A política administrativa de Afonso IV (1325-1357) : aspectos da genealogia do estado português

Abstract

With new methods and new perspectives introduced by French historians in the second half of the 20th century, it was possible to raise some questions about the genealogy of the State during the Late Middle Ages (1250-1520). In this specific timeframe, European monarchs strengthened the administrative and legal policies of their kingdoms, leading to measures that resulted in the emergence of the State as a bureaucratic apparatus seeking to standardize, regulate, organize, and discipline society, representing the embryo of the National State. Thus, with the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves, it could not have been different, considering it is an administrative territory with significant influence in the Mediterranean region and Western Europe since the 10th century. Furthermore, the reign of Portugal's first dynasty of kings left us a wealth of documentation, a result of the secular and centralizing policies of the reigns, which helped fill in some gaps left by traditional history focusing on the "great deeds of great men."Therefore, this article discusses the characteristics of the legal and administrative apparatus during the reign of Afonso IV (1325-1357), consequently focusing on the figure of the monarch himself, since the State and the king, in this context, are almost synonymous, merging into each other. This highlights elements that allow us to understand the reference given to Afonso IV as the "Legislator King".