"For my service and the good of the city": logics of power and government in Lisbon during the reign of King João II (15th century)
João II of Portugal; Medieval Lisbon; legal pluralism; corporative model
The reign of King John II of Portugal (1481-1495) is considered by historians to be responsible for political centralisation and the emergence of a bureaucratic and efficient state in Portugal, seen as a landmark of modernity. However, based on the available documentation - widely known to historians - this project aims to analyse King John II's relations with the city of Lisbon, through an interpretation that tries to move away from contemporary political conceptions, which tend to locate the origins of a statist and monopolistic power in the past. In order to understand how King João II governed the city, in addition to the chronicles and court minutes, the documentary typology will be expanded to include the records of the correspondence exchanged between the monarch and the Lisbon council, with the aim of drawing up a more complex panorama of the period and the logics that sustained the networks that supported or opposed the king's power.