The reigns of King John II (1481-1495) and King Manuel I (1495-1521) saw the emergence for the
first time of Portuguese royal absolutism, with the power of the king being clearly demonstrated,
leading to changes in mental imagery and royal iconography. 50 All established power generates its own
image, which attempts to be the instrument of legitimation and reinforcement of that power.
King Manuel, who was Duke of Beja, succeeded to the throne after the deaths of seven pretenders
who were in line before him. This meant that he had to assert his authority in a court accustomed to
dealing with him as a duke. Accordingly, all the initiatives during his reign, including all cultural output,
were marked by traditional symbols of Portuguese royal power and others that refer to himself (fig. 9). 51
The royal arms
Among these symbols are the combined royal shield and crown,
and the armillary sphere. The diadem of the crown always contains jewels:
a round-cut ruby at the centre, with a diamond-shaped emerald on either
side, and another two rubies, separated by five pearls, or each jewel is
finished with four pearls. 52 Occasionally, other gems, such as sapphires
or more rarely topaz, are included. According to Marcello Moraes, the gold
diadem has ferrules in the upper and lower part with jewels in between:
four rectangular emeralds and four diamond-shaped rubies, of which two
emeralds and three rubies mounted in settings separated by pearls are
visible. It is finished at the top with eight rosettes of gold trilobate acanthus
leaves, each with a pearl at the centre, five being visible, between each a
small stem topped by a pearl, three being visible; all terminating in eight
stems, also in gold, adorned with pearls, five being visible; the point where
the arches of the crown meet being surmounted by the orb and the
cross. 53
The first major alteration to the Portuguese coat of arms 54 occurred
under King Afonso III, second son of King Afonso II, with the inclusion of
the red bordure charged with gold castles from the royal arms of Castile,
from his mother, Queen Urraca, daughter of the Castilian king. King Afonso
III used the bordure to differentiate his coat of arms from that of his older
brother, King Sancho II, who was still alive.
This explanation was first given by Armando de Mattos, 55 and was
later followed by the Marquis of São Payo and corroborated by Faustino
Menendez Pidal. 56
The number of castles in the bordure also varied over time and,
although it initially depended on how many could be fitted into the space,
seven became the standard after 1558. 57
The castles’ appearance was due to the influence exerted by the arms of the kings of Castile on
the differences of the arms of not only their Portuguese but also their Leonese, Castilian, French and
Aragonese descendants. Note that this ‘difference’ was maintained in the royal coat of arms.
With the ascension to the throne of King John I, and until the reign of King John II, the Portuguese
royal coat of arms displayed the green fleur-de-lys cross, emblem of the Order of Avis, of which King
John I was grand master and which for that very reason should have been removed on his death, being
a purely personal attribute. This only happened when King John II ordered it to be replaced by side
shields in pale displayed vertically.
Given the matter of fact way in which this news was related by Rui de Pina and transcribed by
Garcia de Resende without quoting his source, one might well ask, as did Tovar de Lemos:
Who would suspect today that the reform of the royal coat of arms requested in the Cortes in
1482 by the People
’
s Representatives, who immediately noted some modifications that should be introduced,
were the result of three years of heated debates? That in order to terminate these endless discussions
King John II should have decided in 1485 to limit the change in the coat of arms to two points that are
already known: removing the cross of Aviz and altering the position of the lateral shields of the ‘castles’?
58
It was the King’s personal intervention that confirmed his conviction that the arms belonged to
the State and not the royal family; so it is true to say that the concept of State arms in Portugal began
in 1485. The oldest known official heraldic reference to the Portuguese coat of arms being placed on
an armillary sphere dates from the reign of Afonso VI in the seventeenth century, although it was not
used continuously. 59 It appeared again in the nineteenth century, following legislation that established
the arms of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and Algarve after the creation of the Kingdom
of Brazil by legal charter issued by King John VI on 13 May 1816. 60 Under the new order, which
remained in force until the independence of Brazil in 1822, the Portuguese coat of arms rested on a
gold armillary sphere (without its support) on a blue field (the coat of arms granted to the Kingdom of
Brazil).
130 .
PORCELAIN OF THE YUAN (1279–1368) AND MING (1368–1644) DYNASTIES
50 Alves, 1985, p. 13.
51 Idem, ibid., p. 15.
52 Idem, ibid., p. 113.
53 Moraes, 1995.
54 Mattos, 1939, p. 75.
55 Norton, 2004, vol. I, pp. 307-08.
56 Idem, ibid.
57 Mattos, ibid., p. 88.
58 Tovar, 1932, pp. 17-25.
59 Norton, ibid., pp. 314-15.
60 Idem, ibid.
Figure 9. King Manuel I (detail),
prologue page of
Crónica de
Dom Afonso V
, no. 17
© ANTT/José António Silva