Mark Molesky - This Gulf of Fire: The Great Lisbon Earthquake, or Apocalypse in the Age of Science and Reason

Praise for Mark Moleskys

THIS GULF OF FIRE

Richly readable.[Molesky] paints an astonishing picture of the natural cataclysm that struck Lisbon on November 1, 1755.

The Seattle Times

Moleskys rendering of the continent-wide philosophical debate following the earthquake is particularly lucid.

The New Criterion

Excellent.A comprehensive account of nearly every aspect of the disaster.As in any disaster story, great heroism and great treachery abounded, and Molesky shows us plenty of examples of both.Places this earthquake firmly in its historical context, arguing that the quake and its resultant disasters helped to shape the eighteenth century.

The Christian Science Monitor

Humanitys perennial battles between faith and reason have always been tested most intensely in times of calamity. The Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 was the first and most dramatic of such tests in the modern era, and the great calamity has long been waiting for its historian. Now it has its brilliant chronicler and analyst in Mark Molesky, whose This Gulf of Fire is an extraordinary marriage of fine, vivid narrative and sharp, clear thought. Full of poignant stories, it makes gripping reading and like all powerful histories stays around in ones mind long after the last page is read.

Simon Schama

The definitive history of the Lisbon earthquake and its aftermath. [This Gulf of Fire] combines exhaustive research with dramatic eyewitness accounts and modern discoveries in geology and seismology.Molesky has masterfully revived [the Lisbon tragedy] here.[This is] a powerful story about human and cultural loss and recovery that is hard to forget.

Washington Independent Review of Books

A thoroughly absorbing take on a momentous event.Anyone interested in history and especially disaster history will find this book enthralling.

Library Journal

[A] masterpiece of nonfiction.

Essex News Daily

Magisterial in its account of a world-changing event, this is a book to savor.

The History Book Club

Focused, well-researched, and fascinating.This smart, comprehensive, colorful account shows readers Lisbons phoenix-like recovery from destruction that is now nearly forgotten, and how it ushered in a more recognizably modern response to large-scale disasters.

Publishers Weekly

Mark Molesky

THIS GULF OF FIRE

Mark Molesky studied history at the University of Michigan and received his AM and PhD from Harvard, where he was a lecturer on history and literature. He is currently an associate professor of history at Seton Hall University. He lives in New York City.

ALSO BY MARK MOLESKY

Our Oldest Enemy:

A History of Americas Disastrous Relationship with France

FIRST VINTAGE BOOKS EDITION, OCTOBER 2016

Copyright 2015 by Mark Molesky

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, and distributed in Canada by Random House of Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, in 2015

Vintage and colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

A portion of this work was previously published in Chapter 7 of Flammable Cities (University of Wisconsin Press, 2012). Reprinted by courtesy of The University of Wisconsin Press.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the Knopf edition as follows:

Molesky, Mark

This gulf of fire : the destruction of Lisbon, or apocalypse in the age of science and reason / Mark Molesky.First edition.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Lisbon Earthquake, Portugal, 1755. 2. EarthquakesPortugalLisbonHistory18th century. 3. TsunamisPortugalLisbonHistory18th century. 4. FiresPortugalLisbonHistory18th century. 5. Earthquake reliefPortugalLisbonHistory18th century. 6. Lisbon (Portugal)Social conditions18th century. 7. DisastersSocial aspectsEuropeHistory18th century. 8. EnlightenmentEurope. I. Title.

DP 762. M 65 2015 946.942033dc23 2015007131

Vintage Books Trade Paperback ISBN:9780307387509

Ebook ISBN9781101875827

Cover design by Mark Abrams

Cover image Granger, NYC - All rights reserved.

Author photograph Michael Lionstar

Cartography by Mapping Specialists

www.vintagebooks.com

v4.1_c1

a

TO MY MENTORS

Donald H. Fleming and Stephen J. Tonsor

Contents

PROLOGUE
The Last Victim

CHAPTER ONE
Babylonia Portugueza

CHAPTER TWO
November 1, 1755

CHAPTER THREE
An Unexpected Horror

CHAPTER FOUR
The Great Firestorm

CHAPTER FIVE
The Hour of Pombal

CHAPTER SIX
City of Ashes, Huts of Wood

CHAPTER SEVEN
Word Spreads

CHAPTER EIGHT
A Chaos of Stones

CHAPTER NINE
Uma Lisboa Nova

CHAPTER TEN
Reverberations

Lisbons city center before the earthquake

PROLOGUE

The Last Victim

Earth gapes, hell burns, fiends roar, and saints pray.

RICHARD III, ACT IV, SCENE 4

On a late Sunday evening in September 1761, an old Italian priest made his way up the steps of a large, newly erected wooden platform in Lisbons

It was not the first time that Malagrida had faced execution. Years before, in the sweltering jungles of

Unfortunately, no such reprieve seemed possible now, for Portugal had become more dangerous to Malagrida than all the dark-canopied forests of Maranho had ever been. The Old World, as he once knew it, had been transformed. Only eleven years before, hea modest barefooted priest from the Brazilian outbackhad entered Lisbon in triumph. Hailed as a living saint for his legendary missions among the selvagens (as well as his many reputed miracles), he was received at the great

Soon Malagrida was basking in the brilliant glow of his spiritual celebrity. Wherever he wandered, vast crowds followed, all jostling for the chance to kiss his hand or witness one of his impassioned extempore orations. At court, he became a fixture, leading the queen and her ladies-in-waiting in their daily Spiritual Exerciseswhile the dying king saw an opportunity to redeem a life marred by the gravest sexual transgressions. Tell me,