“Loulé’s communications network at the end of the Middle Ages” is the theme of the conference that researcher Gonçalo Melo da Silva presents on March 16, at 15 pm, at the Loulé Municipal Archive Professor Joaquim Romero Magalhães.
In Portugal, although municipal power constitutes a classic theme in medieval historiography, studies on municipalities and their communication networks were limited almost exclusively to participation in Cortes and dialogue with the Crown, with the processes of collection and exchange of information outside Parliament and the Court and with other councils and powers, such as ecclesiastics, and agents, such as merchants.
In fact, work continues to be needed, for example, on the extension of the municipalities' communication network, the agents they employed in this activity and their social profile and the logistical aspects and financing of their travel. These historiographical gaps can be explained, to a large extent, by the scarcity of sources, which does not happen in the case of Loulé.
Therefore, the aim of this conference is to present Loulé's communications network with the outside world at the end of the Middle Ages, such as the agents involved, their social profile and the missions and trips they undertook.
Gonçalo Melo da Silva has been a researcher at the Institute of Medieval Studies of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences of Universidade Nova de Lisboa, since 2009, where he is co-researcher responsible for the project “Thinking big about small border towns: Alto Alentejo and Alta Extremadura in Leon (XNUMXth – XNUMXth centuries)”, financed by FCT.
He graduated in History (2010) and obtained his Master's in History – Specialization Area Medieval History, PhD in History – Specialization Area Medieval History and European Doctorate (2021) at FCSH-UNL.
His doctoral thesis focused on the port towns and cities of the Algarve between 1249 and 1521. His areas of interest are Medieval History, Maritime History, Urban History and Religious History, as well as Digital Humanities and Science Communication. He is currently involved in several national and international projects.
Among his most recent works is “The Revenue and Expense Books of Loulé (1375-1518)”, an edition of the Loulé City Council.
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