Portuguese portraitsBell, Aubrey F. G. (Aubrey Fitz Gerald)
History
Portuguese portraits
Bell, Aubrey F. G. (Aubrey Fitz Gerald)
Portugal -- Biography
King Manoel, overjoyed at having attained the goal of nearly a
century’s constant striving, now styled himself not only King
of Portugal and the Algarves and Lord of Guinea but Lord of the
Navigation, Conquest, and Commerce of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and
India; he sent word of the discovery to the Pope and all the princes
of Christendom; and at Belem, on the right bank of the Tagus, whence
the discoverers had set sail over two years before, he built the fine
monastery of São Jeronimo, where now are the tombs of the King himself,
of Dom Vasco, who brought him all this glory, and of Camões, who
celebrated it in deathless verse.
The building stands in strange contrast to that of Batalha, where
Prince Henry the Navigator lies buried. The pure Gothic of Batalha,
with its magnificent plain pillars and soaring arches, spells heroic
aspiration; the Manueline of Belem in its exuberance and rich profusion
of detail bears traces of satisfied accomplishment, as though Portugal
might now throw simplicity and austere endeavour to the winds.
Dom Vasco da Gama in February 1502 set sail a second time for India,
and returned in September 1303 with the first tribute of gold from
India. “As the King was then at Lisbon, Dom Vasco, when he went to see
him, took the tribute which he had received from the King of Quiloa[9].
A nobleman in plain doublet with uncovered head went before the Admiral
on horseback in great solemnity, carrying the gold in a large basin of
silver, to the sound of drums and trumpets, and in company of all the
gentlemen of the Court. And the King ordered a monstrance to be wrought
of it, as rich in workmanship as in weight, and offered it to Our Lady
of Bethlehem as first fruits of those victories of the East.”
The death of Paulo da Gama seems to have killed the gentler strain
in Vasco’s nature, and his many honours, titles, and estates rendered
him more overbearing. It was on his second voyage to India, in October
1502, that he blew up a peaceful trading ship from Mecca with 380 (or
by another account, 240) men on board, besides many women and children,
after relieving it of all gold and merchandise. As to his overweening
pride, he is said to have signed himself Count in a letter to the King
before the title had been actually conferred.
Despite the crying need for a strong man to restore discipline in India
after Albuquerque’s death, King Manoel did not send Dom Vasco out as
Governor, and it was only in the reign of King João III, and when
Gama was over sixty, that he left Lisbon, in April 1524, as Viceroy
of India, with his sons Estevão and Paulo and a force of 3,000 men.
He reached Goa in September and presently proceeded to Cochin. He
was resolved to bring some measure of order and justice out of the
confusion and corruption of India; and whereas most other Governors on
their arrival were too busily occupied in enriching themselves to pay
careful attention to other matters, Gama bent his whole will to effect
reforms.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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