A freguesia da Sé De Lisboa: demografia e sociedade (1563-1755)

The examination of the Sé parochial records of baptisms, marriages and deaths, between the midsixteenth and the mid-eighteenth century, based on Norberta Amorim’s methodology of parish reconstitution, enabled the analysis of the population’s demographic behaviour and also an approach to the parish’s social reality, based on qualitative data, such as positions, condition and professions. Located in a central area, close to the Ribeira (literally, the riverside) and the Tagus, the Sé (parish named after the Lisbon See) was one of the first urbanized zones in Lisbon and one of its largest parishes. According to Cristóv o Rodrigues de Oliveira, its population stood at six thousand one hundred eighty-seven and seven hundred and eighteen neighbours, in 1551. In 1620, Frei Nicolau de Oliveira, presented it as the sixth largest parish in Lisbon and the largest of the seven parishes of the Cerca Moura. Based on demographic analysis, we found that it was an urban parish with a strong mortality and mobility, understandable due to it location near the Lisbon port, at a time that the capital was experiencing a golden age, derived from the maritime trade of the Discoveries. Our study also revealed the existence of low average ages for males and females at the time of their first marriage and that a large percentage of marriages involved spouses who had not been born in the parish. They came from several parts of the country, especially from the north, as well as from abroad.