

Afonso Soares de Sousa (IEM NOVA/FCSH; FLUC)
António Conduto Oliveira (CHSC; FLUC)
Diana Martins (IEM NOVA/FCSH)
João Nisa (CHSC; FLUC)
Paulo M. Dias (IEM NOVA/FCSH)
Tiago Viúla de Faria (IEM NOVA/FCSH)

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