As despesas da reconstrução da fortaleza de Diu em 1546-1547

Abstract

The Portuguese fortress of Diu was besieged by the sultanate of Gujarat between April and November 1546, eight years after the first siege by this same forces helped with an Ottoman reinforcement. The enemy artillery swept successively the walls, leaving the fort in need of repair. The reconstruction of the fortress (as the new type of trace italienne) lasted from November 1546 to April of the following year, creating a structure that finally secured the Portuguese presence in the region. This article has two aims: firstly, the analysis of the costs of the works, such as payments of the supplies and the service conducted by masons, hackers, carpenters and other workers hired by the Crown, and secondly an assessment of the means used to finance these costs. The discussion is based not only on the various chronicles relating to that period, but especially in a list of expenses in the Codex 51-VII-19 of the Biblioteca da Ajuda, containing certificates, lists of payments and, not least, the Caderno das despesas que se fizeram em obras na fortaleza de Diu, dated July 1547 and here published. A final analysis shows that the expenses were not significant in the whole of the budget of the Portuguese State of India. The paper concludes that the expenditures were not significant on the whole ofthe financial structure of the Portuguese State of India.