Honor and Service. Álvaro Ferreira de Vera and the Ideia of nobility in the Portugal of the Habsburgs Habsbur (original) (raw)
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Honour and service. Álvaro Ferreira da Vera and the idea of nobility in Habsbourg Portugal
2009
portuguesA Idade Moderna apresenta-se como um dos periodos aureos do poder da Nobreza, ao mesmo tempo que e tambem o momento inicial da civilizacao do impresso. Estas duas realidades convergem na producao de uma ampla literatura sobre nobres e sobre a ideia de nobreza em toda a Europa meridional. Neste estudo, considera-se que a tratadistica nobiliarquica e o cenario ideal para explicar o conceito de nobreza, os seus mecanismos de nobilitacao, as hierarquias internas do grupo e os valores nobiliarquicos essenciais de honra e de virtude. Analisa-se, por isso, um dos textos fundamentais da tratadistica nobiliarquica portuguesa, produzido durante a dinastia Filipina - a Origem da nobreza politica, uma obra de Alvaro Ferreira de Vera, publicada em 1631-, uma vez que recolhe a tradicao medieval, as fontes do direito castelhano e as necessidades politico-pedagogicas daqueles que, sob os Habsburgo, receberam distincoes nobiliarquicas. Trata-se, assim, de um artigo que embora analise o disc...
Honor and service: Álvaro Ferreira de Vera and the idea of nobility in the Portugal of the Habsburgs
e.Journal of Portuguese History, 2009
The Early Modern Age was a period when the power of the nobility was at its height, and it also marked the beginning of the civilization of writing. The convergence of both these realities has left us with a wide-ranging literature about the peerage and the idea of nobility throughout southern Europe. In this article, an analysis is made of one of the most essential treatises about the nobility in Habsburg Portugal, Origem da nobreza politica, written by Alvaro Ferreira de Vera and published in 1631. The treatises written about the peerage provide the perfect scenario for explaining the concept of nobility, its mechanisms of ennoblement, its hierarchies and its key values, such as honor and virtue. Ferreira de Vera’s work represents a culminating moment in the formulation of the Portuguese discourse about the nobility, since it brings together the medieval tradition, the sources of Castilian law and the political and pedagogical needs of those who were admitted to the nobility under...
As a result of a genuine explosion in historiographical studies on the subject over the last two decades, the various European nobilities can now be considered to have been studied in some depth. A general tendency to be noted in the above-mentioned works relates to the idea highlighted by various researchers seeking to attenuate the early modernisation of noble values, who have taken the French case, in particular, as their benchmark. It should be stressed immediately that none of the descriptions just quoted can be applied to the kingdom of Portugal, to which almost no reference is made in these texts. On the one hand, the noble groups were constantly increasing in number, which seems to have run contrary to the general trend in eighteenth-century Europe. On the other hand, the high nobility of the Portuguese court did not grow, instead remaining extremely stable and crystallising from the mid-seventeenth century to the end of the eighteenth century, contrary to what was happening in the neighbouring monarchies. Finally, the central core of family values, expressed in the discipline of the aristocratic house, an essential secular aspect of the "ethos" of the fidalgo (nobleman), was maintained until the end of the eighteenth century. The extremely closed society of the court of the new Portuguese dynasty of the Braganças only promoted a very limited spread of a cosmopolitan culture within its circles.
17th and 18th century Portuguese Nobilities in the European Context: A historiographical overview
2003
As a result of a genuine explosion in historiographical studies on the subject over the last two decades, the various European nobilities can now be considered to have been studied in some depth. A general tendency to be noted in the above-mentioned works relates to the idea highlighted by various researchers seeking to attenuate the early modernisation of noble values, who have taken the French case, in particular, as their benchmark. It should be stressed immediately that none of the descriptions just quoted can be applied to the kingdom of Portugal, to which almost no reference is made in these texts. On the one hand, the noble groups were constantly increasing in number, which seems to have run contrary to the general trend in eighteenth-century Europe. On the other hand, the high nobility of the Portuguese court did not grow, instead remaining extremely stable and crystallising from the mid-seventeenth century to the end of the eighteenth century, contrary to what was happening in the neighbouring monarchies. Finally, the central core of family values, expressed in the discipline of the aristocratic house, an essential secular aspect of the "ethos" of the fidalgo (nobleman), was maintained until the end of the eighteenth century. The extremely closed society of the court of the new Portuguese dynasty of the Braganças only promoted a very limited spread of a cosmopolitan culture within its circles.
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This article considers the evolution of the importance of nativeness, which is just one of the meanings of the Portuguese word naturalidade, according to the different interests of the nobility and merchants from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. By analyzing early modern Portuguese Codes, as well as some petitions sent to the Cortes, and the strong bonds that existed between the Castilian and Portuguese nobility from the Middle Ages onwards, I propose an interpretation of the evolution of the modern concept of nativeness, not in its absolute sense, but instead according to the nobility or the lack of it of individuals considered to be either natives or foreigners.
História (São Paulo), 2015
Esta breve comunicação tem por objetivo estabelecer semelhanças e diferenças entre dois momentos e dois processos de "senhorialização" e "centralização do poder régio" em espaços geográficos muito distantes: um, no já bem definido território europeu do reino de Portugal, no tempo de D. Dinis; outro, no espaço imenso e indefinido do Brasil recém descoberto, na época de D. João III. A comparação é delicada (e mesmo discutível) se não se tiver em conta que são séculos diferentes, espaços geográficos díspares e decorre de textos de duas instâncias jurídicas e políticas desiguais: uma sentença judicial e um regimento de governo. Por outro lado, o texto visa avaliar até que ponto é pertinente a expressão Idade Média brasileira (1521-1580), dada como título a um dos volumes da conhecida História da Colonização Portuguesa do Brasil, coordenada por Carlos Malheiro Dias e editada entre 1921-1924 para comemorar em Portugal e no Brasil o primeiro centenário da independência ...
This study looks at the importance of genealogical knowledge during the Early Modern Era in Portugal, and the way in which it influenced the various interests that marked everyday social life, not only in the field of the appraisals that were necessary for a person to hold a title in the courts, but also in regard to the ennoblement mechanisms and the economy of reward (economia da mercê) Thus, the activity of genealogists became incisive and prominent during a period in which it was deemed vital to prove purity of blood and nobility for appearance's sake, paying great attention to origin, birth and kinship. It therefore does not come as a surprise that such activity was to have quite an impact, nor that such widespread manipulation and abuse should arise from it.
Conflitos Bélicos com Castela na Legitimação Simbólica do "Mexias" de Lisboa (1383-1385).
Antes de compreender o papel da guerra na legitimação simbólica de uma nova dinastia, a Dinastia de Avis, iniciada com o governo de D. João I (1383-1433), é necessário situar o contexto político de Portugal em fins do século XIV. A ascensão de D. João I ao poder ocorreu num período marcado por guerras com Castela, que se iniciaram desde o governo de D. Fernando (1367-1383), guerras estas que não foram favoráveis ao reino português e tiveram como conseqüências problemas sociais, tais como o aumento de impostos. Isso, associado à falta de trabalho, fomes e demais efeitos do contexto da época levaram ao surgimento de movimentos populares durante o seu reinado, conhecidos como uniões. 2 O motivo alegado das revoltas foi o casamento de D. Fernando com D. Leonor, dama já casada, realizado em segredo em 1371 e reconhecido publicamente em 1372, o que foi mal-visto pela população. Porém, o verdadeiro motivo das revoltas foi provavelmente o mesmo de outras ocorridas na Europa no mesmo período, marcado pela peste, fome e guerra 3 . Com relação à sucessão de D. Fernando, na falta de um herdeiro masculino, o trono passaria para um descendente de D. Beatriz, sua única filha legítima. Esta havia se casado com D. João, rei de Castela, após a última guerra entre Portugal e este país. Ficara então decidido pelo tratado de Salvaterra dos Magos que após a morte do rei D. Fernando e na menoridade do herdeiro de sua filha, o reino seria governado pela viúva, D. Leonor. Com a morte do monarca, formaram-se dois grupos que desejavam o poder em Portugal, o de D. Leonor e o Conde Andeiro e o de D. Beatriz e seu marido D. João de Castela. O Mestre de Avis se colocou entre estes dois grupos e lutou pelo poder, tornandose inicialmente regedor de Portugal (dezembro de 1383) e depois rei, com o apoio da nobreza secundogênita, elementos dos grupos urbanos (mercadores e membros dos concelhos) e a população pobre das cidades. ANPUH -XXIII SIMPÓSIO NACIONAL DE HISTÓRIA -Londrina, 2005.