Imprimatur Hic Liber cui Titulus The Portugal History c. Ab. Campion Reverendissimo Domino Gilb. Arch. Cant. Ã Sac. Domest Ex Aedibus Lambeth Nov. 8. 1676. THE Portugal History OR A RELATION of the TROUBLES that happened in the COURT of PORTUGAL In the Years 1667 and 1668. In which is to be seen that great Transaction of the Renunciation of the Crown by Alphonso the Sixth the Dissolution of his Marriage with the Princess Maria Frances Isabella of Savoy The Marriage of the same Princess to the Prince Don Pedro Regent of the Realm of Portugal and the Reasons alledged at Rome for the Dispensation thereof By S. P. Esq LONDON Printed for Richard Tonson at his Shop under Grays-Inn-Gate next Grays-Inn-Lane 1677. THE Introduction To the Ensuing HISTORY HISTORY or the true Relation of the Actions of Publick Persons the great Business and Affaires of Kingdoms Cities Commonwealths hath been evermore accounted not only Delightfull but Profitable and indeed to be preferred before all other Humane Learning it giving men a true knowledge of themselves Among the many Remarkable Stories Revolutions and Trâ—nsactions which this Age or former hath produced in the World I think this which shâ—â—l be related to you in the following Pages to be none of the least Notable and Remarkable and worthy your Note and Observation and the more being of so late a date and among those whom we may call our Neighbours The Fame of it no doubt hath formerly come to your Eares if you are not a Recluse and quite banished from Converse in the World you cannot but have heard something of the Story from Reports or publick Gazets but here is more amply and ruly made known thâ— whole Transaction of it even to the least Circumstances wherein is seen a great part of the Wisdome and Policy of the Portugal Nation But for the sake of those who are not well acquainted with the History of the Portuguise I thought it not amiss as an Introduction to the following History to give you some little Description of that Country and also a short Cronicle of their Kings from their Original to King John the 4th the Father of Alphonso the 6th the Subject of this present History and that with all the brevity that can be being only to prepare the way for the History of King Alphonso's Resignation of his Crown and the Advancement of the Prince Don Pedro to the Regency of the Kingdom being never till now published or made known among our Country men Portugal then is part of the Continent of Europe being the most Westerly part of it wash'd with the Atlantick or Western-Ocean The atmost Bounds of the known World till the famous Discoveries of the West Indies It was formerly accounted a third part of Spain and called Lusitania as the Ancients would have it from Luso and Lysa the fabulous Companions of Bacchus now called Portugal from Portus Gallorum a great Fishing place of the Gauls called Cale now Caja being scituate at the Mouth of the River Durius It is in Length from North to South four hundred miles The Breadth from East to West is in the broadest place not exceeding one hundred miles and in the narrowest about eighty The whole Circumference about eight hundred seventy nine miles conteining about fourteen hundred and sixty odd Parishes It is Bounded on the North with the Rivers Antinio and Avia which part it from Galicia On the South with the Kingdom of Algarve On the West with the Atlantick Ocean and on the East with the two Castiles and Estramadura As for the Country it self it is Hilly and not very Fruitful yet what Corn and other things of the growth thereof they have are very excellent and good especially Fruits which they have in abundance and those very delicious It hath enough to maintain it self and to supply others with Hony Salt Wine Oyl Alumn Fish Fruits Marble It hath also several Mines The Air is wholsome subject to Heats yet tollerable especially to the Natives who are of a plain and simple behaviour to the rest of the Spaniards and have a great Antipathy to them for their Oppression but have of late years bore up bravely They have been and still are great Navigators by reason of their Vicinity to the Sea and have thereby encreased the Dominion and Riches of the Nation by Conquest and Traffick abroad exceeding much being famous for their Discoveries and Acquists in the East and West Indies It s chief Rivers are the Tagus famous for its Golden Sands Minius full of Red-Lead whence it had the Name of Minium Lethes or Lavada Muliadas or Mundego The Duero and Anas None of them Navigable but for a little space being generally Swift and Narrow The chief Cities are Lisbon the Kings Chamber a great Mart of Old called Osisippo or Ulisippo Built as they then held by Ulysses in his Peregrinations It is in 10 Degrees of Longitude 38 Latitude North about seven miles Compass and contains about 20000 Houses divided into 30 odd Parishes Santaren or Sancta Irene scituate also on the Tagus Conimbra seated on the River Mondeso a Bishops See and University Braga an Archbishops See Porto or Portaport at the mouth of the Duero Miranda a Bishops Sea Braganza whose Dukes are now Kings of Portugal Eubora an Archbishops See Portolegre a Bishops See Olivenza a City seated on the Guadiana Beja anciently Paxtulia now Mean an ancient Colony of the Romans As for the Language 't is a Subdialect of the Latine mixed with Morisco the Moores having setled in Spain 700 Years A time sufficient to implant their Language But more immediately a Dialect of the Spanish Tongue Being Spanish more curtly and quicker pronounced The Castilians affecting long trained words agreeing with their superb Gravity But besides this Dominion there belongs to the Kings of Portugal many other large Territories won to the Crown by Warlike and renowned Princes of that Nation both in Asia Africa and America But South of Portugal lyes the Kingdom of Algarve won from the Moores and annexed to the Crown by Alphonso the Third This Regnum Algarbiorum had its Name as its supposed from its Westerly scituation for so Algarve signifies in the Arabick It reaches as far as St. Vincents Cape or the Southern Cape as the Mariners call it The chiefest places in it are Niebla once the Seat of their Kings Sylvia an In-land City a Bishops Seat Villa Maona scituate beyond the Cape Tavila Faro Lagos all Haven Towns Besides this there belongs to the Dominions of the Kings of Portugal certain Islands called the Azores seated in the Atlantick Ocean directly opposite to Portugal and distant from the Land about 250 Leagues found out and subdued by Prince Henry Son of King John the first From hence they reckon the first Longitude as formerly from the Canaries being accounted more exact They are called Azores from the multitude of Gosh-hawks found in them when they were first discovered Azor
signifying a Gosh hawk in the Spanish Tongue They are Nine in Number the chief of them is the Tercera the place of Residence of Alphonso the sixth since his Resignation of the Crown The rest are St. Maries St. Michaels Fayal Gratiosa St. Georges Duo Flores Corvo from the abundance of Crows therein In Asia the Kings of Portugal have very large Possessions with many Forts and Places of Strength The chief and richest is the City of Goa in the Kingdom of Decan one of the Keys of the East-Indies Here the Portugals have their Arsenals with an Harbour for their Fleet. Then they have Diu a Peninsula in the Province of Guzarate in the Kingdom of Cambaia Here they have an impregnable Cittadel Over against this Place upon the Sea-side they are possessed of Daman a beautiful and a pleasant Town Also Chial a Sea-Town Solsette with a Peninsula of twenty miles in Compass containing about thirty Villages and 80000 Inhabitants with many other considerable places In Africa they have many large Possessions in the Kingdoms of Gongo and Angola till dispossessed thereof by the Hollandar But they are still in the Possession of the Islands of Cape Verd so called because scituated opposite to that Promontory of which there are nine of them the chief of which is St. Jago In the West Indies they are possessed of Brazile from whence we have plenty of Wood and Sugars at least every year 150000 Arrobes every Arrobe containing 25 Bushels of our measure They have here thirteen Captainships or Governments the Chief of which is St. Vincents The rest are Rio de Janeiro del Spiritu Sancto or of the Holy Ghost Porto Sepurio des Ileos or the Isles Todos les Sanctos or All Saints Penambuccio Tamaraca Paraiba Riogrande Siarra Maragnon and Para. Having thus given you an account of the Dominion of the Kings of Portugal I shall succinctly give you a Relation of their Kings even to Alphonso the sixth the Subject of the following Discourse but little more than naming them it being not my Intention to write their History but only as a preparative to what I shall more fully relate that you may not be altogether in the Dark as to the Succession of that Kingdom Lusitan a being under the Empire of the Romans followed the Fortune of the rest of Spain and was subject to the various turns and changes which often hapned in those days till the declining of the Roman Greatness when the Alans were the first that preyed upon it and endeavoured to Plant it but they were soon driven out by the Swemans and sent to seek for other places of Habitation These made Braga their Imperial City and enjoyed it for so he time till the great inundation of the Goths and Vandals who overrunning the whole Continent of Spain made all become Vassals to them and put this under their Power and Dominion These continued here for a lorg time and at last embrac't the Christian Religion till the Moors again like an irresistable Flood coming out of Africa fell in upon them and possessed themselves both of it and the greatest part of Spain But at last after much Strugling many Battels and much Bloodshed this Kingdom was in part Recovered from them by the Kings of Castile and by them enjoyed till they got a King of their own Henry the Second Duke of Lorraine whom some affirm to be Nephew to Godfry Duke of Bolloigne flying from the fuâ—â—y of the Emperor Henry the Fifth came into Spain where moved by the generous Emulation of his Uncle Godfry who was gon to the Conquest of Jerusalem be offered his service against the Moores and by his many valourous Atchievements against the Enemies of the Christian Religion he in a short time arrived at so great and consider able Repute with Alphonso the Sixth King of Castile that he gave him his Base Daughter Teresa to Wife with all those Lands he had Conquered from the Moores in Lusitania for her Dower the chief of which being the Country about Portus Gallorum mentioned in the Description before called then Porto he gave him the the Title of Count or Earl of Portugal And so he called the Lands he had Conquered from the Moores in Lusitania by that Name as did also his Successors and from thence proceeded the Name Portugal This Henry Earl of Portugal having been a Terror to the Moores and having enlarged his Territories being 77 years old lied leaving behind him by his Wife Teresa a Son who was born in the Year â—094 being 18 years Old at the Death of â—is Father and succeeded him in his Earlâ—om and came to be The Frst King of Portugal called Alphonso the First after his Grandfathers Name For being bred up in Military Discipline by his Father he prosecuted his 〈◊〉 against the Moors and all the Kings his Neighbours The Count of Trastamarense despising his Youth Married his Mother Teresia upon which there fell Wars between them but Alphonso behaved himself so well that he forced the Count to give him his Sister Uracca to Wife with an addition of Lands for her Dower He then made War with his Grandfather Alphonso the Sixth King of Castile and took him Prisoner but upon his Release he had conferred on him the Title of Duke of Portugal After that he turned his Forces against the Saracens and took from them Leirida and Torre da Ova and several other places Whereupon Ismaurus King of the Moores with four other Kings â—â—s Neighbours invaded Duke Alphonso with 400000 Men but were by him utterly Overthrown and Discomfited up on which memorable Battel he placed the five Escutchions which are now born in the Arms of Portugal in remembrance of the Overthorow of those five Moorish Kings His Souldiers grown proud with this Success thinking the Title of Duke too low for his great Merit saluted him by the Name of King which he accepting of the Estates of the People and all the Nobility and Gentry being Convocated in the City of Lamego and in the Church of Saint Almacave they conferred on him the Grown and Scepter and other Ensigns of Royalty by the hands of the Archbishop of Braga and confirmed by the Popes Letters they with joynt consent made him then King And at the same time they made several Fundamental Laws as a mutual Obligation between the King and his People Among the rest were 1. That Alphonso should be their King and his Children and Childrens Children after him for ever 2. That the Eldest Son should succeed but if he dye before his Father the next Brother should succeed 3. That if the King should dye without Issue having a Brother he should succeed but not his Sons without the consent of the Estates 4. That if the King should have only Daughters the Eldest should succeed after her Father upon condition she be Married to a Native of the Kingdom and that he be a Nobleman who should not have the Power to take the Name of King
Tenderness towards her which did extraordinarily surprise every Body Nevertheless the Infante is not to be accused of it but the King only or rather his Favourites After that the Queen had taken her place under a Canopy all those about her came to kiss her Hand some of them being sensibly touched with her Retreat and the other feigning to be so As for the King he returned that Night on Horse-back with a great deal of Gaity approaching the Litters and Coaches which he met speaking to the Ladies dishonest and licentious Speeches which let the People know that he had accompanied the Queen rather to Secure her Person than to do her Honour and that his Favourites had taken these Precautions for fear the People should Mutiny And indeed although she had Retired voluntarily yet every one was perswaded she was a Prisoner for Sir Richard Fanshaw the English Embassador before he returned for London the Marquess of Sande who was going to conclude the Marriage between the King and the most Serene Marie Frances Isabelle de Savoy Dutchess de Aumel and Princess de Nemoars and Mounsieur Fouche Envoy of the Duke of Vendosme did not dare to go see her without the permission of the King As the Presence of the Queen did a little restrain the King assoon as she was Retired he took no more regard to his Carriage He had first made two Troops one of Foot the other of Horse which he called his high and low Watchmen which were composed of the most wicked Persons of the Realm which passed with him for the most brave With these Troops he went out every Night and set upon indifferently all those they met the Peril being equal for the King as for them because they would not have him to be known amongst them he very freely exposed himself with the rest Those who accompanied him ordinarily carried their Swords without Scabbards that they might be the more ready to execute his Orders and that they might the better Surprise the People they found in the Dark they blacked them lest their Glittering should discover their Intentions Those who brought theirs back the most Bloody received the greatest praises from the King The Watch which made the Round in the City were not exempt from the Assaults of these People which troubled the whole Tranquility of the City and the more for the Judges durst not make Search after those who were Culpable Nay they were forced having for this Business drawn so much Hatred on themselves not only to abstain for a long time from the Execution of their Charges but also to hide the very Marks of their Magistracy The King being perswaded one Day that the Marquess de Fontes his great Chamberlain had offended him he sought all about to kill him but not finding him any where he gave order to his Braves to do it They having met him in his Litter shot thorow it in several places with their Musquets the marks they found in divers places shewed the danger he had been in Another time he made them fall upon the Coach of the Count of Ericeira where were with him his Wife his Daughter and his Brother but it was without effect because they to whom he had given the execution of that Commission had no mind to execute it One of his Diversions was to go in the Night to the Gibbet to see those that were executed and having taken them down to observe what wry mouths they made when they expired The Night on which every year they made a solemn Procession from our Lady de Grace to Saint Roch and in which they represented the Passion the King was resolved to go thither in his Coach with his Braves Some of his Gentlemen indeavoured to divert him from it telling him the Place and the Ceremony would render the Action too remarkable but he despised this Advice He went thither and ordered two of his Braves to box some of the men as they passed along with their Wives but they did but justle them the King observing they did not follow his Orders commanded them so often that one of them drew his Sword to fall upon them they did the like to defend themselves Assoon as the King saw that desiring no better he went out of his Coach his presence put all into disorder and so much troubled the Procession that it was broken and the sacred Images which represented the Passion flung down This Hurly burly being appeased the King perceiving that he wanted a pair of his Pistols and thinking it a point of dishonour to leave his Arms behind him gave order they should search among the Croud for them and in the Confusion of the people but his Braves demanding briskly the news of them of the first they incountred the Combat was renewed and the people were driven tumultuously as far as the Gate of the Court belonging to the Marquess de Nisa and even into his Hall if the Noblemen who were within had not opposed them because the King was present who at last retired himself leaving very many wounded This Action which was against all Humane and Divine Laws cast all the Court into an extraordinary consternation The night following Pedro Severim Norogna Secretary of the Grants passing under the Vaut called the Golden Arch incountring the Kings Litter which was invironed with his low Patrovils he prayed them to make him way a little but these people being thereat offended they fell upon him and beat him off his horse in such a manner that they left him mortally wounded As this was not far from the Palace the Count de Castlemelhor hearing the noise ran thither where he found him wounded and in so ill a condition that he was not able to be carried to his House so that he was fain to be put into one of the Chambers of the Kings Apartment where he died within a few days after The King was so little concerned at it that instead of chastising these murtherers he hindred any from informing against them About this time there appeared a Comet the King having heard say that it presaged the death of Kings or a change in their States he got above in his Tarrass and there used to it a thousand injurious speeches and called it a thousand infamous names and shot off his Pistols at it His Favourites knew not any better Remedy for this passion of his than to assure him he was a greater King than his Father or any of his Predecessors His Debauches kept the same pace with his Emportments for he did not only haunt the Houses of Women of ill Life but they brought them also to an House in the Country neer to Alcantara and his Favourites humoured this Inclination in him thereby to endeavour to dissipate the Report which ran of his inability But when they saw this would not sufficiently convince the people they thought of a thing in the mean time which deceived very many persons They bred up in the
circumstances in this business worthy of examination that we demand permission of your Majesty before we enter upon this examination to recommend it and to cause it to be recommended to God that he may be pleased to guide us according to those pious intentions which shall be for the universal good of the State and for the conservation of your Majesty whom we pray the same God to keep and to whom we all wish long and happy Years The Queen sent into France to give notice of the estate of Affairs by Monsicur Verjus Envoy in the Court of Portugal on the part of the Princes of the House of Vendosme a Gentleman very much esteemed for his Worth and for his rare Accomplishments So soon as this Process was begun to be framed and the King's inability became to be publickly talk'd on and of which no body doubted the people began to wish that the Infante might Espouse the Queen And this desire was grounded vpon very many Reasons but chiefly on the Virtue and the prudent Conduct of this Princess which had gained her the Esteem of all the People And moreover this Marriage was not without example since that in Poland John Casimir had succeeded to the Crown and to the Wife of Sigismond Casimir his Brother and the City of Lisbon heretofore desired that the Queen Dona Eleanor Widdow of the King Don Emanuel should be Married to King Joh. the 13 th his Son so that after the dissolution of the Marriage of the King and Queen there might be a Marriage between the Infante and the same Queen Monsieur Verjus having made known the Estate of this Affair to Monsieur the Cardinal of Vendosm â—ogat in France for Clement the 9 th he obtained a Dispensation for the Prince Don Pedro and the Queen in case the first Marriage was adjudged null Although the King had knowledg of all these Negotiations they were not able to make him consider with himself But on the contrary he acted and spake with so much indiscretion that there was no body who did not believe they ought to employ these last remedies against his ill Conduct This so urgent a necessity obliged the Councellors of Estate the Nobility and People of Lisbon to conjure the Infante that he would take upon him the Regency because the Kingdom was in War and full of Troubles the King incapable to govern and the Queen retired into a Nunnery and therefore there was great reason to substitute the Infante in the place of the King The Common Council of the City and of the Four and twenty having sent their Deputies to the Infante to demand of him permission to proclaim him Regent in the Palace and if he would not yield to it they would do it against his mind he answered them that they should deliberate whether it would be convenient they should accompany him to the Palace The Marquess of Cascars thrust on by his Zeal and his Age went the next morning to the King when he was in his Antichamber the Grooms of the Wardrobe told him he was yet in Bed but approaching to him told him it was time for him to awake and if he didnot leave that Lethargy out of which he had awaked him he would in a very little time lose a Kingdom which he had already ruined by his negligence and incapacity that it were better to do that of his own motion which he would be made to do by force That he should send to seek for the Infante his Brother and to put into his hands the Government which was the only way he had to conserve the Crown This Remonstrance was immediately followed by that of the Counsellors of State who made theirs publickly to him and represented to him that after he had left the Government of the State to his Favourites who had ruin'd it he at present had abandoned it altogether there being none that would intermeddle with it unless he himself would act in it But he was nothing moved neither with the one nor the other which obliged the Duke de Cadaval to press the Infante on the part of the Counsellors of State to go to the Palace to begin his Regency Novemb. 23. 1667 the Infante accompanied with the Common Council of the City the Chamber of the Four and Twenty the Nobility and an innumerable company of people entred into the Gallery of the Palace and from thence he entred with the Counsellors of State into the Antichamber of the King where after a short Conference had together they Arrested the King in his Chamber by making fast the doors without touching him any other way The Infante presently named for Secretary of State Dr. Pedro Vieira de Sylva who had been Secretary to the King Don John and to the Queen Mother who having taken his place the Motives of this change were read and approv'd of in the first Assembly of the Council of State The next thing agitated was in what place they should put the King and after what manner he should be served It was then concluded he should be kept in his Apartment and serv'd by those persons who should be most agreeable to him and that he should want nothing either for his necessity or pleasure or the Dignity of his Character But he treated with so much cruelty those who serv'd him that divers Gentlemen came to excuse themselves from the Employment But whilst the Infante was yet in the Council of State Antonio Cavide brought to him this which was wrote in his own hand and signed by the King Our Lord the King having regard to the Estate in which now the Kingdom is and to what hath been represented to him by his Ministers and also to divers other things and reasons of his own proper motion and by his Absolute and Royal Authority and for the advantage of his Realm doth dismiss himself and resign in favour of the Infante that he may possess the Realms in the same manner as he did and his Legitimate Descendants after him declaring that of all the Revenue belonging to his Crown he reserves to himself two hundred and seventy thousand Livres of yearly Rent of which he may also dispose for ten years after his death and moreover he doth reserve to himself the House at Bragansa with all its dependances In the Faith of which and in assurance that what his Majesty hath Ordained shall be executed and observed he hath enjoyned me to draw up this present Act which he hath signed Antony Cavide done at Lisbon this 23d November 1667. The King The Infant having granted to the King all that he demanded they expedited the Dispatches necessary for it but he would not accept the Crown of which the King would have made a Cession As they had judg'd it convenient that the King should not go out of the Palace the Infante resolved to stay there also with those Councellors of State and a great part of the Nobility and People who would not
leave him The King as he lay in his Bed sent to John dos Caes to have a care of his Dogs which was his ordinary employ and which griev'd him in such sort that he could not refrain from Tears We have reported this though but little considerable that you may thereby judge the better of the Spirit of the King and whether he was capable to govern the State When the Infante had made known to all the Realm that which had hapned he signed the Letters which were writ in the King's Name to call together the States on the first of January And because the Act which the King since he was arrested had sent to the Infante gave him power to take upon him the Quality of King which the greatest part of the Nobles and of the People ardently wish'd he would do he order'd by this Decree that they should examine the Cession which the King had made Don Rodrigo de Meneses Gentleman of my Chamber and Master of my Horse Makes known upon my part to Pedro Fernandes Monteiro Councellor of Parliament to Martin Alphonso de Mello Deputy of the Council of Conscience to Joseph Pinhero Councellor of the Finances to Lewis Fernandes Teixeira Judge of the Pleas of the Crown to John Lamprea de Vargas one of the Quarter Provosts and to John de Roxas de Osevedo my Secretary That I desire that they will assemble themselves in the Chamber which Don Rodrique possesses in the Palace to the end that they may let me know after they have made serious reflexions upon the Estate in which they find the King my Lord and the Affairs of these Realms if I ought to demand the Convocation of the States and if that after their Assemblies shall be ended I should continue the Government with the Title of Curator of his Majesty and that of Regent of this Realm which are those which I have taken at this present or whether I ought to consent that they give me that of King with all the Prerogatives that accompany it And I also desire to know if I shall make use of the Renunciation that his Majesty hath made in my favour a little after he was arrested of the Right which he hath to the Crown or of that which they have given me through his incapacity of Governing himself Considering that though I have accepted the Government of these Realms it is not through any Ambition nor Covetousness nor for any End which respects my self but only for the Conservation of the State and to satisfie the desires which the Portugals have incessantly made to me Let them put their Opinions in this Business in writing and I declare to them that I shall follow the greatest number From Lisbon 10 Jan. 1668. The Infante These Ministers assembled themselves according to the Infante's Order and some days after they wrote their Conclusion When it was read in the Presence of the Infante of his Gentlemen and some other Persons of Quality whom he had most Confidence in they found that the greatest part of the Voices were That he should not make use of the Renunciation and that he should not take upon him the Title nor the Quality of King which gave him a very great Contentment because this Conclusion was according to his Desires and moreover this delivered him from the Importunities which he suffer'd under every day upon this Subject The Procurators of the Chapters and those of the Greater and Lesser Cities of the Realm being arrived the three Estates assembled themselves in the Great Hall of the Guards where the Infante was solemnly declared Prince by a publick and Authentick Act conceived in these Terms We Swear and Declare upon the Holy Evangelists which we touch with our Hands That we do acknowledge and receive for our true and natural Prince and Lord the most High and most Excellent Prince Don Pedro the Legitimate Son of the King Don John the Fourth and the Queen Dona Louysa his Wife and Brother to the most Great and most Puissant King Don Alphonso the sixth our Lord his True and Natural Successor to these Realms and as his true and natural Subjects and Vassals as we are we render him Faith and Homage and promise him That his Majesty hapning to die without Legitimate Children we will acknowledge and receive him for our True and Natural King and Soveraign of the Realms of Portugal and the Algarves on this side and beyond the Sea Lord of Guinny and of the Countries conquer'd by our Navigations through the Commerce of Ethiopia Arabia Persia and the Indies c. And that we will obey thorowly and wholly all his Orders and Judgements Soveraign and others making for him War and entertaining Peace with his Allies and that we will not obey any other King nor acknowledge any other than Him And all this which is above said we swear and protest to God and to this Holy Cross and to the Holy Evangelists upon which we lay our hands we will observe and keep fully and wholly and in sign of our Obedience and of our Acknowledgement of this Royal Soveraignty we Kiss the Hand of his Highness here present After this Oath had been made to the Prince every one of the three Estates began to assemble themselves in particular That of the Nobles in the Colledg of St. Roch that of the Commons in the Covent of the Religious of the Order of St. Francis and that of the Clergy in the Covent of St. Dominick The first day of their Assembling the Prince sent to each of the States the substance of this Act with the Dismission of the King I desire that you may see in the Assembly of the People the dismission of the King where'tis inserted and that it should be examined by you as well what hath been pass'd when I took upon me the Government as the Reasons that mov'd me to do it and to take upon me the Quality of Curator of my Lord the King and that of Regent of these Realms by vertue of which I have caused his Royal Person to be arrested And because these two things might be justified by this Act I pray this Assembly to approve them and to Declare whether I shall continue the Government with this Title or whether you think good that I should take any other and in that Case what it ought to be If your Conclusion be found conformable to that of the other Assemblies as I hope it will I shall after that swear to maintain the Laws and the Priviledges of the Realm in the accustomed manner after which also you shall make to me an Oath of Fidelity and Obedience during the time I shall have the Government The Body of the Nobless is composed of Thirty Great Lords Councellors of the King Lords of Castles Lands and Territories the chiefest of their Rank That of the People is of Two Procurators or Burgesses from every City of the Realm who have a deliberative Voice which they call definitive
till he had a Son Born nor should wear a Crown on his Head nor take the Right-hand of his Wife 5. That it should be a binding Law for ever among the Portugals That the Crown might not descend to Forreigners if the Kings Eldest Daughter should Marry a Forreign Prince she should be be excluded from her right of Succession for that they would not have the Kingdom which they had obtained by their own Valour go out of the Race of the Portugals First Thus Alphonso the First obtained the Crown of the Kingdom of Porugal and within a while he added to his rown by Conquest after a five months iege the Rich and Populous City of Lisbon which ever since became the Capital City of his Kingdom and Place of Residence for him and his Successors He made divers other Acquists to the enlargment of his Dominions and being 90 years of Age in the year 1185 he Died leaving behind him Sancho his Son who succeeded in his Kingdom and two Daughters Uracca married to Ferdinand King of Leon and Therasia by some called Matiida Married to Philip the first Earl of Flanders These he had with Henry who dyed young by a second Wife for he had no Issue by Uracca the Daughter of Count Trastamarense Mafalda Sister to Amadeo Earl of Morenna Secondly Sancho the First and Second King of Portugal Son of Alphonso his only Legitimate Son that he had living born at Conimbra the 12th of November 1154 Succeeded his Father being Crowned the 12th of December 1185 three dayes after his Fathers Death He applyed himself much to the Setling of his Kingdom and to Tillage and Planting his Country therefore called the King of Husbandmen He by help of some Christian Souldiers put into Lisbon in their Voyage to the Holy Land Invaded Algarve and took the Chief City Sylva although he did not very long enjoy his Conquest but was driven thence by the Moors and had like to have lost his Kingdom of Portugal being furiously assaulted by the Moores He took to Wife the Daughter of Raymond Berengurio Count of Brachinona called Aldonsa by her he had 8 Children 3 Sons and 5 Daughters The Sons were Alphonso who succeeded in his Kingdom Ferdinand a Man of great Virtue and Parts Married to Joanna Countess of Flanders and Pietro Count of Irgelense The Daughters were Therasia Married to Alphonso King of Leon Mafalda to Henry the first King of Castile both after their Marriages turning Nuns Sancha became a Nun of the Order of Saint Francis who lived about this time Biancha and Beringilla who dyed young This King at 57 years of Age and in the 26th of his Reign dyed being accounted for his Virtue and Goodness among the best of the Portugal Kings Thirdly His Son Alphonso the second succeeded Born at Conimbra 1185 was about 27 years Old when Crowned King between whom and his Brothers and Sisters there were great Jarrs He was a Man of an high and very willful Spirit and in his latter dayes grew so unweldy and fat that he could not prosecute the Wars He Married Uracca the Daughter of Alphonso the Eighth King of Castile and Elenor Daughter of Henry King of England by her he had divers Children First Sancho who succeâ—ed him in his Kingdom Alphonso by Right of his Wife Duke of Bologna afterward also King of Portugal Ferdin and Count of Serpia Vincenzo dyed young Leonora a Daughter Married to the King of Dacia Alphonso in the 48 year of his Age and 21th of his Reign dyed Anno 1233. Fourthly Sancho the Second succeeded his Father and was Born in Conimbra the first of September 1207 being very sickly and unlikely to live but came to the Crown at twenty six years of Age spending most of his time in Baths and Hot-houses for the recovery of his Health He Married with Messa Lopez the Widdow of Alvaro de Castro She was accounted but an inferiour Match tho of Blood Royal being made by his Favourites who with the Assistance of the Queen by reason of the Kings weakness and indisposition made a Prey of the People and mightily oppressed them so that they were enforced to call to their Assistance Alphonsus the Kings Brother who coming from Bologna possest himself of the Kingdom Sancho being forced to retire to Toledo where addicting himself wholly to Devotion he dyed in the Year 1245 at 39 Years of his Age having reigned 13 Years Fifthly Alphonso the Third who succeeded his Brother was Born in Conimbra May 5. 1210 Educated with great Care and Diligence by his Father because of his Brothers Sickness He married Matilda Countess of Bologne Widow of Philipo Crispo and Daughter of Philipo Augustino He was a Man of great Parts but they were over shadowed by his Lusts For after he was setled in the Kingdom he repudiated his Wife and contracted a wicked Marriage with Beatrice the illegitimate Daughter of Alphonso the King of Castile and his Concubine Maria Villenia And notwithstanding the Threats of the Pope Alexander the 4th at the Tears and Complaints of the Dutchess of Bologne he caused her to be Crowned Queen and confirmed his Succession by the Birth of three Children Dionysio his eldest Son succeeded in the Kingdom Alphonso who married the Daughter of Prince Emanuel Son of Ferdinand King of Castile and Ferdinand who dyed young He very much infested the Moors increasing his Kingdom with the full Conquest of Algarve with much Glory and Reputation He died at Lisbon Anno 1279 at 69 Years of Age and 32 of his Reign accompting from his Brothers Death Sixthly Dionysius or Dennys his Son succeeded his Father He was born on the day of the Great Areopagite for whose sake they imposed that Name Anno 1260. He was a great and famous Poet. He was about 20 Years of Age when he came to the Crown and would by no means admit his Mother to the Administration of the Government He never oppressed his Subjects neither with Tribute or Taxes yet left to his Heir a full Exchequer He made many good Laws which are to this day observed The Order of the Templers was extinct in his Time and he first instituted the University at Conimbra He took to Wife Elizabeth Daughter to Peter King of Arragon who was most remarkable for her Sanctity by her he had Alphonso who succeeded him and Constance who was married to Ferdinand King of Castile After he had reigned 46 Years he dyed at the Age of 84 Years Anno 1235. Seventhly Alphonso the Fourth and the Seventh King of Portugal succeeded his Father and was born in Conimbria Anno 1290. He married with Beatrice Daughter to Sancho the Fourth King of Castile A Man given to hunting and disports to the neglect of his People but being at last made sensible of it he took the Reins into his hands and proved a good King About the Year 1340 Alboacen the potent Miramamolin of Morocco and Granada set himself against all Spain with an Army of 470000 Men but
Dispatches to have given him notice of what had passed But that Door according to custome being fast he went by the Clock-House which was upon the Tarrass where having found the Duke he highly condemned his Enterprise telling him he had lost all respect to the King whose Palace ought to be a sacred and inviolable Sanctuary and went so far as to give the Duke very outragious words But seeing they had seized on both Passages he returned the same way he came and went to try if he could get in through the Queens Apartment but he found that also fast so that with all the diligence he had it was impossible for him to speak with the King An Ax being brought the Duke told Conti that if they were compelled to break open the Kings Doors there was no hopes of Life for him but if he would open them they would do him no hurt at this Threat he rendred himself and as he came out of the Chamber with a grave Countenance the Grand Provost arrested him who also presently after took Baltasar Rodrigue de Matos Groom of the Wardrobe who exercised the Charge of Lievtenant of the Guard for his Father in Law Diego Botelho de Sande and led them both through the Tarass to the place where they build Ships and there they made them enter a Shallop to be carried aboard a Ship that was ready to set sail for Brasil John de Matos and Francisco Bernardo Taveira were also arrested the first had been a Groom in the Kings Stable the second a Clerk to the Covent of Hermites of St. Augustin both of them having gotten into the favour of the King the one as a brave and skilful Runner at the Bulls the other for serving him in his secret pleasures John de Conti was also arrested Of these five Prisoners who according to the order they had given should have been carried to Brazile only Antony de Conti John de Conti and John de Mattos went for Baltasar Rodrigue de Matos was brought again to Shore because they found he was not so guilty and as for Francisco Bernardo Taviera he flung himself from his Prison upon the Rocks where he was taken up so very much bruised that it was impossible to Embarque him The Queen who waited with great Impatience the news of this Execution which she had no sooner heard but sent word to the Councellors of State to the Tribunals to the Councel of the City and the Chamber of the Four and Twenty to the Grandees and Gentry who were before Assembled that they should come into the Chamber where the King and she were to understand what follows which Speech was made to them by the Secretary of State The Obedience the Queen our Princess owed to the Orders of the deceased King the kindness she had for the King her Son and the desire she had to be a Comfort to her Subjects in acknowledging those great Services which she had received from them were the Motives that obliged her maugre the great need she had of Repose to take upon her the Government If she hath not acquitted her self to the content of all it is not that she hath spar'd her self nor that she has shun'd any Cares or Troubles This Princess extremely touch'd with the Disorders which trouble this Monarchy and with the Complaints of the People did believe it was most fitting to call together to this Place in this absence of the States General all those Tribunals which represent them to the end she might declare to the King in their presence the Remedy which she hath endeavoured to bring to them and to receive from them what Counsel she shall need therein if what she hath done for the good of the State be not sufficient assuring them that she has no other intention then to follow their Counsels All the People complain that Justice which is a thing that Kings ought to love more than their Eyes is not Administred As the Queen does not alone Administer it but there are Judges who take Cognisance of Affairs Civil and Criminal she hath resolved to Examine all the Tribunals to the end if any one among them hath given Cause of Complaint to the People they might receive the Chastisement their Fault merits and the People the Satisfaction they ought to have It is a very great Regret to the Queen our Soveraign that there is heard murmuring among the People who complain that the King our Lord although he be of Age to take into his own Hand the Government of the State of which the Queen so vehemently desires to Discharge her self doth not apply himself however to any Affairs necessary thereto but on the contrary lets himself be carried away by his Courage in which Exercises of Violence he hath Exposed his Life so many times to evident Dangers hazarding to leave the Kingdom without a Successor instead of giving himself wholly to other Exercises which should draw upon him the Blessings of Heaven the Love of his Subjects and the Esteem of Strangers And since we are all here present the Queen would have us that we Conjure the King to think of himself and of us which is the true way to render a King as commendable by his Merits as he was before by his Birth He owes this Consolation to his Subjects who are assuredly the best Subjects that ever King had since without thinking of the loss of their Children which are for the most part Dead in the War nor of their Goods which are almost all consumed they yet expose continually all that remains with their Lives to conserve the name of Faithful Subjects to his Majesty Sir By the the acknowledgment which your Majesty owes to God who hath made you so Great by that which you owe to the comfort of so good a Mother and to the services of your good Subjects who cast themselves at your feet with Hearts full of Grief to see your Soul subjected to so many Passions and burning with desire to see it delivered from that Tyranny they do Conjure you to quit the way you are in and deliver us by your Royal Bounty from those extreme Fears into which the Love that we have for your Person doth continually cast us Your Majesty Sir might better employ your Courage your Generosity and your other Virtues in imitating as it is with great Passion desired the Example of that Great King the Author of our Liberty whose Remembrance will be eternally engraven in our Hearts May then your Majesty suffer us to make you these Remonstrances which we hope may be no ways offensive although they may not be altogether conformable to your Thoughts since there may be occasions in which it is to be unfaithful to Princes to have Complacency for them Besides our Nation as you know is naturally an Enemy to Flattery although we have already Sworn Sir we Sware again and we shall Sware a Thousand times humbly prostrate at the Feet of your Majesty
her Majesty As to the poverty which she complain'd of he was not at all the cause that business not concerning him that her Majesty had a Revenue and according to that she should regulate her Expences that being the method of Consigning was a new thing they would in the beginning find some difficulty He being netled at what the Queen said about the Consignation and of the Opulency and great Riches of some Persons he very imprudently said aloud that She was deceived by some about her who should communicate to her things of Importance but having none they tell her nothing but trifles which they ought not to do and for that the Court was full of unreasonable Pretenders they might fear they would implore the protection of her Majesty As for the Return of the Duke he was not able to render any account because that was an Affair that the King himself had the Conduct of That though they had not the art of Pleasing they had that which was sufficient to make them render to the utmost all those Respects and Services they were capable of That they had treated her with so much Veneration as no Queen ever had the Authority that she had and she was abused by whoever told her the contrary and that she ought to be so far from believing such discourses as rather to punish those who should make them But when he answered to the Queen's Complaint that they had reduced her to slavery leaving speaking French which he had done hitherto he said in passion in his own natural Language That he was assured her Majesty had Flatterers about her by whom she was deceived she having no cause to complain of the Portugals by whom she was respected even to Veneration The Queen replied that she knew very well how to distinguish the Portugals for as there were some of whom she had cause to complain so there were others from whom she received great Consolation and that there were not above three or four with whom she was dissatisfied That she should willingly take direction about her Revenue without considering that some persons who possess a part of the Apanage of the Queens of Portugal and who at present draw more profit from their Charges did not do this in the preceding time of other Queens and that of late it was a crime to speak to her her esteem being the cause of persecutions That by this she did best know the intentions of those who treated her ill That she knew how to discern between the good and the ill that even as she never requested any thing contrary to Justice so she never opposed those favours which they had a mind to obtain for any After this the Queen commanding the Secretary to speak softly he answered that if he spoke aloud it was that all the World might hear upon which the Queen bid him hold his peace and retire which he not doing the Queen saw it was not for her Dignity to hearken to him any longer and arose up to go away but he took her by the Robe to stay her upon which she turning towards her Ladies and Maids of Honour and to many other persons who were in the Anti-Chamber sent forth a Cry with all her force and said that this was an unknown thing and without Example no King ever treating his Subjects after such a sort the King coming she spake to him of it who promised that for her satisfaction the Secretary should be punished Although the Queen as we have said had commanded the Secretary of State to shew those Papers concerning the Count de St. Croix to two of the Councellors of the Parliament only they were seen by the whole Parliament and afterwards carried to the Council of State not contented with this they would have perswaded her to have spoken of it to the Favourite but she thought that a baseness unworthy of her self Besides it was not for want of that they refused her the Consignation which she demanded for these Favourites were absolute Masters of all Affairs The Queen seeing that the King broke his word which he had given her to chastise the Secretary was troubled at it to as high a degree as such injustice did deserve The Common Councel of the City of Lisbon had a Custom every year to Celebrate the Feast of St. Anthony their Patron by giving the People the divertisement of running at the Bulls The Queen desiring to dissemble that trouble which she could not hinder from appearing if she should assist at that Spectacle thought it better to deprive her self of that divertisement The first Courses were already past and they were preparing to bring forth other Bulls when word was brought that the Queen would not come For this cause they feign'd an indisposition in the King to put off the Course till the morrow The next day and the third day the Queen not being willing to be there they were fain to continue the Kings feign'd indisposition The next day the Queen not being able any longer to endure that her ill treatment by the Secretary should pass unpunished ask'd of the King that he might absent himself from Court with so much briskness that he was not able to refuse her This Business being canvassed in the Council of State it was there resolved the Secretary should absent himself the Court for some days after which he should be recalled By this means things were in Peace for a little time they flattering themselves with sweet hopes for the time to come if Heaven had not chang'd these seeming fair dispositions For on the second of September 1667 the Count de Castelmelhor doubled the Guards within and without the Palace ordering the Cavalry to be lodged neer and placing the Braves or Foot Patrovils in the Royal Garden making all the Officers who were there that night arm themselves and attend neer the Person of the King and posting his Friends from the King's Apartment even to the Court of the Chappel he so well ordered and disposed all things that the Count de Villa Flor and Lewis de Mendoca should no sooner alight to enter the Palace but they might be fallen upon and destroyed The King had consented to all this upon the account they had given him that 〈◊〉 Infante had resolved to massacre the Count de Castelmelhor in the midst of the Palace The Infante having heard this news about nine of the Clock that morning â—â—dged himself lost if he destroyed not the Count. To seek for an occasion of complaining to the King he found it â—â—o difficult to be done the Gates of the Palace being all fast but if he should come to speak with the King what assurance had he that the King would not use violence to his person or that he would have his ears open to his complaints He considered on the other side if he should any longer endure the injustice of these Favourites his Honour was likely to suffer thereby and it might be thought
and that of the Ecclesiasticks of the Bishops and Prelates of the Realm And in default of those who fail at such a time of the Procurators or Deputies of their Chapters The Decree of the Prince was read in all the Chambers of the States In that of the People almost all the Deputies declar'd him King in that of the Nobility and that of the Ecclesiasticks there was nothing Concluded But when these two last were assembled a second time after they had examined the Conclusion of the People which had been carried to them by the Marquess of Marialva and Pedro Monteiro Fernandes Proctors for the City of Lisbon they approved of the Regency in the Chamber Ecclesiastick conformable to the Decree and they demurred upon it in that of the Nobility for that they would consider it and it being not only an Affair of State but also a Matter of Right they would first of all hear the Opinion of those that were better vers'd in the Law before they should be capable to resolve That which was carried to the other two Chambers by the Duke of Cadaval and the Count de Prado were both cast out but it being done at first tumultuarily by that of the People they presently proclaimed Don Pedro King The Prince having understood the Conclusion of the Assembly of the Nobles and that the Learned Persons who were to be Consulted with about it were Father Nuno de Acunha the Jesuit Father Valerius de St. Raymond of the Order of the Preaching Friars Father Francis Ferdinand Sueiro of the same Order Friar John de Mello of the Order of the Hermites of St. Augustin Provincial of that Order John Vello Baretto Grand Chancellor of the Realm Emanuel Delgado de Matos Doctor in Law Lewis Gomes de Basto and Duarte vas a'orta Osorio Councellors of the Finances and Christopher Pinto de Paira He sent to tell them by Francisco Correa de la Cerda his Tutor That it was not his Intention to be King but only that he might give some Comfort to the Realm which he did believe he might do with the Title only of Regent that they should give their Opinions upon that Question with all the Liberty that an Affair of that Consequence demanded All but Emanuel de Matos and Duarte d'Osorio who could not be there to give their Opinions because they were sick and the Great Chancellor whose Opinion was that Don Pedro should be declared King gave their Opinions that he should let alone the Title of King to Don Alphonso so long as he should Live After that these Learned Persons had declared their Opinions the three Estates deliberated apart and it was Concluded in the Assembly of the Ecclesiasticks in that of the Nobility that the Prince should not take the Quality of King But that of the People Concluded that he should take it not only for the Honour of it but also for the Security of the State The Prince was equally satisfied with them Both and witnessed to them his Acknowledgments But the Answer of the Prince was not enough to make them silent who adjudg'd to him the Crown and they maintained their Sentiments so much and opposed that of the others with so strong Reasons that the Question became very difficult to be decided by those who should Judg of it without passion The Contestation pass'd so far that the Prince fearing lest they should Declare him King by a publick Proclamation was forced to hinder the acclamations of the People when he went abroad to imploy all the Persons of Authority who accompanied him Most Princes use to solicit the People to be Kings but this Prince on the contrary solicits them that he may not be one which is a moderation which made him be yet more worthy of that Title In the beginning of the Summer 1667. there was made a League offensive and defensive between France and Portugal against Spain The French by their means assuring them of a diversion in their Favour enterprising a War against Spain in Flanders whose progress was very surprising and it had been very advantagious if the Prince's Allies to either Crown had not put a stop to the swiftness of their Arms. Monsieur de St. Romain Abbot of Corbigny who had been Envoy in Portugal for the negotiating that League having had Order to let the Prince Regent know of the Accommodation that was proposed and that he should send some one to assist therein he consulted his Ministers of State what was best to be done in this Business They were ready to name for that purpose a Plenipotentiary when the Count d'Olivares who had been Prisoner ever since the Battle of Canal in the Castle of St. George gave notice That he had power from the Queen of Spain to accommodate the differences between Spain and Portugal This was a great Obstacle to that Negotiation of the League which was concluded betwixt Portugal and France If Monsieur de St. Romain turn'd all his thoughts to endeavour to perswade the Portugals to entertain a new Alliance against Spain the Ministers of Spain on the other side forgot nothing that might hinder it to the end not to lose so fair an occasion of making one Peace that might produce another and render the Conditions more advantagious So that having obtained by their Importunities and the new Advantages which they offer'd the Portugals so much that they brought it about that the King of England offer'd his Mediation and Edward Montague Earl of Sandwich his Embassadour Extraordinary in the Court of Spain passed thence into Portugal But as in this Incounter there was a necessity of one of these two things either to content France at the Charge of Portugal or to manage the Interests of Portugal to the prejudice of France the Portugals chose the last The consideration of their repose was more strongly pressing on their minds than any other thing and the more for that the Realm had need of rest after a disturbance of five and twenty years The Three States the Common Council of the City of Lisbon and that of the Four and Twenty made their Remonstrances to the Prince so pressing that he could not resist them He named then for to act in this Negotiation the Duke of Cadaval Vasco Lewis de Gama Marquis de Nisa the Marquesses of Gonrea and Marialva Henry de Sousa de Tavares de Sylva Count de Miranda all of them Councellours of State and Pedro Vieira de Sylva Secretary of State All these Plenipotentiaries being assembled with the Marquess d'Eliche and the Earl of Sandwich who had power one of them to make the Treaty and the other to be the Mediator after many Conferences it was at last concluded the 13 Febr. 1668 and published the 10th of March following Although this Peace so glorious for the Prince had encreased the love that the Portugals had for him yet he was not seen to grow proud with these Advantages nor would use this occasion to get the