The research that has been carried out in the Lafões/Caramulo area (central-northern Portugal) has made it possible to acquire new data on the formation of medieval territories in a mountainous area. The present paper uses data from written documentation and archaeological data to make a first approach to the study of the of the formation processes of village territories and the different-scale sociopolitical processes that were behind these processes. The focus of this study are two medieval parishes which occupy the most mountainous areas of the present-day municipality of Vouzela. The available data show significant differences between the two, particularly in the configuration of the settlement and its dynamics over time. While in one the settlement areas are quite stable, the other records changes in the settlement structure, with new foundations and abandonments throughout the Middle Ages. As far as it is possible to understand, these differences are fundamentally correlated with the actors who played in each of these territories. In fact, it was social differences of local scales which were mainly responsible for these differences in the definition of territories, ownership of rural properties, size of plots, settlement patterns and surely socio-economic practices. Micro-scale politics have determined different histories and settlement features.
Câmara Municipal de Vouzela, Portugal - ORCID: 0000-0002-8463-3256
Nova University of Lisbon, Portugal - ORCID: 0000-0002-7944-1583
Chapter Title
The Formation of Medieval Territories in Mountain areas. A perspective from archaeology and written records at Caramulo (Lafões, central-northern Portugal)
Authors
Daniel Melo, Catarina Tente
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0530-6.07
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2024
Copyright Information
© 2024 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Book Title
Political landscapes in Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages: the Iberian Northwest in the Context of Southern Europe
Editors
Iñaki Martín Viso
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
340
Publication Year
2024
Copyright Information
© 2024 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0530-6
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0529-0
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0530-6
eISBN (xml)
979-12-215-0532-0
Series Title
Reti Medievali E-Book
Series ISSN
2704-6362
Series E-ISSN
2704-6079