The Small Towns of the Borderland Alto Alentejo in Light of the Crown’s Judicial Reforms and Experiments (15th–16th Centuries)
We all carry the archetype of a medieval and early modern juiz de fora (external judge) in mind: the first, a royal agent sent sporadically to intervene when local instability and tensions demanded it; the second, a magistrate systematically appointed to the most important population centers. The transition between these two models occurred gradually, through legal norms and practical experiments spanning the 15th and 16th centuries.
In this seminar, we aim to explore this shift, focusing on the territory of the borderland Alto Alentejo. Yet our goal extends beyond administrative mechanisms or royal agents. Ultimately, we are interested in how the Crown’s reforms and experiments served as a variable for understanding the flows, connections, and hierarchies among the region’s settlements.