At the origin of these typical urban tax riots was the arrival in Porto of a high-ranking official of the Philippine administration, none other than the secretary of the Portuguese Council in Madrid, Francisco de Lucena. His mission was to negotiate with the City Council the city's contribution to the “relief of India”, a fund being created to cover the expenses of the war with the Dutch in the Indian Ocean. This would necessarily mean an additional tax on the population of Porto, which, like the rest of the country, was already burdened by increasing fiscal pressure. A rumor spread that the royal agent was attempting to reimpose a tax on the spinning wheels used by craftswomen, an issue that had been hotly contested a few years earlier. This explains the unusual name by which these events became known in historical memory —the “maçarocas” (Portuguese for spinning wheels) revolt. The riot lasted for several hours with a crowd gathered near the Convent of S. Francisco, throwing stones and demanding the head of the royal official who had taken refuge there. The protesters were mostly common people, including women and many boys, although some sources mention the presence of individuals of higher status. The intervention of the troops and city authorities managed to calm and disperse the demonstrators without major consequences. The investigation that followed was met with a kind of conspiracy of silence from the witnesses, resulting in only one person being convicted – a “convenient” 17-year-old son of a New Christian merchant, who was sentenced to exile in Africa and to pay the costs of the trial. The city would later agree to contribute to the relief fund.