| Abstract | Paper -a:
The Law of the Sesmarias was a legislation of the reign of Ferdinand I of Portugal which was promulgated on 28 May 1375 on a context of economic crisis that had been manifesting itself for some decades throughout Europe and which the Black Plague worsened. The disease led to an initial lack of labour in urban centres which, in turn, triggered the increase in wages of artisanal activities and subsequently the flight from the countryside to the cities, leading to a decrease in agricultural production and the depopulation of most of the country. The promulgated Law of Sesmarias intended to force landowners to cultivate the land and to increase the available workforce. The main novelty of this legislation is the establishment of the principle of expropriation of property if the land was not in use. With this it was sought to re-use farmlands that had already been in usage and the ones that, meanwhile, turned into wastelands. Eventually these and another measures, included in Law of Sesmarias, had some positive consequences, but the full results were uncertain.
Paper -b:
Edward (1391-1438), king of Portugal, son of king John I and Phillipa of Lancaster, had a short five-year reign (1433-1438) but began intervene actively in kingdoms affairs since 1411, dealt with a serious economic crisis, with an demographic decline due to the Black Plague and a growing overseas empire. To surpass such issues, he managed to reorganize the administrative bureaucracy in order to achieve a greater concentration of power in the monarch and endured several policies to suppress the asymmetries between the rural world and the urban environment. Furthermore, he left for Portugal a new written social-political project, The Loyal Counselor which revealed a profound knowledge of economic and social problems that plagued the country and Europe, driven not only by disease but also by existing armed conflicts. In search of financing to endure the overseas Portuguese expansion and to cope with public expenses he wrote the Mental Law (April 8, 1434) whose main objective was the defense and conservation of the king's lands. This law main objective was to reverse the royal donations made by his father, in a peaceful manner, goal that was achieve according to chroniclers such as Fernão Lopes and Ruy de Pina. The main objective of our presentation is to depict the impact of the two works of the philosopher king (as Edward became knowed) in the resolution of Portugal issues in the early 15th century.
Paper -c:
Sustainability is present in every political and economic agenda. The increase of civic consciousness towards the environmental preservation, aiming to lower the impact of human action on natural resources, focus in protect the natural resources on Earth, available to future generations. This paper fits in Ambiental History. It aims to understanding if there was sensibility of the Portuguese Crown towards the preservation of the forests, hunting, and fisheries resources, in Portugal, in Manuel I's reign (1495-1521). It is important to know if there was an awareness for the importance of the resource's preservation. This paper seeks to connect the social-economic and overseas dynamics with the legislation, in order to ask if there was a royal sensibility on those matters. This study will use royal documents from Manuel I's chancellery and the Ordenações Manuelinas, a compilation of laws published between 1512 and 1521.
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