Ambiguity in times of revolution and counter-revolution: The demands and controversies of Sebastião Xavier Botelho

Abstract

Based on sources of various types, this article aims to follow the life path of Sebastião Xavier Botelho (1767-1840), a  magistrate with connections to the nobility who, in the early phase of his adult life, had a particular involvement in  Portuguese theatre, as a playwright and inspector of the  São Carlos and Rua dos Condes theatres. After a brief stint in  Brazil, where he served as a judge at the Casa da  Suplicação in Rio de Janeiro, he received his first political  appointment in 1818 as governor of Madeira and Porto  Santo and was in that role when the 1820 revolution took  place. He had other appointments that did not materialize until he was chosen, still by D. João VI, for the post of  governor of Mozambique, where he remained until 1829,  returning to the kingdom in the Miguelist period, during  which he claimed (and pleaded) a new position that he did  not obtain, although he emphasized his adhesion to the  absolute monarch. At the end of the civil war, he developed  several strategies to get closer to the triumphant liberal faction, achieving parliamentary status as a peer of the  realm and deputy and publishing several political and  overseas texts. His life, marked by the revolutionary and  counterrevolutionary cycles that the country experienced,  was not without controversy, which is analysed here to  deepen our understanding of the deeds of public and  political office holders during these turbulent times.