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Portugal Social Revolution
The crisis of 1383-85 that brought Joćo I to the throne
was
not only a dynastic revolution; it was a social one, as
well.
Joćo I distrusted the old aristocracy that had opposed his
rise
to power and promoted the growth of a new generation of
nobility
by confiscating the titles and properties of the old and
distributing them to the new, thus forming a new nobility
based
on service to the king.
Joćo rewarded the urban bourgeoisie that had supported
his
cause by giving it positions and influence and by allowing
it to
send representatives to the king's royal council. Artisans
grouped themselves according to professions into guilds
and were
permitted to send delegates to the governing chamber of
Lisbon,
where they were actively involved in the administration of
the
capital and other cities. The king also surrounded himself
with
skilled legalists who professionalized royal
administration and
extended royal jurisdiction at the expense of the old
aristocracy. This new class of bureaucrats, having studied
Roman
law at the university, defended the Caesarist principle
that the
will of the king had the force of law. This belief
encouraged the
later development of absolutism in Portugal and pitted the
king
against the landed nobility, especially the old
aristocracy that
wished to regain its lost power and privilege.
Data as of January 1993
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