Carta de Lei (1808 Nov. 29)
Dom João por graça de Deos Principe Regente de Portugal, e dos Algarves … Faço saber … que tendo sido instituidas, e creadas as diversas Ordens da Cavallaria …
[Rio de Janeiro]: Na Impressão Regia, [1808]
8 p., [1] leaf of plates; 30 cm. (fol.)
After moving from Portugal, the crown had to re-create in Brazil the entire apparatus of central government, including a judiciary, a treasury, professional schools, and even a national system of honors and awards. The arrival of the Portuguese royals quickly resulted in the creation of institutions necessary and suitable for a major capital, among them the establishment of a military academy and of a printing press. Dom João VI also established banks, a botanical garden, an academy of fine arts, a medical school, and a public library.
(Annals of Colonial Brazil, an exhibition at the JCB in 2000)Shown here is a drawing of new medal established by decree in 1808, the Ordem da Espada, the Order of the Sword, with a portrait of the king.