Pedro de Alcántara Brasileiro

What people wore

Fishermen's daily and festive attire

Fishermen wore wide linen drawers to the knee secured by silver buttons, a wool cap, and a sleeveless vest called a sertum while working. On Sundays and feast days, they wore blue cloth trousers, vests, and jackets, often accessorized with large silver shoe buckles.

Daily life

Typical urban housing and layout

Urban houses often had a functional layout where the kitchen was placed on the top floor, partly for safety against fire, while ground floors were used for shops or workshops. Living quarters were often cramped, with high buildings blocking sunlight and providing poor insulation against the weather.

Music

Nuns as skilled musicians

Nuns in monasteries were skilled musicians who played instruments like the organ, harpsichord, and harp, and they sometimes commissioned and performed complex concertato music.

At the table

Staple foods of ordinary families

Ordinary families typically ate broa (corn bread), sardines, and soup made of vegetables, potatoes, and beans. Meat and fish were scarce, making sardines a staple for the poor, often rubbed against bread to add flavor.

Getting around

Travel by Mule and Horseback

In this period, most ordinary land travel relied on mules, horses, or litters, as there were almost no carriage roads and no public transportation outside of Lisbon and Porto. A league, the standard unit of distance, was typically defined as the distance a loaded mule could cover in one hour, though it varied significantly depending on the muleteer's desire to stop at taverns.