O Livro de Compromisso entre os manuscritos de Confrarias: potencialidades para o trabalho filológico

This paper aims to present some of the Livros de Compromisso and other books generated by lay catholic brotherhoods in the 18th Century in the cities of Ouro Preto and Mariana, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, nowada ys belonging to the Arquivo Eclesiástico da Paróquia de N.S. do Pilar de Ouro Preto, the Museu da Inconfidência, the Arquivo Casa dos Contos and the Arquivo Eclesiástico da Arquidiocese de Mariana. The Compromisso is a written commitment that allows the brotherhood to exist. These brotherhoods, known in Portuguese as irmandades, were officially recognized institutions by the religious and royal instances by means of these books. Their activities were registered in a variety of different books with specific purpose that provide us with an important heritage of manuscript documentation still little studied in the philologic domain. A brief historical view on the institution brotherhood is presented and extracts from different Compromissos are analysed in order to emphasize the singularity of this document. A proposal to understand the role and the structure of this book is produced. Some recurrent aspects on the Compromissos are singled out, examined and exemplified: the spelling variation, the ownership and the occasions when these books ought to be read, the existence of different kinds of written reproduction of the same book, the ordinary thematic prescriptions and the provisions made by ecclesiastical and/or royal power.This paper aims to present some of the Livros de Compromisso and other books generated by lay catholic brotherhoods in the 18th Century in the cities of Ouro Preto and Mariana, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, nowadays belonging to the Arquivo Eclesiástico da Paróquia de N.S. do Pilar de Ouro Preto, the Museu da Inconfidência, the Arquivo Casa dos Contos and the Arquivo Eclesiástico da Arquidiocese de Mariana. The Compromisso is a written commitement that allows the brotherhood to exist. These brotherhoods, known in Portuguese as irmandades, were officially recognized institutions by the religious and royal instances by means of these books. Their activities were registered in a variety of different books with specific purpose that bequeathed us with an important heritage of manuscript documentation still little studied in the philologic domain. A brief historical view on the institution brotherhood is presented and extracts from different Compromissos are analysed in order to emphasize the singularity of this document. A proposal to understand the role and the structure of this book is produced. Some recurrent aspects on the Compromissos are singled out, examined and exemplified: the spelling variation, the ownership and the occasions when these books ought to be read, the existence of different kinds of written reproduction of the same book, the ordinary thematical prescriptions and the provisions made by ecclesiastical and/or royal power