Fazer-se nobre nas fímbrias do império: práticas de nobilitação e hierarquia social da elite camarária de Santa Cruz do Aracati (1748-1804)

Abstract

This research claims to analyze the ennoblement and social distinction practices developed by the town of Santa Cruz do Aracati members in the Captaincy of Siará grande along the period from 1748 to 1804. Since the Chamber of Aracati is the main reference area to precede the identification of the local elite, first, we have intended to understand how the entry was made in certain areas, such as the Town Chamber, the officer ranks in the local military troops, some brotherhoods, the mercantile activities, and some other employments; and, then, how all these occupations were incorporated by the town elite members, both as mechanisms of power and tools of acquisition and enlargement of its distinctive reference as part of a “civil nobility”, social code with which the local elites of the Portuguese Modern Empire used to identify to.