zeal and devotion towards God yet he must needs advise him that God had placed him as King and Governor over his people that the Divine Majesty would be better pleased if he would with his prayers to the Almighty for their welfare add his care for their protection that it was a duty incumbent upon him to provide for his subjects felicity as of parents for their children whilest according to the Apostle He that does not take care for his family was worse then an infidel that for want of his superintendency the kingdom was posting into the road of destruction by reason of the ill administration of his Ministers that according to his duty he could not but advise him to free them from oppression c. These Speeches of the Arch Bishop extreamly stirred up the Kings affections to his people both because he was sensible of the great love the Arch Bishop bore him and because he knew what he had spoken was truth he therefore takes the Helm of State into his own hands calls those unjust Steward to account frees the people from their oppresses where he finds cause punishes them severely and finally makes several Laws for the good and benefit of the people whose affections he in short time so far gained that they surnamed him the Good And having thus setled his kingdom to the content of his subjects at home he next applies his minde to the aggrandising of it to which purpose in the year 1500. he fitted out a great number of ships which he divided into three Fleets sending one towards the East the second towards the West and the third towards the South to make discoveries That which steered their couse towards the East were the first Christian Fleet that ever passed the Cape of Good-Hope and found out the passage by Sea into the East-Indies that towards the West made discovery and took possession of Brazile in America that towards the South reinforced and added to their former Conquests in the kingdoms of Conga and Angola These happy discoveries thus made at the return of the fleet from the East-Indies a more potent was sent out with a convenient Land Army to take possession of some places in the Country these discomfited the great Armies of the Turks and Sultan of Egypt possessed themselves of the Island of Ormus in the Persian Gulf an Island so rich and well situated that the Arabians used to say that if the whole world were a ring that would be like the Diamond in it many other Forts and Places upon the Sea-coast they likewise subjected and fortified and returned home richly laden Thus were the riches of India which before had been brought over the vast Arabian deserts upon the backs of Camels to Grand Cairo in Egypt and from thence by Sea transported to Venice and so dispersed over these parts of the World were now brought home by Sea a longer but less chargeable and far quicker way Emanuel while his Fleets were performing these glorious services abroad governed his kingdoms in peace and prosperity at home blessed with a noble and numerous Issue to wit six sons and two daughters the sons were first Prince Iohn who succeeded him in the kingdom secondly the Infante D. Lewis thirdly the Infante D. Alfonso who was after a Cardinal Arch-Bishop of Lisbon and Abbot of Alcobaza fourthly the Infante D. Henry Cardinal and Arch-Bishop of Braga fifthly Infante D. Fernando sixthly the Infante D. Edward The daughters were first the Infante Isabella who was married to Charles the fifth that famous Emperor and King of Spain and secondly the Infante Beatrice married to Emanuel Duke of Savoy Emanuel having long governed this Nation to his great glory and renown at last in the seventy third year of his life and forty first of his Empire yielded to fate at Lisbon in or about the year 1435. and was buried in the Cathedral of that City amongst many of his Ancestors He was a Prince in whom the Divinity seem'd to have been at a strife whether his body or minde should be made more amiable for the features of his face were worthily to be admired yet his outward part could not boast more beauty then his soul could that imbellisher of man vertue I can not well say whether he was more severe or merciful but where he met with offences that he could not pardon he was always pitiful in sum he so lived and so ruled that he deservedly merited that Glorious Name of Emanuel the Good JOHN the III. Fifteenth KING of PORTVGAL JOhn the third of that Name who succeeded his father in the kingdom was born in the year 1504. and educated in the University of Conimbria in all those Sciences befitting a Prince he arrived at the Crown at the age of one and thirty years Heir as well to his fathers vertues as kingdoms He prosecuted those discoveries made by the Fleets of his father in the East and West Indies in the first of which he took and possessed many Islands and Towns his Armies encountred and overthrew the potent and formidable kings of Bengala Pegu and Siam and likewise obtained many signal Victories over the Moors of Malacca Sumatra and Molucco who were as well provided of Artillery as any Princes of Europe His Armies in West Indies had no worse success taking and fortifying divers places noâ— was fortune less favorable to him in Guiny During his fathers life-time being about the age of three and twenty years he was married to Catherine sister to Charles the fifth Emperor and King of Spain by whom he had Issue Prince Iohn who died during his reign but left behind him a son named Sebastian who succeeded this Iohn his Grand-father in the kingdom Iohn the third reigned in all eight and thirty years making many Laws for the increasing and encouragement of Traffique to the great enriching of his subjects he died in the sixty ninth year of his age and in the year of our Lord 1573. being buried in the Cathedral at Lisbon SEBASTIAN the I. Sixteenth KING of PORTVGAL SEbastian Grand-child of King Iohn the third was his successor in the kingdom which he entred into at about three and twenty years of age Scarce was he well seated in his Throne or had sat in it much above a year and a half when he was by Ambassadors from Muly Mahamet then turned out of his kingdoms of Fesse and Morocco by his Unkle Abdemelech implored to aid him in the recovery of his kingdom with promise that if by his means he could drive out Abdemelech he would freely resign to Sebastian the kingdom of Morocco and content himself with that of Fesse Ambition of glory and hopes to propagate the Christian Religion makes Sebastian readily undertake the enterprize and to that purpose makes all possible speed to levy Men and Arms he sends to Phillip the second King of Spain who promises him the assistance of ten thousand men but fails yet Sebastian not discouraged resolves with his own forces
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
other claimers whatsoever in regard of her both being born and married within the kingdom But Phillip the second King of Spain who was the eight pretender having employed all the best wits in Christendom to confute and disprove all other claimes and prove and maintain his wanted not some objections against this alledging That the successions of Crowns were to be decided by the Law of Nations not of the Empire upon which onely her jus representandi Patrem was grounded that the nearest male in degree to the late possessor ought to succeed that the Infante Don Edward being deceased before his brother Henry was King could have no right in himself and therefore could derive none to his posterity for nemâ— dat quod in se non habet that it was very unreasonable that Catharine should be less prejudiced in her self for her sex then King Phillip should be for his mother PHILLIP the II. II. III. IV. of that Name KINGS OF SPAIN And 18. 19. 20. KINGS of PORTVGAL BUt it was no Arguments could confute or annul the certain and indubitable right of the Dutchess of Braganza which was clear to the World both by her descent and by the fundamental Laws of the Nation and this King Phillip knew well and therefore though he carried on his affairs very candidly to the eyes of men and seemed unbyassed with proper Interest by offering to submit his Title to a disputation â—â—ofessing that the Laws of Portugal were more favorable to him then the Law of Castile and openly acknowledging that if he should chance to die before King Henry his eldest Son being a degree farther off would come behinde some of the pretenders of whom himself had the precedence Though I say he carried himself thus fair to the world yet he clandestinely wrought with Father Leon Henriques a Jesuite and Confessor to king Henry and Ferdinando Castillo a Dominican and of the Kings bosom Councel to endeavor by all means possible to divert all Designs in prejudice of his Claims and especially that Catherine Dutchess of Braganza might not by Henry be declared to be the next Heir apparent which he conscious of the justice of the Title was very willing to have done And whilest these two Fathers prosecuted his interest there with the old and almost doting King Henry the vigilant Phillip provided an Army in readiness with which he resolved to enter into Portugal and with his sword make good his disputable Title as soon as that old Kings death should give him the Warning piece to fall on Yet when that was given and Phillip ready to march with an Army of twenty thousand men into Portugal he had like to have been prevented for Pope Gregory the Thirteenth pretending still his right to Dispose or at least to Arbitrate all Difference concerning that Crown had sent Cardinal Riario Legat Apostolique with Order to disswade the Catholick King from raising Arms and that done to pass intâ— â—ortugal and in his Holiness name and behalf to Arbitrate the Right between all Pretenders which designs of the Popes this crafty Spanish Fox circumvented for having pre-advice of it and resolving to pursue his own intentions of assuring to himself the kingdom of Portugal and yet approve himself an obedient Son of the Church he gave order in all places where the Legat was to pass he should be most magnificently entertained so that by such sumptuous Treatments the time might be dexterously protracted and he possessed of that kingdom before the Legat arrived at Court which was accordingly done and the Legat returned thanks for his magnificent Entertainments though he was displeased at the ill success of his Negotiation But to proceed to the maner of his possessing himself of this kingdom No sooner did the News arrive at the Spanish Court of the death of King Henry but Ferdinand de Teledo Duke D' Alva was commanded with an Army of twenty thousand men to march toward Lisbon and in the Name and Right of his Catholick Majesty to make Conquest of the kingdom if he found opposition But all the appearance of opposition which he found was made by Don Antonio the Bastard Son of Lewis the Infante who having got into Lisbon in the Head of a tumultuary Rabble rather than a well-formed Army endeavored at first to make some resistance but was soon discomfited and the suburbs of Lisbon being sacked to satisfie the soldiers the City was surrendred to him whither soon after the King came and so by a mixt Title of Descent and Arms took possession of the kingdom Anno 1510. Katherine Dutchess of Braganza being enforced to surrender to him all her interest and pretensions The Nobility and People of Portugal were without doubt extreamly amazed to see themselves so suddenly surprized and made subject to a Forein Prince and especially to a Prince of that Nation against whom they had a natural Antipathy but finding themselves in a condition not able to make any resistance they thought they should gain more by submitting freely to that King than by being forced to it and therefore they made their humble submission which Phillip met as it were half way and condescended in the General Assembly of Estates to be sworn to these Articles or Capitulations following I. That the said Phillip King of Spain c. should observe all the Laws Liberties Priviledges and Customs granted to the People by the former Kings of Portugal II. That the Vice-king or Governor should be always the Son Brother Uncle or Nephew of the King or else a Native of Portugal III. That all chief Offices of the Church or State should be bestowed upon the Natives of Portugal and not upon strangers likewise the Governments of all Towns and Places IV. That all Countries now belonging to the Portugal should so continue to the comodity and benefit of the Nation V. That the Portugal Nation should be admitted to all Offices in the Kings House as well as the Castilians VI. That because the King could not conveniently be always in Portugal he should send the Prince to be bred up amongst them These Articles were shut up or concluded with a blessing upon such kings as should observe and keep them and a curse on those who should break or violate them And some Authors likewise affirm that there was another Clause added to them signifying That in case which God forbid that the King which then was or his Successors should not observe this Agreement or should procure a Dispensation for this Oath the three States of the kingdom might freely deny subjection and obedience to the King without being guilty either of Perjury or Treason Though these Articles were thus sworn to and the Cardinal Albertus Archduke of Austria son to the Emperor and Nephew to the King of Spain appointed vice-Vice-king of Portugal Phillip the second durst not inperson yet leave the kingdom for he perceived by their murmurs and visible discontents that their submission to him proceeded more out of fear then love
revolted from them to the King of Spain carrying along with him the papers of his Embassy for which according to his desert his Effigies was executed at Lisbon as a Traytors his Goods confiscated his house razed to the ground and his Children banished and degraded of nobility His brother Don Deigo de Sylâ—a who had served the King of Portugal in the quality of General at Sea was likewise upon this occasion commanded to retire to one of his houses and deprived of all publique employment After him was sent Don Henry de Susa Count of Miranda to negotiate an Accommodation with the Netherland States yet he prevailed little for the pertinacious Hollanders were still resolute in their unreasonable demands computing their losses in Brazile where they had no right to be to amount to no less then thirty millions The Spaniards in the mean time were forced to give the Portugals some respite in the summer 1659. but preparations were made to assault them with the whole power of that Monarchy in the Spring 1660. Don Iohn D' Austria being called out of Flanders to be Generalissimo of the Spanish Forces and having Orders given him in April 1660. to march directly to Merida on the Frontiers of Portugal though he went not that Summer But the Portugueses resolved not to be behind-hand with their Enemies and therefore made several in-roads into the Spanish Territories depopulating all before them which made the Spaniards to be revenged resolve to do the like to them Order was therefore given to fall into the Kingdom on all sides the Marquess of Viana Governor of Gallicia marching in that way with eight thousand Foot and eight hundred Horse and the Governor of Camara invading that part which was adjacent to his government In this condition was the Kingdom of Portugal when His Majesty Charles the Second King of England was restored to his Crowns and Kingdoms welcomed by his Subjects with all gratulatory and submissive Obedience the News of which was no sooner by advice from D. Francisco de Melo Ambassador for the King of Portugal in England conveyed to the ears of his Master but he caused all the Guns of the Town Castle and Ships in the Road to be fired and for three days and nights kept solemn and magnificent Rejoycings the Portuguese Nation as well as by this their joy at the Restoration of King Charles the Second as by their sorrow and general mourning at the Death of King Charles the â—irst expressing their great affection for the English Nation But because their joy should be somewhat for their own as well as our sakes there at the same time arrived News at Lisbon that Don Alfonso Turtudo General of the Horse on the Frontiers of Alentejo meeting with a Brigade of the Enemies Horse nigh to Badajox had fought and defeated them killed and took four hundred of them amongst whom were four Captains of Horse prisoners The Spaniards still continued their Leavies against Portugal being resolved to employ an Army of four thousand Horse and twelve thousand Foot constantly recruited about the Frontiers of Estramadura and another of three thousand Horse and ten thousand Foot about Gallicia and a third of twelve thousand men to serve as a Reserve to the two former In this manner were they resolved to assault them by Land while the Prince of Montesarchio with ten Men of VVar was appointed to coast up and down before their Ports and do them what mischief he could by Sea Thus have we deduced a Compendious Chronicle of the Kingdom of Portugal from its first original under Alfonso the First to the fourth year of the Reign of the present King Alfonso the Sixth Anno 1660. and are forced now to leave her strugling with Spain for her liberty which great Monarch by the prudent Management of Affairs by that Sage and Illustrious Queen Regent she hath hitherto been able to resist and will without doubt still be able to defend her self against him especially if the Match with England take effect as without doubt it will our Nation being like to prove a better Bulwark than the fickle French who were seldom or never constant to their Friends witness their deserting Queen Elizabeth when she waged VVar with the Spaniards as they did now the Portugals FINIS A BRIEF Cosmographical Description Of all the Dominions of PORTVGAL THat part of the Dominions of the King of Portugal which are upon the Continent of Europe contain first the kingdom of Portugal and secondly the kingdom of Algarve or Regnum Algarbiorum The kingdom of Portugal is bounded on the North with the Rivers Minio and Avia which part it from Gallicia on the South with the kingdom of Algarve on the VVest with the Atlantick Ocean and on the East with the two Castiles and Estramadura from which it is deduced by a Line drawn from Ribadonia standing on the Avia to Badayox on the Anas or Guadiana it extendeth on the Sea-coast from North to South four hundred miles the breadth of it in the broadest place is one hundred miles in the narrowest eighty the whole circumference is about eight hundred seventy nine miles in which compass it containeth fourteen hundred and sixty Parishes It was first called Lusitania from the Lusitans its chief Inhabitants and had the name of Portugal either from the Port of Cale now called Caia sometimes a rich Empory or Mart-town or more likely from the Haven of Porto a town standing on the mouth of the River Dueries where the Golls or French used to land their merchandize and so was called Portus Galliorum and by contraction Portugal This Town was given in Dower to Henry Duke of Lorain with Teresa base Daughter to Alphonso the sixth King of Castile with the Title of Earl of Portugal whose Successors coming to be Kings called all those Countries they gained from the Moors by the same name The Air of the Countrey is healthy the Countrey hilly and bare of Corn with which it is supplyed from France and other Northern parts yet that which they have is as good if not better than any Europe affords The soyl and people are in all parts not rich alike for where the soyl is richest the people are poorest not benefited by the Trade of the too-far distant Lisbon and where the soyl is poorest the people are richest helped by Traffick and Manufactures the chief of which are making Salt and Silk which they export in great abundance and where there 's want of Corn that defect is supplyed with abundance of Honey Wine Oyl Alume Fruits Fish Salt white Marble and some Mines of Silver c. The people are of a more plain simple behavior than the rest of Spain and if we may believe the Spanish Proverb neither numerous nor wise but they have found them both They have a kinde of natural Animosity if not Antipathy against the Castilians for depriving them of their native Government and Liberties although they have now recovered both They were
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
the slaughter of them for three miles together and two days after having burnt and pillaged the villages they put to sea steering their course towards Portugal But whilst they laboured with contrary winds plying to and fro at Sea Robert Earl of Essex fell in amongst them who being very young had out of the heat of Military glory hatred of the Spaniards and commiseration of Don Antonio declining the pleasures of the Court and committed himself to Sea without the knowledge and absolutely against the Queens mind in hopes by reason of the influence he had over most of the Commanders of the Land-Forces to be made their General Two days after his being joyned with them they with much trouble arrived in Penicha a town of Portugal which with the loss of some drowned in landing they became masters of the Castle being likewise immediately rendred to Don Antonio Hence the Land-forces under the Command of Sir Iohn Norris marched directly and with all possible speed towards Lisbon about Sixty miles distant Drake promising to follow with the Fleet by the way of the River Tagus The Army being arrived at Lixbon though they had before at a Councel of War determined to encamp on the East-side of the town the better to bar succours from coming out of Spain now contrary to their own resolutions sat down before St. Kathermes suburbs on the West-side where as at first they found no resistance so they found little help but what the prayers of some few disarmed men gave them who now and then cried out God save the King Antonio and indeed other help they could not afford him Albertus Archduke of Austria the Vice-Roy having before disarmed the Portugals The next day when the English weary with their long march betook themselves to their rest the Spanish Garison sallied out upon them who were at first resisted by Bret and his Companies till more coming up to their assistance forced the Spaniards to give back the valiant Earl of Essex chasing them to the very gates but the English had several Commanders of note and no small quantity of private soldiers slain In sum when they had now stayed two days before the town and perceived that the Portugals notwithstanding the great brags and fair promises of Don Antonio did not at all incline to a Revolt and that no advice came of any assistance from Muley Hamet King of Morocco but that instead of them fresh Forces flocked in great numbers from the East parrs into the City whilst their Army was lessened by a violent sickness their Provision and Amunition failed and their great Guns for battery arrived not they raysed their siege and took their way towards Cascais a small town at the mouth of the river the Spaniards following them at a distance but not ever daring to fall into their Rear The town of Cascais they took blew up the Castle and so notwithstanding all the intreaties of Don Antonio set Sayl for England firing in their way Vigo a Port-town deserted of its inhabitants This and some small bustles with one or two Counterfeit Sebastians not worth mentioning were the onely storms that hapned in this kingdom during the reigns of Phillip the second and third for they keeping their words in most things though some of their priviledges they infringed had almost brought the people to a willingness to be their slaves whereas Phillip the fourth committing the whole charge of the Government to Count Olivares who though without doubt an able Statesman yet would seem to have a way in policy by himself which no body else could understand the reasons of lost the whole kingdom and all its Territories For such was the new rigorous ways which he would prescribe in the Government of Catalonia and Portugal both people very tender of their Priviledges the least breach of which should have been seconded by a potent Force to have suppressed them in case they should attempt an Insurrection when in stead of having such power in readiness the Catalonians had rather opportunity given them to rebel and spurs to provoke them to make use of the opportunity for some soldiers being scatteringly quartered among them but too few to curb them they looked upon that as a greater intrenchment upon their Liberties than any before and a design utterly to enslave them wherefore converting their patience into fury they took Arms massacred those soldiers slew their Viceroy and put themselves under the French Protection This Revolt of the Catalonians was a president to the Portugals who had extreamly suffered under the breach of their Priviledges for contrary to the second Article sworn to by King Philip the Second which said That the Viceroy or Governor should be either Son Brother Uncle or Nephew to the King of Spain The Infanta Margarita di Mantoua who had no relation at all to the kings of Castile was made Governess which they might and perhaps would have born had they not been incensed by a more feeling injury Anno. 1636. when the Tax of a fifth part was imposed upon all the Subjects of that kingdom an intollerable grievance and thought so insufferable by the Southern parts of the Nation that they rose in Arms to oppose it and had set the whole kingdom in a combustion had it not been timely quenched by the timely care and industry of the then Governess the Infanta Margarita of Mantoua Yet this small stir gave an Item to the Court of Spain of the readiness of the people to revolt which made Olivarez endeavor by all ways possible to cut off the means of their being able to do but whilest he endeavored to prevent them he gave them the means to do it though he failed not to make use of those courses which in probability might ensure that kingdom the chief of which was the endeavoring to allure from thence the Duke of Braganza whom the people of Portugal looked upon as the person who of right ought to be their king and who was the onely Native of the kingdom who might restore again the Line of Alphonso besides he was a Prince who for Power Riches and Number of Tenants not onely exceeded all the Nobles of Portugal but even of Spain it self And indeed the Duke of Braganza was one of the most glorious Subjects in Europe being allied to most Kings in Christendom which made the Kings of Spain though they were Competitors for the Crown of Portugal treat this Family with more honor than any other of his Grandees receiving them almost with as much respect as if they were Sovereign Princes which appeared in Philip the Second who most of all desired to abase this Family yet would always when the Duke of Braganza came to visit him meet him in the middle of the room and not permitting him to kiss his hand seat him with himself under the Canopy of Estate To draw him therefore out of that kingdom Olivarez first politickly offered him the Government of Milan a place of great trust
great importance and they endeavored to explain to his Eminence what was before his sentiment that it very much imported the two Crowns of France and Portugal to be united by an indissoluble League considering that it was the chief and principal end and aim of the House of Austria whose branches were spread over almost all Europe not onely to be the greatest but to be the sole and onely Monarch of Christendom That to effect those ambitious desires he had never made scruple to usurp and seize upon Kingdoms and States upon the least pretences imaginable as had appeared in the kingdoms of Naples Sicily Navarre the Dutchy of Millan and lately several States in Germany seizing upon the Valtoline whereby they had a passage open to lead an Army of Germans into Italy at pleasure That considering the vast power and interest that this Family had not onely in Europe but also in America it could not but be confessed that they had a large foundation of their imaginary universal Monarchy but that nothing gave them so great hopes as the possession of Portugal For by the addition of that Kingdom to the Crown of Castile they became absolute Masters not onely of all Spain but of all the East-Indies of all the Eastern Trade of Ethiopia Persia Arabia China Iapan and all that incredible wealth that was raised out of the Portugal Traffick whereby the Austrian Greatness if not their Monarchy was principally sustained that therefore it concerned all States whatsoever not onely to put a stop to the raving Tyranny of this devouring Monster but to suppress and lessen his Power by all means possible That to do this none was more concerned or more able than the Kingdom of France united with that of Portugal That this having bin called the Right Arm as Catalonia the Left of that great Austrian Colossus now both being separated from it and united to France will be able to do greater service against it than they were ever forced to do for it not onely by assaulting the Spaniard within his own doors but by intercepting the Plate-Fleet which in its return from the West-Indies it being necessarily forced to pass by the Tercera Islands must run in danger of the Portuguez Fleet or be forced to be at the charge of an extraordinary Convoy These were the sum of the Ambassadors discourses to the Cardinal In answer to which his Eminence made offer not onely of all the Assistance of the most Christian King his Master but that he would disburse himself for the service of the King of Portugal promising that he would presently send thither a Fleet of twenty Sayl with his Nephew Admiral and Ambassador Extraordinary This Treatment thus ended the Ambassadors took their leaves his Eminence waiting upon them as far as the Stairs which when they endeavored to hinder he replyed That the Ambassadors of the King of Portugal were to be treated with as much respect as those of the Emperor or Pope Few days after a Iuncto of the King of France his Council were appointed to treat with the Ambassadors in the House of the Lord High Chancellor of the kingdom where a Peace was fully concluded between the two Kingdoms of France and Portugal Other Ambassadors were about the same time that the afore-mentioned were sent into France dispatched into England for it very much concerned the Kingdom of Portugal to maintain a good Correspondence with the Crown of England both in regard of the Navigation and Commerce of both States and also the better to break that Amity and good Understanding which was now held between the Crown of Spain and that State Hither therefore were sent Don Antonio D' Almado and Don Francisco D' Averado Leilon both persons of exquisite parts who notwithstanding that the Dunkirkers chased them arrived safe in England And for all the sturdy endeavors of the Spanish Ambassadors they were received on shore with abundance of respect yet His Majesty of England would not give them Audience or accept of the Ambassage from the King of Portugal so tender was He of His Honor and Conscience till Don Antonio de Sosa their Secretary had drawn up a Paper to satisfie him of the Right and Title of the Duke of Braganza to the Crown of Portugal The sum of which was Vpon the Death of King Henry the Cardinal without Issue many pretended together with the Infanta Donna Catherina Dutchess of Braganza and Grandmother to this present King to the Crown of Portugal but all their pretences wanting foundation soon fell except that of Philip the second King of Spain who propt up his with force King Henry was Vncle equally near to both but with this difference Catherine was the Daughter of a Son named Edward and Philip was the son of a daughter named Isabella brother and sister to King Henry King Philip pleaded That he being in equal degree with Catherine was to be preferred for his Sex Catherine replyed That the constitution of that Kingdom allowing Females to succeed and withal the benefit of Representation in all Inheritances she representing Edward must exclude Philip by the very same right that her father if he were living would exclude Philips mother This Conclusion is infallible in Jure whereto Philip answered That successiou of Kingdoms descending Jure sanguinis there was allowed no Representation Catherine destroyed that foundation alledging That the Succession by the death of the last King was derived Jure haereditatis non sanguinis because the Succession of Kingdoms was to be regulated by that ancient way whereby all things descended by Inheritance the other way of Succession being not known until later Ages nor ever practised either in Spain or Portugal in such cases Briefly in behalf of Catherine it was urged which by the Castilians can never be denied or answered That she was no stranger but a Native of the Kingdom to whom alone according to the Laws of Lamego the Crown of Portugal can appertain The King having perused and deliberated upon this Paper gave immediately order they should be presently conducted to London which was done withal convenient Solemnity and they logded in a Palace ready prepared for them soon after with great ceremony they received audience of His Majesty in a fair and stately Hall prepared for that purpose where his Majesty sat upon a Throne raised two steps and at the entrance of the Ambassador pulled off his Hat nor would be covered till they were so too To the Propositions made in the speech of D. Antonia D' Almoda concerning a Peace between Portugal and England His Majesty replied That he should be very glad if an expedient might be found out to renew the antient Leagues of friendship between the two Crowns without the breaking with Spain Some few days after the Ambassadors were conducted to give a Visit to Mary Queen of England who sat in a Chair of Estate ready to entertain them when they came into the Presence She rose out of the Chair and