Imagens do principe. Discurso normativo e representacao (1525-1549)

The object of this dissertation is the study of the normative discourse implied by 'mirrors for the prince' written during the reign of king Joao III, intending to show the importance of a genre delebrating, within a range of different forms, the virtuous profile of the sovereign, based upon a wider group of texts than were hnown to exist until recently. Having received its decisive formulation during the Middle Ages, this literary genre would be continuously revisited by political literature until the XVII"t"h century. The multiplication of these works in Europe from the beginning of the Modern Age, highly evident in Portugal during that reing, must be seen within the frame of various factors - rites and ceremonies, iconography, emblematic -which converge on the ideological affirmation of the State through the growing protagonism of the sovereign. Political evolution towards absolutism is articulated with a gradual importance and complexity of the different ideological pillars of monarchy, in which normative and ediological discourses have a major place. The inmage of the prince constructed by this literary genre is globally homogeneous, having handicapped consideration of its importance among political representations. The persistence of these images is closely related to fundamental models in which biblical, medieval and classical influences converge. In our view this makes it difficult to consider the above mentioned text as belonging to a hypothetical 'portuguese political philosophy'. Other directions and perspectives are also considered. Mirrors for princes are kaleidoscope images of the virtuous prince and the perfect sovereign, and in some cases, of a world which orbits them: wet-nurses, squires, tutors, councilors, court and courtiers, who also are conditionedby a similar frame of norms. This codification of behaviors is, after all, what makes some of these works also suitable to an aristocratic audience, as well as to the prince. The obvious multiplication of mirrors for princes at the begining of the Modern Age must thus be considered within the broader area of ideological mechanisms used in the celebration of prince and monarchy. On the other hand, it shows the interaction between the discourse on the prince and an aristocratic and courtly culture, particularly in what concerns pedagogic models and forms of behavior. Finally, that multiplication should also be viewed within the broader domain of a normative literature which, particularly since the Counter-Reformation, stresses the need for models such as handbooks for confessors, mirrors of Christian perfection, of the perfect courtier, the perfect physician, or the perfect marriage. These models reflect mechanisms of self-control and reproduction of social norms, and are thus inscribed within the process of civilization draen by Norbert EliasAvailable from Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, Servico de Informacao e Documentacao, Av. D. Carlos I, 126, 1200 Lisboa / FCT - Fundação para o Ciência e a TecnologiaSIGLEPTPortuga