O Arquivo Sousa Lobato uma família de cortesãos na viragem do século XIX

The purpose of this article is to show the archive of a noble family, theSousa Lobato Archive (ASL). This archive was recently discovered and it is composed of documents from the last quarter of the 18thcentury to the beginning of the 20thcentury, namely: official documents of royal mercy (permits, letters, ordinances and decrees) referring to nominations for palatine positions, attributions of honorary qualifications in Religious and Military Orders, granting of rights (landlords, agricultural land) and the exercise of functions in official institutions of the Kingdom (customs, ombudsmen of Districts) and also documental processes related to granted properties and some epistolary correspondence. Thus, we will proceed with the description of the reorganization and classification of the documentation. The archive was also fundamental for the reconstitution of the family past, whose protagonists were part of the courtesan society at the end of the Ancien Régime -the reign of D. Maria I and regency/reign of D. João VI until the Liberal Revolution.