The uses of luxury: some examples from the Portuguese courts from 1480 to 1580

Abstract

The article explores the relationship between precious possessions and power strategies of their owners in the context of the reinforcement of the Crown’s power between c. 1480 and the end of the Avis-Beja dynasty in 1580. Six figures are analysed from a gender perspective: Kings João II, Manuel I, and João III; Beatriz, duchess of Avis, and Queens Leonor and Catarina de Áustria. Their choice of precious possessions depended not only on personal circumstances but also varied according to their access to political authority. Whereas women accumulated objects in direct relation with their spirituality (with the exception of Queen Catarina), men favoured the possession of religious objects as a strategy in order to reinforce political power and authority.