Editing Távora affair (section)

{{short description|Political scandal of the 18th century Portuguese court}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2022}}[[Image:Tavoras_Execution.JPG|thumb|300px|Execution of the Tavoras (1759).]]

The '''Távoras affair''' ({{langx|pt|Processo dos Távoras}}) was a political scandal of the 18th century [[Portugal|Portuguese]] court. The events triggered by the attempted assassination of King [[Joseph I of Portugal]] in 1758 ended with the public execution of the entire Távora family, their closest relatives and some servants in 1759. Some historians interpret the incident as an attempt by prime minister [[Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal|Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo]] (later [[Marquis of Pombal]]) to curb the growing powers of the old aristocratic families.

Even today, historians doubt whether the Távoras were actually involved in the plot or whether they were the victims of a coup set up by the Prime Minister. Queen [[Maria I of Portugal|Maria I]], after removing Pombal, rehabilitated the name of the Távora family in 1781, following a review of the trial.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Oliveira Santos |first=Guilherme de (and two others) |title=O processo dos Távoras : A Revisão - Instauração, depoimentos e sentenças |publisher=Caleidoscopio |year=2017 |pages=11, 55 |language=pt}}</ref>