Syntactic Trees

Family letter from André Garcia de Cabreira, mayor, to his son-in-law, António do Vale de Vasconcelos.

The author asks the recipient for news and tells how, at home, all is well.

The defendant in this process is António do Vale de Vasconcelos (also known as "Lebracho"), accused of bigamy. He was married in Alentejo, Portugal, to Catarina Garcia de Cabreira, but then went to Brazil, in 1591, and there he got married with Helena Leitoa, while his first wife was still alive. To do this without getting into trouble, he first alleged that he was single, then he said he was a widower and, finally, that his first wife was very sick, which had made him presume that she would die really soon. The file includes eight letters, most of them from family members, which might help capture the true facts of his stituation.