Cerimônias régias, propaganda e diplomacia em Portugal e Castela no século XV: “e os reis ordenaram que os delegados estrangeiros fossem os primeiros no estrado para ver o desfile dos monarcas em majestade”

Abstract

The present monograph aims to discuss the role and uses of royal ceremonies in the Late Middle Ages, a period in which these monarchical rituals progressively gained importance in political and power-related manifestations. For this, two embassy accounts were used, possibly written by two heraldic officers: the King of Arms Flanders, from Burgundy, and the King of Arms Richmond, from England. These accounts narrate, respectively, the Portuguese ceremonies of 1429, held to celebrate and publicly announce the marriage of D. Isabel, daughter of the founder of the Avis Dynasty, D. João I, to the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good, and the ceremonies promoted by Castile in 1489 to honor the English embassy sent by Henry VII. Thus, it is understood that royal ceremonies at the end of the medieval period were part of a conscious and articulated plan by the monarchical bureaucracy to project and exalt the figure of the monarch and the reigning dynasty through non-verbal propaganda. Therefore, the work focused on the duality of propaganda and royal ceremonies.