The Portuguese liberal exile from 1828-1832, a multidimensional phenomenon: social and cultural practices

Abstract

In the European revolutionary context of the early 19th century, strongly unstable, after Don Miguel returned to Portugal from his exile in Vienna and took the Portuguese throne in 1828, thousands of liberals left the country fleeing the absolutist persecution and started the largest  Portuguese exile of the19th century. Even though it was originally an entirely political phenomenon, the Portuguese liberal exile from 1828-1832 was seen as a much more extensive experience, encompassing a diversity of dimensions. Never losing its strong political component, it was also a phenomenon of high social, culturaland intellectual importance, with visible repercussions after the liberal victory in the Portuguese civil war of 1832-1834. This paper analyses each of these dimensions and shows that the exile, despite all the difficulties associated, has contributed to the cultural and intellectual development of Portugal. Particular attention will be given to social and political practices that marked the everyday life of the exiled liberal elite.

https://doi.org/10.14195/1645-2259_16_12