| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this master's thesis was to discuss the role of the Vila Rica chain, having as main point of the analysis the material constitution of the building and the discourses for its use. Starting from the fact that, in the Portuguese penal legislation in the eighteenth century, the prison sentence was almost never mentioned, it seeks to understand the function of the jail in a space of recent occupation and with great influx of people, that aroused great interest of the crown and of private individuals of diverse social strata, by the abundant existence of gold. For this study was used the documentation related to the first Vila Ricas chamber and jail house, built between 1723 and 1725 and deactivated in the second half of the decade of 80 in the same century. In a first moment the importance of the prisons in the Ancien Régime was discussed, focusing on the Ancien Portuguese Régime and the Luso-American colonial space and the formation of the Minas Gerais as a space of colonization. Then, a spatial and material analysis of the house of the chamber and the prison studied was carried, taking into account the term of the construction auction, which describes how construction should be carried and the subsequent reforms that occurred during the six decades studied. Finally, was analyzed the use of the building, trying to describe the prisoners, their characteristics, how they were arranged and used the space and the individuals who worked in jail - jailers and doctors - and also was analyzed the speeches of rulers, doctors and jailers about the prisoners and the prison. For that purpose, Vila Rica's municipal documentation was used, especially the single ones present in the fund of CMOP and in the Collection of Casa dos Contos of the Arquivo Público Mineiro, and the documentation referring to the town hall and chain of the same village present in the separate documents of the Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino Capitania of Minas Gerais. Was tried to understand the chain not as a place of criminal punishment, but a local of control in Vila Rica in the eighteenth century. | |
