Abstract

RAMOS, Manuel Francisco. “Mulier ne debuerit habere regnum”: the regency during D. Afonso V minority seen by lawyers. Med_on [online]. 2018, n.23, pp.1-33. ISSN 1646-740X.

The question concerning the regency during D. Afonso V minority is not an easy one to solve. During this period, D. Leonor became the Regent of the country and she was sworn in full powers for the government of the kingdom, but later her authority was questioned and she lost her cause against D. Pedro during the “Cortes de Lisboa” in 1439. The tutorial power over the kingdom and the young king was not an effortless answer to achieve, since there was no Law on the subject of the succession of Regency. Thus the lawyers might become the most accurate authorities to tackle the problem, among the many that actually did so. Two of them: Afonso Mangancha and Jean Jouffroy, dean of Vergy, took a public position on these questions. The former jurist presented his view at the time of the events and the latter a posteriori. Although they had never met, they held similar opinions and they both favoured D. Pedro's intentions: no woman should ever be in charge of the Regency. Nevertheless, when it comes to analysing and evaluating the power and propriety of their arguments, we get suspicious of their speeches for we know that, as lawyers, they were supporting the interests they represented. They were not searching the truth and the equity. Even so, it is worth knowing the arguments of each of them and finding out their strength

Keywords : Regency during D. Afonso V minority; Afonso Mangancha and Jean Jouffroy; D. Leonor of Aragon; D. Pedro - duke of Coimbra.

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