Portugal: Political History and Notable Political and Military Figures

1112 - 1185 - Dom Afonso (All Facts)

• First King and Founder of the Kingdom / Empire of Portugal

  • He gained initial control of the territory by defeating his mother Teresa in the Battle of Sao Mamede

  • He gained further control of the territory by defeating the Almoravids in the Siege of Lisbon

  • He controlled most of the country’s northern and western seaboard from his capital, after the Muslims had abandoned both shores of the Tagus and were forced to give up bases at Sintra and Palmela

  • He was recognized as king by Alfonso VII of Castile

• He established the Kingdom of Portugal’s capital at Coimbra

• Under his reign,

  • The Muslims’ northern border in Portugal was forced back to Evora

  • He had to settle his debts with the large combined force of 13K English, Flemish, and German Crusaders in 164 ships all of whom he persuaded to help him in his fight against the Muslims

    • Under the terms of the alliance he put forth, the Crusaders

      • Were given the spoils of Lisbon

      • Could opt for land in Portugal

      • Were given the right to enjoy the customs and liberties of their native lands

    • The English Crusaders settled at Vila Verde

• He became a vassal of the papacy

1385 - 1433 - John (All Facts)

• King of Portugal

  • He was formerly the Grand Master of the Knights of Aviz

  • When his predecessor died, he declared himself king

  • He led a revolt against King John and the Kingdom of Castile

  • Prior to his kingship,

    • He and his forces defeated John of Castile and his forces in the Siege of Lisbon, successfully defending the city with the help of a plague which devastated the Castilian army

    • He and his forces defeated John of Castile and his forces in the Battle of Aljubarrota, successfully securing Portuguese independence and the namesake’s kingship

• During his reign, the kingdom of Portugal made peace after 30 years of wars and truces with the Kingdom of Aragon

• He oversaw a foreign policy of overseas expansion

  • He conquered Ceuta in Morocco

  • He was keen to acquire gold and slaves from Africa

  • He was motivated by a dream of allying with Africans against the Muslims of North Africa (the Maghreb)

1438 - 1477 - Afonso V (All Facts)

• King of Portugal

  • He was nicknamed “The African”

• He tried and failed to claim the hand of (marriage to) Joanna of Castile, his niece, and the throne of Castile in the Castilian War of Succession, in which he was defeated

• Under his reign,

  • For the first time, slaves and gold were directly imported from West Africa into Portugal

  • The Portuguese reached the mouth of the Senegal and Cape Verde

1481 - 1495 - John II (All Facts)

• King of Portugal

  • He was nicknamed “The Perfect Prince”

  • His accession gave a boost to Portuguese voyages of exploration

• He signed the Treaty of Tordesillas with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain

  • This treaty drew an imaginary demarcation line down the Western Atlantic, which (in hindsight) slightly favored Spain since the treaty allowed Spain to retain discovered land west of the demarcation line

• During his reign,

  • He planned his own expedition to India, but became alarmed when he learned that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain had persuaded Pope Alexander VI to issue a series of bulls giving the rulers of Spain all the lands west of the Portuguese Azores discovered (or at that time, to be discovered) by Christopher Columbus

    • As a result, he opened direct negotiations with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain that led to the Treaty of Tordesillas

• Under his reign,

  • Bartholomew Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and when recounted to the namesake; he renamed it the Cape of Good Hope from Dias’s coinage of it as the Cape of Storms; because it gave the promise of discovering a sea route to India

  • the first European manual of navigation and nautical almanac was prepared, by a group of mathematical experts whom he appointed

    • The namesake was concerned that his navigators were embarking on long voyages without charts or sailing directions given that the dead reckoning method of establishing a position by recording the distance and direction travelled was unreliable since the North Star was not visible in southern waters

    • The namesake thus told the mathematicians to devise a method of finding latitude by solar observation; the main problem of which was that the track followed by the sun in relation to the earth changes from day to day and from year to year

    • His experts studied a set of tables first worked out by Abraham Zacuto of Salamanca and produced a simplified version of his tables for seamen under the namesake’s reign

      • But taking a reading of the sun’s position and calculating what is called the “latitude” of a ship from that reading is complicated and a seaman must have a grasp of mathematics and astronomy

1495 - 1521 - Manuel (All Facts)

• King of Portugal

  • He was nicknamed “The Fortunate”

  • He was the nephew of his predecessor

• Under his reign (by his orders),

  • Vasco de Gama set sail for India

• During his reign,

  • He issued the Edict of Expulsion against the Jews and Muslims, forcing them to leave or be baptized