In an article published in 1882, Capistrano de Abreu wondered why nobody had yet written about the history of the Garcia d’Ávilas family (a.k.a. Casa da Torre), the largest landowners in Brazilian history. The public had to wait for more than 50 years for Pedro Calmon’s book about this family. Now, six decades after the appearance of Calmon’s study, the reader may again indulge his/her curiosity about that long chapter of the Brazilian history with a new book by Luiz Alberto Moniz Bandeira.Funded by the Brazilian government’s Cultural Ministry, Moniz Bandeira, aided by a group of research assistants, did thorough research in various archives located in several different countries in order to locate sources and data concerning the history of the Garcia d’Ávilas family from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century.He begins his work discussing the legend and times of Caramuru and Catarina Paraguaçu, supposedly the great-grandparents of Garcia d’Ávilas’s heir and the forefathers of a Brazilian nationality. Further, he describes the arrival of Garcia d’Ávila in Brazil, his connections with the first governor, and the beginning of what would be known as the largest “latifundium” in Brazil. The author discloses a number of data concerning the role of Garcia d’Ávila and his descendents in the occupation of the Brazilian hinterland, their connections with the colonial and metropolitan authorities, their grievances with ecclesiastical personnel, and their activities in a number of colonial wars, battles, and rebellions. The independence of Brazil and its aftermath, specifically the tumultuous situation of Bahia before and after the “the second of July” (the festive day of Bahian independence), merits four chapters, focused primarily on the day after day battles and on the contributions of Garcia d’Ávila’s descendants, which by that time were also descendants of the Carvalho Pires de Albuquerque, an old family of sugar landlords. Moniz Bandeira finishes his chronology of the Casa da Torre with its decay and the dispersion of its old possessions.In addition, he also dedicates many pages to the endogenous history of the family, describing the personality of the d’Ávilas, marriage alliances, private scandals, deeds, and misdeeds. Moreover, Bandeira, in a disapproving tone, suggests in a series of paragraphs possible errors of other scholars concerning specific dates, names, genealogy matters, and the preeminence of some of the d’Avilas’ descendants in certain particular situations.Throughout the book, but particularly in its introduction, Moniz Bandeira argues that the “latifundium” of the d’Ávilas and their relations with those beneath and above them (the Crown) were similar to those of feudal societies. To the author, even the fortified house built by the first Garcia d’Ávila was a typical medieval construction, an allegation that seems to contradict what has been observed by Rafael Moreira, a historian of architecture, to whom the whole ensemble (mainly the chapel) is a perfect example of renaissance style. But, as the minister of culture wrote in his preface to the book, it doesn’t seem necessary to discuss the validity of such statements.Due to the importance of the “Casa da Torre” in the colonization of Brazil and the extensive research orchestrated by Moniz Bandeira, the reader may sometimes feel that his/her urges for novelty and information were not completely satisfied. As the author himself states in a number of passages, the occupation of the hinterland, together with the raising of cattle to meet the needs of a growing society and people were, in fact, conducted by a number of procurers, renters, agregados (those who lived by favor in somebody else’s house or land), and possibly a whole lot of squatters. Although he mentions the existence of such characters, emphasizing the strenuous situations the d’Ávilas had to overcome in face of their demands for land, a more thorough narrative about these relations, the effective occupation of the hinterland, the impact of economic fluctuations on their possessions and activities would have shad some light on a quite obscure chapter of the Brazilian past.Considering that the d’Ávilas family started with cattle raising but eventually became important plantation owners—having under their power a number of free workers and slaves and also having connections with almost all the Bahian elite— some extra pages about their properties over 350 years could have furnished new information on the following topics: connections between cattle raising and the sugar industry, especially during the sugar boom of the 1790s; changes (if any) in the everyday relations of free and slaves workers; and the emergence of new elites.The various sources brought to light by the author will probably elucidate a series of uncertainties, clarifying the chronology of the period. It would have been useful, though, if some of those documents had been published as an appendix, so that the reader could have direct access to the contents of Moniz Bandeira’s discoveries.
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Dec 17, 2007
R.L Rego + 1
Open Access
