ABSTRACT
The possibility of profit regarding the Castilian cloth’s trade, combined with the income resulting from the taxing of commodities entering the Portuguese ports, attracted the attention of people who had the capital to invest in the tax farming. In this sense, the case studies, Estremoz and Setubal, illustrate this situation well. The city of Guarda, a military and commercial reference point at the Portuguese- Castilian border, about 100 kilometers south of Douro River’s main track, offers an exceptional case to analyze more carefully due to the very reasonable amount of data available for that almoxarifado, particularly for Manuel I’s reign. Lisbon, as the kingdom’s economic center, kept an immeasurable distance from the other Portuguese cities and towns. There was therefore a clear distinction between Lisbon and the rest of the kingdom, which began with the sources of taxation. The very production of the acquittance letters and their contents are indicative of this disparity, reflecting a more complex fiscal organization.
