ABSTRACT
Spain and Portugal shared many things in common: Catholic faith; territorial domains outside Europe; convergent institutions and dynasties; and many close and intersecting ties between the elites of both kingdoms. In Portugal, the great impulse was given by the Marquis of Pombal’s accession to the government in 1750. And, similarly, his characterisation as an enlightened reformer is far from being unanimous. Some of the essential characteristics of the Portuguese monarchy were already part of the country’s long history, while others resulted from the complete rupture with the Spanish Habsburgs in 1640, and yet others derived from the times of the Spanish War of Succession. The new dynasty had been setting itself up in such a way as to be able to resist its absorption by the neighbouring monarchy, and, from 1703 onwards, after the Treaty of Methuen and its participation in the Spanish War of Succession, Portugal could also count on its alliance with England.
