Professor Maria de Lurdes Rosa, from the New University of Lisbon, highlighted this Saturday the historical and scientific importance of the book Tombo da Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Machico (XV–XVII centuries). Historical studies and annotated edition, presented at the Machico Forum, within the scope of the XVIII Colloquium of the Sixteenth Century Market.
On the sidelines of the session, the researcher considered it to be “an extraordinary document”, relevant not only for its age, but also for its content. “It is very important for the history of Machico, for the history of Madeira, for the colonisation process, and also for Portugal,” he said.
The professor underlined the institutional collaboration work developed over the last five years to carry out the edition of the work, explaining that the document was identified after being released on social networks and was eventually restored in Lisbon, before returning to Machico.
“It also reflects the extraordinary collaboration that took place to achieve this,” she said.
Maria de Lurdes Rosa revealed that the transcription of the tombo was a particularly demanding process, due to the difficulty of writing and the various interventions made in the document over the centuries.
“It’s a very difficult lyric to understand. It was a three-handed job, with successive revisions by paleography experts,”s he explained.
The researcher also pointed out that the project involved a young master’s student at the university, responsible for the first transcription of the text, believing that the work is also “an important academic exercise.”
In addition to the transcription, the team carried out historical studies and biographies of the figures mentioned in the document, which were later used by the Sixteenth Century Market for pedagogical activities aimed at students.
The teacher also praised the framing of the presentation in the historical event of Machico, considering the Sixteenth Century Market “an exceptional activity” for the connection between historical recreation, schools, and scientific research.
The book will be published by the Press of the University of Coimbra and will also be available online. Even so, Maria de Lurdes Rosa valued the paper edition, defending the importance of transforming historical documents into works accessible to the public.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
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