Academic literature on the topic 'Portuguese Nobility History'

In the current work I intend to inquire into the internal motives that led the Portuguese seaborne empire to decadence. After making a brief review of the historiography about the decline of Estado da Índia, I proceed to the analysis of the Crown-Church-Nobility triangle in the course of os Descobrimentos, and of their respective roles in the evolution of Portuguese empire. The absolutization of the crown, the over-expansion of the clergy and the empowerment of the aristocracy became the most conspicuous and longstanding features in the Portuguese social fabric after the country launched herself into maritime undertakings, which crippled her agriculture and retarded the industrialization. As a consequence, the rise of bourgeoisie and the transformation of mercantilist economy into the capitalist were obstructed, and a strong adventurous but non-productive spirit mixed with disdain of manual work prevailed both in metropolis and in overseas territories. In conclusion, the Portuguese decadence commenced from within rather than from without, and far prior to Dutch intrusions in Portuguese Asia, which only accelerated the decline.

The fifteenth-century Portuguese nobility was a proud and image-conscious social group that transformed tombs into opportunities for self-promotion. Manifesting changing conceptualizations of history and agency, the nobility’s elaborately sculpted sepulchres also reveal the means of successful social advancement in this society. The ruling dynasty of Avís encouraged the chivalric ethos of the long fifteenth century to exert control over the powerful nobility and validate their expansionist agenda in Africa. This profoundly shaped the visual idiom of funerary sculpture, resulting in the emergence of the ‘chivalric tomb’ in Portugal. Taking advantage of the blurred lines between chivalry and politics and between history and propaganda, Portuguese aristocrats began to manipulate their posthumous images to construct enduring, positive legacies in the public imagination. Aristocratic Portuguese tombs remain virtually untapped sources of social-historical information, particularly through their display of consistent commemorative strategies ranging from genealogical epitaphs to figural portrayals of Africans. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and archival research and offering a close examination of these monuments through visual, literary and historical evidence, this article explores the artistic intersection of death and memory in late medieval Portuguese society and elucidates how aristocratic funerary monuments performed a persuasive, as well as memorial, function.

Resumen: María Guadalupe de Lencastre, VI duquesa de Aveiro, fue muy conocida en su época por su extraordinaria cultura y su apoyo a las misiones católicas. El presente artículo ofrece un recorrido por la vida de esta noble portuguesa exiliada en Madrid, centrándonos en las dificultades a las que tuvo que hacer frente para defender sus títulos y derechos y las particularidades del ejercicio efectivo del poder en sus estados.Palabras clave: Nobleza, Historia de Género, Aveiro, Portugal, EspañaAbstract: The 6th duchess of Aveiro, Maria Guadalupe de Lencastre, was well known at her time for her extraordinary culture and her support to the Catholic missions. This article focuses in her life as a exiled Portuguese noblewoman in Madrid after the Restauraçao, the difficulties she faced in order to protect the patrimony of her House.Key Words: Nobility, Gender History, Aveiro, Portugal, Spain

Abstract The military career of the Marquis of Távara, a less well-known historical figure among the nobility of Early Modern Spain, deserves attention because his life-experience progressed from his local roles in particular kingdoms to culmination in major duties such as President of the Council of Orders. His career advanced from mere adventurer to maestre de campo (field commander of a tercio), thereafter he held vice-regal office in Sicily and Navarre and the captaincies-general of Aragon, Galicia, Old Castile and Extremadura, and he was involved in the wars against the Portuguese and Catalans during the crisis of the 1640s. Also, he held responsibility for the Monarchy’s entire artillery, and he became an active member of the Council of War. Quite apart from his aristocratic origins, this paper explores how his meritorious military career in combination with his three strategic marriages assisted him in setting and shaping a strategy for military promotion.

Abstract In the early seventeenth century, New England merchants were heavily involved in privateering raids on Spanish and Portuguese shipping in the Caribbean and in capturing slave ships, almost entirely sent from Angola. Knowing the specific background and historical events in Angola allows us to solve a number of mysterious appearances, such as Imbangala (“canniball negroes”) raiders, and a “queen” who was probably a member of the Kongo-Ndongo nobility whose enslaved members also appear in Brazilian records of the same epoch. Careful use of contemporary and dense documentation of Angola and shipping allow this greater nuance and opens the way for other research.

In the Captaincy of Pernambuco, in Portuguese America, sugar cane mill lords andsugar cane farmers managed throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuriesto secure successive extensions of a privilege guaranteeing that their their prop-erty would not be confiscated as payment for debt. To understand how this privilegehelped preserve the patrimony of the local nobility in the sugar-based economy of Per-nambuco, the origins of this privilege and debates surrounding it were analyzed. Re-search for this work involved accessing diverse historical sources, mainly the OverseasHistorical Archive, the Historical Documents collection of the National Library of Riode Janeiro and the Torre do Tombo National Archive in Lisbon

The coexistence of Islam and matriliny has been viewed as a ‘paradox’ because of strict patriliny that Islam prescribes. This article attempts to disentangle this enigma by comparing the Minangkabau, Kerala and coastal northern Mozambique that represent the most well-known cases of simultaneous practice of Islam and matrilineal kinship, which initially was a result of peaceful Islamisation through Indian Ocean networks. In the nineteenth century, the Dutch and British colonial regimes helped matriliny to survive, despite all the efforts of the Islamists to the contrary, by codifying local juridical rules. The Portuguese integration of the local matrilineal nobility into their colonial administrative system preserved matriliny within the local Muslim order. Nowadays these communities are influenced by modernisation, nation-state policies, and Islamic reformist movements, but matrilineal principles still regulate the use of the ancestral land.

The search to understand the motives behind Portuguese overseas expansion has long preoccupied historians of the early modern period. Numerous articles, surveys and studies have addressed its economic incentives, achievements and legacies to the point where the historiography has obscured a holistic understanding of the forces at play in the early sixteenth century. Moreover, in this field of study overseas policy has been set apart from the domestic political and social climate, giving the impression that events taking place in Southeast Asia were foremost the concern of the policy makers in Lisbon. D. Manuel (1495–1521) who was king of Portugal and driving force behind the expansion during its arguably most crucial period, was neither warrior king nor astute entrepreneur, but rather the proponent of ambitious political reforms. The tenuous nature of his succession and his relationship with the highest stratum of nobility demands that scholarly attention focus on domestic politics during the so-called ‘Vasco da Gama era’. This paper contends that placation of the grandes (titled elites and their families) was D. Manuel's primary motivation behind continued expansion and conquest, superseding aspirations to economic and imperial power. It asserts that in an attempt to defuse his legacy of political instability left to him by his predecessor, D. Manuel manufactured a culture of chivalry that was linked to the overseas expansion and provided venues for noble combat away from the political centre.

Resumen: María Guadalupe de Lencastre, VI duquesa de Aveiro, fue muy conocida en su época por su extraordinaria cultura y su apoyo a las misiones católicas. El presente artículo ofrece un recorrido por la vida de esta noble portuguesa exiliada en Madrid, centrándonos en las dificultades a las que tuvo que hacer frente para defender sus títulos y derechos y las particularidades del ejercicio efectivo del poder en sus estados.Palabras clave: Nobleza, Historia de Género, Aveiro, Portugal, EspañaAbstract: The 6th duchess of Aveiro, Maria Guadalupe de Lencastre, was well known at her time for her extraordinary culture and her support to the Catholic missions. This article focuses in her life as a exiled Portuguese noblewoman in Madrid after the Restauraçao, the difficulties she faced in order to protect the patrimony of her House.Key Words: Nobility, Gender History, Aveiro, Portugal, Spain

RESUMO Os títulos nobiliárquicos de Pedro Taques de Almeida Paes Leme, de meados do século XVIII até sua morte, em 1777, foram redigidos durante período de intensa redefinição do papel da capitania de São Paulo em relação à Coroa e à América portuguesa como um todo. Após o período de submissão administrativa ao Rio de Janeiro (1748-1765) e em meio às negociações das fronteiras entre as colônias ultramarinas portuguesa e espanhola para a assinatura e implementação do Tratado de Madrid (1750), os paulistas viam-se em posição renovada e almejavam ampliar os reconhecimentos de seus feitos e, assim, as benesses que poderiam emergir. Nessa articulação entre política, território e as antigas e atuais relações com grupos indígenas, Taques escreve centenas de solicitações de reconhecimento de nobreza para as principais famílias paulistas. A análise sistemática da totalidade dos títulos genealógicos remanescentes desse conjunto permite divisar as estratégias narrativas de tais pedidos e os significados que construíram para um grupo específico e limitado dentro dessa população: os “paulistas”. Este artigo apresenta o exame dos textos genealógicos, em sua redação e pela extração de dados quantitativos, circunscrevendo a fixação de certos valores, antecedentes e hábitos que serão atribuídos exclusivamente a esses “paulistas” - e não à totalidade da população desse território -, buscando subverter séculos de lendas e documentos que os classificavam como violentos, cruéis e insubordinados. Ressalto, ainda, como essa operação será fundamental na configuração posterior da mitologia bandeirante, que generaliza a associação entre esses homens e o ímpeto comum dos paulistas.

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Satirized in white decasyllable verses of Vila Rica’s ouvidor, Tomás António Gonzaga, in Minas Gerais in the eighteenth century, individuals of the family Cunha Meneses - especially Luis da Cunha Meneses, the Fanfarrão Minésio - have become icons of an insolent and despotic government in the overseas domains. Right or wrong, this family representation crossed, over the years, the field of history and literature. However, as it is praised, on one hand, the information contained in gonzaguiana narrative, on the other, little is known about the social origins of the members of this family in Portugal. As a result, the exercise of our research had as main objective to dig into the Cunha Meneses’ family history between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Thus, the starting point was limited, mainly to the analysis of lines of succession of the firstborn - especially sons - the matrimonial alliances, stratification vectors, of the services provided to the king, and titles and privileges. We note that the core of family dynamics was located in a specific aspect: social reproduction and / or biological. As a background, it was possible to identify characteristics of nobility in the context of the Ancien Régime and especially in the Portuguese Empire.
Satirizados nos versos decassílabos brancos do ouvidor de Vila de Rica, Tomás Antônio Gonzaga, em Minas Gerais no século XVIII, os indivíduos da família Cunha Meneses – sobretudo Luís da Cunha Meneses, o Fanfarrão Minésio – tornaram-se ícones de um governo insolente e despótico nos domínios ultramarinos. Certa ou errada, essa representação da família atravessou, no decorrer dos anos, o campo da história e da literatura. No entanto, enquanto se enaltece, de um lado, as informações contidas na narrativa gonzaguiana, de outro, pouco se sabe sobre as origens sociais dos membros desta família em Portugal. Em decorrência disso, o exercício de pesquisa que realizamos teve como objetivo primordial lançar-se no encalço da família Cunha Meneses entre os séculos XVII e XVIII. Desse modo, o ponto de partida circunscreveu-se, principalmente, na análise das linhas de sucessão dos primogênitos – especialmente os filhos varões –, as alianças matrimoniais, os vetores de estratificação, os serviços prestados ao rei, os títulos e privilégios. Observamos que o núcleo central da dinâmica familiar estava localizado num aspecto específico: a reprodução social e/ou biológica. Como pano de fundo, foi possível identificar as características da nobreza no contexto do Antigo Regime e, sobretudo, do Império português.

Este estudo tem como principal objeto de anÃlise as prÃticas de nobilitaÃÃo e distinÃÃo social desenvolvidas pelos membros da elite da vila de Santa Cruz do Aracati na Capitania do Siarà grande entre os anos de 1748 e 1804. Tendo a CÃmara de Aracati como principal espaÃo de referÃncia para a identificaÃÃo da elite da vila, buscamos perceber de que forma o ingresso em espaÃos como: a CÃmara da vila, os postos de oficiais nas tropas militares locais, as irmandades e o exercÃcio de atividades mercantis, entre outros; foram sendo incorporados pelos membros da elite da vila, nÃo somente como mecanismos de poder, mas, tambÃm, de aquisiÃÃo e ampliaÃÃo de seu referencial distintivo enquanto parte da ânobreza civilâ, estatuto social com o qual identificavam-se as elites locais do impÃrio portuguÃs moderno.
This research claims to analyze the ennoblement and social distinction practices developed by the town of Santa Cruz do Aracati members in the Captaincy of Siarà grande along the period from 1748 to 1804. Since the Chamber of Aracati is the main reference area to precede the identification of the local elite, first, we have intended to understand how the entry was made in certain areas, such as the Town Chamber, the officer ranks in the local military troops, some brotherhoods, the mercantile activities, and some other employments; and, then, how all these occupations were incorporated by the town elite members, both as mechanisms of power and tools of acquisition and enlargement of its distinctive reference as part of a âcivil nobilityâ, social code with which the local elites of the Portuguese Modern Empire used to identify to.

La perception de la façon dont les groupes familiaux prémodernes se régulaient, s'organisaient, s'identifiaient et se reproduisaient est modelée par les archives organisationnelles qu'ils créaient, usaient et conservaient. Partant de cette prémisse, cette étude a analysé les archives des vicomtes de Vila Nova de Cerveira et d’un ensemble de générations familiales qui ont contribué à leur création et à leur conservation entre le XIVe et le XVIIe siècle, à savoir les générations des Lima, des Brito Nogueira et des Lima Brito Nogueira. Cette analyse a cherché à comprendre comment les générations familiales se sont documentées, comment elles ont transformé leurs documents en archives et comment elles les ont utilisées pour se consolider en tant que groupe doté d'un patrimoine, d'une mémoire et d'une identité propres. En bref, nous nous sommes demandé comment les usages des archives ont contribué à la consolidation institutionnelle de la Maison des vicomtes de Cerveira jusqu'au XVIIe siècle. Dans ce but, nous avons utilisé une approche en archivistique historique, qui cherche à croiser théories et méthodologies de l'histoire, de l'archivistique, des sciences de l'information et de l'anthropologie historique dans l'analyse des archives. La recherche est partie du présent, en interrogeant le fonds Visconde de Vila Nova de Cerveira et des Marques de Ponte de Lima et en cartographiant la documentation dispersée dans d'autres collections et qui, jadis, appartenant aux archives organisationnelles de ces groupes familiaux. Nous cherchons à comprendre les différentes intertextualités qui se sont accumulées au fil du temps et qui affectent l'intelligibilité du passé représenté dans ces documents. Afin de contextualiser les documents cartographiés pour les générations familiales étudiées, nous avons construit un cadre organique, selon le modèle systémique proposé par Malheiro da Silva, qui est mis à disposition, avec la description archivistique standardisée d'une partie de la documentation analysée, sur le logiciel AtoM. Nous avons également recueilli la documentation disparue entre-temps, mais mentionnée dans des inventaires produits par les familles elles-mêmes. Parallèlement, on a tenté de clarifier les différentes limites de la reconstitution réalisée, constituée par documentation existante et perdue, les options prises et les opérations effectuées sur la documentation. À la fin, une analyse qualitative du corpus reconstitué a été menée et elle a permis de conclure que les groupes étudiés se sont institutionnalisés principalement par la transmission des seigneuries et des vínculos, tout en formant une famille-institution ou Maison organisée, pour chaque génération, sous l'autorité d'un pater familias. Ces générations utilisaient leurs archives comme lieux de preuve de la possession de biens et de privilèges, comme facilitateurs de la gestion quotidienne des propriétés et de leurs revenus et, surtout à partir des générations Lima Brito Nogueira, comme support de récits sur la (les) mémoire(s) et l'(les) identité(s) du groupe. Nous avons constaté que les familles-institutions ont été des entités en constante structuration, tout comme les archives qui les ont soutenues. La consolidation institutionnelle dépendait, donc, d'un effort continu, réalisé par chaque génération, pour transmettre un patrimoine identitaire unificateur et identificateur du groupe à un représentant de la même génération ou de la génération suivante, ainsi que la documentation transformée en archive qui soutenait cette construction
The perception of how pre-modern family groups regulated, organized, identified, and reproduced themselves is shaped by the creation, use and maintenance set by the organizational archives. Based on this assumption, this study analyzes the viscounts of Vila Nova de Cerveira archive as well as a group of families' generations that played a role both in its formation and preservation from the 14th to the 17th centuries, namely the Lima, Brito Nogueira, and Lima Brito Nogueira generations. This investigation sought to examine how these generations documented themselves, how they transformed their records into an archive, and how they used them to consolidate one another as a group with a heritage, memory, and identity of their own. Ultimately, it was questioned how these uses played a role in the establishment and strengthening of the house of the viscounts of Vila Nova de Cerveira as an institution until the 17th century. In pursuit of this objective, an Historical Archivistics approach was selected with the purpose of looking for the interchange of theories and methodologies of History, Archival Science, Information Science and Historical Anthropology in the analysis of archives. The research path was presently initiated by questioning the Visconde de Vila Nova de Cerveira e Marqueses de Ponte de Lima fonds and by mapping scattered fonds and collection records which belonged to the organizational archives of the abovementioned groups. With that, an understanding of several intertextualities affecting the intelligibility of the past represented in these records was deemed necessary before any interpretation of its context could be executed. To better contextualize the mapped records associated with the generations in the study, an organic framework was prepared, based on the systemic model proposed by Malheiro da Silva. This classification framework is made available, along with the standardized archival description of a section of the records that were analyzed in this study, through the AtoM software. In addition to the existing records, in the inventories produced by these generations, references to unaccounted records that belonged to their archives, were also collected. Simultaneously, efforts were made to elucidate the numerous constraints associated with the reconstitution of both existing and missing records, the choices that were made, and the operations carried out regarding the records. Finally, the qualitative analysis of the reconstructed corpus allowed us to conclude that the groups under study were institutionalized mainly through the transmission of entails and of properties and rights granted by the Crown. They formed a family-institution or House, organized by each generation under the authority of a pater familias. These generations used their archives to prove ownership of property and privileges, as well as to facilitate property management and its income. The archives also served as a foundation for narratives concerning the collective memory(ies) and identity(ies) of the group, especially for the Lima Brito Nogueira generations. The families as institutions were entities in constant configuration, as was the archive supporting them. Consequently, institutional consolidation depended on ongoing efforts made by each generation in order to transmit a cohesive cultural legacy to a representative of the same or next generation and forge a sense of group identity, as well as to convey the records turned into an archive that supported this construction
A forma como os grupos familiares da época pré-moderna se regulamentavam, organizavam, identificavam e reproduziam é percetível através dos arquivos organizacionais que criaram e conservaram, assim como através dos usos que lhes deram. Partindo deste pressuposto, no presente estudo, analisou-se o arquivo dos viscondes de Vila Nova de Cerveira e um conjunto de gerações familiares que contribuíram para a sua constituição e preservação entre o século XIV e o século XVII, nomeadamente os Limas, os Britos Nogueira e os Lima Brito Nogueira. Nesta análise, procurou-se compreender como estas gerações se documentaram, como transformaram a sua informação documentalizada em arquivo e como a usaram para se consolidarem enquanto grupo, com um património, memória e identidade próprios. Em suma, questionou-se como esses usos do arquivo contribuíram para a consolidação institucional da Casa dos Viscondes de Cerveira até ao século XVII. Para tal, recorreu-se a uma abordagem em Arquivística Histórica, que busca o cruzamento de teorias e metodologias da História, da Archival Science, da Ciência da Informação e da Antropologia Histórica na análise dos arquivos. O percurso de investigação partiu do presente, do questionamento do fundo Visconde de Vila Nova de Cerveira e Marqueses de Ponte de Lima e do mapeamento de documentação que se encontra dispersa por outros fundos e coleções e que pertenceu aos arquivos organizacionais dos referidos grupos, procurando-se compreender várias intertextualidades que se acumularam ao longo do tempo e que afetam a inteligibilidade do passado representado nestes documentos. Para a contextualização da informação documentalizada reconstituída para as gerações em estudo, aplicou-se o modelo sistémico proposto por Malheiro da Silva num quadro orgânico que é disponibilizado, com a descrição arquivística normalizada de uma parte da documentação utilizada na análise, através do software AtoM. Procedeu-se, ainda, à recolha de documentação que, entretanto, desapareceu, mas que é referida em inventários elaborados pelos seus membros. Ao mesmo tempo, procurou-se esclarecer as várias limitações desta reconstituição, da documentação existente e desaparecida, as opções tomadas e as operações realizadas sobre a documentação. Por fim, foi feita uma análise qualitativa do corpus reconstituído que permitiu concluir que os grupos em estudo se institucionalizaram principalmente através da transmissão de senhorios e de vínculos, formando uma família-instituição ou Casa que se organizava, a cada geração, sob a autoridade de um pater familias. Constatou-se igualmente que estas gerações usaram os seus arquivos como lugares de prova da posse de bens e privilégios, como facilitadores da gestão corrente das propriedades e dos seus rendimentos e, sobretudo a partir das gerações dos Lima Brito Nogueira, como suporte a discursos sobre a(s) memória(s) e identidade(s) do grupo. As famílias-instituição eram entidades em constante estruturação assim como o arquivo que as sustentava. A consolidação institucional dependeu, assim, de um esforço contínuo, realizado a cada geração, para transmitir um património identitário unificador e identificador do grupo a um representante da mesma geração ou da seguinte, juntamente com a documentação transformada em arquivo que apoiava essa construção

This book springs from its author’s continuing interest in the history of Spain and Portugal—on this occasion in the first half of the fourteenth century between the recovery of each kingdom from widespread anarchy and civil war and the onset of the Black Death. Focussing on ecclesiastical aspects of the period in that region (Galicia in particular) and secular attitudes to the privatization of the Church, it raises inter alios the question why developments there did not lead to a permanent sundering of the relationship with Rome (or Avignon) two centuries ahead of that outcome elsewhere in the West. In addressing such issues, as well as of neglected material in Spanish and Portuguese archives, use is made of the also unpublished so-called ‘secret’ registers of the popes of the period. The issues it raises concern not only Spanish and Portuguese society in general but also the developing relationship further afield of the components of the eternal quadrilateral (pope, king, episcopate, and secular nobility) in late medieval Europe, as well as of the activity in that period of those caterpillars of the commonwealth, the secular-minded sapientes. In this context, attention is given to the hitherto neglected attempt of Afonso IV of Portugal to appropriate the privileges of the primatial church of his kingdom and to advance the glorification of his Castilian son-in-law, Alfonso XI, as God’s vicegerent in his.

This chapter opens with an examination of the secular ethic in 1329, the Cortes of Madrid, the contest between crown and Church for supremacy, and the importance of the Assembly of Vincennes in the history of the Iberian peninsula. Matters dynastic that are covered are the defiance of the pope by Alfonso XI and his Portuguese wife, and by Alfonso XI and his mistress. The threat to the Church of Thomas Scot, the apostate friar, and events at Avignon are discussed, and the symptoms of schism surveyed in Paris, Portugal, and Castile. Papal letters and mysterious silences likewise are weighed, and the chapter concludes with the Castilian succession, and ‘liturgical innovation’ in 1332, culminating in the self-coronation of Alfonso XI.

The history of the Portuguese episcopate reveals the extent of family ambitions at work in annexing ecclesiastical properties to the families of its temporary trustees, a conclusion justified by the gloomy analysis of the Franciscan bishop Álvaro Pais. The privatization of the Portuguese Church and the outburst of a royal bastard when faced with a church court that ‘he was a layman and had his own judge’ reveal the secular aspect of this. This chapter considers Bishop Egas of Viseu’s ‘Summa de libertate ecclesiastica’ and the issue of mortmain. It also examines Portugal’s eternal quadrilateral: Church, king, bishops, and nobility. The problems caused by the privatization of monastic land and consequent intrusion of unwelcome members of the new owners’extended families is the focus of the following section. Finally, the chapter touches on the inter-related questions of the new Portuguese stadium, the secular ethic, and the career of Miguel Vivas.