O REI DISTANTE, O IMPÉRIO DE PAPEL E O NOVO MUNDO ÀS AVESSAS: luso governo, séculos XVII-XVIII

Abstract

With the diffusion of writing and the erudite culture the Modern Age witnessed the beginning of paper monarchies. Political speeches, government projects, and administrative reports circulated trough a relational network with letters exchange, linking the king to his possessions. However, the management of the Portuguese seaborne empire was indirectly through a vast system of representation with positions and functions, and especially overseas, the distance and the small powers administered by the local councils gave very specific features to the royal sovereignty and to the legislative purposes. The paper analyzes this curious phenomenon under the prism of two of these posts in the Lusitanian administration.