Initially, the Portuguese Restoration was what Paulo Varela Gomes has termed a “celebrative phenomenon.” News of the coup d’état was systematically circulated throughout the kingdom in the first December days of 1640. Portalegre and Évora were informed on the second, Elvas on the third, Coimbra on the fourth and fifth, Santarém, Leiria, and Porto on the sixth. Ceremonial acts served in the following days, weeks, and months as part of a “liturgy of legitimacy.” The celebrations taking place all over Portugal were, in turn, assiduously reported on in Lisbon. The first Cortes under the new king, held on 28 January 1641, issued an official decision to promulgate the news throughout the empire.

Coimbra (6 December 1640—8 February 1641)

While we have only sketchy information on most of the acclamation festivities, the events in Coimbra are relatively well documented. They lasted from 6 December 1640 to 8 February 1641. As soon as the news of the successful political upheaval arrived, students took up the initiative there. They carried the standard from the city hall and rode with it through the city, proclaiming the new king. Their goal was the Church of Santa Cruz: the arrival of the news coincided with the 455th anniversary of Afonso Henriques's death, an occasion that at that very same moment was being solemnly celebrated. The mass was now interrupted, the standard bearer bowed before the first king's tomb and proclaimed the new king, upon which all present fell into paroxysms of joy.