The objective of this article is to discuss the theme of education in the light of the intersection between the political and pedagogic ideals of three Portuguese Enlightenment thinkers - Dom Luis da Cunha, Antonio Nunes Ribeiro Sanches and Luiz Antonio Verney - and the educational reform carried out by the Marquis of Pombal. The action of Pombal as minister of the Portuguese kingdom was to some degree based on theoretical reflections on Portugal and the crisis of the Portuguese empire. Such reflections, among other aspects, emphasized that, for the country to develop, the Portuguese government was historically bound to take control of teaching issues at all levels. By expelling the Jesuits, idealizing the model of the regal-classes, but, above all, by reforming the studies of the University of Coimbra, the practice of Pombal's action indicated its theoretical affiliation with the Portuguese Enlightenment movement.
public education; Portugal; history of education; Marquis of Pombal; Enlightenment