THE RESTORATION

João duke of Bragança arrived in Lisbon from Vila Viçosa on 6 December 1640. Nine days later he was formally proclaimed King João IV of Portugal before a large gathering of nobles and dignitaries. The new king then proceeded immediately to issue writs summoning the Portuguese cortes. This act in itself was highly significant for it involved exercising a power strictly exclusive to ruling monarchs. In response to his summons nearly all the relevant concelhos dutifully selected their representatives and sent them to Lisbon while most of the eligible clergy and nobles also attended. On 28 January 1641, the cortes held its opening session at which João was duly sworn in as king.

In the months that followed copious pro-Bragança propaganda steadily flowed from the country's presses. This propaganda claimed that Filipe I had unlawfully seized the throne in 1580 from the forebears of João IV, who was now simply reclaiming what was legitimately his. It also argued that all the Habsburg ‘usurpers’ had ruled unjustly and failed to respect their solemn promises to uphold Portugal's traditional rights and privileges. In particular Filipe III, current occupant of the Habsburg throne, was a manifestly unjust tyrant – and the cortes therefore had the right and responsibility to depose him, which it had duly done. The cortes also had the authority to elect a new king when the throne was vacant, and it had given its resounding endorsement to João.