Tradition and innovation in practices and functional adjustments of the Royal Treasury in Portugal in the 16th century (1512-1560)

In Portugal in 1516, the Livro dos Regimentos e ordenações da Fazenda was published. It is a vast and important compilation of rules for public finance. It includes texts of different contents, some leftover from Mediaeval times (tradition organized in the Ordenações afonsinas and extravagant laws), others, albeit on a smaller scale, included in projects of the new Ordenações of 1512. Its new organization and meaning bring together documents related to financial provisions, from contracts, taxation, and obligations to privileges of Royal Treasury officials’ hierarchy. It starts with a regulation on the Vedores da Fazenda or Treasury Supervisors, a significant part which is almost entirely deleted, albeit still inter-related, in the new Ordenações do Reino (1521). It is not a static structure, revealing a crystalized reality of the world of royal finances. As this Book is the backbone of the Royal Treasury organization, a few years later, the somewhat dynamic historical context of mainland Portugal and its overseas territories, it influenced daily practices requiring alterations in their functional structure. Although the laws of 1516 remained in force, public business and the collection of royal revenues needed innovation, especially in the legal field and creating a universal tax, innovation resulting from the State apparatus’s enlargement and modernization.