A Justiça no quotidiano: os corregedores do reino

Abstract

Abstract:In his famous Letter of Bruges Prince Pedro recommends that the future King Edward adopt a system to reform and tighten scrutiny over the magistrates of the kingdom. In the first quarter of the fourteenth century there was nothing new in a system which ordered its distribution by territory or in the form of required action. However, in order for these officials not to become "damagers" of districts, an entire renovation of the respective regulations and, in particular, surveillance was urgent. Without this, Justice would be nothing more than wishful thinking. As a line of analysis from this era we propose a short account of what these officials represented up until then and what they would come to represent by the end of the Middle Ages: the visible face of Royal Justice in the eyes of the people. Keywords: Letter of Bruges; Afonsine Ordinances; Justice; Magistrates.Resumo: Na célebre carta de Bruges, o infante D. Pedro recomenda ao futuro rei D. Duarte um sistema de reformulação e de apertado escrutínio sobre os corregedores do reino. No primeiro quartel do século XIV já não era novidade o sistema que ordenava a sua distribuição pelo território, nem a forma de actuação requerida. Mas, para que estes oficiais de justiça não se tornassem "danadores" das comarcas, era urgente toda uma remodelação do respectivo regimento e, sobretudo, vigilância. Sem isto, a Justiça não iria para além das boas intenções. Servindo-nos deste tempo como eixo de análise, propomos-vos um breve levantamento do que foram até então e do que serão até aos finais da Idade Média esses oficiais, face visível da Justiça régia aos olhos dos povos. Palavras-chave: Carta de Bruges; Ordenações Afonsinas; Justiça; Corregedores.The theme proposed in this report speaks of "writings and images", words soon seized by us -with the deformation of a historian -as a challenge to achieve the correlation between the written word and its projected image as well as the, "wondrous reality of things" 1 or rather, the facts. Let's put to one side the debate on this concept and use it naively in an almost positivist way as what is presented to us in its existence in time and space is sometimes quantifiable, but always witness to political, social, or economic behavior; or indeed, mentality. It is also worth remembering that this