Slavery, faith and public management: philological editions of a letter dated from the 18th century and analysis of the construction of the ethos of the viceking, count of vimieiro.

Abstract

Letters are communication instruments widely used over time, both in personal and administrative spheres, in both the public and private spheres. The manuscript selected, read and edited here belongs to the collection of the Ultramarine Historical Archive, cataloged by the Projeto Resgate Barão do Rio Branco and made available at the National Digital Library. It is a letter written in Bahia, in 1719, sent to the king of Portugal, D. João V, written by the Count of Vimieiro, title of the Portuguese D. Sancho de Faro e Sousa, who was viceroy and governor-general of Brazil for just over a year, between August 1718 and October 1719, when he died. To provide greater access to different reader profiles, a semidiplomatic edition is offered, which follows conservative criteria, accompanied by an interpretative edition, which meets the interests of non-specialist readers. The study also consists of contextualization that discusses aspects of the 18th century slave society and analysis of aspects related to enunciation, in order to demonstrate how subjectivity can be highlighted, even in a document of an administrative nature. Therefore, the enunciative scene is analyzed, highlighting the construction of ethos, a set of attributes constructed in and by discourse. In the letter, the enunciator seeks to persuade the reader of his qualities as manager of the State of Brazil, and about his character as a good and pious Christian, concerned with the degrading situation of elderly or sick enslaved people.