The Social Structure of Early Portugal: The Dominance of the Clergy

During Portugal’s formative stages, society was divided into three primary social classes:

1. Clergy (Oratores) – The most influential and privileged class.
2. Nobility (Bellatores) – Warriors and landowners.
3. Commoners (Laboratores) – The peasantry, artisans, and merchants.

The Clergy: The Preeminent Social Class

Due to the religious fervor of the era and the kingdom’s role in the Reconquista, the clergy held paramount influence in both spiritual and secular affairs. The Church was the wealthiest institution in the realm and provided most of Portugal’s educated elite, making it the dominant political, intellectual, and administrative force.

Ecclesiastical Hierarchy and Structure

The clergy was divided into two main categories:

1. The Secular Clergy – Bishops and parish priests, forming the traditional Church hierarchy.
2. The Regular Clergy – Abbots and monks belonging to monastic and military orders, such as the Cistercians, Benedictines, and Knights Templar.

These groups were further classified into:

• Higher Clergy – Bishops and abbots, who controlled vast landholdings, exercised judicial power, and influenced royal policy.
• Lower Clergy – Parish priests and monks, who served local communities but held less political authority.

Privileges and Rights of the Clergy

The clergy enjoyed various privileges that reinforced its power, including:

• Exemption from taxation, allowing it to accumulate vast wealth.
• Judgment in ecclesiastical courts, where clergy members were tried under canon law rather than civil law.
• Right of asylum, enabling churches to shelter fugitives from royal or noble justice.
• Control of education, as monasteries and cathedral schools were the only institutions of higher learning.

The Chancellorship: The Clergy’s Supreme Office

The highest office in the kingdom, the chancellorship, was traditionally held by a high-ranking cleric, further entrenching ecclesiastical power within the monarchy. This position gave the Church direct influence over royal decrees, lawmaking, and administration.

Decline of Clerical Dominance

Over time, as Portugal’s monarchy centralized power and the merchant class gained prominence, the clergy’s political influence diminished. However, during the early medieval period, the Church remained the most powerful institution, shaping Portugal’s laws, culture, and governance.

The Commoners and the Social Hierarchy in Medieval Portugal

At the bottom of Portugal’s social structure were the commoners, who made up the vast majority of the population. Though lacking the privileges of the nobility and clergy, they formed the backbone of Portugal’s economy and military efforts, particularly during the Reconquista and the colonization of the south.

The Social Strata of Commoners

1. Serfs (Servos) – The Lowest and Most Numerous Class

   • Tied to the land by heredity, serfs were bound to royal, noble, or ecclesiastical estates.
   • Engaged primarily in agriculture, stockraising, and village crafts, providing essential labor to sustain the kingdom.
   • Unlike slaves, serfs had limited rights and could not be sold individually, but they lacked personal freedom.
   • Could achieve freedom by migrating south as colonists in newly conquered territories, where they were granted better legal status.

2. Clients (Colonos or Comendados) – Freemen in Dependence

   • Freemen without land, they entered into protection agreements with nobles or clergy in exchange for service.
   • Often served as laborers, craftsmen, or minor military retainers.
   • Dependent on their overlords but maintained a status above serfs due to their legal freedom.

3. Villein-Knights (Cavaleiros-Vilãos) – The Bridge Between Commoners and Nobles

   • A special class of commoners who could afford to maintain a horse and weapons.
   • Served in military campaigns and were often encouraged to settle on the southern frontier to raid and defend against Muslim forces.
   • Though technically commoners, their military role and privileges placed them in a transitional status between commoners and nobility.

Slavery in Portugal

Outside the formal social hierarchy, slaves (escravos) were typically Muslim captives from the Reconquista.

• Most were forced to work on the estates of the military orders, particularly in the Alentejo, where landowners needed labor to sustain agricultural production.
• Slaves were considered chattel property and had no legal rights but could sometimes gain freedom through ransom or conversion to Christianity.
• Unlike serfs, who were tied to the land, slaves could be bought, sold, or transferred at will.

The Changing Status of Commoners

As Portugal expanded southward, the status of commoners evolved. The colonization of new territories provided opportunities for social mobility, allowing serfs to gain freedom, clients to become landowners, and villein-knights to integrate into the lower nobility. Over time, Portugal’s monarchy increasingly relied on the merchant class and free townsmen, further altering the medieval social order.

The Divine Right of Kings and the Royal Council in Medieval Portugal

From the reign of Afonso Henriques onward, Portuguese monarchs ruled by divine right, a principle that legitimized their absolute authority as being ordained by God. This system remained in place until the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in the early 19th century.

The Role of the Royal Council

The early Portuguese kings were assisted by a royal council, composed of their closest advisers and allies, primarily drawn from the higher nobility and clergy. This council played a crucial role in governance, providing strategic, legal, and administrative guidance to the monarch.

Key Functionaries of the Royal Court

The royal council was supported by a group of high-ranking functionaries, each responsible for critical aspects of administration:

• Chancellor – The most powerful official, responsible for keeping the royal seal and overseeing the king’s official documents.
• Notary – Advised on legal matters and ensured that royal decrees adhered to established law and custom.
• Scribe – Drafted the king’s letters and official records, as many early kings were illiterate and relied on written communication through trusted clerks.
• Majordomo – Commanded the king’s household guard, overseeing court security and the protection of the royal family.

The Centralization of Royal Power

While the royal council initially functioned as an advisory body, Portuguese monarchs increasingly centralized authority, reducing noble influence and strengthening the Crown’s direct control over the kingdom’s administration. This gradual transformation laid the groundwork for a more bureaucratic state, which would later evolve into a constitutional monarchy.

The Portuguese Cortes: An Early Representative Assembly (1211–1697)

In medieval Portugal, when matters of exceptional importance arose, the king convoked the cortes, an expanded royal council that brought together representatives of the three estates of the realm:

1. The Nobility (Fidalguia) – Representing the landowning warrior class.
2. The Clergy (Clero) – Representing the Church and its vast influence.
3. The Commoners (Povo) – Representing townsmen and merchants, particularly after the mid-13th century.

The First Cortes and Its Evolution

• The first cortes was held in 1211 at Coimbra, under Afonso II, to legitimize his succession to the throne and to approve new laws for the realm.
• In 1254, at the Cortes of Leiria, Afonso III expanded participation to include representatives of self-governing settler communities (concelhos), marking a milestone in Portugal’s political evolution.
• These early cortes were not legislative bodies in the modern sense but served as a forum for advising the king, presenting petitions and grievances, and discussing matters of taxation, succession, and governance.

Limitations and Decline of the Cortes

• The cortes had no independent legislative power—its resolutions only became law if countersigned by the king.
• Over time, as the Portuguese monarchy centralized power, the authority of the cortes weakened.
• Although it played a role in limiting royal authority during certain periods, the monarchy gradually became more absolute.
• The cortes was convened less frequently, and by 1697, it ceased to be summoned altogether, marking the end of its function as a political institution until its revival in the 19th century during constitutional reforms.

Legacy of the Cortes

Though it ultimately declined, the Portuguese cortes was one of the earliest representative assemblies in Europe, contributing to the development of Iberian and Western parliamentary traditions.

The Royal Franchises and Governance of Portugal’s Settler Communities (Concelhos)

During the medieval period, Portugal’s settler communities, or concelhos, were formally recognized through royal franchises (forais), which established their privileges, tax obligations, and rights of self-government. These franchisesalso regulated the relationship between the Crown, the concelho, and the donatório (a noble or ecclesiastical lord if the community was part of a terra, or seigneurial land grant).

Local Governance and Administration

Each concelho functioned as a self-governing municipality, led by an assembly composed of local homens-bons—freemen not subject to the jurisdiction of the Church, a donatório, or special laws governing Muslims and Jews.

• The concelho was administered by a magistrate, assisted by several assessors, all chosen from among the homens-bons of the assembly.
• The king’s authority was represented locally by an alcalde, a royal official empowered to intervene when necessary to ensure justice and proper administration.
• The degree of local autonomy varied, depending on whether the concelho was a free royal town or subject to a donatório.

The Decline of Municipal Self-Government

Over time, as Portugal’s monarchy centralized its power, the self-governing authority of concelhos gradually declined. The Crown increasingly sought to assert direct control over municipal governance, weakening the independence of local assemblies and expanding the role of royal administrators, marking a shift toward a more centralized state.