ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to examine the relationship between gender – more specifically, masculinity – and the upholding of both the power of the king and the monarchy in Renaissance Portugal, more specifically during the last generations of the House of Avis. It will be argued that, along with other variables, gender seems to have been relevant to maintaining political stability and dynastic power through a set of practices that may or may not have been in accordance with established models of expressing masculinity.
