Writing in the legitimacy of power: the joanina handwriting and the Avis Dynasty. A paleograhic contribute

Abstract

During a time of changing governance, crisis, hunger, plague and war, the emergence of a new dynasty strives for legitimation and affirmation. The official style in writing is one more vehicle for such assertion, expressing a paradigm shift in governance and the power dynamics surrounding the new monarch, complete with a change in its Chancellery and Notarial Desk. With the ascension to the throne of D. João I and the beginning of the Avis Dynasty, we verify an almost immediate change in the ductus of the characters drawn in the documents made in the Royal Chancellery. Further, we find changes in the writers’ offices: fresh faces for a renewed administrative apparatus. Writing thus becomes an essential vehicle of power, a trend that can be asserted for since the 13th century with the growing bureaucracies and importance of written record. On this article we intend to propose a paleographic analysis of the abovementioned renewed style of writing.