The death of the Cardinal-King Henry brought the people of Portugal face to face with the problem which all had been discussing ever since the melancholy fate of Dom Sebastian. There were seven candidates for the throne, but only five of them need be seriously considered, for the claims of Pope Gregory XIII., as heir-general to a cardinal, and of Catherine de’ Medici, through the first marriage of Affonso III. to the Countess of Boulogne in the thirteenth century, need no further notice. The relationship of the other five claimants to Emmanuel “the Fortunate” can be best perceived from the table on the opposite page. From this table it clearly appears that the true heiress to the throne was Catherine, Duchess of Braganza, and failing her heirs, the Duke of Parma; and that the claims of Philip II. of Spain and of the Duke of Savoy were only legally valid in case of the extinction of the descendants of Dom Duarte or Edward, Duke of Guimaraens. The University of Coimbra, after due consideration, declared in favour of the Duchess of Braganza, but Philip II. of Spain cared little for this opinion; he had long hoped to sit upon the throne of Portugal, and to rule over the whole Iberian peninsula, and he wished still more to add the profits of the Portuguese trade with Asia to his own American revenues, and thus fill his exchequer with the sinews of war for his struggle against the Protestants of the north of Europe. Philip II. therefore set to work to win over the majority of the Cortes which had been convened at Lisbon, to settle the succession to the throne. Money and lavish promises assisted the eloquence of the two chief supporters of the King of Spain, Christovão de Moura and Antonio Pinheiro, Bishop of Leiria; and when the death of the cardinal-king was announced in January, 1580, the Cortes was quite ready to recognize Philip as king, although the people, or rather that small section of the people who were Portuguese patriots, felt and expressed all the traditional hatred against the union of the thrones of Spain and Portugal. TABLE II. THE DESCENDANTS OF EMMANUEL.