their souls He was equally strong and valiant nor was it ever known that the greatest danger 〈◊〉 strike terror into his undaunted minde he observed with a strict punctuality the rules of hoâ—nesty and justice and towards God he with 〈◊〉 ordinary piety was both zealous and reverâ—â—â— he made several Laws for the benefit 〈…〉 kingdom which are still continued among the Statutes of that Realm If he had not taken Arms against his father or if he had moderated his hatred to his 〈◊〉 or if he had not imbrued his hands in the 〈◊〉 blood of Agnesa envy it self coul◠〈◊〉 have found out any subject of blame in the 〈◊〉 course of his life he resembled his 〈…〉 many vertues but was much inferior to him in liberality his death happened to him in that condition when he had little reason to desire longer life for it was when he saw his actions of glory forgotten though he was yet alive for his subjects began onely to remember his faults which being fresh in memory made his loss the less lamented PEDRO The Eighth KING of PORTVGAL PEdro the first of that Name who succeeded his father Alfonso in the kingdom of Portugal was born at Lisbon in the year 1325. two years before his father came to sit at the heâ—m of government at the time of his being Crowned he was about the age of three and thirty years He was the onely male-male-childe that lived of four and some danger there was of him in his youth he being very sickly till he arrived to about eighteen years of age which made his father to be assured of a Successor for his Crown to defer the marriage of Leonora his youngest daughter to Pedro King of Arragon till he perceived him in a perfect measure of health He was about the age of one and twenty years married to Constance daughter to D. Iuan Emanuel by whom he had onely one son named Ferdinand who succeeded him in the kingdom and she as if she had onely come into the world to bear him and having performed that task died After the death of the Infante D. Pedro fell in love with Agnesa de Castro a most beautiful woman and descended of the blood Royal by her he had many children amongst whom one was Iohn who afterward was the first of that name King of Portugal this Lady being accused to King Alphonso at his return from his great Victory over the Moors nigh the River Saledo was by him for what crimes is unknown put to death which so incensed Pedro that he took up those Arms against his father which he laid not down till his death As soon as he was come to the Crown he brought to condigne punishment those who had wrongfully accused and counselled the Lady Agnesas death he afterwards renewed the old War betwixt his father and the King of Castile about the stopping of his espoused wife Constance But because the Pope had before made up this breach he by his Letters commands Piedro to desist from further prosecuting the War which he for the present obeys but soon after upon a slight pretence again enters into Castile with his Army whereupon an excommunication was thundred out against him which forced him to retire and to gain his Pardon turn his Army upon the Moors from whom he took the strong Port Town of Pharo in the kingdom of Algarve At his return home he fell sick and in the tenth year of his kingdom and about the three and fortieth of his age in September 1367. he died he was buried in the Cathedral of Lisbon not far distant from his father having caused before his death three Tombs to be erected on each side he caused the bodies of his wife Constance and the Lady Agnesa to be laid reserving the middle one for himself where he was accordingly buried He was a man of as comely a personage as any whatsoever of the Kings of Portugal of a sweet and affable disposition nor did he want any of his fathers vertues but one vice they both had which overshadowed all their vertues warring against their fathers FERDINAND The ninth KING of PORTVGAL FErdinand the first of that Name succeeded his father Pedro in the kingdoms of Portugal and Algarve he was born at Lisbon in the year one thousand three hundred forty seven and was the onely childe of Constance daughter of D. Iuan Emanuel He arrived at the Crown at the age of about two and twenty years in the year 1369. as soon as he had fininished the Ceremonies of his Coronation he prosecuted the War his father had begun against the Moors and in several battels drove them quite out of Algarve he built a Monastery upon a Promontory of Land called Cape St. Vincent now by us the Southern Cape which stretcheth it self out into the Atlantique sea He addicted himself to the planting and peopling of that kingdom distributing the waste Lands among the Inhabitants he repaired many Cities Towns and Castles which had been destroyed by the fury of the War he built several Churches and Monasteries in that kingdom all which he enriched with great Revenues but particularly a Monastery for Franciscan Friers erected in Silva the chief City of that Territory About this time it was that Pedro son of Alphonso the eleventh king of Castile having committed several tyrannical outrages intollerable to his subjects oppressing and destroying his subjects putting away and after murdering his wife daughter to Peter Duke of Burbon was by his bastard brother Henry chased out of his kingdom and forced to live an exile He at first seeks for aid to Ferdinand King of Portugal but in vain he next addresses himself to Edward the black Prince of Wales who was then at Burdeaux with an Army of thirty thousand men he consents to assist him and encountring Henry on the borders of Castile with near one hundred thousand men utterly discomfits him and establisht Pedro in the Throne who shortly after falling again to his former tyrannical courses is deserted by his subjects taken by his brother Henry and put to death Ferdinand had but one only daughter that survived named Beatrice who was married to Henry King of Castile and thereby excluded from the right of succession according to the Law made in the first Assembly Estates held at Lamâ—go in the reign of Alfonso the first King so that in this King ended the legitimate Line of Henry Duke of Lorrein This King had now reigned 18. years and lived forty when seized by a violent sickness he gave up the ghost in the year of our Lord God 1387. and was buried by his Ancestors in the Cathedral Church of Lisbon JOHN the 1. Tenth KING OF PORTVGAL JOhn the first bastard son to Pedro the first by Agnesa de Castro who succeeded Ferdinand in the kingdom was born in Lisbon in the year 1356. he was in his minority educated in the famous Conimbricense University where he addicted himself to all those studies which became a Prince
corps were healed Mafalda was espoused to Henry the first King of Castile although allied to him in a forbidden degree wherefore this marriage was likewise declared void and she emulating her sister built a Monastery of the Cistercian Order and is reported likewise to have done many Miracles particularly in the year 1627. when her Tomb was opened Sancha the third daughter became a Nun of the Order of St. Francis who lived about this time Bianca and Beringella died young and were buried in Conimbria right against their fathers Tombe though some write otherwise After the death of the Queen Aldonsa which happened in the year 1138. King Sancho gave himself over to the love of diverse Ladies amongst whom he had many children who proved most of them his greatest vexation and disquiet for the pleasures of the senses do not terminate but in the sence of grief At last arrived at the age of 57. years in the 26. year of his reign oppressed in Conimbria by an incurable disease he took leave of this world He was buried in the Church of the Holy Cross on the left side of the Altar in the great Chappel where King Emanuel built him a Sepulchre like to that of his father he left infinite riches which by his Will he divided amongst all his children making no difference between the legitimate and the illegitimate he by his Will supplicated Pope Innocentius the fourth to be his Executor for which he left in Legacy a hundred weight of Gold a gift without doubt worth his pains King Sancho was for vertue and for goodness singular in his age a worthy son of so renowned a father he proved fortunate in the utmost events of War and then did his triumphs flow in upon him when he dispaired of Victory he left it yet in doubt whether he were more wise or more valiant he always snowed himself so great an enemy to sloth and idleness that to avoid it he would not disdain sometimes to throw down the Scepter and hold the plow Fortune who was his friend in War was his foe in Peace for then besides the vexation that he could not vex his enemies he was likewise enforced to bear the injuries of the Land Sea and Skies in sum he was a King worthy the greatest Incomiums if he had not too much drowned all his other vertues in illicite Loves ALFONSO the II. Third King of Portugal ALfonsâ— the second succeeded to Sancho the first he was born in Conimbria on St. Georges day anno 1185. At 27. years old he was Crowned King with the envy of his brothers who little younger then he could hardly confine themselves within the bounds of Allegiance and to their discontents did the Legacies left by Sancho give new motives for Alphonso either out of avaritious desire of riches or out of obstinacy detained from them a great part of what was left them by their father These sinister thoughts of the then Prince Alphonso were discerned by his father before his death which made him leave to the brothers beside some Cities and Castles five hundred thousand Crowns in gold But scarce was his father dead but he began to contend with his brothers and sisters about their inheritance and because his brothers were retired into Elginera and Alenquar Fortresses given them by their father he under pretence that they could not be allienated from the Crown gathered together an Army to possess himself of them which he easily performed his brothers wanting money to hire soldiers and so not being able to make the least resistance His brothers thus driven out of the kingdom fled to the Pope for redress then in great veneration because he then pursued no other interest but justice who commanded Alfonso to remit the difference to indifferent Judges who necessitated to obey chose rather to accommodate the business with indifferent Judges then to run the hazard of a sentence He employed himself afterwards by the advice of Matthew Bishop of Lisbone to fight against the Moors and though these came assisted with ninety five thousand men yet were they forced to yield the Victory to him with the loss of thirty thousand soldiers and four Kings who were slain in the battel Alfonso for some years prosecuted this War but in time he grew so extream fat that he was unable to perform not only those great exercises incumbent on a soldier but every simple motion of the body yet for all that he ceased not to apply himself with extream diligence to prosecute the greatest affairs of State and where he could not in person he present to send such commands as shewed him to be both of great experience and wisdom He married with Uracca daughter to Alfonso the eighth or as others say the ninth King of Castile and Leonora or Elinor daughter to Henry the second King of England by her he had divers children the first was Sancho who succeeded his father in the kingdom Alfonso the second son whom by right of his wife was chosen Duke of Bologna and afterwards came to be King of Portugal The third son was called Ferdinand who obtained the principality of Serpa and married Sancia Fernandez daughter of Ferdinand Count of Castile The fourth died a childe called Vincenzo The last was a daughter called Leonora and was married to the King of Dacia Alfonso arrived to the eight and fortieth year of his age and one and twentieth of his kingdom when in the year 1233. he was constrained to pay the last debt to nature He was buried in Alobaccia in a little Church built by himself more for devotion then magnificence But after many years the Abbot Giorgio di Melo causing that little Church to be demolished carried his bones to that of St. Vincenzo where they now repose in a most sumptuous sepulcher Under this King as many affirm lived for certain time St. Antonio Protector of the City of Padona a Saint held in great veneration among the Roman Catholiques he was a native of Lisbon not so much esteemed for the Nobility of his birth as for his holy life Alfonso taking away his extream fatness was a man of a very comely presence and of singular eloquence his nature did make him pleasant with all but onely those of his own blood which fault in him did much diminish his subjects love and that general respect was due to him though he was a man noted for covetousness yet he oftentimes gave great gifts to his friends and always consumed the greatest part of the revenue of the kingdom The Portugueses while his father was alive did extreamly desire him for their King but did not at all now lament his death either because new things always please the people or else because he after his fathers death shewed himself indifferent from himself or from what they thought him whereupon not being wholly like his Progenitors he renewed in his subjects their grief for their loss SANCHO the II. Fourth KING of PORTVGAL SAncho the second who
the day consecrated to that great Areopagite when he arrived to age fitting he was instructed in those Sciences which are necessary to adorn a Royal minde he could perfectly speak many forreign Languages but applied himself chiefly to Latine Poesie and may be said to be the best Poet of any King he endeavored to reduce the Portugal Muse before rude and inharmonious to a smooth and sweet verse he published many Elegies and Epigrams which as they attest to posterity his Kingly learning so they stirred up in others a glorious emulation He was about twenty years of age when his father died and was immediately admitted to the government to the great displeasure of his mother who was in hopes to have been made Queen Regent and was either because she thought that she who by her pains and diligence had united several Cities to the Crown of Portugal was slighted or because she feared lest her son being unexperienced should either perswaded out of a youthful folly or drawn by the flattery of Courtiers consume with an unbeseeming liberality the riches of the kingdom Yet her anger could not move him to admit her a share in the government for he was often used to say That man was blame-worthy who being past eleven years of age could not moderate himself without the help of others but that of all things it was most base to desire the assistance of a woman The forces of Alphonso King of Castile father of Beatrice could not prevail to make him change his opinion but between mother and son these discords were easily accorded and she at length being brought to the utmost period of her life he piously went into Castile to visit her and comfort her at her last gasp But though he accorded with his mother he did not so easily adjust things with his brother Alfonso and with Sancio King of Castile with whom he fought many battels the War outlasting Sancho's life but from those cruel contests at length a happy peace was produced which to render perpetual Ferdinand King of Castile took for wife Constanza daughter to Dionisio and on the other side Alfonso espoused Beatriceâ—â—ster â—â—ster to Ferdinand The discords between the Kings of Arragon and Castile were remitted to this Kings prudence in composing of which and making those kingdoms happy in peace he showed admirable effects of his wisdom His liberality gained him the love of all men and made him equally respected both of subjects and strangers he commanded that the waste fields should be distributed amongst the poorest Country people assenting that it should be freed from all taxes there were none poor but such who were not able to gain their living either weakned by age or some other infirmity and these were maintained at the Kings charges He never oppressed the subjects either with tribute or taxes yet left to his heirs a full Exchecquer he made many Laws which to this day are in force his Successors after him forming them into Statutes amongst other things he made a Law for the preventing tediousness in Law suites assigning certain prefixed days to end all differences both taking thereby away a great unnecessary expence of time and money for which very act this King is to this day reverenced among the vulgar In his time the Order of the Knights Templars was extinct whereupon in stead of them he instituted another under the name of the Order OF CHRIST to whom he gave many Castles and Lands for their maintenance their Roab was a black Cassack under a white Surcoat over which a red Cross stroaked in the middle with a white line their duty was to expel the Moors out of Batica the next adjacent Country they have since been famous for many memorable acts He first instituted the University at Conimbria called Academia Conimbricense which he enriched with the most learned men of that age He took to wife Elizabeth daughter to Peter King of Aragon who among all the Queens of Portugal was most memorable for her Sanctity of this marriage was born Alphonso who succeeded his father in the kingdom and Constance who was married to Ferdinand King of Castile he had likewise another son but illegitimate whom he named Alphonso Sancio This bastard son was affected by his father with such a tenderness of Love that he preferred him before all his other children which the Prince Alphonso ill comporting there grew at first a hatred between the brothers in which the fathers indulgence taking part with the base son so exasperated Alphonso that it raised a civil War between him and his father Dionisio had many other sons by diverse Moorish women they with feminine glory boasting themselves great with childe by the King one amongst the rest was Peter Count of Barcello who writ a book of the chief Portugal families others there were who grew up to the disturbance of the kingdom the oppression of the subjects and discontent of their father in his old age reduced to a low estate and afflicted with the civil Wars he was forced by the Prince his son to flie as it were an exile into Castile with his departure the dissentions seemed to cease but Alphonso's heart was not at all mollified towards his brother not being able to comport the generosity and courage of Sancho's spirit The King Dionisio was tall of body of chesnut coloured hair his eyes black but he withall pale and livid and more conspicious for the Majesty of his countenance then the beauty he was pleasant humane and without pride after he had reigned 46. years he died at 84. years of age in the beginning of the year 1325. At the end of his life he left by will one hundred and forty thousand Ducats to be distributed amongst Religious men Pilgrims and unportioned children he left likewise maintenance for five hundred Cavaliers who were enjoyned in his name to fight against the Turks in the Holy Land he was buried in Lisbone in the Cistercian Monastery dedicated to St. Dionisius the Areopagite His Queen Elizabeth lived near eleven years after his death retired into the Monastery of St. Clara in Conimbria begun to be builded by her husband and perfected by her here laying aside her State she â—ed a holy life and is reported to have done many Miracles ALFONSO the IV. Seventh KING of PORTVGAL ALfonso the fourth seventh King of Portugal who succeeded his father Dionisio was born in Conimbria in the year one thousand two hundred and ninety before he came to the government of the kingdom he was married to Beatrice daughter to Sancha the fourth King of Castile and in the seventh lustre took into his hands the reins of the Government In the beginning of his government he ruled his subjects with great negligence addicting himself wholly to the sport of hunting and thereby giving his Ministers liberty to Tyrannize at pleasure some who loved him and hated flattery did publiquely advertise him not to abandon the government of men for the delights of killing
on his knees very earnestly begged a boon of him the King demanded what it was He answered that his Majesty would be pleased for some days to defer his Coronation The King wondring at â—o strange a request demanded what it did conâ—ern him To which he answered that it did â—ot onely concern him but all his Majesties â—aithful subjects and the whole kingdom of Portugal for that by his skill in Astrology he â—ad found that if he then proceeded to the Ceremony his reign would be both short and â—nfortunate At this the King was somewhat â—â—artled at first and seemed as if he would conâ—â—der of it but after very little deliberation â—ither out of magnanimity or mis-belief of that Art he commanded the Ceremony to proceed Whether this were true or no that he was â—hus forewarned cannot be confidently affirmed but most certain it is that in that short time of five years reign he was very unfortunate loosing several battels to the Moors in Africa and was in very great probability to â—ave utterly lost what ever his father had gained â—pon that Coast. He was married long before he came to the Crown and had four children to wit two males Ferdinand who died an Infant Alfonso who succeeded him in the kingdom and two â—emales Ioane married to the King of Castile â—nd Leon and Leonâ—ra married to the Empeâ—or Ferdinand and mother to the Emperor Maximilian He died after he had reigned five years and those with such bad success that it was thought â—y many to have accellerated his end He was â—ndifferent tale of stature of a reserved countenance and as reserved in his minde very wâ—lful in his resolves and refusing any counsel but most extreamly outragious when he was thwarted in any thing he had designed though with never so apparent symptomes of reason which many have attributed to be the cause of all his disasters ALFONSO the V. The Twelfth KING of PORTVGAL ALfonso the fifth his son and the twelfth King of Portugal who succeeded was born at Lisbon in or about the year of our Lord 1420. a Prince in whom appeared evident tokens of courage greatness and magnanimity even in his youngest years he came to the Crown about the age of one and twenty years in the year of our Lord 1441. and was no sooner setled in his kingdom but rigging out a Potent Fleet with an Army of about Thirty thousand men he passed into Barbary to prove if by his better fortune he could regain that hoâ—nor which his father most unfortunately had lost Nor was his success less then his desires oâ— then what his valor merited for having in several battels overthrown the Moors he aâ— â—ength per force took from them the strong Towns of Tanger Alcazar and Arzilla which he strongly fortified and engarisoned with Porâ—uguese Forces During his reign several Voyages were made to the new Islands or Azores where the Porâ—ugals now began to fortifie and inhabit as they did likewise in the Islands of the Madera Holy Port and Capo Verdâ— thus began this Nation by degrees to grow famous at sea by reason of their new discoveries and of the great Traffique they began to have King Alfonso left behind him several children two of which came to be Kings after him to wit Iohn his eldest son who succeeded him and Emanuel his second who reigned after his brother He was a Prince of a very affable and courteous disposition milde to all men and if he were not too merciful a man scarce guilty of any fault yet in the Wars he was as magnanimous as a Lion and fierce as a Tyger being often observed to hazard his own person somewhat too desperately He died at Lisbon in the forty third year of his reign and sixty fourth of his life in the year of our Lord 1484. JOHN the II. The Thirteenth KING of PORTVGAL JOhn the second succeeding to his father Alfonso the fifth was born about the year 1456. and entred into the Government of his kingdom at the age of about twenty eight years a Prince who being educated under his fathers arms could not but be partaker of some of his vertues an honorable emulation of which he showed in his first coming to the Crown by a prosperous expedition against the Moors At his return from Barbary Crowned with Victory he set out two Armata's to sea the gallantest and best accounted that ever Portugal had before that day seen the one directed his course to the Azores which Islands were now indifferently well peopled and began to afford a Traffique to the Portugal Nation from thence this fleet was to go and touch at the other Islands discovered by the Infante D. Henry in the Atlantique sea and supply them with necessaries The other fleet more Warlickly fitted and supplied with all sorts of necessaries both for War and Peace as designed both for a Conquest and Plantation steered its course along the Coast of Africa to Guiny where landing its Soldiers and Planters they soon drove away the heathenish Inhabitants fortified themselves and made an absolute Conquest of the Realms of Congo The fleet afterwards made discovery of that Coast as far as the Cape of Good-hope planting and fortifying as they went King Iohn having now reigned fourteen years with happy success in all the enterprises he undertook by an unfortunate accident came by his end for very much delighting in hunting which sport he was very eager at pursuing a Stag his horse leaping over a ditch gave him a violent fall of which in three days he died in the forty second year of his age and fourteenth of his reign leaving his kingdom by reason of his dying without any legitimate Issue to Emanuel his brother He was of a very swarthy complexion but withall of a pleasant countenance affable and courteous a great lover of Justice and more inclinâ—ble to severity then mercy he was especially careful in seeing the Laws against murder rigorously put in execution being often used to say that he who pardoned a murther did commit 〈◊〉 his great love to hunting made him not altogether so diligent in State-affairs as he ought to have been EMANUEL the I. Fourteenth KING of PORTVGAL EManuel who succeeded him was born in or about the year 1462. he took possession of the Crown of Portugal at the age of about thirty and two years a Prince who had been bred up in all sorts of learning that might make him either a Divine or a States-man At his first entrance in the Government he addicted himself so wholly to Religion that he took little care of the management of the kingdom affairs so that whilest he was never from Churches-duties both Church and State was likely to go to ruine by the evil administration of those Ministers whom he had entrusted The Arch Bishop of Lisbon who foresaw the ruine which approached to the kingdom by the Tyranny of the Officers of State presumed freely to tell the King that though 〈◊〉 could not blame his
to proceed to which by an accident he got some addition for as he was almost ready to go Stukeley an Englishman created by the Pope Marquis of Ireland as he was going with a small fleet of ships and about six thousand Italian soldiers to assist the Irish Rebels against the Queen of England was by tempest driven into Lisbon him with much entreaty he perswades to desist from his intended design and accompany him into Barbary Thus set forth he arrives at Tanger with an Army of about thirty thousand men here he meets Muly Mahamet with a very small addition of forces and much less then he expected yet he marches forwards towards Abdemelech who by letters would have advised him to have returned in peace but in vain so the two Armies meet in the plains of Alcazar where Sebastian is utterly discomfited himself Muly Mahamet Stukeley and several persons of quality slain three Kings fell in this field for Abdemelech was killed in the hottest of the battel this was fought in August 1578. Yet some there be that have affirmed that Sebastian was not slain in this battel but that for shame and sorrow he returned not home but wandring from one place to another was at last found out and known at Venice and from thence carried to Naples where he was kept three days in a dark and dismal dungeon without any sustenance but a knife and a halter that he was after by the command of the King of Spain sent thither where he died miserably That whether this were the true Sebastian or no was not certainly known but that he was so like him that the Spaniards used to say if it were not he it was the devil in his likeness but however he being thus lost to the Portugals they Crowned in his stead Henry the Cardinal HENRY the I. Seventeenth KING of PORTVGAL HEnry the Cardinal third son to Emanuel the first who succeeded Sebastian in the kingdom being both by reason of his age to wit 67. years old and his function being a Church-man deprived of all means to give the people any hopes of Issue it was during his short reign of his years the whole discourse and debate not onely of Portugal but of all Christendom who of right ought and who probably might succeed King Henry in that Crown and Kingdom several pretenders there were whose several Titles the ensuing Table will make clear Emanuel the first had eight children 1 Iohn King of Portugal who had Issue Iohn Prince of Portugal who had Issue Sebastian King of Portugal 2 Lewis Infante who had Issue Don Alfonso the Bastard Christopher and others 3 Infante D. Alfonso died without Issue 4 Henry the Cardinal King of Portugal died wirhout Issue 5 Fernando Infante died without Issue 6 Edward Infante who had Issue 1 Mary wedded to Alexander Farnese Prince of Parma a forreigner Reinuce Prince of Parma 2 Katherine married to Iohn Duke of Bragance 7 Mary married to Charles the fifth King of Castile and Emperor who had Issue Phillip the second King of Spain 8 Beatrix married to Charles Duke of Savoy had Issue Philbert Duke of Savoy The several claims to the Crown were in 〈◊〉 eight and all the pretenders endeavored by 〈◊〉 the most weighty arguments they could to jâ—â—stifie their several Titles first the people claâ—â—med Iure Regni a Priviledge to Elect theâ—â— own Kings but it was soon answered thâ—â— until the Royal Line of a kingdom were quiâ—â— extinct they could claim no right in the Elâ—â—ction for if they could they might by the samâ— reason at any time depose the lawful Heir 〈◊〉 Popes challenge to be Iure Divino Arbitraâ—â—â— if not Donour in all controversies of Crownâ— but especially in this because Alphonso the 〈◊〉 King to obtain that Title became tributary 〈◊〉 the Sea of Rome was slighted and dis-regardeâ—â— The third claim was that of Antonio the bâ—â—stard son of Lewis Infante who alledged thâ—â— his mother was lawfully wedded to his fatheâ—â— and endeavoured by all means to clear 〈◊〉 aspersion of his being illegitimate some strugâ—lings he made for the Crown as hereafter shaâ— be spoken more at large Catherina de Mediceâ— the widow of Henry the second King of Francâ— was the fourth that pretended a Right and 〈◊〉 to the Crown as being descended legitimatelâ— from Alfonso the third King of Portugal chaâ—â—ging all thâ—â— had raigned since to be usurpersâ— To this it was readily answered that all Lawyerâ— had ever allowed one hundred years sufficienâ— to clear and make firm the Title of any kingâ—dom and that there being the prescription 〈◊〉 three hundred years against her her claim 〈◊〉 utterly void The fifth that pretended to 〈◊〉 Crown was Philibert Duke of Savoy as son to â—eatrice the younger daughter of Emanuel â—hough it is to be supposed that he laid not his â—laim out of any hopes to prevail whilest he was descended but of the youngest daughter and Phillip the second of Spain of the eldest but 〈◊〉 is rather to be thought that he was incited to â—ut in his claim by the rest of the pretenders who knew that of the claimers who were not Natives he was the fittest person of all others â—o resist and annoy King Phillip not onely by â—eason of his personal valor but also because of his Countries bordering upon the Dutchy of Millan which with the assistance of the French â—is neighbors on the other side and pretenders â—o that Dukedom he might with ease at all â—imes invade The sixth who-presumed a right to this kingdom was Reinuce the young Prince of Parma who demanded it in right of his mother the eldest daughter to the Infante Edward alledging that Iure Primogeniturae the male Line was to be â—erved before the female so that until the Line of his Grand-father Prince Edward were wholly extinct neither Phillip the second nor â—he Duke of Savoy could have any pretence to that kingdom Catherine Dutchess of Braganza and youngest daughter to the Infante Don Edward was the seventh that laid claim to this Crown who alledged that in all successions whatsoever these four qualities were to be considered viz. the Line the Degree the Sex and the Age that the better Line ought in justice first to take place although others should have advantage in the other three qualities that in all successions of Crowns the last possessor was to be succeeded â—ure hereditatis which allowed the benefit of representation that she representing the Infante Don Edward the better Line did by representation preceed Reinuce the Law never allowing a Grand-child that benefit and that by her better Line she did exclude King Philip who descended of a daughter but especially by the prime and fundamental Laws of the kingdom put in execution against Bâ—atrice daughter of Ferdinand the ninth King of Portugal who having married out of the kingdom to the King of Castile her right of succeeding was utterly lost and King Iohn chosen in her stead she was to be preferred before all
in his Throne D. Emanuel D' Acugna Dean of His Majesties Chappel rose up and after reverence made to the King spake to the effect following THat in the space of sixty years that that Kingdom was under the power of the Kings of Castile there had bin but two Assemblies of States the first to inslave the next to abuse them But that since they were under the present King within the space of two years they had two Assemblies the former to settle their liberties the present to beget a right understanding between the King and his people wherein they had all freedom to demand whatever was necessary that the world might see they are now no longer slaves but children no longer strangers but natives and that they are under rather a loving father then a severe Soveraign In the former Assembly said he his Majesty took all the Customs and left the defence of the Kingdom to your hands you ordered what seemed good unto your selves you made choice of a General Assistance by way of contribution but in the leaving thereof the first payment was found ineffectual the second unequal the third insufficient whence arose some complaints some imagining that the fault proceeded from the unequal division of the contribution others from the change of value in mony and comodities and others from the disorderly gathering and disbursing the whole I may easily say that if there were any errour committed yet it might be excusable for that Never had any weighty affair it's conception and perfection at once Then shall errours cease to be in Government when men shall cease to be in the world These things are to be indured with the same patience that droughts dearths inundations and such other disorders in nature for the wit of man cannot hold forth a remedy for all diseases But certainly they will be no ground of reprehension though much of admiration to him that shall consider how His Majesty entred upon a Kingdom exhausted by the Castilians of mony and other necessaries for offence or defence and yet how in less then a year and a half we should want neither Shipping nor Artillery nor Horse nor Arms nor Fortification nor Armies upon the Frontiers three powerful Fleets put to Sea divers honorable and extraordinary Ambassages besides many secret yet necessary expences all which will astonish any understanding man Now to the end that the people may have full satisfaction His Majesty hath commanded that before further proceeding it be made appear particularly how all the mony received hath been laid out and then it is expected and the present state of affairs requireth that we all contribute liberally considering that these charges are but for a time but our liberties are for ever That we shall never have a better opportunity to destroy our enemy That nature teacheth to hazard an arm to save the whole body The Merchants at Sea cast away some part of their goods sometimes to save the rest we are now on shipboard in a storm our Goods our Lives our Liberties our Honor our Country are all in danger Moreover the barbarous usage of the King of Castile towards the Infanta Don Duarte calls upon this Assembly for revenge that we spend not onely our mony but our blood in affection to him and that we make our enemies spend theirs in satisfaction for him c. This speech of the Deans was spoken with so much affection that it stirred up and encouraged the States readily to give all assistance imaginable both for redressing of greivances and for the levying Arms so that within a small time after the King was in the head of twenty thousand Foot and three thousand Horse marching towards the Frontiers of Castile Whilst these great preparations for Hostility were made the Queen brought forth into the world a second Son to His Majesty but first childe after he came to the Crown which added to the magnificence of his christning he was named Alfonso and his brother Theodosio dying before his Father succeeded in the Kingdom and is at present King of Portugal Many Skirmishes had passed between the Castilians and Portugueses many town had been surprized many lands wasted but never happened a set-battel between them till in the year 1644. when both Armies met upon the border of Portugal in a field called Campo Major The Spanish Army which for the most part consisted of strangers was under the Command of the Marquess of Forrecusa and the Portugal Army consisting of natives and some few Hollanders were commanded by Macchias de Albuquerque This fight was maintained with all possible courage and resolution on both sides but the Spaniards being more numerous especially in horse at length put the whole Portuguese Army in disorder seized on their whole Artillery and baggage and slew Albuquerques horse under him took many prisoners and assured themselves of an absolute victory But fortune which had thus favourably smiled upon them in the beginning of the day frowned as harshly upon them in the conclusion for Albuquerque being remounted rallied again his scattered forces recharged the pursuing Spaniards put them to a total rout and pursued the chase for above 3 miles In this battel the Castilians lost 1600 men upon the place amongst which were the Lieutenant General the General of the horse the General of the Artillery the Count de Montixo five Camp-masters two Adjutants of horse three Serjeant Majors three and twenty Cornets together with many Knights of the order of St. Iames Calatrava Alcantara there were taken about four thousand Arms and a thousand horse On the Portuguese side there were not above three hundred slain among which were two Camp-masters one Serjeant Major a Captain of horse and eight of foot but many Noblemen Commanders and Officers taken prisoners in the first encounter were carried away by the Spaniards in their flight It was not long after this Battel that the Marquess De Montalban D. George Mascaneras Lord Treasurer President of the Council of the Indies and Councellor of Estate with some others were imprisoned upon suspition of a Conspiracy against the King of Portugal but it being upon Examination found that the suspition was by the Spaniards cunningly raised to deprive King Iohn of his most able Ministers and to make the world believe the Portuguese Nobility were discontented with their King they were set at liberty and their Honors fully repaired by a Proclamation of the Kings For the Spaniards ceased not by all means and devices which the will and policy of the most wicked States-men could invent not onely to weaken the Portuguese Nation within it self by breeding discontents if possible between the King and the three Estates but likewise to undervalue them and make their credit be slighted and disregarded by other Kingdomes and States their Confederates and Allies Yet besides these subtile Ambages the King of Castile did not desist the endeavoring to oppress this kingdom by force of Arms but not onely the resolved and
three Millions of Gold for Her Portion and that the King of Portugal would for seven Years maintain eighteen Men of War at Sea for the defence and service of the French Crown Long was this business in negotiation and by many thought would have taken effect the Agent being very highly carressed both by the King and Queen mother of France but whether by reason of Cardinal Mazarine's dislike of it or other reasons of State it was prolonged by continual demurs till after the King of Portugals death and then wholly broken off For King Iohn being now arrived to about fifty years of Age in the sixteenth year of his Reign and in the year of our Lord 1656. on the 6. of November S. N. paid his last debt to nature having a long time been troubled with an obstruction in the kidneys occasioned by the stone and gravel which was so sharp all the time of his sickness that he seldom urined and when he did it was in so little quantity that it did scarce at all ease him this violent pain put him into a Burning-feaver which in ten days overpressed his vitals Before his death he appointed Donna Lucia his Queen to be Regent of the Kingdom during the minority of D. Alphonso her son recomâ—eâ—ding to her for-Assistants in the management of so great burden as a Crown the reverend D Emanuel Archbishop of Lisbon Don Runlio Marquess of Nisa the Earl of Canvandake and some others whose abilities love and fidelity he had experience of He had by his Queen Donna Lucia Daughter to the Duke of Medina Sidonia four Children onely two of which survived him to wit Alfonso who succeeded him in the Kingdom and is at present King of Portugal and the Infanta Catharina who was born the year before her Father came to the Crown a Princess in whom all vertues seem to flow that can make her the worthy Daughter of such renowned Parents her beauteous body being amply repleate with her generous Mothers spirit whose magnanimity and prudence all the world have admired his other two children were the Prince Theodosio who was so unfortunate as to die some time before his Father and a Daughter who died young He was a person of a very comely presence his countenance pleasant but inclinning to swarthiness his body about a middle stature yet comely and well proportioned nor were the lineaments of his mind less becoming then those of his body though if ye believe common fame he was none of the wisest Kings that ever Portugal could boast of the reason that he left so much of the reins of the Government to his wife a woman of a masculine and politick spirit from whence perhaps that jesting Spaniard might take occasion to say That it was not the Portugal force but the Spanish policy that kept that kingdom from the Catholique King alluding to the Queens being a Spaniard He was buried in the great Church of St. Vincenza del Foro with all accustomed and becomming ceremonies lamented by those Kings who had been his Allies especially be the King of France who honored his memory with a most magnificent Funeral solemnity himself attended by most of the Nobles and Parliament of France gracing it with his presence at the Church of Nostre Dame where after the singing of Mass the Bishop of Vance pronounced a Funeral Oration suitable to so Royal a subject and occasion ALFONSO the VI. The Two and twentieth KING of PORTVGAL KIng Iohn the fourth being thus deceased his onely surviving Son Alphonso the 6th of that name succeeded being about the Age of fourteen years his Mother during his minority administring the affairs of the Kingdom and causing him to be Crowned on the 14 of November eight days after the death of his Father The whole Kingdom of Portugal was in a kind of amaze at the so sudden death of King Iohn especially considering the youth of their present King fearing lest their common enemies should now take advantage of them but the prudent management of the most important business of State by the Queen Regenâ— soon banished all those fancied fears The Queen being sensible that upon this occasion of the Kings death she should have most occasion to use the Souldiery by the advice of her Council ordered all the Infantry of the Kingdom should have half a years pay the better to incourage them who were of themselves ready enough to fight against their common and inveterate enemy the Castilians And because she knew that the King of Spain would loose no opportunity to oppress the Kingdom of Portugal she thought it imprudence to let any slip where any advantage might be gained upon him and therefore all the Spanish Forces being drawn out of Andaluzia to oppose the English in case they should attempt to land at Cadiz for they then blocked up that Port with a Potent Fleet she commanded four thousand Horse to make an inroad into that country who plundered and layed waste all before them bringing away between forty and fifty thousand head of Cattel and leaving the whole soil in a manner desolate This so exasperated the Spaniards that draining most of the Garisons of his Kingdom he raised a potent Army and with ten thousand Foot and five thousand Horse entred Portugal and laid Siege to the strong City of Olivenza which at length they reduced to that necessity that the defendants were willing to capitulate sounded a parly but when they came to treat the Spaniards would not admit the King of Portugal any other title then that of Dâ—ke of Braganza which made the Portugals renounce any farther treating But at length the Spaniards condescending to treat the Town was delivered upon Articles but so much did the Queen Regent and Councel of Portugal resent it that they immediately gave order to arrest the person of Don Mandiol de Saldagna the Governour who with several of his chief Officers was by the Count de St. Lorenze General of the Portuguese Forces in those parts sent prisoner to Lisbon there to answer their ill defending of that town it appearing that at the surrendring of it there marched our two thousand two hundred well Armed Foot and one hundred Horse nor were they reduced to that necessity that was pretended there remaining in the stores of Ammunition and provision sufficient to have defended the town a great while longer The loss of this place was a great blow to the Portugueses it being a strong Frontier town and giving the Spaniard absolute command a great way into the Country but this the King of Spain resolved should be but a beginning of his conquest if possible of this Kingdom for he still made all preparations he could to assault it with a greater force and not onely endeavoured this with might and main to oppress it himself but by his Ambassadors solicited the States General of the United Provinces to send their Vice-Admiral Opdam with the Fleet he then had before Dantzick into Portugal to demand
Kings of Leon which Wars he managed with so much courage as was admirable in a Prince so young The Count of Trastamarense despising his youth took to wife his mother Teresia and from that marriage drew occasion to wage War with him Alfonso to vindicate his sleightings cheerfully encountred him and after the diverse accidents of several battels took him prisoner and forced him to regain his liberty to give him to wife his sister Uracca with that part of the land for her Dower which had been the occasion of the War Yet some there be that differ both in the occasion of the marriage and the contest Alfonso likewise fought several battels with his Grand-father Alfonso the 6. King of Castile and in one battel took him prisoner near one of his Castles called Arcos del val de vez upon whose release he had conferred upon him the title of Duke of Portugal he afterwards imployed his forces against the Saracens from whom he took Leirida Torre Naova and several other places Whereupon the King Ismaurus who was the most powerful amongst all the Mauritamans calling to his assistance four other Kings with an Army of four hundred thousand men invaded Portugal but his fortune corresponded not with his numbers for Alfonso encountring this great power with a small Army overthrew them and slew or took prisoners all the five Kings in memory or which â—ignal Victory Alphonso bore five Escutchions in his Arms though others are pleased to affirm it was in memory of the five wounds of our Savior seen by him in a Vision just before the fight The soldiers made proud with this exâ—raordinary success thinking the title of Duke too low for their Commander saluted Alphonso with the tile of King which Alphonso accepted and returning home enriched with spoils addicted himself to the exercise of his Regal power by calling a general Council of the three Estates to wit the Clergy Nobility and Commons for the better establishing by the consent of the whole people that Crown upon his head which the Soldiers love had conferred upon his merit This general Assembly being met in the City of Lamego and in the Church of St. Almacave the King came thither and seating himself upon the Royal Throne but as yet unadorned with his Ensigns of Majesty according to appointment the King Deputy Don Lorenzo Venegas spake to the Estates as followeth You are here assembled by the Authority of King Alphonso to see the Popes Letters and Resolve to confirm him for your King Whereat the whole Estates with one voice cried We will that he shall be our King Upon which the Deputy demanded shall he only be your King and not his sons after him They all answered he so long as he lives shall be our King and after his death his sons shall succeed Give him then the Royal Ensigns said the Deputy They answered we give them in the name of God and therewithall the Arch-Bishop of Braga placed the Crown upon the Kings head and gave him the Scepter in his hand with all accustomed Ceremonies which done his Majesty rose up and drawing his sword spake to this effect Blessed be God that hath been my helper with this sword I have delivered you and overcome our enemies and now that you have made me your King let us make Laws for the government of the Kingdom They answered so we will dread Soveraign we will make such Laws as shall seem good and convenient to you and we and all our children and posterity will be wholly at your command And accordingly several Laws were then and there immediately made the sum of which were 1. That King Alfonso should be Master of the Kingdom and that after him there might be no troubles in the choosing of a King his Son should reign after him his Grand-childe and so from Father to Son in secula seculorum 2. That if the eldest Son should dye during the life of the Father the next brother should be King and so forward 3. That if the King should dye without issue having a brother he should succeed but not his sons without consent of the Estates 4. That if the King should have onely daughters the eldest should be Queen after her father upon condition that she be married to a native of the Kingdom and that he be a Nobleman who should not have the power to take upon him the name of King until he had a son born nor should he till then wear a Crown on his head or take the right hand of his wife 5. That it should be for ever held for a Law among the Portugals that the Kings eldest daughter should marry a Native of the Country that so the Crown might never descend to Forreigners and that in case she should marry a Forreign Prince she should be excluded from her right of succession for they would not have that Kingdom which themselves by their own valor and by the effusion of their own blood without the aid or assistance of any strangers had made so go out of the race of the Portugals The Crown by these Laws and Statutes confirmed Alfonso as he was advanced in Title so he addicted himself to higher and greater enterprizes in five moneths siege he added the great and populous City of Lisbone to his Crown not without the loss of thousands of valiant soldiers and as many hazards of his own life some affirm that in this War the number of the slain amounted to no less then two hundred thousand men This magnanimous King likewise made innumerable acquists both of one side and the other of the Tagus he slew both the Kings of Leon and Castile but at length wounded in a battel he was no longer able to follow the Wars in person for what with his wound and what with age being now sixty six years old he had not strength enough to mount on horseback he therefore bequeathed his command over his Armies to his eldest son Sanctius or Sancho but still reserving to himself the superintendency of all Having thus relinquished the Wars he addicted himself wholly to works of piety and to endeavor the flourishing of the Christian Religion he built within his Kingdom one hundred and fifty Churches and Monasteries all which he enriched with great revenues Amongst the rest he built that at Conimbria from whence that famous University called Academia Conimbricense had its Original In this Monastery called that of the Holy Cross he died at ninety one years of age on the 9. of December Anno 1185. and here he remained buried in a little Tomb scituated in an Angle of that Church till such time as King Emanuel affected with the Fame of his Sanctity erected for him a most stately Monument which is at this day to be seen By Uracca his first wife daughter to the Count Trastamarense he had no children whereupon at fifty two years of age and in the seventh year of his reign he took to wife Mafalda sister to Amadeo
Earl of Morenna by whom he had many children Henry the first died in his childhood Sancho who succeeded him in the Kingdom Uracca who was married to Ferdinando King of Leon though this match was again made void the Pope not approving of it Therasia whom some Historians have likewise called Matilda married to Phillip the first Earl of Flanders He had likewise diverse natural children amongst whom one named Alphonsus who was great Master of the Knights of Rhodes King Alphonso was certainly a great soldier a valiant Captain and a magnanimous King in all his words and actions there appeared a kinde of Majesty and sublimity of minde his liberality and justice made him feared by his enemies and adored by his subjects strength of body and greatness of minde concurred in him to make him the most worthy and admired of the age he lived in he never undertook any War but either to right his injured subjects or to propagate the Christian Religion amongst his greatest facts of Arms he never forgot acts of piety but always before any battel used with vows and prayers to beg the protection of heaven He died having arrived at the highest pitch of glory wept for by his people and lamented by the very Moors themselves who hated him thus topt with all triumph happy in a numerous and as generous an issue weary of worldly vanities he departed this life in hopes to receive in heaven the reward of his piety and vertue SANCHO the I. Second King of Portugal SAncho his eldest son indeed the onely legitimate son he had living succeeded to Alphonso he was born at Conimbria the 11. of November Anno 1154. where he was likewise educated until the fourteenth year of his age in all those studies and exercises which are proper for a Prince born to command he afterwards profited under his fathers tutorage in the Art Military in which emulating his fathers valor and greatness he did things worthy of himself gaining love from the soldiery and respect from the people he accompanied his father in three Victories in which he nobly adventured his life His father being dead he took upon him the government of the Kingdom and was Crowned the 12. of December 1185. three days after his fathers death being aged two and thirty years and finding the Kingdom at the beginning of his reign freed from the incursions of the Moors he applied himself wholly to make the peace enjoyed by his Kingdom profitable to his subjects he caused a multitude of fields to be tilled most of which were before a receptacle for wilde beasts and part of them laid waste by the late Wars with so much diligence did he addict himself to these things that by the vulgar he was called the King of Husbandmen He applied himself afterwards with the same industry to restore publique edifices and structures he rebuilt all Castles which had either been destroyed by the Moors or spoiled by other accidents of the War he restored the Cities Towns and Fortresses to their pristine splendor enriching them with new edifices and supplying them with new inhabitants he gave likewise great Revenues to all the orders of Knight-hood but principally to that of Saint Giacomo Whilest thus he took care of his subjects good and the increasing the Revenue of his Crown there were driven by contrary winds and raging seas into the Port of Lisbone a fleet of thirteen sail of ships belonging to several Christian Princes going to the Holy War with the assistance of these King Sancho invaded the Kingdom of Algarve then possessed by the Moors making this compact with the Christian Princes that commanded the Navy that they should enjoy the whole spoil of the enemy whilest he reserved for himself onely the Cities and the glory The Impress proved not very difficult although the City of Sylva the Metropolis of the Kingdom made a long and obstinate resistance for at length it yielded but he enjoyed not quietly the possession of this Kingdom for the Moors uniting themselves to revenge the injuries done to their Nation he was constrain'd to flie to a defence of himself so much the more dangerous by how much the more unequal and 〈…〉 had with the kingdom of Algarve lost likewise his native kingdom of Portugal if God of his mercy had not bridled and curbed the fury of the Moors by a merciless devouring Pestilence which made them with the loss of two hundred thousand soldiers return flying home But King Sancho was no sooner freed from these dangers but another almost over-whelmed his kingdom by continual rains most part of the land was overflown by reason of which it not being possible to till the ground a famine ensued and that at length brought forth the plague so that the whole kingdom was almost destroyed the Cities and Towns were depopulated the Country remained unmanured nor was there to be seen over the whole kingdom other but spectacles of ruine and misery This sad condition of the Christians made the Moors once more adventure in the field and without any resistance possess themselves of the greatest part of the Kingdom of Algarve the City of Sylva was rendred at discretion whilest the necessities of the King forced him to buy five years of truce or cessation upon low conditions In the mean time he would have sent assistance of ships and men to the Christian Princes who fought against the Saracens in Palestina but the miseries of his kingdom would not permit him yet he assigned to the Knights Templars and Hospitallers who were sometime before come into Portugal great Revenues giving unto them many Castles and Lands The truce was not yet expired when the King either finding or taking occasion to break it in the midst of winter assaulted the Cities of the Moors with so much fury that the Barbarians not expecting so sudden an assault were easily driven not onely out of the Confines of Portugal but out of the best part of the kingdom of Algarve King Sancho had for wife the daughter of Ramond Berengario Count of Barchinona called Aldonsa by her he had nine children of whom eight outlived their father to wit three sons and five daughters the sons were Alfonso who succeeded in the kingdom Ferdinando who for his singular vertues was called into Flanders to marry the Countess Ioanna and Pietro who was Count Iregelense and Lord of the Bateares The five daughters were Therasia Mefalda Sancha Bianca and Beringhella Therasia was married with Alfonso King of Leon her Cousin-german but this marriage not being assented to by the Pope was esteemed void so that after having born three children she was forced to return into Portugal where being shut up in a Monastery she spent the rest of her life in pious meditations it is reported by some that her Sepulchre being opened in the year 1617. her body was found whole and as it were incorrupted and that many who were sick or otherwise had incurable diseases by vowing to her and touching her