Portuguese King Research Articles

Dom Duarte’s Leal C onselheiro within the context of M edieval Iberian texts of Authority

The first half of the 15th century in Portugal saw the publication of Portuguese king Dom Duarte’s sapiential work, Leal Conselheiro in 1438. This work represented yet another Portuguese literary piece that showed the influence of Castilian legislation (Siete Partidas) and other sapiential work since the mid-13th century onward. One Castilian sapiential work that influenced Dom Duarte was the Memoriale Virtutum by the converso Alfonso de Cartagena, who was sent to Portugal on four diplomatic missions from 1421 to 1427. The Portuguese Crown Prince, Dom Duarte, was in close contact with the Castilian envoy. It was purported that upon request from the Crown Prince, the Castilian envoy, Alfonso de Cartagena, published the Memoriale Virtutum. This close contact shows the mutual influence that both kingdoms had on each other in the creation and publication of sapiential work.

A Portuguese Don Juan. The Deconstruction of Myths in the Novel by Almeida Faria <i>O Conquistador</i> (<i>The Conqueror</i>)

The novels by Almeida Faria are not best sellers, although the author is very much appreciated in academic circles throughout Portuguese-speaking countries, like Brazil. His writing is iconoclastic and shows both the break with literary tradition, as well as a critical view of Portuguese society and history. This article analyses his last novel O conquistador (The Conqueror/The Seducer), where he merges two great myths, that of Don Juan, called the myth of deconstruction of myths, and that of the Hidden One (O Encoberto), important in Portuguese and English contexts. This myth relates to the Portuguese King Sebastião (1554-1578) known for his military fervour. Reversing the interest in military conquests, the modern hero of this novel is more interested in sexual ones. Assuming the narrative modus of a Bildungsroman, where the search for the individual’s identity and knowledge through erotic experience are important, this novel is constructed as an anti-epic and becomes a profound meditation on collective way of living. The frequently scandalous effect of the Don Juan myth is related to the deconstruction of a great national myth that is a satirical depiction of the Portuguese society. This paper shows how this novel critically deconstructs the cultural heritage of Sebastianism providing not only a critical view towards Portuguese society but also a subversion of cultural canons through myth.

Reputational recovery under political instability: Public debt in Portugal, 1641–83

AbstractThis article examines the reputation recovery of Portugal's public debt during the war of liberation against the former Habsburg ruler. Using novel datasets on long‐ and short‐term debt and nominal interest rates, this study provides evidence that the sovereign borrower used debt credibility to build a pact of regime in a revolutionary context with implications for financing the war. The Portuguese kings followed an implicit budget balance rule as a reputational scheme, which made Portugal an exceptional case of military success with a low debt‐to‐GDP ratio and low interest rates. These conclusions contribute to the literature in various attributes of war finance, debt management, and state‐making by showing that default avoidance could be as important to military success as fiscal capacity.

De amor y primavera: el debate entre don Denis y Airas Nunez

Abstract Critics have interpreted Don Denis’ cantiga Proençaes soen mui bem trobar as a diatribe directed against Occitan troubadours who associated in their poems springtime exordium and song for love. Although some have considered the particular piece of the Portuguese king an aesthetic recreation of the cansós that rejected the début printanier cliché, in this contribution a different reading is proposed. Given that in the entire corpus of the cantigas de amor there is only one text by the Galician clergyman Airas Nunez (Que muito m’eu pago d’este verão) that unites spring, euphoric love, and lyrical activity, this article argues that Don Denis’ poem emerged as a polemic and ironic response to the eccentric verses of his colleague. From the proposed perspective, the king’s cantiga is contextually situated and understood as part of a series of texts that integrate the king and the clergyman’s metaliterary debate on the conception of love.

100 × Congo: A Century of Congolese Art in Antwerp

100 × Congo: A Century of Congolese Art in Antwerp

“Chronicle of King Don Pedro” by Fernão Lopes: Translation, Compilation, Paraphrase

Fernão Lopes (d. ca. 1459) was a medieval Portuguese historian and curator of the archive of Torre do Tombe. His chronicles are dedicated to the reigns of Pedro I (reigned 1357—1367) and Ferdinand I (1367—1383), and João I (1385—1433). The article will analyze the strategies of translation, compilation and paraphrase in the Chronicle of King don Pedro, most of which (in particular, all 25—41 chapters) is based on the Chronicle of Pedro, King of Castile, that had been created several decades earlier by Pedro López de Ayala (1332—1407), a contemporary and eyewitness of the described events of the middle of the XIV century. However, these chapters, dealing both with the civil war in Castile and a number of Portuguese events, are not a simple translation from Castilian into Portuguese. Lopes not only compiles, shortens or supplements Ayala in detail, but also places key accents in a different way, constructing the images of kings. In Lopes, the Portuguese king is an almost exclusively just, albeit harsh ruler (although the famous nickname is not directly used in the chronicle), while the Castilian is almost exclusively a cruel tyrant. It is because of this contrast that large fragments of the Castilian chronicle, translated into Portuguese, often take on a new meaning.

The problem of the use of the term “Portuguese Aljamía”

The portuguese term “Aljamía” means ʻtexts in Portuguese in Arabic scriptʼ since the beginning of the XXth century under the influence of D. Lopes. The word “Aljamía” appears in Portuguese documents of the XVth century to designate the Portuguese language as it was perceived by the Moors. Thus, the word “aljamía” has two meanings: the historical ʻforeign languageʼ (Portuguese) and the modern ʻtext in Portuguese in Arabic scriptʼ. These meanings correspond to the Spanish “Aljamía” and “Aljamiado”. However, not all scientists agree with the terminological use of the word “Aljamía” as an analogue of the Spanish “Aljamiado”. The term “Aljamía” technically means portuguese texts in Arabic script, but it has other cultural and historical references. Spanish texts in “Aljamiado” were created by Spanish Muslims who lost their knowledge of Arabic in the period after the Reconquista (XIII–XVII). The Arabic script was a sign of their cultural and religious identity. The reason for the use of Arabic alphabet in Portuguese documents (XVIth century) is different. The Arab governors of the portuguese colonies in Africa had to address their reports directly to the Portuguese king. They knew Portuguese only in spoken form and used the Arabic alphabet to write down the Portuguese language. These documents are an important source in the history of the Portuguese language, especially in historical phonetics. However, from a cultural and historical point of view, they are not comparable with Spanish and cannot belong to the corpus of manuscripts in “Aljamiado”.

Art Casting in Portuguese 19th Century Industrial Foundries: A Multi-Analytical Study of an Emblematic Copper-Based Alloy Monument

The outdoor sculpture of the first Portuguese king, D. Afonso Henriques (c. 1109–1185 AD), placed in Guimarães (North Portugal), is one of the most emblematic national sculptures. Created in 1887 by António Soares dos Reis, it possesses a remarkable symbolic value in the presumed birthplace of the king. In addition to the artistic and heritage importance of the monument, it is one of the few sculptures cast by a Portuguese industrial foundry in the 19th century. This study obtained data on the sculpture’s elemental composition and corrosion products, gathering important historical and technical information. For this purpose, a multi-analytical approach consisting of X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDS) was carried out to characterise the bulk metal and corrosion layers. The data revealed a ternary alloy of Cu, Sn and Zn, with Pb, Fe, As, Bi and Mn as minor elements. The alloy matches that of other sculptures cast in that period. In terms of corrosion, it is characterised by the presence of oxides. These results represent the first step for applying an appropriate conservation strategy for bronze sculptures with similar characteristics.

Going the Distance: Eurasian Trade and the Rise of the Business Corporation 1400–1700; Family Firms and Merchant Capitalism in Early Modern Europe: The Business, Bankruptcy and Resilience of the Höchstetters of Augsburg

Going the Distance: Eurasian Trade and the Rise of the Business Corporation 1400–1700; Family Firms and Merchant Capitalism in Early Modern Europe: The Business, Bankruptcy and Resilience of the Höchstetters of Augsburg

Juana La Beltraneja, Dynastic Fears, and Threats of Marriage (1475–1506)

This article focuses on the life of Juana, the Excelente Senhora (excellent lady), between 1479 and 1506. Juana, widely known as La Beltraneja, was recognized by King Enrique IV of Castile (1454–74) as his legitimate daughter and successor despite claims that she had been conceived in an adulterous relationship between her mother Joana of Portugal and Beltrán de la Cueva. Although Juana lived in exile in Portugal from 1476 onward, her young age and unmarried status made her a powerful diplomatic weapon during the reign of the Portuguese king João II (1481–95). While she had professed as a nun and was nominally attached to the monastery of Santa Clara in Coimbra, her degree of seclusion waivered with the vicissitudes of Portugal’s foreign policy. Until 1522, she herself maintained the position that she was the rightful heir to the throne of Castile.

A paróquia tridentina e sua implantação no Brasil colonial

The reform of the Church was all imposed on the revitalization of the “local churches”. For this reason, old methods were resumed, such as the pastoral visit and the diocesan synod, in view of the moralization of the clergy. In 1564, Pope Pius IV confirmed the Tridentine conciliar decrees by the bull Benedictus Deo and, in the same year, the Portuguese King, D. Sebastião, through his cardinal, D. Henrique, ordered “to give all the favor and help [...] for the execution of the decrees of the council ”. Gradually, the Portuguese archbishops and bishops began calling for synod meetings. All obeyed Session XXV, of the Council of Trent, which exhorted the congregants of the churches to observe everything that had been made available, making, for this, a profession of faith. For Brazil, the First Constitutions of the Archbishopric of Bahia (1707) were made, as a great gap in relation to the Portuguese counterparts - of the Metropolis and domains -, and, mainly, as for the Council of Trent. The purpose of thisarticle is to present the application of the Council of Trent, through the guidelines of the First Constitutions of the Archbishopric of Bahia, in some parishes of old villages in the gold region of Minas Gerais in the 18th century: Guarapiranga, Catas Altas and Antônio Pereira.

Dürer's Rhinoceros

Dürer's Rhinoceros Leanne Ogasawara (bio) Does a rhinoceros make the perfect gift for a Portuguese King? And can an imaginary rhinoceros be so compelling that it creates a parallel reality? Why has this impossible creature, real and conjured, charged through our imagination over the centuries? Click for larger view View full resolution News of the miraculous creature's arrival in Lisbon had spread throughout Europe. The year was 1515, and a rhinoceros had not been seen on the continent for over a thousand years. Excitement was high, and crowds flocked to the city to try and catch a glimpse of the mythical one-horned beast. Was it part-dragon? Part-unicorn? People marveled. Protected in strong armor resembling that of a medieval knight and equipped with a deadly horn, it seemed ready to go to war. Who wouldn't be gobsmacked? Amidst all the excitement, we know that at least one German merchant included a sketch of the animal in a report he sent to the German community back in Nuremberg. This is surely how Albrecht Dürer, one of the greatest artistic geniuses the world has ever known, came to create his iconic woodcut of an Indian rhinoceros—without ever having seen one in person. Dürer's rhinoceros would far outlive its subject, becoming the definition of the animal in Europe for hundreds of years to come. It is interesting to consider that up until the 1930s, school textbooks in Germany were [End Page 140] illustrated with the Dürer rhino as a faithful image of the animal, despite the fact that it was fantastically inaccurate. Wait! "fantastically inaccurate?" The original merchant's sketch from which Dürer made his picture has been lost, but somehow Dürer's rhinoceros is not only clearly recognizable as an Indian rhinoceros, but it captures much of the spirit of the animal. Solitary and unchallenged, Dürer's rhinoceros dominates the pictorial space. A tour de force. Dürer is well-known for his animal drawings. Like his famous hare or his little owl, they are "better than a trip to the zoo," some say. And his rhino is no less inspired. Sure, maybe a real rhinoceros is not covered in hard plates—but how could he resist, since the artist was legendary for his paintings of princely armor. Nor does a rhinoceros have scales on its legs and hindquarters. Yet, look at the accuracy in the way he drew its wart-like bumps. With so much to look at in the picture, you would be forgiven for ignoring that eye. Strangely tired and world-weary expression, it haunts the picture. And those protruding ribs, do they suggest the animal was half-starved from its long ocean voyage? We can only imagine how someone in Renaissance Europe would have reacted to this print, for it looked like nothing else they might have seen in life or portrayed in paintings or books. Not even a dragon appeared as unworldly. It must have been more like seeing a creature from a Bosch painting come to life. But where on earth did the Portuguese king find such a creature? It turns out that the rhinoceros was a gift from the Sultan of Gujarat, who—thank you very much—did not care to give in to the Portuguese request of setting up a trading post on the Island of Diu, just off the coast of his kingdom. This was in the early days of the Portuguese colonies in India—but already, the Kingdom of Gujarat had had a front row seat as the Portuguese took over the Malabar coast, just to their south. Trying to put off the pesky foreigners as long as possible without having to go to war, the sultan sent the emissaries back to Goa with the rhinoceros. You can almost imagine him laughing to his ministers: "This ought to keep them busy for a while." "A gift for the Viceroy of Goa," the Sultan of Gujarat had said. And: "For your convenience, the animal has been fitted with an iron shackle and a chain around his back leg." This information had been conveyed to the Portuguese Viceroy by the...

Antiquissima Christianità: Indian Religion or Idolatry?

Abstract The Jesuit mission among the “ancient Christians” on the Malabar coast in today’s Kerala was one of the watershed moments—as I argued a decade ago—in their global expansion in Asia in the sixteenth century, and a prelude to the method of accommodation as it had been theorized and practiced in Asia. In this article I want to emphasize the invocation of comparisons with and the use of Mediterranean antiquity in crafting the identities, memory, and history of Indian Christianity. Jesuit ethnographic descriptions concerning the liturgy, rites, and customs of māppila nasrānikkal, also known as St. Thomas Christians, triggered a series of debates involving various missionaries, Catholic Church authorities in Goa and Rome, as well as Syrian bishops and St. Thomas Christian priestly families. Caught up in the contrary efforts at unifying and homogenizing Christianity under two distinct helms of the Portuguese king and the Roman pope, the missionaries generated different intellectual tools and distinctions, all of which contributed to further jurisdictional struggles. The St. Thomas Christian community became a model of “antique” Christianity for some and a heretical or even idolatrous sect for others. It became a mirror for the divided Christianity in Europe and beyond. In India, it was precisely the vocabulary and the historicizing reasoning that was invested in analyzing and defining these Indian homegrown Christians that would be subsequently applied by comparison, analogy, or contrast to formalize and reify other Indian “religions.” The dating and the autonomous or derivative status of Indian (“pagan”) antiquities emerged, a century later, as a major orientalist problem.

Between Silences: The Coronation of Portuguese Medieval Kings (12th–14th Centuries)

The coronations of Portugal’s first dynasty constitute a complex topic. Approaching the theme requires understanding that an omission of words in written documentation can both affirm and deny possibilities. Likewise, visual documentation, such as illuminations, sculptures and other figurative arts, is scarce, raising a significant number of questions and thus is not trustworthy as a historical source. For this reason, the study of Portuguese coronations is filled with questions and silences. Art does not testify to these ceremonies, but shows that Portuguese kings valued regalia pertaining to both religious and secular ceremonies affirming their power, and that those insignias were different from those used by French or English kings in the same time period. In this study, I will use art, particularly funerary sculpture, but also objects with iconographic value, to demonstrate how these reflect elements of thought and the emotional pulsar of the various European societies that produced them.

THE ROLE OF 3D DOCUMENTATION FOR RESTORATION INTERVENTIONS. THE CASE STUDY OF VALFLORES IN LOURES, PORTUGAL

Abstract. The house and farm of Valflores, located near Lisbon, are an important evidence of the Portuguese Renaissance civil architecture from the first half of 16th century, built by Jorge de Barros, the overseer of the Portuguese king, D. João III, in Flanders. Its style has its roots in Italian villas. As was common at that time, the property was a villeggiatura site. In 1982 the house and the farm were listed as property of public interest. In 2000 the property was inserted in a Portuguese list of heritage at risk and in 2001 the property was in a state of pre-ruin. It was bought by the municipality in 2006. After 2007 a partnership between a Local Heritage Association (ADPAC), the Municipality of Loures and the Lisbon School of Architecture developed a series of initiatives for the safeguard and restoration of this Heritage. Several studies were performed, including multiple three-dimensional surveys on several occasions. Ultimately, these studies led to the development of a restoration project in 2016 for European funds application. At the present date, the restoration works are going on. The objective of this paper is the discussion of how three-dimensional documentation played a fundamental role on the several stages of this process, namely after 2007, permitting to gain insights about metrics, space and form distributions, deformations, structural condition, state of conservation, history, and allowing dissemination and public engagement.

Analysis of fungal deterioration phenomena in the first Portuguese King tomb using a multi-analytical approach

During the ongoing characterization of limestone biodeterioration in the UNESCO World Heritage site of “University of Coimbra – Alta and Sofia” (Coimbra, Portugal), it was brought to our attention that the limestone relieves adorning the tomb of D. Afonso I (First Portuguese King), displayed several signs of distinctive biodeterioration patterns. According to the ICOMOS Illustrated glossary on stone deterioration patterns, these could be characterized as visual mould proliferation, presence of black crusts, stone erosion and disintegration. Due to the invaluable nature of this monument, a multi-disciplinary approach (biological and analytical) to fully characterize these phenomena was applied. The results obtained allowed the characterization of the fungal diversity colonizing this monument, as well as the identification of various deterioration products. The results highlighted that the detected indoor black crusts displayed various characteristics from polluted environments, although lacking the typical association with gypsum. The black crusts were also characterized by the presence of lead oxides, damaging salts and carbonaceous particles. In addition, it could be verified that the erosion phenomena found are a result from fungal mediated calcium carbonate dissolution and calcium oxalate formation. The establishment of different fungal populations coupled with the deposition of environmental particles contributed to the development of the distinct phenomena detected through differential biodeterioration mechanisms.

The just war tradition in Zimbabwean historiography: Dis/entangling the Gordian knot between religion and morality of war

Three wars stand out In Zimbabwean historiography with regards to the use and application of the just war tradition. The first was occasioned by the murder of Fr Gonzalo Da Silveira, a Portuguese Jesuit missionary, in 1560. After seeking the advice of the Ecclesiastical Council, the Portuguese King decided to send an expedition under the leadership of Francisco Barreto to wage war against the Mutapa Empire. Deliberations by the Council hand concluded that the military expedition would constitute a ‘just war’. The second war broke out in 1893, at the instigation of the British South Africa Company (BSAC). This war often referred to as the ‘Matabele war’ was a war of conquest against the Ndebele kingdom. Again, the ‘just war’ theory was applied. Thirdly, the concept was also utilised in writings by political and Church leaders in support of the Chimurenga/ Umfazo II (1966-1979). In this article, we argue that the three wars fell short of the moral bar to which the just war tradition aspires. Instead, the three wars were geared to and indeed succeeded in, serving parochial and sectarian interests of those behind the war at the expense of the lofty ideals espoused by the just war tradition. The study will rely on available secondary sources that form part of Zimbabwean historiography.

Bad Cases and Worse Lawyers: Patterns of Legal Expertise in Medieval Portuguese Court Records, c. 1200–1400

Fragmentary, complex and in short supply, medieval Portuguese court records have been largely overlooked by historians, with the result that the judicial and intellectual workings as well as the social dynamics of legal practice in medieval Portugal remain, for the most part, unknown. Drawing on various examples from several cathedral archives in Portugal and interweaving them with royal legislation and ius commune sources, this article contends that, far from merely conveying a disparate array of impressionistic and disconnected glimpses into legal practice, these records are evidence of patterns of legal expertise that can be reconstructed and analysed. It focuses on three such patterns in particular: the exploitation of Romano-canonical procedural law and its flaws; the appeal to the papal curia; and the recourse to authoritative legal counsel abroad. These constants of legal practice not only shaped the experience of the law and litigants’ awareness of legal mechanisms in a fundamental way, but also sparked serious social tensions and provided a rationale for the attempts of Portuguese kings, from the 1280s onwards, to exert a tighter control over the legal process.

D. Fr. Aleixo de Meneses (1559‑1617): um percurso biográfico em contexto

Análise da trajetória biográfica de D. Fr. Aleixo de Meneses, um filho não primogénito do aio de D. Sebastião e neto do 1.º Conde de Cantanhede. O biografadoingressou nos Eremitas de Santo Agostinho aos 15 anos e chegou a arcebispo (1595), vice-rei (1614) e a presidente do Conselho de Portugal (1615). Dá-se atenção aos fatores que potenciaram essa promoção rápida. Aposta-se em examinar o seu percurso de vida, tendo em linha de conta outros afins, a começar pelos dos mitrados de Goa que o antecederam no lugar. Discute-se até que ponto a sua ascensão foi invulgar.

The “new Lepanto”? John V of Portugal and the battle of Matapan (1717)

This paper deals with the new propaganda image represented in the Portrait of John V of Portugal and the Battle of Matapan, attributed to Giorgio Domenico Duprà, a commemorative work of art which referenced the battle of Cape Matapan. The victory achieved by the Portuguese navy (with an allied Christian force) over the Ottoman Empire in the Aegean Sea, in June 1717, was directly related to the official royal propaganda deployed by the Portuguese before the Holy See. It was destined to make a new image of the Portuguese king as a Catholic hero and to demonstrate his adherence to the idea of a crusade against Islam. The idea of a “new crusade” against the Grand Turk, therefore, continued to be active in Rome (as in Lisbon) at the time of Pope Clement XI, and it is in this context that the portrait gains diplomatic and symbolic significance. It is about offering an alternative view not only of the royal rhetoric but also of the Portuguese public opinion that served as a counterpoint, through unpublished documentation.