The Council of War as a locus of power: delimiting its authority

Abstract

This article examines the consultations of the Council of War (Conselho de Guerra) during the War of Restoration (1640-1668), its central thread being the delimitation of this Council’s authority. The Council was an institutional innovation imposed following the acclamation of the house of Bragança king, but which adopted the institutional model of the house of Austria. The demarcation of the Council of War’s role involved, first, the limitation of its powers in relation to the king’s own powers and, at the same time, the setting of lines of demarcation between it and the monarchy’s other consultative bodies, in particular the Overseas Council (Conselho Ultramarino) and the Replevin of the Court (Desembargo do Paço).