Paper short abstract:

Medina family is an example of the dynamics of the commercial elite resident in Lisbon in the beginning of the 18th century. We will follow the Medinas’s trajectory during three generations and the construction of a business network supported in family connections.

Paper long abstract:

In the beginning of the 18th century, a wave of inquisitorial imprisonments affected many members of the Lisbon's commercial elite. Among them there was Pedro Maldonado de Medina, a 62 years old blind man who had been an influent contractor in Spain. In Lisbon, he stilled transacting goods between Portugal and Brazil through his sons. But this wasn't the first time that Inquisition disturbed his life: he was 2 years old when he went to Madrid with his parents, after his grandfather's imprisonment; and in 1687, when he was in Malaga, the Inquisition of Granada arrested him. After that, he came back to Portugal. At that time, most of his family was in Spain - Toledo, Murcia, Madrid, Pastrana, Avila - operating in the tobacco and salt business. Pedro had married a daughter of the contractor Francisco Lopes Pereira. His daughters married members of Lopes Pinheiro family and moved to London. In the first half of 18th century, England was the destiny of many New Christian families in pursuit of the religious tolerance but also more business oportunities in a rising moment of anglo-portuguese commercial relations.

The inquisitorial persecution as a factor of mobility; the role of family ties in the edification of trade networks; the marriage as a guarantee of trust between business partners - this are some of the characteristics that define the Medina family's ascendant trajectory during three generations, from silk merchants in Tras-os-Montes to leaders of a wide business network.