Floor 1

End Tunnel

We know the details of each decision taken by the Royal Government and the Secretary of State, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, thanks to the book published in 1758, Memoirs of the main measures taken during the earthquake that struck the Court of Lisbon in 1755.  

The Providências were 241 measures and provisions drawn up by Secretary of State Carvalho e Melo, signed by the king and executed by his ministers to respond to the consequences of the earthquake, ensure order throughout the kingdom, control the risks, and ensure the survival of the population. They addressed the various problems the city and country faced after the disaster. Carvalho e Melo aimed to ensure fast and efficient decision-making. He understood that today’s problems could turn into tomorrow’s nightmares.  The spread of disease, the large number of corpses on the streets, the many displaced, the instability of buildings, the hunger, and the speculation and looting demanded an immediate response.  

These measures were later compiled into a book. It was a magnificent publication, carefully printed on linen paper with leather binding and golden fore-edges. The book was divided into 13 sections—12 for specific subjects and one for miscellaneous issues—dealing with how to minimise the risk of epidemics and ensure health care; maintain order; prevent pirate attacks; organise the clearing of rubble; ensure the safety and continuation of religious worship; organise judicial, fiscal, and financial aspects; and lastly, appoint the High-Engineer of the Kingdom Manuel da Maia to plan the reconstruction of Lisbon.  

The Providências were published as an answer to a debate about Carvalho e Melo that was starting to stir Portuguese society.  Some saw him as the man who saved Lisbon from chaos and others saw him as a dictator that usurped the power of the king to make sure his political, philosophical, and social beliefs would become the rule of the land.  

In addition to informing the public about the measures taken, this book was also a very effective component of what historians would later call “propaganda”. The legal labyrinth of political tradition, excessively marked by the formalism of law, was then superseded by the need to react quickly and efficiently to an unprecedented catastrophe.  

The first set of measures addressed the risk of epidemics, given the decomposition of corpses, by speeding up burials or dumping bodies found in the rubble at sea. Next came food, with the distribution of provisions, unloading and transporting goods, tax exemptions, and points of sale. Thirdly, providing health care to and hospitalising the wounded—with orders addressed to the Grand Officer of the King's House, the Duke of Lafões, and the Abbot of São Bento—by transforming cellars into hospitals while infirmaries were being rebuilt.  

Then the subject of the order, to prevent robbery, for example, was addressed, using summary trials and resorting to hanging criminals caught in the act. Corregedores dos Bairros, representing the royal police, with the help of the Marquis of Marialva, Grand Squire, were in charge of monitoring the inhabitants and requisitioning the unemployed for the reconstruction work: They took advantage of the situation to punish those who lived together without being married and arrest the preachers responsible for the apocalyptic prophecies of the catastrophe.  

Soldiers were dispatched with the mission to prevent pirate attacks and to crack down on smuggling. Cavalry regiments were sent to the coastal areas. The regiments of Évora, Cascais, Peniche, and Setúbal were sent to Lisbon, and the Marquis of Tancos was appointed General Superintendent in charge of public order in the city. 

Judicial, fiscal, and financial reorganisation required court relocation, the construction of new warehouses, the installation of government agencies—including the sugar and tobacco customs offices—and the protection of the royal coffers; and all these expenses were covered by the new 4% tax levied on all trade.  

Finally, reconstruction work had to begin and measures to clear the city to avoid flooding, clear the main streets, and give instructions on how to proceed in case bodies were found were drawn up. New problems arose every day, such as how to protect high-value objects and treasures found in the rubble. The king's engineers had the difficult task of making sure religious edifices were safe to enter.  

These provisions illustrate the monumental scale of the problems posed, as was the case for the various measures concerning construction materials, their origin, unloading, and management. The measures also imposed rent control at pre-earthquake prices for homes, shops, and warehouses. Squares, streets, houses, and public buildings were to be measured and chief engineer Manuel da Maia was authorised to appoint engineers to assist him. Extensive legislation strictly regulated the sale and purchase of property, financing, and credit for construction work, and the manner of assessing and paying compensation to those who had lost land to public easements. Even more important was defining the scope of the reconstruction, the type of facades, building alignment, and the width and shape of the streets according to chief engineer Manuel de Maia’s overall plan. 

There are fourteen Providências, arranged by subject and broken down as follows: 

"I. To avoid the fear of the plague that threatened the corruption of corpses, which were innumerable and there were no living people to bury them, due to the general and hasty desertion of Lisbon's inhabitants; 

II. To avert the famine that would necessarily follow, not only because there was no one to take the food, but also because many of their stores were buried in ruins and scorched by fire; 

III. To heal the wounded and sick who were helpless in the streets in certain danger of dying; 

IV. To bring back the inhabitants of Lisbon who had deserted, in order to re-establish the settlement, without which nothing could be done; 

V. To prevent robbery and punish the thieves who had plundered the City by stripping the Houses and Temples 

VI. To prevent robbery from taking place by sea, and for this purpose to round up the River; 

VIII. To order some Troops from the Kingdom to serve the great work of the City and its peace; 

IX. Give the necessary facilities for the interim accommodation of the people; 

X. To re-establish the exercise of the Divine Office in the few Churches that had been saved, or in decent interim accommodations; 

XI. To gather the Religious who were wandering about dispersed and to give them the possible enclosure; XII. To attend to the various necessities in which the people were, which by various and sundry are reduced to a separate class; 

XIII. Acts of Religion of His Majesty to placate the Divine wrath and to thank the Lord for so many benefits; 

XIX. The most conducive means are given for the rebuilding of the City."

This book, which inaugurated a new way of disseminating political government, was based on three essential elements.

The classic dedication, which is quite long and elaborate over six pages, clarifying the importance of King José as the foundation of the regime.

The systematic listing of the Providencias, both religious and practical, taken by the king, and with the help of God, described over forty pages. The concept of "Providencias" introduced a theological density to the political discourse, which was very important to 18th century readers. The Providencias were based on divine wisdom, anticipating and foreseeing the needs of the people of Lisbon, according to the order of natural government. According to the author of the most important 18th century Dictionary, Rafael Bluteau, the world was not a "gathering of fortuitous things (...), the great machine of the universe" imposed an "Architect", just as the ship could not sail without a Pilot, and a house without an owner would be contrary to "all good reason". This was the spirit in which the government of the monarchy, copying the properties of divine government, had responded to the challenges caused by earthquake, tsunami and fire. For the rest, a wide-ranging legislative reform - aimed at rationalising the legal system - would take the famous name of the Law of Good Reason and would be published the following year, 1759.

A collection of notices, decrees and other documents of the same kind, reflecting the concrete legislative measures taken by the king and executed mainly by Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo to control the difficulties felt in Lisbon and in the rest of the country.

This book, with its luxurious binding, and despite the long dedication to the king, which exalts his divine power, strengthened and justified Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo's position, showing how effective was his government's response to the catastrophe that had befallen Lisbon. Without referring directly to the Secretary of State, the author, Francisco Freire, a very erudite oratorian, poet and translator of classics, integrated the group of those who tried to form around Sebastião José a movement for the transformation of the royal policy. But also of monopolisation of the government, in favour of an Enlightenment political project, but also muscular, or despotic, which has led to complex debates on the consistency and direction of the so-called pombalism.

"Providence I: Notice to the Marquis Estribeiro-Mor to remove from the ruins the body of the Ambassador of the Catholic King. 

It has come to Your Majesty's knowledge that the Ambassador of the Catholic King is found under the ruins of his house, and Your Majesty orders me to ask Your Excellency to take all necessary steps to have him removed from the ruins. God save Your Excellency. Paço de Belém, the first of November 1755. Sebastião José de Carvalho e Mello. "

The Spanish ambassador, the Count of Peralada, died in his nightshirt while trying to flee into the street, crushed under the stone coat of arms of the Meneses, which adorned the facade of the palace in which he lived. It was perhaps the most illustrious death of the Lisbon Earthquake, so one of the greatest urgencies was to recover his body, provide him with proper care, and ensure that the Catholic rites were observed.

Queen Mariana Vitoria of Portugal corresponded regularly with her mother, Queen Isabella of Spain. In the first letter written after the earthquake, after assuring Isabel Farnésio how well the Portuguese royal family was, she hastens to mention the death of the ambassador:

This goes by an extraordinary dispatch from the King. I have highly recommended that it be sent to you quickly, before some false news comes to you that will leave you in care. We are all alive and well, a thousand thanks be to God.

I shall now have the honour of telling you as best I can of the fatal accident which happened on Saturday at nine o'clock and three-quarters of the morning. We felt the most horrible earthquake (...) I ran outside with the greatest difficulty, for I could scarcely stand, I came out through the Arabian staircase where certainly, without God's help, I would have broken my head or legs for I could not stand and full of dread, as you may judge, for I believed that the last hour had come. The king came to me later, for he had fled by another way. My daughters stayed in the oratory and came afterwards to us, but though their quarters were somewhat ruined, they suffered nothing thank God, but after that we are in tents in the garden.

(...) After that we still feel some tremors from time to time, but much smaller, thank God, but with all this they terrify me infinitely, because in Lisbon practically the whole city is on the ground and many people are crushed among others poor Peralada [Spanish Ambassador] and to add to the suffering the fire has consumed a large part of the city (...). Our Palace [of Ribeira] is half ruined and what is left is burnt with everything that was inside.

Forgive me, my dear Mother, for not telling you more, but the state and confusion leave me no time (...). There are horrible misfortunes and desolation is general. I ask you most humbly to pray to God to continue to grant us his mercy and preserve us, if that is his will.

Madam, from your Majesty's humble daughter.

Source: Letter from Maria Ana Victória to her mother Isabel Farnésio, Belém, November 4th 1755, National Historical Archive of Madrid, legajo 2312, transcribed in Caetano BEIRÃO, "O Terramoto de Lisboa de 1755 - Novos Documentos", Panorama, III Series, Nº1 1956

Museu de Lisboa

PROVIDÊNCIAS on-line, Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal: http://purl.pt/6695

Maria Isabel Braga ABECASIS, A Real Barraca. A Residência na Ajuda dos Reis de Portugal após o Terramoto (1756-1794), Tribuna da História, 2009.

A. Banha de ANDRADE, Vernei e a Cultura do seu Tempo, Universidade de Coimbra, 1966. Jorge

Borges de MACEDO, O Marquês de Pombal. 1699-1782, Biblioteca Nacional, Série Pombalina, 1982.

Nuno Gonçalo MONTEIRO, D. José, Na sombra de Pombal, Círculo de Leitores, 2006.

José SUBTIL, «Memória e Poder, o Terramoto de 1755», O Terramoto de 1755: Impactos Históricos, Livros Horizonte, 2007, pp. 209-225.

José SUBTIL, «Pombal e o Rei: valimento ou governamentalização?», Ler História, 2011, pp. 53-69. https://doi.org/10.4000/lerhistoria.1472 

1755 O Grande Terramoto de Lisboa, 4 vols., FLAD, Público, 2005

Room of Tales

Providências 

Shortly after the earthquake, in 1756, famous articles about the Lisbon earthquake were published in German by a certain Immanuel Kant, a then-unknown scholar. His interest could be likened to the question in the Inquérito about how and in what direction buildings fell and the earth moved during the quake. But were the explanations given as to what caused the earthquake bound to be the same, whether they were written by a Portuguese or German scholar? 

Reading Kant, readers would understand that earthquakes were explained by the particular shape of the ground. Caves, mines, and underground labyrinths explain why the earth so easily collapsed. The tremors propagated in a kind of implosion through the abundance of caves along the banks of the rivers.  

However, these were not very solid explanations.  

That is why a Portuguese text of the time admitted that of all natural phenomena, earthquakes were the most difficult to explain. But what exactly was meant by “earthquake” back then? “A pulsation, tremor, tilt, or upheaval of the earth in some part of the globe,” answered a curious guesser in 1756. At the time, main ideas about the origin of earthquakes were still based on classical philosophy. The fermentation of inflammable materials in underground caverns caused volcanoes. But, as was understood at the time, it was the absence of volcanoes—through which explosive matter would have been expelled—and the corresponding accumulation of pressure that caused earthquakes. 

The experience of the Lisbon earthquake in 1755 contributed to a better understanding of the issue. The close relationships travellers, businessmen, scientists, doctors, and clerics had favoured the circulation of ideas. In this respect, the German community in Lisbon played an important role. Germans were associated with technological professions: They were printers, glassmakers, bookbinders, gunsmiths, and many were financiers and merchants. In 1755, the many German survivors of the disaster, including a Bible translator who owned a collection of Portuguese literature, encouraged the flow of ideas between Lisbon and Hamburg. Science broke down political and religious barriers. The Hamburg Senate also showed great solidarity by sending the equivalent of 900,000 reals and four ships, each loaded with 200 tonnes of wood for the reconstruction.  

In fact, there are many testimonies of this scientific spirit, which circulated between different countries and were copied in other cities. There are descriptions of earth movements in Lisbon on that fateful day that are likened to being on a boat. According to these testimonies, there was no doubt that the largest and longest movements had occurred in a north-south direction. More rigorous descriptions led to better explanations. Merchants, who watched fleets on the river, were privileged witnesses of the ebb of the sea, giving never-seen-before views of the depths of the sea with the movement of the tides. Similarly, they recorded the various movements of the earth, for nothing could disturb confidence in trade more than the 250 or so tremors recorded in the six months following 1 November 1755. 

A German merchant living in Lisbon: Born in Hamburg and a correspondent in Lisbon, he collects scientific instruments and is curious about logical and rational explanations of earthquakes. After the earthquake, he writes home: 

Hope this letter finds you in good health. I am doing well under the circumstances; though I still do not understand why God has spared me and why I have survived the earthquake that shattered this city. On the 1st of November, I was tempted by the beauty of the morning to take a stroll, so I left my office and went to the top of St. George’s Hill. That might have been my salvation, as the plateau there is wide and free of buildings. Suddenly, the shaking started. I didn’t quite understand what was happening, but by the third shake, and as I hung onto a pole for dear life, I knew that I would be lucky to survive. 

When the ground stopped shaking, and as I walked down from the hill, I understood the extent of the damage. No words can express the horror. Dust and smoke from the fires surrounded me, and I could barely breathe. Darkness was around me, and I found myself surrounded by a city falling into ruin, with crowds of people screaming and calling out for mercy. This city will never be able to recover!  

I have found refuge in the garden of another merchant’s house. With many other survivors, I have been sleeping in tents. I feel safer with no walls around me! Everyone is scared another earthquake will hit again and destroy what little is left.  

Of course, I am sure another will hit soon. I had the good fortune of secretly reading an article published in the weekly Königsberg newspaper by a young scholar named Immanuel Kant. He asserts that earthquakes are caused by implosions occurring in the ground, near rivers, just like in Lisbon. The ground here is filled with caves, mines, and labyrinths that often fill with water from the ocean and rivers. The king and his ministers are debating whether to rebuild Lisbon or move the royal court to Belém…Rumours are that the city will indeed be rebuilt in the same area where I’m sure another earthquake is bound to happen!  

That’s why I’ve decided to come back home soon and for good. I do not wish to experience this again in my lifetime. I have asked the main office for permission to leave Lisbon, and I am now preparing everything for when my substitute arrives. May God make it sooner than later!  

I hope the winter is not too harsh back home and that you are in good health. 

Kant’s publications on the Koninsberger newpaper:

-        Jan. 1756 “On the Causes of the Earthquakes, on the Occasion of the Calamity that befell the Western Countries of Europe towards the End of Last Year.”

-        Feb. 1756 “History and Natural Description of the Most Noteworthy Occurrences of the Earthquake that Struck a Large Part of the Earth at the End of the Year 1755.”

-        April 1756 “Continued Observations of the Terrestrial Convulsions that have been Perceived for Some Time.”

These three essays were written in response to the Lisbon earthquake of 1 November 1755, which destroyed more than half the city and killed tens of thousands of its inhabitants. The science of tectonic plates was still far away, and Kant's scientific explanation of the causes of the earthquake was very much based on the natural philosophy of Aristotle and ancient philosophers, where the effects of combustion and underground cavities were pointed out as dominant factors. But Kant's main point was that the earthquake should be understood in entirely physical terms. He rejected the catastrophe as an affront to divine goodness or an exemplary punishment from the Creator. The fact that these essays were intended for a wide audience was far more revolutionary than it may seem today. In that sense, Kant was pointing to a new way of thinking.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Königsberger_Zeitungen

Kant, Immanuel: Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und Theorie des Himmels. Königsberg u. a., 1755:

https://www.deutschestextarchiv.de/book/show/kant_naturgeschichte_1755

https://users.manchester.edu/facstaff/ssnaragon/kant/Helps/Periodicals.html

https://users.manchester.edu/facstaff/ssnaragon/kant/Helps/Warda1919.html#1756

http://ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/european-media/european-media-events/juergen-wilke-the-lisbon-earthquake-1755

Ana Cristina ARAÚJO, «O desastre de Lisboa e a opinião pública europeia», Estudos de História Contemporânea Portuguesa - Homenagem a Victor de Sá, Livros Horizonte, 1991, pp. 93-107.

Maria Luísa BRAGA, «Polémica dos terramotos em Portugal», Cultura-História e Filosofia, Vol. V, 1986, pp. 545-573.

Pedro CALAFATE, «A polémica em torno das causas do terramoto de 1755», História do Pensamento Filosófico Português, Pedro Calafate (dir.), Vol. III, 2002, pp. 369-381.

Rómulo de CARVALHO, «As interpretações dadas, na época, às causas do terramoto de 1 de Novembro de 1755», Memórias da Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Separata do Tomo XXVIII, 1987, pp. 179-205. https://purl.pt/12157/1/estudos/terramoto.html

João José Alves DIAS, «A colónia alemã de Lisboa face à Inquisição: um olhar sobre o século XVI», Portugal – Alemanha: Memórias e Imaginários, Maria Manuela Gouveia DELILLE (Coordenação), Minerva – Centro Interuniversitário de Estudos Germanísticos, 2007, pp. 75-82.

Russel R. DYNES, «The Dialogue between Voltaire and Rousseau on the Lisbon Earthquake: The Emergence of a Social Science View», International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, 18,1, 2000, pp. 97–115.

John FLAMSTEED, A letter concerning earthquakes, Londo, Printed for A. Millar, 1750. https://archive.org/details/b30374170_0002

Bernd HAMACHER, «Strategien narrativen Katastrophenmanagements: Goethe und die "Erfindung" des Erdbebens von Lissabon», Das Erdbeben von Lissabon und der Katastrophendiskurs im 18. Jahrhundert, Gerhard LAUER et al. (ed.), 2008, pp. 162–172.

Isidoro ORTIZ GALLARDOS, Lecciones entretenidas y curiosas physico-astrologicometheorologicas sobre la generación, causas y señales de los Terremotos, Salamanca, Antonio Joseph Villargordo, 1756.

Francisco Xavier de OLIVEIRA Discours pathétique au sujet des calamités presentes arrivées au Portugal (...), Londres, 1756.

Francisco Xavier de OLIVEIRA, Tratado do princípio, progresso, duraçam e reino do reynado do Anti-Cristo, oferecido à nação portuguesa (...), Londres, 1768.

António PEREIRA, Commentario Latino e Portuguez sobre o terramoto e incendio de Lisboa de que soy testemunha ocular, Na oficina de Miguel Rodrigues, 1756.

Jean-Paul POIRIER, «The 1755 Lisbon disaster, the earthquake that shook Europe», European Review, nº 14, Cambrigde University Press, 2006, pp. 169-180.

Relation du désastre arrivé aux villes de Lima, & du Callao, au Pérou; le 28 octobre 1746, par un tremblement de terre, Paris, 1747. 

https://archive.org/details/relationdudsastr00unkn/page/4/mode/2up

Maria Fernanda ROLLO, Ana Isabel BUESCU e Pedro CARDIM, História e ciência da catástrofe, Edições Colibri, 2007.

Jean-Jacques ROUSSEAU, «Lettre de J. J. Rousseau à M. de Voltaire, le 18 Août 1756», Œuvres complètes, Gallimard, La Pléiade, tome IV, 1969, pp. 1057-1075.

Frei Francisco António de SÃO JOSEPH, Discurso moral sobre os tremores que causou o terramoto na gente de Lisboa, Lisboa, 1756.

Joseph Alvarez da SILVA, Investigação das causas proximas do Terramoto, sucedido em Lisboa no ano de 1755, Lisboa, 1756.

John SHOWER, Practical reflections on the earthquakes that have happened in Europe and America but chiefly in the islands of Jamaica, England, Sicily, Malta, &c. With a particular and historical account of them, and divers other earthquakes, Printed and sold at Cook, James, and Kingman, Londo, 1750. https://archive.org/details/b30355588

William STUKELEY, The philosophy of earthquakes, natural and religious: Or An inquiry into their cause, and their purpose, Printed for A. and C. Corbett, London, 1756.

Rui TAVARES, O pequeno livro do grande terramoto, Tinta da China, 2005.

VOLTAIRE, «Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne, ou examen de cet axiome: Tout est bien», Mélanges, Gallimard, collection Pléiade, 1961. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5727289v/f9.image#

The German merchant

Who had died and whether they were important or not were questions that surgeons and barbers could easily answer in the days following the earthquake. Most of the victims died during the disaster itself, mainly from head injuries and bleeding, but many were saved by an amazing improvisational effort. On 3 November 3 1755, the king ordered the surgeons and nurses to treat the wounded, using medicine from the Royal Hospital of Todos os Santos. Surgeons assisted the nobles as well as the anonymous, helping to treat infections which were the cause of most deaths. For the next seven days, many injured survivors were rescued from the rubble. Even the ninth day after the earthquake, a girl was rescued, still alive. Hospitals recorded who was injured and what injuries they had, providing specific information about what limb was broken and what type of would they had. This created a wealth of information unlike any other for the time.  

Surgeons and doctors had their work cut out for them, all the while working under chaotic conditions. It was so bad that many days later, on 18 December 1755, patients had almost died in Rossio because the heavy rains had caused flooding. Lisbon was in a state of chaos for long after the quake itself. At first, the sick and injured were assisted in the gardens of private palaces, in the cellars of the Count of Castelo Melhor or simply among the ruins. In February 1756, they started sending them to the Royal Hospital of Todos os Santos, which was still in very poor condition. There were too many victims to be counted so many were sent to São Bento Monastery, forcing the surgeons to work tirelessly for months.  

The surgeon is concerned about the rumors about the earthquake. Some say that the damage was not as serious and that the number of dead was lower. The news is vague and inaccurate. The abounding fear was why observations needed to be serious. Some people made mountains of molehills, but nobody forgets the people burnt alive or buried. 

In fact, the earthquake and its multitude of casualties contributed greatly to the understanding of the precarious state of medical education in Portugal. Portuguese surgeons were described as obsessed with bloodletting, although they were considered skilled. The famous professor of medicine Bernardo Santucci had been criticized for his insistence on dissecting corpses and for the large number of clinical autopsies performed. The rigorous examination of the causes of death contributed to finding the root of the evil at the origin of the diseases or trauma. In fact, the anatomy and surgery courses given at the Hospital de Todos os Santos, in Rossio, helped save lives and it can be said that the earthquake was one of the main springboards triggering an evolution in medical education. 

Surgeon  with a license from Hospital de Todos os Santos in Lisbon. Although the Church and the king sometimes forbade it, he studied anatomy and surgery on real corpses. The surgeon tells: 

After my medical studies in Coimbra, I managed to get my Surgeon’s license in Lisbon, where Bleeding Barbers are also taught. Bleeding is a common remedy, and a way to deal with many afflictions. 

On the day of the earthquake, I went straight to Rossio, where many of the wounded were taken and where they stayed inside tents for the next three weeks, as the Hospital de Todos os Santos was not yet safe. Apart from the destruction caused by the earthquake, the hospital had partially burned down years before... I even fear that it will never be fully functional again. Since that day, I have had no rest. When I am not working in the hospital, I travel to the city outskirts with noblemen and charitable people to treat other wounded people and their resulting infections, the greatest cause of death. 

Even days after the quake, we were still pulling survivors out from under the rubble. A girl was rescued nine days after! Imagine spending nine days in the dark, not knowing whether someone will find you!  

We have all been working nonstop for weeks. There is one good thing about this tragedy: the number of wounded caused by the earthquake shows how precarious our medical education is in Lisbon. After all, my old professor, Santucci, was right. People are now starting to understand what he meant when he would say that autopsies were necessary “to find the root of evil, and to know its cause”. 

The anatomical drawings (engraved by Michel Le Bouteux) in the book “Anatomy of the human body: compiled with medical, chemical, philosophical and mathematical doctrines,” by Bernardo Santucci, Doctor at the University of Bologna and Professor of Anatomy at the Royal Hospital of All Saints, showed the evolution of Italian medicine, in the rigour of the physiological and anatomical descriptions, in the first half of the 18th century.

Museu da Saúde, Lisboa

Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência, Lisboa

https://archive.org/details/anatomiadocorpoh00sant/page/n6/mode/1up

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber_surgeon#/media/File:F_A_Maulbertsch_Quacksalber.jpg

Laurinda ABREU, A politica religiosa do Marquês de Pombal: algumas leis que abalaram a Igreja, Separata da Revista Século XVIII, vol. I, tomo I, Lisboa, 2000, pp. 223-233.

Laurinda ABREU, A assistência e a saúde como espaços de inovação: alguns exemplos portugueses, Lisboa, Gradiva, 2008.

Laurinda ABREU, «O terramoto de 1755 e o Breve do papa Bento XIV», O terramoto de 1755: impactos históricos, Ana Cristina ARAÚJO e José Luís CARDOSO, Livros Horizonte, 2013, pp. 237-247.

Boaventura Maciel ARANHA, Cuidados na vida e descuidos na morte, Officina Pinheirense da Musica, 1743.

Ana Cristina ARAÚJO, A Morte em Lisboa: Atitudes e Representações 1700-1830, Livros Horizonte, 1997.

Miguel Telles ANTUNES, «Vítimas do Terramoto de 1755 no Convento de Jesus», Revista Electrónica de Ciências da Terra, vol. 3, nº 1, 2006, pp. 1-14. 

Helena Carvalhão BUESCU, «Sobreviver à catástrofe: sem tecto, entre ruínas», O Grande Terramoto de Lisboa», Ficar Diferente, Helena Carvalhão and Cordeiro, Gonçalo (eds), Gradiva, 2005, pp. 19-72.

Juizo verdadeiro sobre a carta contra os medicos, cirurgioens, e boticarios ha pouco impressa com o titulo 'Sustos da vida nos perigos da cura', exposto em huma carta de hum amigo a outro, que sobre ella pedio o parecer. Lisboa: Na Officina de Joseph Filipe, 1758.

Maria Amélia Dias FERREIRA, O socorro às vitimas do terramoto de Lisboa: 1755, Tese de Doutoramento em Enfermagem, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 2016.

Maria Luísa Pedroso de LIMA, «Tragédia, risco e controlo: uma releitura psico-social dos testamentos de 1755», Análise Social, vol. XLIII (1.º), 2008, pp. 7-28.

Joachim Joseph Moreira de MENDONÇA, História universal dos terremotos, que tem havido no mundo, de que ha noticia, desde a sua creação até ao século presente, Officina de Antonio Vicente da Silva, 1758.

Antonio dos REMÉDIOS, Resposta à Carta de Joze de Oliveira Trovam e Sousa, Lisboa, na Offi. de Domingos Rodrigues, 1756.

Bernardo SANTUCCI, Anatomia do corpo humano, recopilada com doutrinas medicas, chimicas, filosoficas, mathematicas, com indices, e estampas, representantes todas as partes do corpo humano Lisboa, Officina de Antonio Pedrozo Galram, 1739.

Luis A. de Oliveira RAMOS, «Do Hospital Real de Todos os Santos à História Hospitalar Portuguesa», Revista da Faculdade de Letras, II Série, vol. X., 1993, pp. 334-350.

António Nunes Ribeiro SANCHES, Tratado da Conservaçam da Saúde dos Povos, Officina de Joseph Filippe, 1757. 

Fr. Diogo SANTIAGO, Postilla Religiosa e Arte de Enfermeiros, Officina de Miguel Manescal da Costa, 1741.

Jose Acúrsio de TAVARES, Verdade Vindicada ou resposta a huma carta escrita em Coimbra, em que se dá noticia do lamentável sucesso de Lisboa, no dia I de Novembro de 1755, Lisboa, Na Officina de Miguel Manescal da Costa, 1756.

Surgeon Bleeding Barber 

At the time of the earthquake, Lisbon was Europe’s fourth-largest city—after London, Paris, and Naples—with about 200,000 inhabitants. On a normal day, most streets in the port town of Lisbon were populated with artisans, fishmongers, street vendors, dental surgeons, doctors, chocolate makers, hairdressers, and flower sellers. By the riverside, English, Flemish, and Spanish merchants mingled among groups of fishermen. Without a doubt, the riverside area teemed with construction workers, boat hands, caulkers, carpenters, barrelmakers, ropemakers, and of course, the occasional guitar-playing sailor. Between the Ribeira and the Terreiro do Paço, crowds of women dominated the street shops, with sardinheiras, fruit and vegetable sellers, bakers, and many water-walkers and washerwomen. There were also public notaries, clerks, insurers, goods registrars, officials from the Mint and the Customs House, writers, accountants, goldsmiths, watchmakers, and many merchants. Many monks from various religious orders mingled in the crowd. Travelers considered it filthy and stinky because the streets were filled with rubbish, wastewater, and stray dogs. People threw their rubbish and even wastewater out of their windows, warning those below by screaming, “Água Vai” meaning, “Here goes water”! 

The many enslaved Africans were also a major presence in Lisbon's daily life. Every day, enslaved women carried dirty water and rubbish from houses out to the beaches in Alfama, Ribeira and Boa Vista, they were called “calhandreiras”. Others sold food on the street, alongside beggars. Other women sold charcoal or caught fish. Enslaved men carried goods or offered their services as whitewashers or watermen. But there were cases of enslaved men who saved money, bought their freedom, renting houses to guests, or opening shops in the street as artisans, potters, confectioners, or weavers. The most striking presence in the streets occurred during religious festivals, with the famous brotherhoods of men from Africa, often dressed according to their traditions. Groups of black musicians, often with wind instruments, also marked the celebrations and popular festivals. The presence of Portuguese people of African origin, organists in churches, or famous poets and viola players marked the history of the streets of Lisbon at the time of the Earthquake.  

Amongst the crowd, Jews did not manifest their religious beliefs, due to fear of the Inquisition, but many would certainly walk the streets of Lisbon, whether as merchants, moneylenders, actors, simple craftsmen, or doctors. Some, converted to Christianity, called themselves New-Christians and tried not to arouse the suspicion of the Old-Christians. Others, more rare, continued to secretly maintain Jewish customs. Gypsies also circulated in the streets, with nomadic habits, but they were systematically deported to Brazil in the decades before the Earthquake. The men often traded horses and the women were associated with the magical arts, which was a source of great interest for the population, but also of mistrust and repression on the part of the authorities. 

Another notable presence were the religious novices. There were so many religious novices that the monasteries and convents couldn’t afford to keep them. Women worked hard producing sweets and embroideries to sell, and many men were often forced to beg in the streets. In turn, the wealthier Lisboans avoided walking in the dirty streets and preferred riding in their coaches. 

The day of the earthquake, things were different. It was All Saints Day, so the rich and poor, men and women, were together in the streets on their way to church, dressed in their best clothes. Many pilgrims, as well as sellers offering their products to passers-by, had come to Lisbon from the countryside. 

Most rich families had a chapel in their homes for daily services, so visiting a public church for an important mass was an excellent, rare excuse to be outside and mingle, especially for women. 

About 80 years apart, these two paintings show the same view of the city, the Terreiro do Paço, with the large square tower of the Ribeira Palace dominating the ensemble. We notice the care given to the architectural representation on the first painting, the characters being represented in a less detailed way. In the second painting, although it represents an older view of Lisbon, it is charming to linger on the details: nobles, merchants, enslaved people, children running, ladies strolling: people from all walks of life crossed paths in this square, from all walks of life.

Rossio Square, around 1750. The Hospital de Todos os Santos, with its Manueline portal, dominates the square, where aristocrats of both sexes stroll in unusual conviviality. The panel shows two carriages and the famous monumental fountain, built in the 16th century, crowned by a Neptune sculpted in stone. Also, note the small vendors – sometimes in rows of stalls, an unmistakable mark of daily life in Lisbon in the 18th century.  The whole scene is framed by pelmets and brims that simulate brocades with their respective fringes and tassels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F7f73_8yps&t=6s

https://acervo.publico.pt/culturaipsilon/saudades-lisboa-desaparecida

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WVZ8JWKIDs

http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/46280

Descobrirruas de Lisboaatravés de palácios do século XVIII - FCSH+Lisboa (unl.pt)

Como era Lisboa antes do Terramoto de 1755? Há um painel de azulejos que lherevela (quase) tudo - FCSH+Lisboa (unl.pt)

O percurso “rocambolesco” do Grande Panorama de Lisboa - FCSH+Lisboa (unl.pt)

Lisboa no Renascimento, a cidade global - RTP Ensina

Histórias com História: PROFISSÕES DE ANTIGAMENTE (historiaschistoria.blogspot.com)

Saudades da LisboaDesaparecida - PÚBLICO (publico.pt)

https://almada-virtual-museum.blogspot.com/2016/01/iconografia-de-lisboa-5-parte.html

António BRÁSIO, Os Pretosem Portugal,Agência Geral dasColónias, 1944.

Carlos CAETANO, A Ribeira de LisboanaÉpoca da Expansão Portuguesa, Séculos XV a XVIII, Pandora, 2004.

Júlio de CASTILHO, A Ribeira de Lisboa, DescripçãoHistória da Margem do Teho, Desde a Madre-de-Deus até Santos-o-Velho, ImprensaNacional, Lisboa, 1893.

Suzanne CHANTAL, A vida quotidianaem Portugal ao tempo do terramoto, Livros do Brasil, 2005.

António Borges COELHO, Ruas e Gentes na Lisboa Quinhentista, Caminho, 2006

Júlio DANTAS, O Amor em Portugal no Século XVIII, LivrariaChardron, 1916.

José Pedro Sousa DIAS, Droguistas, Boticários e Segredistas. Ciência e Sociedade na Produção de Medicamentos na Lisboa de Setecentos, FundaçãoCalouste Gulbenkian/Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, 2007.

Lidia FERNANDES, «Sinais de umquotidiano que o terramoto de 1755 interrompeu. Os vestígiosdetectados no Museu de Lisboa - TeatroRomano», Arqueologia e História, Revistaassociação dos ArqueólogosPortugueses. Vol. 68, 2016, pp. 89-102.

José-Augusto FRANÇA, Lisboa pombalina e o Iluminismo, Bertrand Editora, 1987. 

J. A. Pinto FERREIRA, Os Mesteirais na AdministraçãoPúblicaem Portugal, EdiçõesMaranus, 1951.

Vitorino Magalhães GODINHO, Estrutura da AntigaSociedade Portuguesa, Edições 70, 2019.

Isabel Castro HENRIQUES, RoteiroHistórico de uma Lisboa Africana, séculos XV-XXI, Colibri, 2021.

António Manuel HESPANHA, As vésperas do Leviathan:instituições e poderpolítico: Portugal - séc. XVII, Almedina, 1994.

Franz-Paul LANGHANS, As corporacãcs dos oficiosmecânicos, 2 vols., ImprensaNacional, 1943-1946.

Francisco SANTANA, Bruxas e Curandeiros na Lisboa Joanina,Academia Portuguesa de História, 1996.

NunoLuís MADUREIRA, Lisboa 1740-1830, Cidade, espaço e quotidiano, LivrosHorizonte, 1992.

Arnaldo MELO, Amélia POLÓNIA e NunoLuís MADUREIRA, História do Trabalho e dasOcupações, 3 vols, CeltaEditora, 2001.

Jorge Borges de MACEDO, Problemas de História da Indústria Portuguesa no Século XVIII,EditorialQuerco, 1982.

Eduardo Freire de OLIVEIRA, Elementos para a História do Município de Lisboa, vol. XV, Topogafia Universal, 1906.

Maria da Graça SILVA, Leis e Saberes do Ofício de Alfaiate na ÉpocaModerna: O Caso da Cidade de Lisboa Setecentista, Dissertação de Mestrado, Universidade de Lisboa, 2012.

Floor 0

Streets of Lisbon

The people in the streets

The question in the investigation sent by Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo that generated the most contradictory answers was the one about the time, duration, and quantity of the tremors that occurred that morning. But almost all witnesses were unanimous in describing an apocalyptic scenario in the moments that followed. The sun was covered with dust and all that could be heard were cries imploring God. When the ground found peace, Lisbon had turned into hell. Many clergymen had started to walk through the ruins, confessing the dying and the wounded. They also helped bury the dead and for months, they organised the distribution of food and clothing for the survivors.  

Faced with the horror, questions arose about the deeper meaning behind this catastrophe. For the theologians, God had used nature to speak His word. This is how a somewhat confused debate began, mixing scientific explanations with spiritual and philosophical interpretations. 

Critical analyses by the Jesuits were partially correct. They did not agree with explanations that were too mechanical or deterministic, such as sulphur and other flammable substances being what generated the shaking. Jesuits were among the most competent in teaching natural philosophy, even though they resisted the more modern theories based on Newton's writings. The importance of the Jesuits in the dissemination of knowledge was due to their historical proximity to power and their influence on the late King John V and his widow, Queen Dowager Mary Anne of Austria.  

Some Jesuits, however, adhered to the idea that the destruction was caused by the actions of man. In his famous work published in 1756, Judgment on the true cause of the earthquake that struck the Court of Lisbon on 1 November 1755, Gabriel Malagrida accused the inhabitants of Lisbon of having been the “murderers” of so many innocent people. According to the spiritual vision, a rare event could only have a prodigious and theological explanation. The ecclesiastics most attached to a religious vision of reality emphasised the importance of dealing with the suffering of the living, criticising those who claimed to have access to a demonstration of causes. However, at that time, this position began to be in logical contradiction with the growing number of authors leaning towards a scientific explanation of earthquakes. 

Italian Jesuit priest who spent many years living in Brazil before coming to Lisbon. He is interested in how God speaks to Man through natural phenomena. He tells: 

God chose me to be a priest, and I became a Jesuit. I am fascinated by how God uses natural phenomena to speak to men. That’s why I have been reading about the causes and origins of the earthquake.  

With the mercy of God, I survived the shakes. What had started as a beautiful day became a scene from Hell. Roof tiles were blown away like feathers, and dust covered the sunlight. I saw survivors almost entirely smothered in grime, people shouting out to God for mercy, mothers carrying dead children, and on every corner, mutilated, unrecognisable corpses. It was as if Judgement Day had finally arrived. 

My brothers—the priests and friars who could still walk—went through the streets to help rescue the wounded, but also to administer last rites to the dying, praying with them. Many congregations—the ones still standing—have opened their doors and are housing the sick, calling for surgeons and doctors, burying the dead, and organising shelter and food for the living. In just one day, the Augustinian friars alone have killed 160 chickens to feed the sick and injured! May God bless their charitable hearts!  

Could such a calamity, such a rare event, be only a sign from God? Or is the mystery of nature larger than what we have imagined? The only thing left to do is take care of the suffering, as all the explanations for the earthquake I have been reading about seem to be full of fantasy and very incomplete. Nonsense! How can we reduce this horror to a simple Inquiry? Others explain the destruction by the sinful actions of men: anger, lust, vanity, and other sinful vices. Father Malagrida claims that these are the real “murderers” of so many innocent people. But maybe Father Malagrida should be more careful, rumour goes that he will be arrested, despite the intervention of the widow-queen. 

The Spiritual Exercises, written by St Ignatius of Loyola, first published in 1548, would have many re-editions in the following centuries. This manual of private devotion and meditation on the suffering of Jesus Christ was to accompany religious and lay people (ordinary people), in silent retreats intended to exercise, from a practical point of view, the correction of behaviour. Inspired by stoic therapies and oriental monasticism, some editions had spaces with the days of the week on which to record the number of failures of attention and control. This made it possible to measure the effects of the Exercises, hoping for a decrease in the number of errors or deviations. Given the influence of the Society of Jesus in the Portuguese aristocracy, the Spiritual Exercises accompanied the attempt of spiritual re-establishment after the Earthquake.

Image taken from a three-part biography of Saint Ignatius Loyola (1491 – 1556) by Giovanni Pietro Maffei, bound together with eighty plates by an unidentified engraver illustrating the life of the founder of the Society of Jesus. Printed in 1622, the year of Ignatius’s canonization by Pope Gregory XV, the plates provide a fascinating visual chronicle of the saint’s work and the time in which he lived.

Black and white buril engraving. Date and place of publication: Paris? s.n., between 1761 and 1777? - Probable date, considering the condemnation of Malagrida and the deposition of the Marquis of Pombal (the authors defend themselves under anonymity).

Gabriel Malagrida (Menaggio, Milan, 18 September 1689 - Lisbon, 21 September 1761) was an Italian Jesuit priest. After many decades in Brazil, he came to Lisbon, where he maintained a close relationship with the royal family. After the 1755 earthquake, he published a booklet: "Judgement of the true cause of the earthquake that the court of Lisbon suffered on November 1st 1755". It was a theologically very conservative text, censuring the frequenting of theatres, gambling houses, the "immodest dances and the most obscene comedies", amusements and even bullfighting, customs presented as the spiritual cause of the Earthquake. Malagrida would have offered copies of the booklet to the royal family and to Sebastião José de carvalho e Melo himself, who understood the gesture as a provocation. By intervention of the apostolic nuncio, instigated by Carvalho e Melo, and by order of the provincial of the Society of Jesus, he was banished to Setúbal in 1756. After the expulsion of the Jesuits, following the 1758 attempt, he was arrested at Junqueira Prison in January 1759. The sentence of the Inquisition included the connection to the trial of the Távoras, involved in a conspiracy against the king. Malagrida was considered a heretic, a false prophet and author of blasphemies. After being garroted in a public ceremony, he was burned on 21 September 1761. His pamphlets were censored, by edict of the Mesa Censoria of April 30, and burned in Praça do Comércio, on May 8, 1771 - ten years after its author's death.

Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisboa

Museu de São Roque, Lisboa

https://www.europeana.eu/mt/item/358/item_4BW25MES2HXNNNNNJZD3LYSAV64UFRJ7

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Malagrida

https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb10780074?q=Malagrida&page=,1

https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/search?query=all%3AMalagrida

https://www.rtp.pt/play/p7378/e476975/visita-guiada

Isabel Maria Barreira de CAMPOS, O grande terramoto (1755), Pareceria, 1998. 

Arnaldo Pinto CARDOSO, O terrível terramoto da cidade que foi Lisboa-correspondência do Núncio Fillipo Acciaiuoli: Arquivos secretos do Vaticano, Alétheia, 2013.

Destruição de Lisboa, e famosa desgraça, que padeceu no primeiro de Novembro de 1755, Lisboa, 1756.

António FERRÃO, O Marquês de Pombal e a expulsão dos Jesuítas (1759), Coimbra, 1932.

José Eduardo FRANCO, «O “Terramoto” Pombalino e a Campanha de desjesuitização de Portugal», Lusitânia Sacra, 2ª série, 18, 2006, pp. 147-218.

Gabriel MALAGRIDA, Juízo da Verdadeira Causa do Terremoto que Padeceo a Corte de Lisboa no Primeiro de Novembro de 1755, Lisboa, Manoel Soares, 1756.

Mark MOLESKY, “This Gulf of Fire: The Great Lisbon Earthquake, or Apocalypse in the Age of Science and Reason”, 2016, Penguin Random House 

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Providências

The German merchant

Surgeon Bleeding Barber

The people in the streets

Jesuit book censor Priest

Carpenter accused of bigamy

Tectonic Plates and Moving Plates

P&S Waves

The Size of an Earthquake

Are we prepared for the next one?

Anti Seismic Constructions

African enslaved woman bought in Lisbon

Continental Drift

The Tsunami

Seismometer

Richness of the city and gold smuggling

Portugal Tectonics and Lisbon Quakes

How the fires started and propagated

Inquérito

The losses

The three missing documents

Traditional Rite Masses

The connection with the colonized territories

What happened right after the quakes

Presence of the Catholic Church

Related Effects

The King's Ministers

Earthquakes and Faults

Lisbon Plan

End Tunnel

Gaiola Pombalida

Manuel da Maia's studio

San Francisco and Tohoku