Although formally concluded, the echoes of VINCULUM can still be heard on the island of Madeira: the discovery in 2021 of Inscription I of the Church of Machico, a 16th-century document restored and studied by the project team, will serve as the theme for a series of cultural events, including the 19th Symposium of the 16th-Century Market, on 16 May, where the work, now published as “Tombo da Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Machico (séculos XV–XVII). Estudos históricos e edição anotada”, will be presented.

The symposium, organised around the Inscription, will be attended by Maria de Lurdes Rosa, coordinator of VINCULUM, who “will address the importance of this document for understanding the historical and cultural contexts of the period, as well as the way in which medieval societies viewed the presence of the dead in the lives of the living”. The document also served as the inspiration for the organisation of the 19th edition of the Machico 16th-Century Market, whose motto, ‘People of the Settlement’, derives from what is the oldest known documentary record of the region.

The VINCULUM team sent the local organisers lists of characters from the document, spanning the entire social spectrum—men and women—over a period of around 150 years. Pupils from Machico imagined these characters and created drawings of them; the works are on display at the Fórum Machico, the venue for the symposium. For Maria de Lurdes Rosa, this will be “a highlight” of the project’s science communication activities, forming part of the new programme “Maintaining Links with History: Long Pasts for a Conscious Present”, which she co-coordinates with Rita Sampaio da Nóvoa. A whole cycle has been completed, she tells us: “collaboration with the community in the restoration of an unpublished and highly valuable document, saved from oblivion – and indeed probable destruction – at the last minute by the parish priest of Machico; specialist restoration by a conservator-restorer; digitisation and online publication by the Madeira Regional Archive; transcription of the manuscript, compilation of biographies of the figures involved and drafting of contextual historical studies by the project team and associated researchers, with particular mention of the work of the young researcher Verónica Francisco, a Master’s student at FCSH; collaboration in planning the organisation of a cultural event of great significance to the regional community”.

The transcription of the document was made possible thanks to a partnership between VINCULUM, the Parish of Machico and the Regional Directorate for Archives, Libraries and Books, revealing “the pulse of the early days, a time of promising aspirations but very few certainties, in which bonds—both earthly and spiritual—make their presence felt”. It contains “baptisms, deaths, wills and commissions for Masses”, revealing “fragments of the life and history of the people who built the village of Machico, when this valley was merely a promise and every name a commitment.” The Machico 16th-Century Market takes place between 5 and 7 June. Before that, between 22 and 25 May, the book will also be available at the Machico Book Fair.