WI: Portuguese merchant republic in 1385

[Phalamus]

Ok, here's an idea that I have. Maybe it's not super-likely, but it is, at least, interesting.

What if, after being acclaimed king by the Cortes of Coimbra and achieving a decisive victory against Castile at the battle of Aljubarrota, king John I of Portugal had died without heirs at some point near the end of 1385?

Despite not having had the time to establish a new dynasty is this scenario, King John would leave behind a consolidated coalition of merchants, magistrates and petty nobles who had aggressively backed his claim to the throne against all others. Men like Nuno Álvares Pereira, Álvaro Pais and João das Regras.

Now, what would happen? Castile may be emboldened to attack again despite having lost at Aljubarrota, possibly hoping to pick up support from a few more Portuguese nobles. But Aljubarrota had created a strong nationalist fever at this time, so it's unclear how much more support they could actually win. Whatever the case, it's certainly possible that a renewed invasion could once again be rebelled.

Pedro I's two sons with Inês de Castro would no doubt make a play for the throne (though one of them is locked up in a prison in Salamanca at this time and I'm not sure about the other one...) but they had been excoriated at the Cortes for aiding a Castilian invasion years prior, so it's also unclear how much support they could muster.

Here's my proposition: the Nationalist Party (the informal historiographical term used to refer to the supporters of the master of Aviz during the succession crisis) remains a cohesive entity and manages to overcome the renewed opposition caused by John I's death despite having no claimant. The Portuguese elites at this time were very familiar with Italian merchant republics, especially Genoa, with which they had strong ties (a lot of captains and admirals in the early Portuguese navy were actually Genovese), so it's possible they could have had the idea to re-organise the country along those line as an alternative to both Castilian dominance and ceding power to an hostile noble party.

Any thoughts?

 

[Atterdag]

I think it’s a really fascinating idea, though I’m not sure if “merchant” republic would be a proper term for such a government, seems like a lot of nobles would be involved as well.

The problem is of course that the lack of a king is an invitation for repeated invasions from ambitious Castilian monarchs, or even potentially English ones. Best way to stop this would make invasions untenable, Portugal already has pretty good defensive geography but it could do with a stronger non-noble army, something a la Swiss pikemen or Flemish burgher militias.

Maybe it could result in a Dutch situation where the country is run as a republic but being able to be put under the command of a single ruler when crisis calls for it?

 

[galik]

João das Regras is the key here. He became a renowned jurist when proving (or producing proof) that there was no legitimate heir to the Portuguese throne, therefore empowered the corts to an elective institution that could appoint one.

If the POD was before any peace this would further the Castilian initiative, but I doubt by military means. If Denis died after being king (no heirs), I'm inclined to believe that a noble republic could be born around the cort system.
I don't believe that the Castilians have the military means nor financial ones to campaing further.

Some arguments could be made that a noble republic could end like a Polish-Lithuania CW, having the corts nobility attempt to further family interests over national ones. I sincerely doubt that due the constant popular rebellions in Portuguese history when the leader defies Portuguese ' active constitution' (like what happened in this case and under Philippine rule, when an appointed leader threatened the laws established by the corts of how the kingdom is to be ruled).

If a party of nobles falls under external influence and attempts to further said external interests, another party would claim those to be illegitimate in order to gain influence in the Portuguese society and thus the corts.

This would be an interesting TL.

PS: regarding administration, Portugal would be more decentralized. Municipalities would be probably stronger being represented in the corts, but I doubt it would be much more decentralized than in OTL.

 

[H.Flashman(VC)]

The Portuguese elites at this time

Who are they?

Second question: How does a centralized government secure it's income for the common good against particular interests? That was THE issue for the establishment of the Dutch republic. In the Dutch republic this was only informally solved by the economic inequality of the different provinces, which meant that one, Holland, could usually dominate the others.

 

[Prince di Corsica]

Ok, so interesting question, and since this is quite a curious moment of Portuguese history, let us indulge a bit in the scenario.

The most likely, yet boring answer would be that the half-brothers of John, the sons of Inês de Castro, would be elected kings, although it's not entirely unfeasible that the Aviz coalition would oppose them fiercely enough to prevent this, perhaps supported by the fact the brothers were held hostage in Castile. Then again, one could imagine the Castilians letting one of them go to split the Portuguese camp, but that's not what we are after, right? Beyond those, John of Aviz already had a son, the future Duke of Braganza and future son-in-law to Nuno Álvares Pereira, who is illegitimate, but then again, so was his father. So he would be another option. However, apparently only later did his father recognize him, and let's just say he doesn't work out for some reason or another.

Let's take a look at the Aviz coalition. Despite their leaders themselves being nobles, and very Church-connected nobles at that, their social basis was definitely in the rising mercantile bourgeoisie of Lisbon and Porto. Those are the ones supporting their cause and fighting against the established nobility. An established nobility that, one must note, came out of this war very much defeated, with Nuno Álvares Pereira becoming the one single count in the entire kingdom and, in the future, the Braganzas, inheritors of John's bastard son and Nuno's daughter, were landholders of like 1/3 of Portuguese territory. Iberian feudalism, as much as it existed, was already curious in being very centralist, with a great deal of royal prerogative, and this war had a very important contribution towards making the Crown more powerful than ever.

This is generally good for our scenario. It means that the nobility, the ones that would likely most oppose a merchants' republic, have been thoroughly beat already, meaning that the timing is quite perfect for such a move.

But how would such a republic come to be? Well, the legal precedent might be a bit shaky, but fortunately João das Regras (John of the Rules) is right there, armed with Roman law and having already successfully argued that not only is the throne vacant, but that, with a vacant throne, it falls to the Cortes to elect a new king. Could he argue that, lacking a fitting King, the throne remains vacant? Could he argue to make Jesus King of Portugal, or maybe the Virgin Mary? John IV did that some 3 centuries later, and I remember my grandfather telling me something about the Portuguese claim to independence running on some argument of pledging the kingdom to the Virgin, but I can't seem to find anything to go with that, but the man was surprisingly knowledgeable on obscure history, so take that with a grain of salt.

People mentioned the Italian example, and Genoa in particular. Looking at the history of the Republic of Genoa, it seems they had just gone from having "captains of the people" to having Doges ruling them. "Captain of the people" seems like a title that could easily be translated to "Constable" and be given to Nuno Álvares Pereira, to keep him on board and, crucially, keeping him in front of the army, since Castile won't recognize Portuguese independence until 1411, maybe longer here, who knows. So keeping an institutionalized head of the army is important and... will probably become a fixture of this republic, so having it be a military dictatorship, perhaps even an inherited one, with a Constable at the front, is an idea.

As for centralization, I actually think this Portugal would be even more centralized than OTL, with the Lisbon merchant class dominating the political life of the country, with the support of the Lisbon mob, ready to riot and threaten the Cortes whenever they need to get their point across. As for income... Well, in just a few decades, Portugal would be embarking on a rampage of conquests and exploration, to find profitable trading routes for spices and other exotic goods for Europe. This merchant class was, in OTL, a driving force for that, so I can only imagine them supporting it more now. The same source of wealth that fed the Portuguese Royal family would probably do wonders in financing a Republic, and even put more power at the hands of Lisbon, where all that revenue would be entering.

So yeah, this is an interesting scenario, not particularly likely, I'd say, but certainly... doable. Let's put it this way: the Aviz Revolution is, in itself, weirder than the extra weirdness of it ending up as a Republic would be.​

 

[how]

What would the English do in this situation?

 

[Phalamus]

Ok, so interesting question, and since this is quite a curious moment of Portuguese history, let us indulge a bit in the scenario.

The most likely, yet boring answer would be that the half-brothers of John, the sons of Inês de Castro, would be elected kings, although it's not entirely unfeasible that the Aviz coalition would oppose them fiercely enough to prevent this, perhaps supported by the fact the brothers were held hostage in Castile. Then again, one could imagine the Castilians letting one of them go to split the Portuguese camp, but that's not what we are after, right? Beyond those, John of Aviz already had a son, the future Duke of Braganza and future son-in-law to Nuno Álvares Pereira, who is illegitimate, but then again, so was his father. So he would be another option. However, apparently only later did his father recognize him, and let's just say he doesn't work out for some reason or another.

Let's take a look at the Aviz coalition. Despite their leaders themselves being nobles, and very Church-connected nobles at that, their social basis was definitely in the rising mercantile bourgeoisie of Lisbon and Porto. Those are the ones supporting their cause and fighting against the established nobility. An established nobility that, one must note, came out of this war very much defeated, with Nuno Álvares Pereira becoming the one single count in the entire kingdom and, in the future, the Braganzas, inheritors of John's bastard son and Nuno's daughter, were landholders of like 1/3 of Portuguese territory. Iberian feudalism, as much as it existed, was already curious in being very centralist, with a great deal of royal prerogative, and this war had a very important contribution towards making the Crown more powerful than ever.

This is generally good for our scenario. It means that the nobility, the ones that would likely most oppose a merchants' republic, have been thoroughly beat already, meaning that the timing is quite perfect for such a move.

But how would such a republic come to be? Well, the legal precedent might be a bit shaky, but fortunately João das Regras (John of the Rules) is right there, armed with Roman law and having already successfully argued that not only is the throne vacant, but that, with a vacant throne, it falls to the Cortes to elect a new king. Could he argue that, lacking a fitting King, the throne remains vacant? Could he argue to make Jesus King of Portugal, or maybe the Virgin Mary? John IV did that some 3 centuries later, and I remember my grandfather telling me something about the Portuguese claim to independence running on some argument of pledging the kingdom to the Virgin, but I can't seem to find anything to go with that, but the man was surprisingly knowledgeable on obscure history, so take that with a grain of salt.

People mentioned the Italian example, and Genoa in particular. Looking at the history of the Republic of Genoa, it seems they had just gone from having "captains of the people" to having Doges ruling them. "Captain of the people" seems like a title that could easily be translated to "Constable" and be given to Nuno Álvares Pereira, to keep him on board and, crucially, keeping him in front of the army, since Castile won't recognize Portuguese independence until 1411, maybe longer here, who knows. So keeping an institutionalized head of the army is important and... will probably become a fixture of this republic, so having it be a military dictatorship, perhaps even an inherited one, with a Constable at the front, is an idea.

As for centralization, I actually think this Portugal would be even more centralized than OTL, with the Lisbon merchant class dominating the political life of the country, with the support of the Lisbon mob, ready to riot and threaten the Cortes whenever they need to get their point across. As for income... Well, in just a few decades, Portugal would be embarking on a rampage of conquests and exploration, to find profitable trading routes for spices and other exotic goods for Europe. This merchant class was, in OTL, a driving force for that, so I can only imagine them supporting it more now. The same source of wealth that fed the Portuguese Royal family would probably do wonders in financing a Republic, and even put more power at the hands of Lisbon, where all that revenue would be entering.

So yeah, this is an interesting scenario, not particularly likely, I'd say, but certainly... doable. Let's put it this way: the Aviz Revolution is, in itself, weirder than the extra weirdness of it ending up as a Republic would be.​

First of all, thank you for the great analysis!

I think it's perhaps worth it to speculate a little on how colonial policy might be affected by a republic. IOTL, there was a more or less constant friction between those who wanted to prioritise crusading in North Africa (which usually went badly and wasted tons of money) and those who were more invested in southern trade and exploration. Needless to say, the first group was mostly composed by nobles, who were chasing titles and land grants from the crown, while the second was mostly merchants who wanted access to new markets. Would a republic significantly favour the trade and exploration party?

 

[Phalamus]

Who are they?

Second question: How does a centralized government secure it's income for the common good against particular interests? That was THE issue for the establishment of the Dutch republic. In the Dutch republic this was only informally solved by the economic inequality of the different provinces, which meant that one, Holland, could usually dominate the others.

Nobles, the church, and a rising mercantile bourgeoisie. The last one in particular held the most influence at this point, having just won the succession war.

Portugal was pretty centralised, and IOTL would become even more so under the Aviz. I don't think the Dutch republic is a very good analogue, seeing as a Portugal would surely never be a collection of provinces...

That's why I mentioned the Italian republics in the OP instead

 

[galik]

So keeping an institutionalized head of the army is important and... will probably become a fixture of this republic, so having it be a military dictatorship, perhaps even an inherited one, with a Constable at the front, is an idea.​

What if the Constable is elected for live, while after a new would be elected by the corts? The Constable would evolve to a Chancellor type title

 

[Phalamus]

What if the Constable is elected for live, while after a new would be elected by the corts? The Constable would evolve to a Chancellor type title

Well, Portugal did have the title of "Chanceler-mor" at the time, and it was given to João das Regras IOTL.

Maybe we could end up with a president/prime-minister type of situation:

• One office would be the head of state and commander in chief of the military. This could be called Constable, Doge (following the Italian example), or maybe even "Regedor", which was the title John I took before being acclaimed king
• The other one, probably called Chancellor, would handle internal administration, taxes and all that

Both could be appointed by the Cortes (which likely would have more city representation and less nobles than under the monarchy), and terms could range from very short to very long (even for life). Genoa experimented with both, though none of the for-life Doges ended up serving for that long

 

[H.Flashman(VC)]

Nobles, the church, and a rising mercantile bourgeoisie. The last one in particular held the most influence at this point, having just won the succession war.

Portugal was pretty centralised, and IOTL would become even more so under the Aviz. I don't think the Dutch republic is a very good analogue, seeing as a Portugal would surely never be a collection of provinces...

That's why I mentioned the Italian republics in the OP instead

the trouble with comparing to Genua (and Venice) is that those were in the end basically city republics. There was influence of nobles, but those were coming from areas not too far from the city. So when something needed to be decided the lines were short, and there was less possibility for delaying tactics. Also (and this was a real problem in the early Dutch republic and will also be a problem in a Portuguese Republic) promised money for the common good or owed taxes could be collected much more swiftly in Genua. If i understood it correctly, the struggle was started because it was felt that a Castilian king wouldn't respect the Portuguese 'constitution' which i read as local privileges and (partly) unwritten customs. That to be honest sounds very much like the unifying factor in the Dutch cause. But when the direct threat to those privileges fell away, the disunity grew.

BTW. i could see this succeed if Lisbon is going to be the dominant party in Portugal with some support of other major harbor cities.

 

[NedStark]

First of all, thank you for the great analysis!

I think it's perhaps worth it to speculate a little on how colonial policy might be affected by a republic. IOTL, there was a more or less constant friction between those who wanted to prioritise crusading in North Africa (which usually went badly and wasted tons of money) and those who were more invested in southern trade and exploration. Needless to say, the first group was mostly composed by nobles, who were chasing titles and land grants from the crown, while the second was mostly merchants who wanted access to new markets. Would a republic significantly favour the trade and exploration party?

Well, dodging the Iberian Union, which is almost a certainty ITTL, would be a net good for Portugal.

What would the English do in this situation?

Well, they would remain allies uninterrupted without the Iberian Union. Thus, Portugal could either avoid or fare better in the Dutch War.

Plus, in case there is a English Civil War similar to IOTL, the existence of a Portuguese Republic could give the Parliamentarians and the regicides quite a lot of ideas.

 

[Phalamus]

the trouble with comparing to Genua (and Venice) is that those were in the end basically city republics. There was influence of nobles, but those were coming from areas not too far from the city. So when something needed to be decided the lines were short, and there was less possibility for delaying tactics. Also (and this was a real problem in the early Dutch republic and will also be a problem in a Portuguese Republic) promised money for the common good or owed taxes could be collected much more swiftly in Genua. If i understood it correctly, the struggle was started because it was felt that a Castilian king wouldn't respect the Portuguese 'constitution' which i read as local privileges and (partly) unwritten customs. That to be honest sounds very much like the unifying factor in the Dutch cause. But when the direct threat to those privileges fell away, the disunity grew.

BTW. i could see this succeed if Lisbon is going to be the dominant party in Portugal with some support of other major harbor cities.

Well, I don't think any analogy is going to be exactly perfect, but it's important to keep in mind that Portugal never really had as much of a feudal system as most of Europe. Sure, there was a landed nobility, and they had some privileges to collect taxes and administer justice in their lands, but these were relatively limited and the crown in Lisbon never really had a lot of trouble securing funding or anything like that.

King Pedro I had gone very hard against the nobility and largely come out on top. That had generated a lot of resentment, which was still relevant to politics at the time of the succession crisis. But the Lisbon bourgeoisie had supported Pedro, and they held a lot of influence at the time.

I don't know what you've read exactly, but it seems a bit off. Portugal had never had a Castilian king actually exercising power at that time. When king Fernando I died, his daughter Beatriz, who was married to John I of Castile was acclaimed queen, but because she was 10 years old, the country fell under the regency of queen Leonor Teles, with strong influence from her lover Juan Fernández de Andeiro. Teles and Andeiro had strong ties to Castilian nobility, and were unpopular among Lisbon merchants.

Most of the Portuguese nobility seems to have been OK at the time with the prospective union with Castile. The main social base of the Aviz party was indeed the bourgeoisie (mostly in Lisbon, with some families in Porto as well)

 

[Prince di Corsica]

First of all, thank you for the great analysis!

I think it's perhaps worth it to speculate a little on how colonial policy might be affected by a republic. IOTL, there was a more or less constant friction between those who wanted to prioritise crusading in North Africa (which usually went badly and wasted tons of money) and those who were more invested in southern trade and exploration. Needless to say, the first group was mostly composed by nobles, who were chasing titles and land grants from the crown, while the second was mostly merchants who wanted access to new markets. Would a republic significantly favour the trade and exploration party?

I tend to agree with your ideas about how colonial policy would be affected. I am now thinking if the absence of a Royal House would make colonial policy more effective, but realistically speaking, the early period of colonization was already quite well-managed, so I don't think any miracles in that direction are possible. If anyone can think of events where Royal intervention helped shape, for the better or worse, colonial policy, please do point them out, however.

Well, Portugal did have the title of "Chanceler-mor" at the time, and it was given to João das Regras IOTL.

Maybe we could end up with a president/prime-minister type of situation:

• One office would be the head of state and commander in chief of the military. This could be called Constable, Doge (following the Italian example), or maybe even "Regedor", which was the title John I took before being acclaimed king
• The other one, probably called Chancellor, would handle internal administration, taxes and all that

Both could be appointed by the Cortes (which likely would have more city representation and less nobles than under the monarchy), and terms could range from very short to very long (even for life). Genoa experimented with both, though none of the for-life Doges ended up serving for that long

This is quite an interesting idea... The commander-in-chief position has an obvious candidate, Nuno Álvares Pereira who, as I think about it, would be the "Washington" of this republic. And, accordingly, much would be shaped according to his own personality. So my first thoughts - would he accept the title of "Regedor"? Wouldn't that seem like usurping his friend's place? Wouldn't people fear it would set him up to take the kingship for himself? Personally, I don't think he would take the kingship, or even too great of a title, but there's what I think, there's reality and then there's what other people think would happen, in particular people at the time. I personally veer towards the whole Constable thing with a vacant throne, possibly occupied by the Virgin Mary.

Now the Chanceler-mor turning into an important State figure is also quite obvious, and João das Regras the obvious candidate. So nice, this republic already has two remarkable institutions that could control each other or fight amongst themselves for power.

As for the duration of their terms, Nuno Álvares is simply indispensable for the first generation, he is necessary to keep the Castilians at bay. He would quite possibly be Constable until his own OTL retirement, in the 1410s, to go spend the rest of his days as a monk. And his relationship with the Church is something to take note of, in OTL a lot of it was to build the Church as a control to the monarchy and I see him now use the Church as a control to the Cortes, which would be a rather interesting relationship (and one I could see later leading to a Constable rising to kingship through Church sponsorship and a Papal bull)

And this reminds me of another player in the game: the religious orders, Aviz and of Christ most importantly. They were important landowners in the South and full of nobles - and yet, they were key bases of power for the Aviz party, with John of Aviz obviously commanding the Order of Aviz and Nuno Álvares essentially usurping his brother's soldiers at the start of the conflict. If those orders were to be enshrined in the Republic, how would they be controlled? In OTL, the Royal Family took control through putting junior princes in charge of them, how would the Republic solve this?

the trouble with comparing to Genua (and Venice) is that those were in the end basically city republics. There was influence of nobles, but those were coming from areas not too far from the city. So when something needed to be decided the lines were short, and there was less possibility for delaying tactics. Also (and this was a real problem in the early Dutch republic and will also be a problem in a Portuguese Republic) promised money for the common good or owed taxes could be collected much more swiftly in Genua. If i understood it correctly, the struggle was started because it was felt that a Castilian king wouldn't respect the Portuguese 'constitution' which i read as local privileges and (partly) unwritten customs. That to be honest sounds very much like the unifying factor in the Dutch cause. But when the direct threat to those privileges fell away, the disunity grew.

BTW. i could see this succeed if Lisbon is going to be the dominant party in Portugal with some support of other major harbor cities.

Lisbon was already a sizeable city that would only increase in size and power once the colonial era got going, so I do think it's quite possible it could dominate. Portugal, Iberia really, was always more centralized than most of Europe for, complicated and controversial reasons. Let's say the Reconquest forced decently well-centralized States to get going, but it's more complex than that. In any case, just in the recent civil war, the harbor cities were able to, almost by themselves, repel the Castilians. One of the great moments of the war was a siege of Lisbon, to which the Castilian troops arrived essentially without resistance.

Really, Portugal has always had most of its population in a coastal line between Lisbon and Braga (or, as some would put it, between Lisbon and Coruna), which is not much different from the Italian republics. If one has the religious orders by their side, they controlled much of the land in the south. As for the interior North... Well, it would be more challenging to control, but they probably would prefer to remain Portuguese rather than Castilian, and that might be enough to keep them in line.

 

[Phalamus]

I am now thinking if the absence of a Royal House would make colonial policy more effective, but realistically speaking, the early period of colonization was already quite well-managed, so I don't think any miracles in that direction are possible. If anyone can think of events where Royal intervention helped shape, for the better or worse, colonial policy, please do point them out, however.

The conquest of Ceuta and the settlements of Madeira as Azores were fairly consensual as far as I know, so I guess those would go as IOTL. However, late in John I's first, and all throughout Edward and Afonso V's reigns, we see deep cleavages emerge in Portuguese society over colonial policy. The most famous of this is of course the entire sequence of events leading to Tangier debacle of 1437.

After it became clear that the conquest of Ceuta had failed to meet its objectives (it didn't turn in a profit because Muslim merchants simply started avoiding the city), the Marinid sultanate tried to recover the territory and most people in Portugal were not particularly inclined to put up a fight. Henry the Navigator was obsessed, however, and instead proposed to double down on African crusading and launch a full out war against the Marinids. All of his brothers were initially opposed, and it took years of politicking before he eventually got his way (by promising to adopt Edward's youngest son and making him his heir)... and it went terribly.

From then on, the Inclita Geração was very much divided, with Pedro of Coimbra leading the party with strongest tied to the bourgeoisie, and being clearly disinclined from North African crusading. During his regency for the young Afonso V, Pedro encouraged Henry to focus on south Atlantic trade and exploration. It is important to note that by this time Gil Eanes' crossing of Cape Bojador (1434) had already happened, proving that Portugal could bypass the Sahara and go straight to the source of the gold, with no need of holding any North African possessions to get it from Muslim traders.

Interestingly, in 1449, the battle of Alfarrobeira delivered a political change that went very much against the general trend of the Aviz era, when Afonso V successfully deposed his uncle with aristocratic support (mostly from the house of Braganza), and brought forth a major shift in colonial policy. It was during this time that trade and exploration rights were leased to Fernão Gomes (a wealthy merchant) while the king focused on (unprofitable) African conquests and later in the Castilian Succession War debacle.

To be fair, Fernão Gomes appears to have been quite competent (he always exceeded his quotas), but this era still saw markedly less progress than both the previous and the following one, which I think was due to the lack of state support...

My guess is that under a merchant-dominated republic, without ambitious princes and with less ambitious nobles, African crusading is drastically reduced, involvement in Castilian politics is eliminated, and the state takes a proactive (John II-ish) role in fostering trade and exploration at all times. Portugal likely enters the Indian ocean sooner and the colonization of Brazil happens a little bit earlier as well. There's even the possibility there would be more funds to support projects that failed IOTL, like the Newfoundland colony.

This is quite an interesting idea... The commander-in-chief position has an obvious candidate, Nuno Álvares Pereira who, as I think about it, would be the "Washington" of this republic. And, accordingly, much would be shaped according to his own personality. So my first thoughts - would he accept the title of "Regedor"? Wouldn't that seem like usurping his friend's place? Wouldn't people fear it would set him up to take the kingship for himself? Personally, I don't think he would take the kingship, or even too great of a title, but there's what I think, there's reality and then there's what other people think would happen, in particular people at the time. I personally veer towards the whole Constable thing with a vacant throne, possibly occupied by the Virgin Mary.

Yeah, I feel those are good point. Let's assume then, a President/prime-minister situation with a Constable of Portugal (Condestável de Portugal) and Chancellor of the Kingdom (Chanceller-mor do Reino). Portugal is still called "kingdom" in official documents and such because it's de jure still a monarchy, only the throne has reverted back to divinity (personified by the Virgin Mary) because was no legitimate heir after John I's death. Nuno Álvares Pereira is the first Constable and João das Regras is the first Chancellor - the founding fathers of the Aviz Republic. They both hold the offices until their respective OTL retirement and death (João das Regras died in 1404).

After that, we're pretty much in unchartered territory in regards to leadership, since IOTL the most important players of the following era tended to be royals and royal bastards (mostly John I's sons), but I think it's safe to assume there would be a number of competent administrators from the low nobility and merchant classes ready to step up, but none with enough prestige to rule indefinitely, so eventually term lengths are set.

And this reminds me of another player in the game: the religious orders, Aviz and of Christ most importantly. They were important landowners in the South and full of nobles - and yet, they were key bases of power for the Aviz party, with John of Aviz obviously commanding the Order of Aviz and Nuno Álvares essentially usurping his brother's soldiers at the start of the conflict. If those orders were to be enshrined in the Republic, how would they be controlled? In OTL, the Royal Family took control through putting junior princes in charge of them, how would the Republic solve this?

I think they would need to be held very accountable to the Cortes. This is probably where set term lengths would be most important to avoid civil wars. No one should be allowed to indefinitely remain as master of a military-religious order. Appointment would either need to be through the Constable, or through the Cortes directly. Maybe by the Constable with approval by the Cortes? There would be desire for strong centralised governance, so giving the Constable that prerogative might be tempting, but otoh the Cortes would probably be worried about the prospect of a Constable stacking all the orders with his own partisans.

Realistically, though, we may get a few civil wars in early republic because it might take a while for people to figure out how to get peaceful transfers of power going. This shouldn't be seen as "too much" of a big deal, since the Aviz dynasty evidently had a fair share of that itself.

 

[galik]

This is quite interesting but we should further our understanding of the Portuguese administration at the time and the dynamics of such. Anyone have maps of the religious orders lands, nobles lands? I know Tomar was under the knights of christ and they financed parts of the discoveries and commerce overseas. I also have printed the Portuguese courts of 1439 that would help understand how probably the ones of this TL would be organized. There are general chapters of each municipality, privileges granted, expenses, complains etc. It's around 600 pages.

 

[galik]

Also we could start a TL like the 'the league of nations of ours' we could represent the various Portuguese powers and try to defend those positions and understand where things go