The immediate causes of what is often regarded as the most serious popular revolt in Portuguese history lay in several reformist measures introduced by Costa Cabral’s government, namely new rules on military conscription, a fiscal reform imposing land taxes, and, above all, the ban on burials inside churches. More broadly, the revolt expressed widespread rural discontent with the deep changes brought by the liberal regime after the civil wars of 1828-1834. This, along with the persisting ideological divisions within Portuguese society and the context of economic and subsistence crises, created ideal conditions for a major social upheaval. The uprising began in the village of Fontarcada (Póvoa de Lanhoso) when authorities attempted to enforce the new burial rules and met local resistance. The repression that followed intensified unrest and led hundreds of armed peasants – men and women carrying scythes, clubs, pikes, and firearms – to attack prisons and public buildings, destroy tax records, and defy the authorities. Within a few weeks, the revolt spread across Minho and Trás-os-Montes, encompassing all of northern Portugal, before advancing southward into Beira and Estremadura, threatening to engulf the whole country, especially after the formation of insurgent juntas in cities such as Porto and Santarém. What had begun as a genuinely popular uprising soon became intertwined with broader political opposition, ranging from dissident liberal factions to Miguelists. The revolt forced Queen Maria II to dismiss Costa Cabral in May 1846, but instability persisted. A palace coup in October (the Emboscada) reignited the conflict, leading to the Patuleia civil war (1846-1847). The name “Maria da Fonte” is but a symbolic, collective figure, reflecting the central role of women in the movement.