I have made assertions, in the past on the Napoleon Series, that the French army of Portugal committed acts of wanton despoliation, violence, torture, rape and murder against the Portuguese population. These are substantiated in Soriano, “História da Guerra Civil ...” segunda epocha, tomo III – see in particular the detailed description of individual acts of violence and murder on p 202 (although the source for these atrocities is not cited, with the exception of one iindividual to whom we can refer back to in due course).

Soriano reports that Massena tasked Pamplona (one of the Portuguese renegades) with the governorship of Coimbra. And it is on Pamplona’s penned account that Soriano based his own report of the pillage and destruction that took place in Coimbra. Like Viseu, Coimbra was devoid of inhabitants when the French entered – hence the limited number of Portuguese civilian deaths at the hand of the French (see below). Massena expected to gain much in the way of provisions in the city and therefore placed Taupin’s brigade of infantry at Pamplona’s disposal to guard to city (during the French passage).

Junot entered at the head of his corps, forced their way past the guards and in two hours took plate from every church, chapel and convent in the city and a number of other items of value including all of the instruments from the astronomical observatory of Coimbra University. Although Coimbra was a small city at this time, in terms of number of inhabitants, Coimbra was (is) perhaps the Portuguese equivalent of “Oxbridge”. In support of his allegations, Soriano cites Guingret "Relation historique et militaire de la campagne de Portugal" pp 83-84 in detail; and Pamplona “Relação” from Investigador março and abril pp 57 and 210. It is here also that he relates the anecdote concerning Massena and the barrel of butter and wax candles – essentially absolving the perpetrator of the crime if he handed over the items to Massena’s charge. This incident, amongst others, is related by Oman, vol iii - the evacuation of the city between pp 400-404, and its pillage on p 404. The charge that Massena ordered some of the pillage and offered one of the telescopes to Ney, who declined the offer, thus procured is from Alorna’s account, “Aperçu Nouveau”, cited in Soriano and then in Oman.

According to Soriano, citing a report made in 1812 for the Diocese of Coimbra the following atrocities occurred in the advance upon Coimbra by French troops. Six villages in the “Serra do Bussaco” were razed / reduced to ashes. In the freguesia de Espinho (just over one league distant) eight small hamlets were burnt out, in the freguesia de Pala, 34 houses were torched, in Santa Comba Dão almost two entire villages were destroyed and in the freguesia of Sobral, three smaller settlements suffered the same fate. When considering Porto de Mos the above description of despoliation is instructive I think. The geography of rural Portugal, especially in these areas to the north of Lisbon, is quite distinct. The regions of Estremadoura and the Beiras are typically comprised of relatively densely populated concelhos and more sparsely populated freguesias – with the largest settlements in each freguesia and the concelho itself acting as epicentres for administration and trade etc.

In addition to the destruction of much of the built environment, the French destroyed the agricultural base – including trees, in particular olives trees (that are so hard and take so long to replace), carrying away all the crops they could and driving the cattle with them. Soriano details the following acts of pillage in respect of cereals. In the arcyprestado (enumeration district within the Bishopric/Diocese?) de Aréga, which I believe is to the south east of Pombal, the French took 12,054 “moios de cereaes” (I’m afraid I do not know the modern equivalent for the measure of “moio” for corn etc). In Miranda, 10,897 alqueires (again, I do not have a modern equivalent), freguesia de Alvarge 19,240 alq., Arganil 20,000 alq., Levegada 5,551 alq., S Martinho do Bispo 3,619 alq., Coja 5,044 alq.and from Salviza 4,002 alq. more.

All this from "Memoria breve dos estragos causados em Coimbra pelo exercito Francez commandado pelo maréchal Massena", impressão regia, anno de 1812.

I would know like to point you to page 203 of Soriano’s “História da Guerra Civil ...”, segunda epocha, tomo III http://purl.pt/12103/3/hg-7353-v/hg-7353-v_item1/P225.html This table shows very clearly the extent of incendiaries and murder committed by the French army of Portugal. I will leave aside houses which, with finance, tools and other resources can be rebuilt, but you get an idea of the extent of destruction caused to the built environment. According to this study undertaken in 1812, the extent of killing in the Diocese of Coimbra was as follows – total killed: 2,969 people (I take these to be inhabitants of each settlement as opposed to soldiers!). The distribution of deaths is I think instructive: Miranda, 802 (12.5%); Aréga, 578; Redinha, 508; Soure, 280 (7.4%); Sinde, 186; Arganil, 180 (4.4%); Ceia, 112; Mortagua, 108 (1.8%); Oliveirinha, 102; Arazede, 99. The figures in parentheses are my rough estimates; percentage killed based upon the population of the respective administrative areas recorded in the 1801 Census (unfortunately I couldn’t locate some of the settlements in the census returns). "História da Guerra Civil ...", P 203, segunda epocha, “Guerra de Peninsula” tomo III

Soriano, Luz, (1802-1891) História da Guerra Civil e do estabelecimento do governo parlamentar em Portugal comprehendendo a história diplomática militar e política d'este reino desde 1777 até 1834. - Lisboa : Imprensa Nacional, 1866-1890.

I made a further submission that these acts were substantial in terms of their nature, scale, extent and severity - both in relative and absolute terms. And I asked if contributors had specific proof that suggested otherwise it should be posted up to inform a rational debate. No such postings were forthcoming. Not even ones that justified the acts for example by pointing to similar atrocities that had been committed elsewhere by other armies. These wanton acts of violence are, I think, on a scale equal to some of the most barbarous acts witnessed in Spain.

Finally, it is interesting I think to note that some settlements, for example those in the concelho / arcyprestado of Mortagua, were only passed in the advance into Portugal and not on the retreat (being on the right bank of the Mondego). Also, Soriano refers to a cited authority in tomo I, p 264, of his “História da Guerra Civil …” recounting similar acts undertaken by the troops of Loison during the French occupation in 1808. This authority, Soriano notes, referred to the acts of violence perpetrated on the citizens of Coimbra by Loison as being entirely unprovoked. So, I would suggest that the option of staying peaceably in their homes was not really open to the Portuguese people had at the time.

I hope this is of interest. I will be summarising the main argument, with some supporting evidence, in one of the chapters of my MA. I would be grateful for any comments or insights you might be able to offer.

Best wishes

Anthony