Manuel I of Portugal
Manuel I of Portugal KG, KGF (
pron. IPA //;
Archaic Portuguese:
Manoel I,
English:
Emanuel I),
the Fortunate (
Port. o Venturoso), 14th
king of Portugal and Algarves (
Alcochete,
May 31,
1469 –
December 13,
1521 in
Lisbon) was the son of Prince Ferdinand of Portugal, duke of Viseu, by his wife, Beatrice of Aveiro, princess of Portugal. His mother was the granddaughter of King
John I of Portugal; his father was son of King
Duarte of Portugal. Manuel succeeded his first cousin
John II of Portugal who was also his brother-in-law in
1495.
Manuel grew up among the conspiracies of the aristocratic high nobility against king John II. He watched many people being killed and exiled. His older brother Diego, the duke of Viseu, was murdered by the king himself. Thus, when receiving a royal order in 1493 to present himself to the king, Manuel had every reason to worry. Without reason: John II wanted to name him heir to the throne, after the death of his son, prince
Afonso of Portugal, and the failed attempts to legitimise
George, Duke of Coimbra, his illegitimate son. As a result of this stroke of luck he was nicknamed
the Fortunate.
Manuel would prove a worthy successor to John II, supporting the
Portuguese exploration of the
Atlantic Ocean and the development of Portuguese commerce. During his reign, the following was achieved:
* 1498 —
Vasco da Gama discovers the maritime route to
India* 1500 —
Pedro Álvares Cabral discovers
Brazil* 1505 —
Francisco de Almeida becomes the first
viceroy of India*
Afonso de Albuquerque, an admiral, secures the monopoly of the
Indian ocean and
Persian Gulf maritime routes for Portugal
All these events made
Portugal rich on foreign trade whilst formally establishing its empire. Manuel used the wealth to build a number of royal buildings (in the
Manueline style) and to attract scientists and artists to his court. Commercial treaties and diplomatic alliances were forged with
China and the
Persian Empire. The Pope received a monumental embassy from Portugal during his reign, designed to be a show of the newly acquired riches to all Europe.
|
Coat of Arms of Manuel I, according to the Livro do Armeiro-Mor c. 1509 |
In Manuel's reign, royal absolutism was the method of government. The
cortes (parliament of the kingdom) only met three times during his reign, always in
Lisbon, the king's seat. He reformed the courts of justice and the municipal charters with the crown, modernizing taxes and the concepts of tributes and rights.
Manuel was a very religious man and invested a large amount of Portuguese income to sponsor missionaries in their journeys to the new colonies, such as
Francisco Alvarez, and the construction of religious buildings, such as the
Monastery of Jerónimos. Manuel also endeavoured to promote another crusade, against the Turks. His relationship with the Jews started out well. At the outset of his reign, he released all the Jews who had been made captive during the reign of João II. Unfortunately for the Jews, he decided that he wanted to marry princess Isabella of Aragon, then heiress of the future united crown of Spain (widow of his nephew
Afonso of Portugal). Ferdinand and Isabel had expelled the Jews in 1492, and would never marry their daughter to the king of a country that still tolerated their presence. In December 1496, it was decreed that any Jew who did not convert to Christianity would be expelled from the country. However, those expelled could only leave the country in ships specified by the king. When those who chose expulsion arrived at the port in Lisbon, they were met by clerics and soldiers who used force, coercion, and promises in order to baptize them and prevent them from leaving the country. This period of time technically ended the presence of Jews in Portugal. Afterwards, all converted Jews and their descendants would be referred to as "New Christians", and they were given a grace period of thirty years in which no inquiries into their faith would be allowed; this was later to extended to end in 1534. A popular riot in 1504 would end in the death of two thousand Jews; the leaders of this riot were executed by Manuel.
|
Manuel I of Portugal, by Henrique Ferreira, 1718 |
Isabella died in childbirth in 1498, putting a damper on Portuguese ambitions to rule in Spain, which various rulers had had since the reign of
Fernando I (1367-1383). Manuel and Isabella's young son Miguel was for a period the heir apparent of Castile and Aragon, but his death in 1500 ended these ambitions. Manuel's next wife, Maria of Aragon, was also a Spanish princess, but not the oldest. This was
Joanna of Castile, known as Joanna the Mad.
The Monastery of Jerónimos in
Lisbon houses Manuel's tomb. His son
João succeeded him as king.
Manuel married three times: first to
Isabella of Aragon, princess of Spain and widow of the previous Crown Prince of Portugal
Afonso of Portugal; then he married another princess of Spain,
Maria of Aragon; and then married
Eleanor of Habsburg who after Manuel's death married again to
Francis I of France.
*
Manueline, an architectural style
