A RELIGIÃO NA RESTAURAÇÃO PERNAMBUCANA E SUA REPERCUSSÃO NO IMAGINÁRIO CÍVICO REGIONAL

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze, from the field of Religious Studies and History, the presence of religion in the event known as Pernambucana Restoration (1645-1654), especially in its main rules (1648-1649). The research aims to understand the role of religion in the colonial tensions between Luso-Brazilians and the Dutch in two levels of meaning. Firstly, it intends to show how religious controversies between Roman Catholics and Calvinist Protestants were assimilated and re-signified in the context of the Dutch occupation of Northeast Brazil. Secondly, it intends to analyze its repercussion in the regional civic imaginary, under the suspicion of the a posteriori appropriation of this event by expressions of regional civism. To this end, this dissertation will be divided into four stages: (1) Presenting the context of the Captaincy of Pernambuco, considered as an important center of sugar production and its religious field, with Catholic hegemony and, from 1630 onwards, highlighting aspects of Dutch Brazil with emphasis on the religious practices of the Dutch, mostly of Reformed confession. (2) Describing the external and internal factors that triggered the Pernambucana Restoration (1645-1654) and how religious differences sharpened the tensions, triggering the Luso-Brazilian insurrection. (3) Analyzing the main contemporary narratives and some later ones on the Pernambucana Restoration in order to understand how the narrative about the intervention of Our Lady of Pleasures in the main battles was constructed. (4) Verifying how artistic productions, especially ex-votos and panels produced in the 18th and 19th centuries, contributed to feeding the regional civic imaginary.