Inquirições

Inquirições are the Royal Portuguese commissions. They are put forward by the crown in accomplishing edicts.

Afonso II himself instituted (from 1220) inquirições to investigate the nature of holdings and to recover whatever had been illegally taken from the crown. This issue was in response to the church's rain over Portuguese land as they supported Alfonso's fight in the civil was with Sancho II.

More famous ones include:

The General Inquirições

The general Inquirições issued by D. Afonso III in 1258 to investigate the nature of holdings and to recover whatever had been illegally taken from the crown. The royal commissions were met with much protest by the prelates as it would deprive the church of much property. Most of the prelates would subsequently leave the country.

Although Afonso was excommunicated and threatened with deposition, he continued to defy the church until shortly before his death early in 1279. Eventually, through the royal commission, it centralized territories such as Tras-os-Montes under control of the Crown and led to the compilation of valuable information on essential to the study of Portuguese medieval history.