Local elites and social mobility at the end of Ancien Régime

Abstract

Analysis of municipal oligarchies, gradually solidified during the transition from the sixteenth to the seventeenth century, has been one of the dominant subjects of recent Portuguese historical studies. The chronology of this process coincided with similar trends in other social strata, such as the first royal nobility and the high clergy. Moreover, this view corroborates some long-standing observations made as a result of genealogical investigation. They show that, at the end of the Middle Ages and in the sixteenth century (the golden era of colonial expansion), social mobility in Portugal was much greater than in the two subsequent centuries. However, the article questions this reading of events, and presents various items of evidence to the contrary. Firstly, elites in the councils were not a uniform social category, but had very diverse incomes and positions in the nobility, and were arranged in a clear hierarchy. Furthermore, they varied in the degree to which they were well-formed and closed, and even in the richest and most select councils there were several routes for admittance. Lastly, the idea that all local elites chose to invest in council hierarchies ignores the relatively subordinate position held by the participants in these structures. The most important houses in the rural areas, as well as particularly successful individuals, could aim higher - by serving the monarchy, moving to Lisbon, and entering the court.