Manuel I of Portugal
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Manuel I, King of Portugal KG KGF (pron. IPA [mɐnu'ɛɫ]); 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 Infante Fernando, 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 the second surviving 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, Afonso, Crown Prince 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
- 1503-1515 — 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.
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 Álvares, 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, Crown Prince 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.
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.
[edit] Ancestors
| Manuel I of Portugal | Father: Infante Fernando, Duke of Viseu |
Father's father: Edward of Portugal |
Father's father's father: John I of Portugal |
| Father's father's mother: Philippa of Lancaster |
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| Father's mother: Leonor of Aragon |
Father's mother's father: Ferdinand I of Aragon |
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| Father's mother's mother: Eleanor of Alburquerque |
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| Mother: Beatriz of Portugal |
Mother's father: Infante João of Portugal |
Mother's father's father: John I of Portugal |
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| Mother's father's mother: Philippa of Lancaster |
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| Mother's mother: Beatriz of Braganza |
Mother's mother's father: Afonso, Duke of Braganza |
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| Mother's mother's mother: Beatriz Pereira Alvim |
[edit] Marriages and descendants
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 (his first wife's sister); and then married Eleanor of Habsburg (niece of his first two wives) who after Manuel's death married again to Francis I of France.
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| By Isabella of Asturias (October 2, 1470–August 28, 1498; married in 1497) | |||
| Prince Miguel da Paz | August 24, 1498 | July 19, 1500 | Prince of Asturias, Crown Prince of Portugal and heir to both Portugal and Spain. |
| By Maria of Aragon (1482–March 7, 1517; married in 1501) | |||
| John III | June 6, 1502 | June 11, 1557 | Who succeeded him as 15th King of Portugal. |
| Infanta Isabel | October 24, 1503 | May 1, 1539 | Married Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. |
| Infanta Beatriz | December 31, 1504 | January 8, 1538 | Married Duke Charles III of Savoy. |
| Infante Luís | March 3, 1506 | November 27, 1555 | Unmarried but had illegitimate descendants, one of them being Anthony, Prior of Crato, a claimant of the throne of Portugal in 1580 (See: Struggle for the throne of Portugal. |
| Infante Fernando | June 5, 1507 | November 7, 1534 | Married Guiomar (Guyomare) Coutinho, Countess of Marialva (?-1534). |
| Infante Afonso | April 23, 1509 | April 21, 1540 | Cardinal of the Kingdom. |
| Infanta Maria | 1511 | 1513 | |
| Henry I | January 31, 1512 | January 31, 1580 | Cardinal of the Kingdom who succeeded his grandnephew King Sebastian (Manuel's great-grandson) as 17th King of Portugal. His death triggered the struggle for the throne of Portugal. |
| Infante Duarte | October 7, 1515 | September 20, 1540 | Duke of Guimarães and great-grandfather of John IV of Portugal. Married Isabella of Braganza, daughter of Jaime, Duke of Braganza. |
| Infante António | September 9, 1516 | 1516 | He might have been a son of Eleanor of Habsburg, Manuel's third wife (rather than of Maria). |
| By Eleanor of Habsburg (November 15, 1498–February 25, 1558; married in 1518) | |||
| Infante Carlos | February 18, 1520 | April 14, 1521 | |
| Infanta Maria | June 18, 1521 | October 10, 1577 | Unmarried. Also known as Infanta Dona Maria. |
[edit] See also
- Manueline, an architectural style
| House of Aviz Cadet Branch of the House of Burgundy Born: 31 May 1469 Died: 13 December 1521 |
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|---|---|---|
| Preceded by John II |
Kings of Portugal 1495–1521 |
Succeeded by John III |
| Preceded by Afonso |
Prince of Portugal 1491–1495 |
Succeeded by Jaime |
