Entrelazamientos heráldicos: la emblemática de la Casa de Braganza (siglos XV-XX)

As the offspring of the royal house of Avis, the Dukes of Bragança have developed a complex heraldry and emblematic system since the 15th century. Initially indicative of their royal but illegitimate origin under Duke Alfonso I, these signs later became increasingly similar to those of the legitimate branches. At the beginning of the 16th century, Duke Jaime was finally able to adopt a coat of arms that no longer bore the marks of illegitimacy and that ensured the rights of the House of Braganza to the throne of Portugal, in the absence of descendants from the elder branch. This heraldic proximity was juxtaposed with an emblematic sharing: that of the knot badge. Throughout the 16th century and during the dynastic union with the Spanish Habsburgs (1580-1640), this emblem was used as a political weapon to assert the Bragances' claim to the Portuguese succession. When the dynasty came to power under John IV in 1640, it dropped its emblematic customs. It recreated them in the 19th century, within the framework of a constitutional monarchy that willingly turned to the medieval past to draw part of its legitimacy.