The Story of the Nations: PortugalStephens, H. Morse (Henry Morse)
History
The Story of the Nations: Portugal
Stephens, H. Morse (Henry Morse)
Portugal -- History
Emmanuel, as he increased in wealth, bestowed great appanages on his
sons, while his daughters were sought in marriage by the greatest
princes in Christendom. His eldest son Dom John married Catherine of
Austria, sister of Charles V. Of his other sons, three--Dom Luis, Dom
Ferdinand, and Dom Edward--were created respectively dukes of Beja,
Guarda, and Guimaraens, while the other two took holy orders and became
cardinals. Of his two surviving daughters, the elder, Donna Isabel,
married the Emperor Charles V., and the younger, Donna Beatrice, the
divinity to whom the poet Bernardim Ribeiro addressed his songs, married
Charles III., Duke of Savoy. With such a family of sons it did not seem
likely that in a few short years the male line of the house of Aviz
would become extinct, and it was with a feeling of pride in his wealth
and with assured confidence in the perpetuation of his line that
Emmanuel “the Fortunate” died in his beautiful palace at Belem, on
December 12, 1521.
The reign of John III. is that in which the rapid decline of Portugal is
most perceptible. All the germs of decay which had appeared in the reign
of Emmanuel, developed during the reign of his son, by the end of which,
though the sovereign of Portugal was the richest in Europe, not
excepting the Emperor himself, the greatness of the country was
obviously disappearing. The natural growth of this decline was assisted
by the fanaticism of John III., who was a bigot of the most pronounced
type, and who powerfully aided the extinction of the greatness of the
country by his introduction of the Inquisition. Though personally a
pious and estimable man, he was absolutely unable to take any steps to
check the downfall of his country’s greatness, and considered the
greatest fame of his reign would be due to the establishment of the
Inquisition and the introduction of the Jesuits. The greatest credit
that can be given to him is that he kept his country out of all European
complications, a task made comparatively easy by his close alliance with
the greatest monarch in Europe, the Emperor Charles V. This alliance was
sealed by three marriages; for King John was married to the Infanta
Catherine, the sister of Charles V., his only son Dom John was married
to the Infanta Joanna, daughter of Charles V., and his only daughter,
Donna Maria, was the first wife of Philip, prince of the Asturias, the
eldest son of Charles V., and afterwards King Philip II. These marriages
knitted the bonds of alliance closely between the reigning houses of
Spain and Portugal, and a powerful Portuguese fleet under the king’s
brother, Dom Luis, Duke of Beja, assisted in the Spanish expedition
against Tunis in 1535. Yet fighting with the Moors seemed to have lost
its charm for the Portuguese people, for during the next ten years, all
the chief towns held by Portugal in northern Africa, Azamor, Cafim, Cabo
do Sul, and even Arzila and Alcacer Seguier, the captures of Affonso
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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