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Советы, секреты и клевета в придворной жизни согласно произведениям португальского короля Дуарте I (1433–1438)
The article attempts to reconstruct concepts and classifications of the public speech
and its significance in the everyday life of the Portuguese court society of the 1nd
half of the XV c. The main sources of the study are the treatise of Duarte (1391—
1438, the king of Portugal since 1433) “The Loyal Counsellor” (Leal Conselheiro,
ca. 1437—1438) and his “Book of advises” (Livro dos Conselhos de el-rei D.
Duarte, 1430s). The treatise was largely created under the influence of the moral and
political philosophy of Cicero and Seneca, tradition of mirrors for princes (specula
principum, especially, Giles of Rome), the works of the Castilian humanist Alonso
from Cartagena. But both “The Honest Counselor” and (especially) “The Book of
Soviets” were focused on political and everyday practices. These texts included
written advices by members of the royal family and clerics, medics, and lawyers.
The King Duarte’s specific combination of “theory” and “practice” made it possible to study the ways of interaction between the system of moral standards and everyday life. The concepts formed a “field of coordinates” for aristocratic interpersonal communication. On the other hand, Duarte took moral examples from patterns for everyday life (especially of recent past). The article analyzes terms of these texts that described and formed social interactions at the royal court. The way the role of written and public speech (including councils themselves) was interpreted is related to the key terms of the king Duarte’s moral and political system: the honesty/loyalty (lealdade), the love (amor), the trust (fiúza е confiança). They form the base for the friendly and relative speech. Its main characteristic was the clarity. The lack of clarity was characteristic of communication with the outside world. In such case a common secret (segredo) fastened family ties. Slander (detraçom) is evaluated without use of the “clarity” concept, it seemed to be an instrument directed against the "good fame" as the basis of social status.