The Brotherhood of São Gonçalo from Mariana: executive’s sociability and social profile (1749-1769)

Abstract

The paper investigates sociocultural aspects of the Brotherhood of São Gonçalo in the city of Mariana between 1749 and 1769. The book of records – expenses, income and elections – was used to identify the people who actively oversaw the Brotherhood, such as officials known as ‘desk brothers’. We propose rebuilding the social profile of some of the desk brothers because sociocultural indexes help understanding the kind of sociability lived in the Brotherhood. We used post-mortem inventories written immediately after the death of brothers who happen to have been identified in the Brotherhood’s book of records. We posit that the São Gonçalo Brotherhood may have held people of different sociocultural backgrounds.