A Legislação Régia no Início do Século XIII: Afonso II de Portugal (1211) e João de Inglaterra (1215)

In 1211, with the clergy and nobility alarmed by the potential growth of royal power, and with a civil war looming in his political horizon, Afonso II of Portugal proclaimed a general body of laws to be applied to all his subjects without exemption. Four years later, in England, John Lackland, after a short civil war, would also be compelled to sign a document determining the rights of (some of) his subjects. Both monarchs, faced with strong opposition and fearing for their throne, resorted to legislation as a way of pacifying their subjects and guaranteeing their own continuity in power. This article tries to find the common ground in both bodies of law, by analyzing their contents and structure, first separately and then comparatively, in order to ascertain whether these (so far considered as totally separate) bodies of law do 252 or do not represent similar strategies pursued by two 13th century kings in order to preserve and affirm their personal power whilst at the same time keeping their subjects contented and controlled.