Portuguese Lineages and the Privatization of the Portuguese Church
The history of the Portuguese episcopate reveals the extent of family ambitions at work in annexing ecclesiastical properties to the families of its temporary trustees, a conclusion justified by the gloomy analysis of the Franciscan bishop Álvaro Pais. The privatization of the Portuguese Church and the outburst of a royal bastard when faced with a church court that ‘he was a layman and had his own judge’ reveal the secular aspect of this. This chapter considers Bishop Egas of Viseu’s ‘Summa de libertate ecclesiastica’ and the issue of mortmain. It also examines Portugal’s eternal quadrilateral: Church, king, bishops, and nobility. The problems caused by the privatization of monastic land and consequent intrusion of unwelcome members of the new owners’extended families is the focus of the following section. Finally, the chapter touches on the inter-related questions of the new Portuguese stadium, the secular ethic, and the career of Miguel Vivas.