At this very time, before the first king of the House of Braganza had been a year upon the throne, a serious conspiracy was in progress, which had for its aim the re-establishment of the power of Spain. This conspiracy was almost entirely the work of one man, Dom Sebastião de Mattos de Noronha, Archbishop of Braga, and Primate of Portugal. This prelate had not been in any way interfered with by the new government, but he felt that he had lost the power which he had enjoyed during the viceroyalty of the Duchess of Mantua, and he had never forgiven the danger in which his life had been placed on the day of the outbreak of the revolution in Lisbon. He first engaged the Marquis of Villa Real, and his son, the Duke of Caminha, to join him. Their family boasted of royal blood, and ranked next to that of the Duke of Aveiro in the kingdom of Portugal, and they felt indignant that no important posts had been conferred upon them for their acquiescence in the revolution. The marquis was won over by a promise that he should be the Viceroy of Portugal, if the conspiracy succeeded, and his son threw himself so heartily into the project that the whole plot is generally known as the “Caminha conspiracy.” The other chief laymen engaged were the Count of Armamar, the nephew of the primate, the Count of Ballerais, Lourenço Peres de Carvalho, keeper of the treasury, who feared to lose the lucrative post which he had held so long under the Spanish domination, and Antonio Correa, the confidential clerk of the murdered Vasconcellos, who had been severely wounded in the outbreak of December 1st. A far more important ally than any of these noblemen and officials, was the Grand Inquisitor of Portugal, Dom Sebastião de Tello, Bishop of Leiria, who was persuaded to promise the “novães Christiãos,” or half-converted Jews, a cessation of all persecution if they would join in overthrowing John IV. They, on their part, were ready to assist because the new monarch had absolutely refused to make any concessions to them for fear of offending the Pope. The arrangements were soon made; it was settled that the “novães Christiãos” were to set fire to the palace on August 5th; that the king was to be stabbed in the confusion which would ensue; and that the Duchess of Mantua should be released from her convent, and again placed in power. The Count-Duke Olivares gladly acquiesced in all the schemes of the treacherous archbishop, and despatches giving all the details of the plot were entrusted to a converted Jew named Baese, to send to Madrid. These despatches fell into the hands of Marquis of Ayamonte, a Spanish nobleman, and a relation of the new Queen of Portugal, who was acting as intermediary between John IV. and his brother-in-law, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, and the marquis promptly sent them to Lisbon. Forewarned was forearmed, and on August 5th, the day fixed for the rising, all the leaders of the conspiracy were arrested.