In themedievalKingdom of Portugal, theCortes was an assembly of representatives of theestates of the realm – thenobility,clergy andbourgeoisie. It was called and dismissed by theKing of Portugal at will, at a place of his choosing.[1] Cortes which brought all three estates together are sometimes distinguished asCortes-Gerais (General Courts), in contrast to smaller assemblies which brought only one or two estates, to negotiate a specific point relevant only to them.[2]
Portuguese monarchs had always called intermittent "king's courts" (Curia Regis), consultative assemblies offeudal nobles and landed clerics (bishops, abbots and the masters of theMilitary Orders) to advise on major matters. This practice probably originated in theprotofeudalism of the 6th-centuryVisigothic Kingdom. But, during the 13th century, with the growing power ofmunicipalities, and kings increasingly reliant on urbanmilitias,incorporated towns gained the right to participate in the king's court.[1] The Cortes assembled atLeiria in 1254 byAfonso III of Portugal was the first known Portuguese Cortes to explicitly includerepresentatives of the municipalities. In this, Portugal was accompanying the pattern in neighboring Iberian kingdoms (e.g. the Kings ofLeón admitted town representatives to theirCortes in 1188[1]).
Medieval Kings of Portugal continued to rely on small assemblies of notables, and only summoned the full Cortes on extraordinary occasions. A Cortes would be called if the king wanted to introduce new taxes, change some fundamental laws, announce significant shifts in foreign policy (e.g. ratify treaties), or settle matters of royal succession, issues where the cooperation and assent of the towns were necessary. Changing taxation (especially requesting war subsidies), was probably the most frequent reason for convening the Cortes. As the nobles and clergy were largely tax-exempt, setting taxation involved intensive negotiations between the royal council and the burgher delegates at the Cortes.
Delegates (procuradores) not only considered the king's proposals, but, in turn, also used the Cortes to submitpetitions of their own to theroyal council on a myriad of matters, e.g. extending and confirming town privileges, punishing abuses of officials, introducing new price controls, constraints on Jews, pledges on coinage, etc.[1] The royal response to these petitions became enshrined as ordinances and statutes, thus giving the Cortes the aspect of alegislature. These petitions were originally referred to asaggravamentos (grievances) thenartigos (articles) and eventuallycapitulos (chapters). In a Cortes-Gerais, petitions were discussed and voted upon separately by each estate and required the approval of at least two of the three estates before being passed up to the royal council.[2] The proposal was then subject to royalveto (either accepted or rejected by the king in its entirety) before becoming law.[2]
Nonetheless, the exact extent of Cortes power was ambiguous. Kings insisted on their ancient prerogative to promulgate laws independently of the Cortes. The compromise, in theory, was that ordinances enacted in Cortes could only be modified or repealed by Cortes.[1] But even that principle was often circumvented or ignored in practice.
The Cortes probably had their heyday in the 14th and 15th centuries, reaching their apex when the usurpingJohn I of Portugal relied almost wholly upon the bourgeoisie for his power. For a period after the1383–1385 Crisis, the Cortes were convened almost annually. But as time went on, they became less important. Portuguese monarchs, tapping into the riches of thePortuguese Empire overseas, grew less dependent on Cortes subsidies and convened them less frequently.John II (r.1481-1495) used them to break the high nobility, but dispensed with them otherwise.Manuel I (r.1495-1521) convened them only four times in his long reign. By the time ofSebastian (r.1554–1578), the Cortes was practically an irrelevance.
The Cortes gained a new importance with theIberian Union of 1581, finding a role as the representative of Portuguese interests to the new Habsburg monarch. The Cortes played a critical role in the1640 Restoration, and enjoyed a brief period of resurgence during the reign ofJohn IV (r.1640-1656). But by the end of the 17th century, it found itself sidelined once again.
It is essential, at this point, to remember the fact that there were only four occasions when the Cortes were of immense importance for the History of Portugal: with the coronation ofD. João I, in the Courts of Coimbra in 1385; with the appointment of D. Pedro, Duque de Coimbra, as regent of D. Afonso V, in the Cortes of Torres Novas of 1438; with the coronation of Filipe I, in Cortes de Tomar, 1581; and, finally, with the acclamation of D. João IV, in the Cortes de Lisboa of 1645–1646. All of these occasions, finally confirming the essentially legitimating role of the reigning power.
The last Cortes met in 1698, for the mere formality of confirming the appointment of Infante John (futureJohn V) as the successor ofPeter II of Portugal. Thereafter, Portuguese kings ruled asabsolute monarchs.[3] No Cortes were assembled for over a century. This state of affairs came to an end with theLiberal Revolution of 1820, which set in motion the introduction of a new constitution, and a permanent and properparliament, that however inherited the name ofCortes Gerais.
1143 – Cortes ofLamego (legendary) – to confirm D. Afonso Henriques's title as the independentKing of Portugal, and establish the rules of succession to the throne. Ostensibly, prevents succession by females if they are married to a foreigner. This has been since proven to be a purely legendary fabrication, invented at the time of theRestoration of 1640.
1211 – Cortes ofCoimbra – first definitive Cortes – established the first general laws (Leis Gerais do Reino), protecting the king's property, stipulating measures of administering justice and the rights of his subjects to be protected from abuses by royal officials and confirming the clerical donations of his predecessor. Also, affirmed the validity ofcanon law for the Church in Portugal, but also introduces the prohibition of the purchase of lands by churches or monasteries (although they can be acquired by donations and legacies).
1254 – Cortes ofLeiria – first to includeburgher delegates from theincorporatedmunicipalities[4] Introduction of themonetagio, a fixed sum paid by the burghers to the Crown as a substitute for theseptennium (the traditional revision of the face value of coinage by the Crown every seven years); also introducedstaple laws on theDouro River, favoring the new royal city ofVila Nova de Gaia at the expense of the old episcopal city ofPorto.
1261 – Cortes ofGuimarães – to discuss the recent debasement of the currency; allowed Afonso III's recent debasement, but extracted pledges forbidding future debasements. In return for a new property tax, the old "septennium" is replaced with a new rule allowing only one revision of coinage per reign.[5]
1273 – Cortes ofSantarém – to considerPope Gregory X's bull ordering the restoration of property and rights of Portuguese bishops (seven of the nine Portuguese bishops had formally protested to the pope about the heavy-handedInquirições Afonsinas, the royal investigations, launched in 1258, into the titles of episcopal lands, ostensibly to "recover" alienated royal property.) The Cortes find the king has not violated anything.
1282 – Cortes ofÉvora – to review a royal offer toPope Martin V to resolve the episcopal quarrel (the terms are unacceptable to the pope and rejected; documents suggest the offer was originally crafted by the king in consultation with the clergy alone in Guarda, and so the Évora Cortes may have only been considering a reply to the papal rejection)[6]
1285 – Cortes ofLisbon – to consider renewal of papal demand for restoration of episcopal rights again – papal position rejected again – Cortes approves a new round ofInquirições, and requests the investigations be extended to the nobility (i.e. review their titular claims to tax-exempt property). Also approves new law forbidding the sale of lands to religious corporations (and forcing them to sell all land acquired since the beginning of his reign).
1288 – Cortes ofGuimarães – Cortes reiterates request for inquisitions into noble titles
1352 – Cortes ofLisbon – protest against the introduction ofjuízes de fora (external judges, nominated and paid for by the crown), as a violation of local charters and customary rights
1361 – Cortes ofElvas – negotiateconcordata with the clergy; protest royal nomination of elective judges – first recorded use ofbeneplácito régio (requirement of royal review and assent before regulations issued by the Papal Curia could be applied to the clergy in Portugal)[8]
1385 – Cortes ofCoimbra – to debate the pretenders to the throne, acclaim John, Master of Aviz, as KingJohn I of Portugal; also imposed that the king must include burgher representatives in the royal council (from triple nomination lists supplied by the towns) and to impose no taxes or tributes, nor make war nor peace, without the consent of the Cortes; also the first Cortes to grant the king thesisas (excise taxes on transactions, existing locally since at least 1311, but only now definitively made a royal tax)[9]
1386 – Cortes ofBraga – Thesisas, were instituted throughout the kingdom to cover the costs of war against Castile and explicitly tells how to perform the payment of said tax
1398 – Cortes ofCoimbra – establish that all debts since 1385 must be paid in real coinage (by the metal content at time of contract), rather than nominally with debased currency
1434 – Cortes ofSantarém – wholesale review of the laws of the realm, introduction ofcapitulos gerais
1435 – Cortes ofÉvora – ratification of theLei Mental, establishing direct maleprimogeniture in the inheritance of feudal grants, otherwise they revert to crown
1438 – Cortes ofTorres Novas – reviewed the will of the lateEdward of Portugal, appointingEleanor of Aragon as regent for the young kingAfonso V; passed law requiring that the Cortes must henceforth be assembled annually (not really observed)
1451 – Cortes ofSantarém – burghers chastise king for promulgating laws outside the Cortes; assert that laws passed in Cortes, can only be modified in Cortes
1455 – Cortes ofLisbon – to present the newborn royal heir John (futureJohn II, and receive oaths of loyalty; burghers used opportunity to protest use of royal letters to circumvent 1451 restrictions
Thereafter there were only two exceptional Cortes:John VI (1816–1826) called the 1820 assembly of theCortes Gerais e Extraordinárias da Nação Portuguesa to draft a new constitution. The other exception was during the 1828–1834 reign ofMiguel of Portugal, when the constitution was suspended. An old-style Cortes was assembled by Miguel inLisbon in 1828 to recognize Miguel as the sole legitimate heir to John VI.
^abcdeO'Callaghan, J.F. (2003) "Cortes, Leon, Castile and Portugal" in E.M. Gerli,editor, 2003, Medieval Iberia: an encyclopedia, London: Routledge
^abcCoelho da Rocha, M.A. (1851)Ensaio sobre a historia do governo e da legislação de Portugal: para servir de introducção ao estudo do direito patrio Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade, p.102-03.
Almeida, Fortunato de (1903)História das Instituições em Portugal. Porto: Magalhaes & Moniz.online
Barros, Henrique da Gama (1885)Historia da administração publica em Portugal nos seculos XII a XV, Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional.v.1
Lindo, E.H. (1848)The History of the Jews of Spain and Portugal,the earliest times to their final expulsion from those kingdoms, and their subsequent dispersion. London: Longman Brown.online
Livermore, H.V. (1966)A New History of Portugal, 1976 ed., Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
(Midosi, P.) (1828)Portugal; or, who is the lawful successor to the European throne of the Braganza family?. London: Richardsononline
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