Description
- Abstract:
- It had traditionally been thought that the history of the Portuguese medieval parliament was exhausted from the point of view of available information; almost all approaches had studied the Cortes from a legal angle. In 1990, Armindo de Sousa published "As Cortes Medievais Portuguesas (1385-1490)"; this work was to radically renew everything that was known about the theme, proving that, even from the strictly factual point of view, there continued to be a large number of errors and gaps and, above all, suggesting a sociological and political approach to the mediaeval parliament, treating the texts that were produced at the Cortes as "discourses," rejecting biologistic theories and concepts such as "nature and decadence," lingering in particular over the study of the "primary and secondary functions" of parliament. But this book, which represented a complete break with everything that had previously been written on the theme, did not provoke any significant reaction either in Portugal or in other countries, being received in virtual silence. Thirteen years after its publication, this article seeks to rekindle discussion about the more controversial and innovative aspects of Armindo de Sousa’s thesis, as well as updating it in regard to a number of aspects and putting forward a new agenda for research into the Portuguese medieval parliament.
- Considerou-se tradicionalmente que a história do parlamento medieval português estava esgotada, do ponto de vista da informação disponível; quase todas as abordagens estudavam as cortes numa perspectiva jurisdicista. Em 1990, Armindo de Sousa publicou «As Cortes Medievais Portuguesas (1385-1490)»; a obra veio renovar radicalmente tudo o que se sabia sobre o tema, provando que, mesmo do estrito ponto de vista factológico, persistia um número muito elevado de erros e lacunas e, sobretudo, propondo uma abordagem sociológica e política do parlamento medieval, tratando os textos que nele se produziram como «discursos», recusando as teorias biologistas e conceitos como «natureza e decadência», demorando-se em particular no estudo das «funções primárias e secundárias» do parlamento. Mas esse livro, que significava uma rotura com tudo o que havia sido escrito sobre o tema, não provocou, em Portugal nem em outros países, qualquer reacção significativa, sendo praticamente passado em silêncio. Treze anos depois da sua publicação, este artigo tenta relançar a discussão sobre os aspectos mais polémicos e inovadores da tese de Armindo de Sousa, bem como reactualizá-la num ou noutro aspecto e propor uma nova agenda para a investigação do parlamento medieval português.
Citation
Duarte, Luís Miguel,
"The Portuguese Medieval Parliament: Are We Asking the Right Questions?"
(2003).
e-Journal of Portuguese History.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.26300/b2z1-a389
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e-Journal of Portuguese History
...The e-Journal of Portuguese History (e-JPH) (ISSN: 1645-6432) is an international peer-reviewed scholarly journal with the objective of providing publication of work on historical subjects, especially those concerning themes and topics of Portuguese history analyzed in a comparative perspective. It …