Abstract

BULCAO LOUREIRO, Maria Rosalina. “It’s Public that It Is Misbehaving”: Indigenous and Mestiza Women among the Prostitution Allegations Brought to the Ecclesiastical Court of the Bishopric of Maranhão in the 18th Century. Front. hist. [online]. 2024, vol.29, n.1, pp.138-158.  Epub Jan 01, 2024. ISSN 2027-4688.  https://doi.org/10.22380/20274688.2562.

The trial of crimes under the jurisdiction of the bishop for all Christians in colonial Amazonia, including the indigenous people, began with the establishment of the first diocese in Colonial Amazonia in 1677. The importance of the dioceses and the concern with the disciplining of customs increased after the Council of Trent, moving from Europe to Portuguese America and favoring the creation of bishoprics vigilant to the Trentine precepts. The accusation of keeping a house of prostitution, termed as brothel in the Register Book of Allegations of the Bishopric of Maranhão, documentation rarely used to study the indigenous populations, highlights the actions of the native women in the Captaincy of Maranhão, allowing for the deconstruction of stereotypes strongly rooted in historiography.

Keywords : Bishopric of Maranhão; Ecclesiastical Court; Disciplining of Customs; Indigenous Women.

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