Manuel I of Portugal

Manuel I (Portuguese pronunciation: [mɐnuˈɛɫ]; Archaic Portuguese: Manoel I, English: Emmanuel I), the Fortunate (Port. o Venturoso), 14th king of Portugal and the Algarves (Alcochete, May 31, 1469 – December 13, 1521 in Lisbon) was the son of Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu, (1433–1470), by his wife, Infanta Beatrice of Portugal. His name is associated with a period of Portuguese civilization distinguished by significant achievements both in political affairs and the arts. In spite of its small size and population in comparison to the great land powers of Europe, it was able to acquire an overseas empire of vast proportions during Manuel's reign.

Life

Manuel's mother was the granddaughter of King John I of Portugal; his father, Prince Fernando, was the second surviving son of King Edward of Portugal, thus the younger brother of King Afonso V of Portugal. Manuel succeeded his first cousin King John II of Portugal, who was also his brother-in-law, in 1495.

Manuel grew up amidst conspiracies of the Portuguese upper nobility against King John II. He was aware of many people being killed and exiled. His older brother Diogo, the duke of Viseu, was stabbed to death in 1484 by the king himself.

Manuel thus had every reason to worry when he received a royal order in 1493 to present himself to the king, but his fears were groundless: John II wanted to name him heir to the throne, after the death of his son, Prince Afonso, and the failed attempts to legitimise Jorge, 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 his cousin John II, supporting the Portuguese exploration of the Atlantic Ocean and the development of Portuguese commerce. During his reign, the following was achieved:

• 1498 — Discovery of a maritime route to India by Vasco da Gama
• 1500 — Discovery of Brazil by Pedro Álvares Cabral
• 1505 — Appointment of Francisco de Almeida as the first viceroy of India
• 1503-1515 — Establishment of monopolies on maritime trade routes to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf by Afonso de Albuquerque, an admiral, for the benefit of Portugal

All these events made Portugal rich on foreign trade while it formally established a vast overseas 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 draw attention to Portugal's newly-acquired riches to all of Europe.

In Manuel's reign, royal absolutism was the method of government. The Portuguese Cortes (the assembly 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 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 Portuguese Jews started out well. At the outset of his reign, he released all the Jews who had been made captive during the reign of John II. Unfortunately for the Jews, he decided that he wanted to marry Infanta Isabella of Aragon, then heiress of the future united crown of Spain (widow of his nephew Prince Afonso). Ferdinand and Isabella 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 extended to end in 1534.

A popular riot in 1504 ended in the death of two thousand Jews; the leaders of the 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 harbored since the reign of King Ferdinand 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 his first wife's sister, but not the oldest surviving one. That was rather Joanna of Castile, who had issue.

In 1506 the Pope Julius II gave Manuel I a Golden Rose. Later in 1514 Pope Leo X also gave Manuel I a second Golden Rose. Manuel I became the first individual to receive more than one Golden Rose.

The Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon houses Manuel's tomb. His son João succeeded him as king.

Ancestry

Marriages and descendants

Negotiations for a marriage between Manuel and Elizabeth of York in 1485 were halted by the death of Richard III of England. He went on to marry three times. His first wife was Isabella of Aragon, princess of Spain and widow of the previous Prince of Portugal Afonso. Next he married another princess of Spain, Maria of Aragon (his first wife's sister), then Eleanor of Austria, a niece of his first two wives who married Francis I of France after Manuel's death.

See also

• Manueline, an architectural style