The Real Mesa Censória and the Royal College of Nobles of the Court: Review and censorship of a civil, literary and educational project

Abstract

The Real Mesa Censória was in charge of administering the Royal College of Nobles and all the secondary schools of the kingdom and of the overseas domains, in the year of 1771. Despite the difficulties it faced in early seventies, the Royal College of Nobles launched a vast and ambitious program of training for young boys born in aristocracy and best families of the capital. The college’s statutes (1761) provided for the installation of a “library of its own”. The accommodation of the library, which had books of various origins, had been entrusted to Nicolau Pagliarini. The model of scientific and experimental teaching rehearsed the reform of the University of 1772 and the creation of the Faculties of Philosophy and Mathematics. Under the authority of Fr. Manuel do Cenáculo, president of the Real Mesa Censória, three organizational pillars of the early collegial model were reformed: the autonomy of management, the regime of civil enclosure imposed on students, teachers and other servants and the cultural and scientific scope of the school curriculum offered by the Royal College of Nobles.