De enjeitado a ouvidor

a trajetória do Tenente Joaquim Lino Rangel na Freguesia da Cidade do Natal, 1760?-1839

Abstract

It is well-known that the abandonment of newborn babies is an existing phenomenon in the western society since antiquity, as such, being justified differently in different places and times. Therefore, the aim of this article is to present the trajectory of Lieutenant Joaquim Lino Rangel, someone who was a foundling in the Parish of the city of Natal in the second half of the XVIII century, but also became a prominent member in the ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the first half of the XIX century . To carry that out, it was analysed parish, council, administrative, archival documents, among others. The procedures taken to deal with the sources were: quantitative, which turned it possible to list the index of rejection and illegitimacy, as well as, qualitative, based on reading, selection and transcription of relevant documents to examine the past reality. Every source was interpreted in the light of Social History, enabling to understand the family plot there was behind that rejection of Joaquim, the consolidation of the social insertion of that individual, who went through a marital quality, through the constitution of a legitimate Family, through the insertion in the local government, thus reaching the status of the ombudsman of Rio Grande do Norte, position which had an immense administrative relevance. Lastly, it was brought to the research order, several groups from Iberian America used the practice of rejection as an strategy to maintain the honor.