The participation of the people in the election of procurators to the Portuguese Cortes : the case of the municipality of Guimarães in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

Recent historiography has demonstrated that the elections of municipal procurators to the ancient Portuguese Cortes did not follow a general electoral law, but rather that they developed within the framework of a customary electoral constitution, grounded in municipal autonomy and in the usages and customs of each municipality. It has likewise been established that, as a rule, the right of suffrage was concentrated in the so-called gente da governança (governing class), while the question of popular participation in the selection of procurators of the third estate has remained open. Drawing on the electoral documentation produced by the municipality of Guimarães in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, this study seeks to determine whether the common people effectively participated in the election of procurators to the Cortes, in what forms that participation was realized, and what its legal and constitutional significance was. The conclusion reached is that Guimarães displays a singular electoral model, characterized by broad participation by different social groups within the political community, including members of the people who exercised the right of suffrage directly. The documentation also reveals that the electoral assembly itself enjoyed a margin of self-determination in shaping the electoral procedure, thereby confirming the normative autonomy of municipalities in the organization of elections. The case of Guimarães thus constitutes an important exception to the hitherto dominant electoral model and requires a reassessment of the role of the people in the political representation of the third estate in the ancient Portuguese Cortes.