Abstract
Aqueduct construction remains an important yet understudied chapter in the history of early modern European technology and urbanism. Combining the symbolism of form with the utility of function, aqueducts spoke the revived language of classical architecture, serving as monumental statements of princely beneficence, civic pride, and local identity. Mobilizing community resources in an act of political will, such projects marked the consolidating power of central authorities that spearheaded urban renewal through the creation and display of the improved water supply. The case of early modern Portugal is crucial for broadening the scope of this discussion, which is usually focused on sixteenth century Italy, situating it within a larger geographical and chronological context. While revealing the deep rootedness of Portuguese aqueducts in the local traditions of construction and water management, their analysis sheds new light on the central question of continuity and rupture in the transfer of hydraulic technology and knowledge from antiquity through the Middle Ages.
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Notes
- 1.
This work—which, in the case of Pisa, involved bringing water to the Palazzo Medici, the Piazza Cairoli, and the Piazza San Nicola—was carried out by the Medici engineer David Fortini; ASF, MP, 219, fol. 136v (Cosimo I to David Fortini 23 June 1563). For Cosimo’s hydraulic projects in Florence, see Tchikine (2014), Ferretti (2016).
- 2.
See documents transcribed in Pedone (1986), documents section, unpaginated.
- 3.
ASF, MP, 5120, fol. 118r (Ferdinando de’ Medici to Francesco I, 22 July 1586): “che potessi cavar’ la sete alla sua vigna.”
- 4.
- 5.
ASF, MP, 5120, fol. 118r (Ferdinando de’ Medici to Francesco I, 22 July 1586).
- 6.
ASF, CPG, neri, 797 (1629), supplica 292 (Ufficiali dei Fiumi to Cosimo II, 31 August 1612): “I condotti di questa fonte sono fatti con magnificenza, e senza risparmio di spesa, perché sono murati con molta maestria, e con la sua volticiuola sopra…”.
- 7.
See documents transcribed in Pedone (1986), documents section, unpaginated.
- 8.
Roman aqueducts existed in a number of Portuguese cities, including Lisbon, Beja, Évora, and Faro; the best preserved example is in Conimbriga (Caetano 1991, 15).
- 9.
Cf. the analogous situation in Elvas, where the initial work on the Aqueduto da Amoreira was also funded by a special levy on meat and fish. This tax had to be reintroduced in the early seventeenth century to continue the aqueduct’s construction (Mascarenhas and Carvalho Quintela, 2008, 92, 93–94).
- 10.
- 11.
My discussion of the Água de Prata is indebted to the recent work by Francisco Bilou.
- 12.
- 13.
- 14.
- 15.
- 16.
- 17.
On August 26, 1557, for example, Dowager Queen Catarina of Austria (1507–78), acting as regent during the minority of King Sebastião, conceded runoff of the Chafariz das Portas de Moura (1556) in Évora to Teodósio (1510–63), Duke of Braganza, for the irrigation of his orchards (Espanca, 1944, 22).
- 18.
For water sellers in Coimbra, still active through the late nineteenth century, see Veloso, 2012, 175.
- 19.
The need for this walkway, however, is not entirely clear, since service passages in the part of an aqueduct elevated above ground were not common in Portugal. Compared to the adjacent open channel, it has a flat, rather than rounded, bottom, is positioned at a lower level, and, instead of sidewalls of equal height, is flanked by a low parapet. Adding a secondary conduit to increase the capacity of the aqueduct would have involved widening the whole structure, unless the new watercourse could be placed above the original one (as in the Aqueduto da Amoreira in Elvas). Such massive rebuilding was clearly not the case at Tomar, suggesting that the passage in question was part of the original design and that its function was different. A likely reason for its inclusion concerns the substantial financial resources commanded by the monastery, which could afford this additional expense.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Ana Rodrigues for inviting me to contribute a chapter to this volume and for providing me, with the help of Magdalena Merlos Romero, with source materials in the course of its preparation. My additional thanks go to John Pinto for sharing with me his knowledge of the Vitruvian chorobates and to Jan Ziolkowski for his help translating the Latin motto on the medal of Cosimo I.
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Tchikine, A. (2020). Technology of Grandeur: Early Modern Aqueducts in Portugal. In: Duarte Rodrigues, A., Toribio Marín, C. (eds) The History of Water Management in the Iberian Peninsula. Trends in the History of Science. Birkhäuser, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34061-2_7
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