Pombal, Paradox of the Enlightenment

by Kenneth Maxwell

This is the first major study in English for over half a century of one of Portugal's most important historical figures, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, marquês de Pombal (1699–1782). He is best known today as the key figure in the reconstruction of Lisbon after the devastating earthquake of 1755. Pombal's achievements however went far beyond the reconstruction of the capital. An unusually single-minded and ruthless first minister, he was also one of the eighteenth century's most successful 'enlightened despots': for example, he reformed the Portugese system of education, began the process whereby the Jesuits were expelled from Portugal after their suppression by the Pope in 1773, and mounted a formidable challenge to British commercial hegemony in Portugal. Recent renewed interest in the theory of enlightened absolutism has tended to ignore developments in the Iberian peninsula. This book is therefore essential to a full understanding of the complexities and paradoxes of enlightened rulership in a southern European context.

Genres: History, Portugal, Biography

218 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Kenneth Maxwell was the founding Director of the Brazil Studies Program at Harvard University's David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) (2006-2008) and a Professor in Harvard's Department of History (2004-2008).

From 1989 to 2004 he was Director of the Latin America Program at the Council on Foreign Relations, and in 1995 became the first holder of the Nelson and David Rockefeller Chair in Inter-American Studies. He served as Vice President and Director of Studies of the Council in 1996. Maxwell previously taught at Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and the University of Kansas.


Kenneth Maxwell founded and was Director of the Camões Center for the Portuguese-speaking World at Columbia and was the Program Director of the Tinker Foundation, Inc. From 1993 to 2004, he was the Western Hemisphere book reviewer for Foreign Affairs. He is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and was a weekly columnist between 2007 and 2015 for Folha de São Paulo and monthly columnist for O Globo from 2015.

Maxwell was the Herodotus Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and a Guggenheim Fellow. He served on the Board of Directors of The Tinker Foundation, Inc., and the Consultative Council of the Luso-American Foundation. He is also a member of the Advisory Boards of the Brazil Foundation and Human Rights Watch/Americas. Maxwell received his B.A. and M.A. from St. John's College, Cambridge University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University.

Reviews

[André Fonseca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting account of Marques de Pombal spell through power in the 18th century. The Marquês learned a lot from his diplomatic stays in Vienna and London. From these experiences he would bring a lot of knowledge and experience that applied in his governance. Inspired by the enlightenment ideals he applied a formula of enlighten despotism and brought about a series of important reforms that would help carry the country to the modern age. Besides the well known reconstruction of Lisbon following the 1755 earthquake he also conducted reforms in the economy by helping to create a class of Portuguese merchants and businessmen would could economically strengthen the country and making it less dependent of its "ally" England. He imposed monopolies in key economic sectors that were directly aided by the state, changed the taxing structure, constituted companies dedicated to commerce in specific sectors (such as wine) and with the colonies, in particular with Brazil, making the best of the gold reserves that were being carried to Portuguese territory. He also strengthen the structure of the State and diminished the influence of the church. He conducted a harsh prosecution to the Jesuits with deep consequences in the way that teaching was conducted in Portugal. A person of swift and decisive action, he was also a controvert man and considered by many as a despot. The prosecution of the Távoras is perhaps the most known case of his at times excessive power. In the end, with the death of D. José and the rising of D. Maria, he saw a quick decadency of his power. In 1934 he was homage with a emblematic statue in the Marquês de Pombal roundabout starring to the Baixa Pombalina that was magnificently reconstructed with his supervision after the 1755 earthquake.