Abstract

VASCONCELOS, António Maria Falcão Pestana de. Nobility and Military Orders. Social and Power Relations.(Fourteenth to Sixteenth Centuries). e-JPH [online]. 2011, vol.9, n.1, pp.135-162. ISSN 1645-6432.

This article summarizes the main conclusions of the author’s doctoral dissertation. It examines the behavior of the nobility and the Military Orders in their dealings with the established power, and the relationship of this sector of society with these monastic-military institutions, from the late fourteenth century to the first quarter of the sixteenth century. Based on a prosopographic analysis of a broad universe of individuals identified as knights and commanders of the Military Orders, this work also analyses the presence of the nobility in the Military Orders, as well as the growing interest of certain lineages in having their own representatives in these institutions, not only because of the social prestige that this generated, but also because of the economic and patrimonial advantages that might derive therefrom. Throughout this approach to the question, special attention is given to the family relationships established between lineages linked to these institutions, both through the male and the female lines of each family.

Keywords : Portugal; medieval history; nobility; Military Orders; knights; commanders; war.

        · abstract in Portuguese     · text in English     · English ( pdf )