ENCYCLOPAEDIA of Rebellions

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Manuelinho revolt 1637

Synopsis
This is the best known of the Portuguese anti-tax revolts of the 17th century. It broke out in Évora, the second most important Portuguese city, on August 21, 1637, due to the increasing tax burden without prior consent from the cortes. When the corregedor (magistrate who represented the crown on the peripheries) tried to survey everyone's income for the tax-paying, two artisans, representatives of the people, entered the corregedor’s house and asked him to stop the survey. As he did not agree, people in the square threw stones at the windows and burned some belongings of the corregedor’s house. People also spoke out against the municipal councilors who, in the previous year, had consented to another tax (reais de água) to be imposed on meat and wine. The scales of the butcher shop and some scribal books, that they thought were linked to the new taxes, were burned. In the first days, several posters appeared in the name of the boys of the city and signed by the secretary Manuelinho, hence the name by which the revolt is known. They proclaimed that "all who betray their country and want to impose taxes of the tyrant king should die". The revolt spread to other places in the South of Portugal and Madrid threatened to repress it with military force. The aristocracy and some ecclesiastics tried to calm the rebels over time. In December, the people consented to pay reais de água. On March 17, 1638, the two mentioned artisans, who had already fled, were executed ‘in statue’ (in absence).
Additional info

Starting date: . Ending: . Duration: 7 months. Name in sources: Alterações de Évora. Location: Evora Country (current): Portugal. Monarchy: Portuguese. Main participants: Artisans, Clergymen, Local elites. Number of participants: >500. Main reasons & motivations: Fiscal. Leadership: João Barradas and Sesinando Rodrigues. Relevance: high.

Further reading
CARVALHO, João Carlos de (1998). “Acerca dos textos do Manuelinho de Évora”, A Cidade de Évora, 2 serie, n. 3: 173–228. OLIVEIRA, António de (1990). Poder e oposição política em Portugal: no período filipino, 1580-1640. Lisboa: DIFEL. VALLADARES, Rafael (1993). “La sublevación de Évora: Portugal se levanta contra el dominio español (1637-1638)”, Historia 16, 207: 28-36.
Cite this entry

Olival, Fernanda (2020). "Manuelinho revolt 1637", in J. V. Serrão and M. S. Cunha (coord), Rebellions in the Early Modern Iberian World. http://atlas.cidehusdigital.uevora.pt/revolt/tax-riots-in-portugal-1637/manuelinho-revolt-1637/ (accessed on 16 July 2025).

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