The water culture of the Order of Christ in the making of a self-sufficient and sustainable hydric system

Abstract

Focusing on the Convent of Christ in Portugal, this article presents an overview of the power and control exercised by the Order of Christ over the territory’s water management, inside the monastic enclosure and over the Nabão River, from the late fifteenth century until the nineteenth century. Based on multi-interdisciplinary methodologies, we argue that the monastic enclosure was multi-functional, sustainable, self-sufficient and the stage for the most sophisticated hydraulic system of early modern Portugal. Following a recent review, and based on archival research, a 3D reconstruction and mapping tools, we demonstrate that the system did not work exclusively through gravity. In an early phase, pumps were in use at the Convent of Christ circa 1537 to remove water from cisterns in a technology transferred from ships into gardens. Moreover, this article also reveals the total control of the Order wielded over the Nabão as a source of energy through to the abolition of Religious Orders in 1834.