O BRAVO REI, A TERRA E OS CLÉRIGOS: LEIS DE DESAMORTIZAÇÃO E AÇÃO GRACIOSA DE D. AFONSO IV (1325-1357)

Abstract

The following article has as it’s objective to analyze how t king Alfonso IV put the law that abolsihed monasteries and Other religious institutions the right to have goods and resources of their own to work in his Kingdom of Portugal during his reign of 32 years.These laws had been published by his father, the king Denis, in the Years 1280’s and had as it’s main objective to not alienate large tracts of resources, like lands, in the hands of the Church. However Alfonso IV, due to a number of reasons, suspended their application through his  gracious action. We firmly believe that was made because it was the king’s most importante role to exercise justice and many of the clergymen and institutions that petitioned were poor and thus unable to survive, what justifiedthe suspension  of the law. Beyond that, by creating an image of himself as a just king, worried with his subjects and that was prepared to suspend the law for the sake of the common good, Alfonso would strenghten his own power as the main leader of the portuguese state then in the making, against other powerful groups in society that favored a weakened royal power, like the great prelates and the nobility.   Keywords: Abolition Laws. King Denis.King Alfonso IV.Clergymen