The contrast of an empty map

When traveling through Alto Alentejo, the traveler finds, in municipalities such as Elvas or Portalegre, a density of popular tales collected by researchers such as Thomaz Pires and cataloged by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation / Center for Ethnography in 1982. However, upon arriving in Sousel, the ethnographic reality changes drastically. According to local ethnographic and monographic records from the University of Évora from 1995, oral literature in this zone presents a systematic scarcity, contrasting with the documentary richness of the bordering areas.

This absence is not merely an academic curiosity; it is a gap that intrigues those who study regional identity. While the Intermunicipal Community of Alto Alentejo (CIMAA), in its 2023 structural indicators of territorial cohesion, underlines the importance of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage as a common pillar for the municipalities of the region, Sousel seems to have preserved its history in a way that escaped the notebooks of 20th-century ethnographers. What remains, therefore, is a territory that keeps its secrets with almost absolute discretion in its bibliographic references.

The lack of systematic records, documented by the University of Évora in 1995, reveals that, even in prospecting and inventorying efforts for the Municipal Master Plan (PDM), fieldwork limited to about 20 days of work was not sufficient to bridge the gap. This reality places Sousel in a unique position: a municipality that, despite being inserted in the Alto Alentejo territory, maintains a reserve of memories that still awaits dedicated and deep investigation.

The shadow of the Constable

Despite the scarcity of a vast corpus, there is a reference that stands out in the local collective memory: the connection to D. Nuno Álvares Pereira. The Municipality of Sousel, in 2022, identifies this as the foundational legend of the municipality, temporarily placing it in the period of medieval campaigns against Castilian incursions. This narrative, although scarce in details, serves as the pillar upon which the historical identity of Sousel relies, connecting the daily life of the town to one of the most emblematic names in the history of Portugal.

Different from other Alentejo legends that get lost in myths of enchanted Moorish maidens or pots of hidden treasures — motifs documented in bordering areas of the Alentejo and analyzed in studies by the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD) in 2024 —, the tradition of Sousel is markedly political and military. This specificity suggests a collective memory more focused on resistance and the assertion of sovereignty than on the fantastic, a distinction that separates Sousel from the more common popular mythology in the region.

The reference work on the memories, peoples, towns, and countryside of the municipality of Sousel, authored by João Richau and with expanded reissues registered in 2025 by Edições Locais and the Municipality of Sousel, attempts precisely to organize these fragments. By including volumes dedicated to natural resources, archaeological finds, and local traditions, the author seeks to give body to a memory that has remained dispersed. It is a systematization effort aimed at transforming oral tradition into a lasting record.

Legend and documented evidence

The obvious reading would be to assume that Sousel, for being located in the historical Alentejo, possesses an exhaustive and publicly inventoried corpus of local oral legends, such as those of enchanted Moorish maidens or pots of hidden treasures. However, the data alters this immediate perspective. Academic and archaeological studies from the University of Évora (1995) demonstrate that Sousel presents an inexplicable scarcity of bibliographic records and oral tradition compared to neighboring municipalities, lacking archaeological charts and in-depth systematic collections.

It is fundamental to distinguish what is oral tradition from what is historical record, a task that the Coordination and Regional Development Commission of the Alentejo (CCDR Alentejo), in its regional planning and enhancement plans of 2024, considers a priority. While the legend of D. Nuno Álvares Pereira is passed down from generation to generation, the absence of systematic inventories documented by the University of Évora (1995) makes it difficult to validate many of the popular narratives through excavations and exhaustive inventories.

This separation is what allows us, today, to look at Sousel with a fresh perspective. By recognizing that oral tradition is a distinct object of study from the historical record, the municipality begins to value what it has, even if it means accepting that much of its past remains shrouded in silence. The legend, in this case, functions as a reflection of the will to belong, while the document, supported by the guidelines of CCDR Alentejo of 2024, serves as the institutional anchor.

The importance of the inventory

Fthe need to inventory cultural heritage and traditional legends is a challenge that CCDR Alentejo highlights in its 2024 plans for border and Alentejo municipalities. For Sousel, this means that the work initiated by João Richau, with reissues registered by the Municipality of Sousel in 2025, assumes a central role. The comparison with the ethnographic records cataloged by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation / Center for Ethnography in 1982 shows the existing density in Elvas and Portalegre versus the systematic documentary scarcity in Sousel.

The territorial cohesion structure, reported by CIMAA in 2023, also depends on this safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage common to the municipalities of the region. When a municipality manages to articulate its history, whether based on the legend of the Constable documented by the Municipality of Sousel in 2022 or on archaeological finds, it creates a narrative that strengthens the region. The scarcity of records identified by the University of Évora (1995) is, thus, a starting point for future investigations.

The prospecting and inventorying effort of the PDM, although limited to about 20 days of fieldwork conducted by the University of Évora in 1995, left a foundation for the future. The work of João Richau, reissued by Edições Locais and the Municipality of Sousel in 2025, demonstrates that there is a willingness to fill the gaps pointed out by ethnographic records. The challenge now is to transform these dispersed fragments into a coherent corpus that can be shared.

What remains in the present

Today, what remains of Sousel's history is an invitation to discovery based on data available in local archives and monographs. The legend of D. Nuno Álvares Pereira, temporarily placed in the period of medieval campaigns by the Municipality of Sousel in 2022, continues to be the guiding thread, but it is the absence of other popular tales — documented by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in 1982 — that makes Sousel a fascinating case study.

The preservation of this heritage, which CIMAA promotes in the 2023 cohesion indicators, is done by articulating institutional safeguarding with the reissue of reference works, such as that of João Richau in 2025. The municipality of Sousel, with its contained history and the scarcity of bibliographic records pointed out by the University of Évora in 1995, maintains its own dynamic that does not need imported myths to assert itself in the region.

The future of Sousel's memory lies in the ability to continue the collection initiated in the 20 days of fieldwork reported by the University of Évora in 1995. With the support of CCDR Alentejo's guidelines of 2024 and the community's dedication, what is today a void of records may be filled. Until then, Sousel remains a territory of Alto Alentejo where the past, even if sparsely documented, continues to shape the present.