Black kings, cabanos, and the guarda Negra reflections on popular royalism in nineteenth-century Brazil

Abstract

Examining three instances of popular royalism in late-colonial and imperial Brazil, this article argues that popular royalism constituted an important, if not always acknowledged, element of popular politics. Popular support for the monarchy and the efforts of members of the lower classes to associate with kings and emperors were frequently perceived as radical challenges to those who held power. Based on the work of scholars who have examined Brazilian popular culture and politics, archival sources, newspapers, and foreigners’ observations, this article focuses on the late-colonial custom of electing black kings in brotherhoods (and other indications of Afro-Brazilian understandings of monarchy), the 1832-1835 Cabanos Rebellion in Pernambuco, and the wave of popular support for the Brazilian monarchy that swept the country in the eighteen months between slavery’s abolition (13 May 1888) and the republic’s proclamation (15 November 1889). Each of these episodes demonstrates how popular understandings of monarchy frequently framed radical claims.