Concubinage and mercy during king João II’s reign

Abstract

Being the parson of Christ and maintainer of the order, King João II was oblied to restrain the illegitimate union between women and lay married, because concubinage ran agaisnt God’s and King’s Laws. This way, it is necessary to analyse the kingly power, from a set of principles that urged him to penalize this offense to religious morality and, also, to act with mercy in order to reintegrate indictee to the social and spiritual rules in effect.