Unstable identities: a Portuguese priest in the empire of Felipes

Abstract

This article presents part of the trajectory of the Portuguese priest Lourenço de Mendonça, who was active in the American sphere of Catholic Habsburg monarchy in the first half of the seventeenth century. Linked early in his career to the networks centered on Madrid, this priest had a long Episcopal career in the Viceroyalty of Peru, especially in the Potosi region. He later moved to the captaincies of southern Portuguese America, where he was the first bishop of Rio de Janeiro in 1639. He was taken by surprise by the Portuguese “Restoration” of 1640, when his loyalty to the new dynasty was questioned. He remained tied to Spain to the end, from which he claimed recognition. Lourenço de Mendonça was involved in mining projects in Spanish and Portuguese America; he was active and ambiguous in the debates about the presence of the Portuguese in Peru and he participated in the accusations against the violent actions of the inhabitants of São Paulo regarding indigenous people. The trajectory of Lourenço de Mendonça helps to problematize the possibilities of transition – both human and identitary - in relation to the Spanish empire and the particular context of the Iberian Union of the Crowns (1580-1640).