Regulating Warfare: Portuguese normative in the Late Middle Ages

Even something as apparently chaotic as war has rules. In the Late Middle Ages several European rulers, such as Alfonso XI and Juan I in Castile, Charles VII in France or Charles the Bold in Burgundy, tried to regulate their warriors’ conduct, behaviour and equipment. Portugal was no exception. Since the late 14^th century Portuguese kings struggled to standardize a procedure known as aquantiamento, that is, the obligation to maintain a horse and a given military equipment according to one’s wealth. This would have as an ultimate outcome the implementation of the so called Regimento dos Coudéis, in 1418, which would later be included in the Portuguese Medieval legislative code known as the Ordenações Afonsinas. In this presentation we will explore several regiments, ordinances, provisions, and laws issued by the Portuguese Crown in the 14^th and 15^th centuries, searching for clues regarding the always difficult task of managing and controlling something troublesome like recruitment and military service.

Speaker: João Nisa (Centro de História da Sociedade e da Cultura – Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra)

Sponsor: RCCHU; Universidade de Coimbra; Harvard University