Os governos das Capitanias do Norte: poder, jurisdição e conflitos (1645-1750)

Abstract

This thesis aims to analyze the construction of the jurisdiction of the offices of governor and captain-major of the Captaincies of the North of the State of Brazil, between 1645 and 1750. It is understood that jurisdiction was an extremely important political-legal mechanism within the multinormative structure of the Portuguese Empire and which was used by the Crown to implement governance in the overseas regions. In order to create the jurisdiction of government offices, the monarchy used important normative documents, such as instructions and letters patent, as instruments to structure government bodies. The governors and captains-majors, therefore, were appointed as royal delegates with their source of power coming from the Crown itself. However, government agents, notably governors and major-captains, also had particular interests that, at certain times, conflicted with the Crown. In the case of the Northern Captaincies, for example, the issue of jurisdiction over the provision of offices or the subordination of captaincies caused disagreement and interests among the officials involved. In face of situations in which their jurisdictions were limited, these rulers appealed to various normative sources such as common law, Canon law and Roman law to expand their own jurisdictions. Thus, it is intended to analyze the construction of the jurisdiction of these positions from the normative sources of the monarchy, but also the wide use of other normative sets mobilized by its agents to deal with situations beyond the limit of their instructions. It is also intended to analyze the conflicts of jurisdiction arising from the annexations of the Northern Captaincies and the relationship between the governors and captains-majors in periods of conflict and accommodation.