“Em favor do matrimônio”: práticas sexuais normativas e não normativas em Portugal no reinado de Dom João II

Abstract

This study investigates the sexual practices and behaviors that deviated from the normative discourse based on the Christian thought and their reflexes on the legal discourse in Portugal in the last two decades of the 15th century, during the reign of Don John II (1481-1495). We argue that not all subjects behaved sexually according to what was expected by the morals of the time; as such, our aim is to understand both the processes which established a kind of normative rhetoric marked by the logic of power and the ways the kingdom’s subjects found to survive under the imperative strength of such rhetoric. To do so, we use two important judicial sources for the understanding of justice in 15th-century Portugal: The Afonsine Decrees (1448) and the Pardon Letters of Don John II’s chancellery. For our document analysis, we also resort to relevant historiography to the theme and promote interdisciplinarity with genre studies, in conceptual and methodological terms. At the end of this study, we found that, through a variety of arguments and strategies, subjects were able to face severe legal penalties, even after engaging in sexual practices considered disruptive and contrary to established norms.