Mini the Elder

Fernando de Mini the Elder, a sailor and a boatman from Vilanova de Arousa, testifies at the Tavera vs. Fonseca case, when he was already an old man. 

A fundamental trade in medieval Galicia, now forgotten, was that of a boatman. They shipped goods between the coast and the inland by taking advantage of the inlets and the courses of navigable rivers that flowed into them. They were an important complement to road communications. 

Mini the Elder worked mainly in ría de Arousa and River Ulla, one of the key routes followed by sea produce and overseas goods on their way to Santiago. Protected and controlled by Torres de Oeste (Catoira) and making a stop at Padrón, the route went up the valley of Sar to Santiago and across the customs of the castle. In his deposition, he stated that when he was taking salt to Padrón he was boarded by men from Torres do Oeste who required him to surrender the fish they believed he was carrying.