Book Chapter

The Formation of Medieval Territories in Mountain areas. A perspective from archaeology and written records at Caramulo (Lafões, central-northern Portugal)

  • Daniel Melo
  • Catarina Tente

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.

  • Keywords:
  • Central Portugal,
  • Micropolitics,
  • Early Medieval churches,
  • Rock-cut graves,
  • Early Medieval Local elites,
  • Medieval Villages,
  • Seasonal settlement,
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Daniel Melo

Câmara Municipal de Vouzela, Portugal - ORCID: 0000-0002-8463-3256

Catarina Tente

Nova University of Lisbon, Portugal - ORCID: 0000-0002-7944-1583

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  • Publication Year: 2024
  • Pages: 107-130
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
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Chapter Information

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

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Bibliographic Information

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

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

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

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