Armed society: the manorial mode of forming armed groups in the Brazilian Empire

Abstract

This article deals with the problem of armed violence in the political life of the Brazilian Empire. Armed violence was used often in power struggles to win the general government, in the struggles of regional elites by provincial governments and local leaders for the cities. But the research also showed that armed violence was present in social life. The men had access to weapons and used them in their interpersonal conflicts in land disputes etc. The imperial society was an armed society, that is, a society that was able to obtain and use weapons regardless of control of government bodies. This article studies specifically forms of reproduction of armed society, means that it created to remain in possession of weapons and able to use them in conflict situations. How men learned to handle weapons and fight? To answer this question it is proposed the notion of "modo senhorial de atuação armada" (manorial mode of forming armed groups to employ them in conflicts).