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
corps were healed Mafalda was espoused to Henry the first King of Castile although allied to him in a forbidden degree wherefore this marriage was likewise declared void and she emulating her sister built a Monastery of the Cistercian Order and is reported likewise to have done many Miracles particularly in the year 1627. when her Tomb was opened Sancha the third daughter became a Nun of the Order of St. Francis who lived about this time Bianca and Beringella died young and were buried in Conimbria right against their fathers Tombe though some write otherwise After the death of the Queen Aldonsa which happened in the year 1138. King Sancho gave himself over to the love of diverse Ladies amongst whom he had many children who proved most of them his greatest vexation and disquiet for the pleasures of the senses do not terminate but in the sence of grief At last arrived at the age of 57. years in the 26. year of his reign oppressed in Conimbria by an incurable disease he took leave of this world He was buried in the Church of the Holy Cross on the left side of the Altar in the great Chappel where King Emanuel built him a Sepulchre like to that of his father he left infinite riches which by his Will he divided amongst all his children making no difference between the legitimate and the illegitimate he by his Will supplicated Pope Innocentius the fourth to be his Executor for which he left in Legacy a hundred weight of Gold a gift without doubt worth his pains King Sancho was for vertue and for goodness singular in his age a worthy son of so renowned a father he proved fortunate in the utmost events of War and then did his triumphs flow in upon him when he dispaired of Victory he left it yet in doubt whether he were more wise or more valiant he always snowed himself so great an enemy to sloth and idleness that to avoid it he would not disdain sometimes to throw down the Scepter and hold the plow Fortune who was his friend in War was his foe in Peace for then besides the vexation that he could not vex his enemies he was likewise enforced to bear the injuries of the Land Sea and Skies in sum he was a King worthy the greatest Incomiums if he had not too much drowned all his other vertues in illicite Loves ALFONSO the II. Third King of Portugal ALfonsâ— the second succeeded to Sancho the first he was born in Conimbria on St. Georges day anno 1185. At 27. years old he was Crowned King with the envy of his brothers who little younger then he could hardly confine themselves within the bounds of Allegiance and to their discontents did the Legacies left by Sancho give new motives for Alphonso either out of avaritious desire of riches or out of obstinacy detained from them a great part of what was left them by their father These sinister thoughts of the then Prince Alphonso were discerned by his father before his death which made him leave to the brothers beside some Cities and Castles five hundred thousand Crowns in gold But scarce was his father dead but he began to contend with his brothers and sisters about their inheritance and because his brothers were retired into Elginera and Alenquar Fortresses given them by their father he under pretence that they could not be allienated from the Crown gathered together an Army to possess himself of them which he easily performed his brothers wanting money to hire soldiers and so not being able to make the least resistance His brothers thus driven out of the kingdom fled to the Pope for redress then in great veneration because he then pursued no other interest but justice who commanded Alfonso to remit the difference to indifferent Judges who necessitated to obey chose rather to accommodate the business with indifferent Judges then to run the hazard of a sentence He employed himself afterwards by the advice of Matthew Bishop of Lisbone to fight against the Moors and though these came assisted with ninety five thousand men yet were they forced to yield the Victory to him with the loss of thirty thousand soldiers and four Kings who were slain in the battel Alfonso for some years prosecuted this War but in time he grew so extream fat that he was unable to perform not only those great exercises incumbent on a soldier but every simple motion of the body yet for all that he ceased not to apply himself with extream diligence to prosecute the greatest affairs of State and where he could not in person he present to send such commands as shewed him to be both of great experience and wisdom He married with Uracca daughter to Alfonso the eighth or as others say the ninth King of Castile and Leonora or Elinor daughter to Henry the second King of England by her he had divers children the first was Sancho who succeeded his father in the kingdom Alfonso the second son whom by right of his wife was chosen Duke of Bologna and afterwards came to be King of Portugal The third son was called Ferdinand who obtained the principality of Serpa and married Sancia Fernandez daughter of Ferdinand Count of Castile The fourth died a childe called Vincenzo The last was a daughter called Leonora and was married to the King of Dacia Alfonso arrived to the eight and fortieth year of his age and one and twentieth of his kingdom when in the year 1233. he was constrained to pay the last debt to nature He was buried in Alobaccia in a little Church built by himself more for devotion then magnificence But after many years the Abbot Giorgio di Melo causing that little Church to be demolished carried his bones to that of St. Vincenzo where they now repose in a most sumptuous sepulcher Under this King as many affirm lived for certain time St. Antonio Protector of the City of Padona a Saint held in great veneration among the Roman Catholiques he was a native of Lisbon not so much esteemed for the Nobility of his birth as for his holy life Alfonso taking away his extream fatness was a man of a very comely presence and of singular eloquence his nature did make him pleasant with all but onely those of his own blood which fault in him did much diminish his subjects love and that general respect was due to him though he was a man noted for covetousness yet he oftentimes gave great gifts to his friends and always consumed the greatest part of the revenue of the kingdom The Portugueses while his father was alive did extreamly desire him for their King but did not at all now lament his death either because new things always please the people or else because he after his fathers death shewed himself indifferent from himself or from what they thought him whereupon not being wholly like his Progenitors he renewed in his subjects their grief for their loss SANCHO the II. Fourth KING of PORTVGAL SAncho the second who
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
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
having reigned thirteen He was a man of a most noble aspect carrying in his face and in his eyes no ordinary Majesty his nose was somewhat of the biggest yet did not at all disfigure him he was very curious in trimming his beard which somewhat inclined to red his countenance was somewhat earthy his continual indispositions having made a paleness inherent to him His piety was his principal ornament nor was there any crime which did more incense his goodness than that which was dyed in blood There wanted nothing in him to render him worthy the greatest Encomiums but health and the counsel of prudent men by whom he might have been served without design and without self-interest Want of these two things were the occasion that a most just man wholly composed of goodness fell into those miscarriages which made him in the conceit of men impious and unjust He was buried in that Regal Chappel built by himself at Toledo True it is that most Writers disagree whereabouts his Tomb was placed because the Chappel being rebuilt and made greater the Sepulchres were over-turned and placed on the side of the wall without Elegies or Epitaphs so that you can have no other then mens opinions for that without any certain foundation ALFONSO the III. The Fifth KING of Portugal and Algarve ALfonso the Third who succeeded Sancho the Second was born in Conimbria the 5. of May An 1210. he was by his father by reason of his brothers uncertain health educated with great diligence in those studies which might adapt him to Command but Sancho's life deceiving the vulgar opinion he was called by the Queen of France thither who obliged him to marry Matilda Countess of Bologna then Widow of Fillippio Crispo and Daughter of Fillippio Augustino Alfonso was at the time of his marriage twenty seven years and being of stature great strong of body and of an invincible courage of minde he was by the Pope elected Captain of those Knights of the Cruciada who from France and other Provinces were thought worthy to carry their valor to the Holy War but he was diverted this Honor by the necessity of his return into Portugal to put an end to those Troubles which were moved by the ambition of some who presuming upon Sancho's pliable nature were to act a fell Tragedy upon the Stage of the kingdom At his first arrival he appeased those Tumults of the people raised against the wickedness of the evil Ministers who by reason of his brothers weakness did what they list and having after his death reduced all the Forâ—resses of the kingdom to his obedience he addicted himself by severity to purge away those vices which before ruled even in the most potent Personages This made him envied and maligned of many but the glory of his fame did divert all opponent Factions and made him triumph over the imprudence or obstinacy of the most disobedient Home-bred stiâ—s being quite pacified he gave his minde to the increasing and adorning of his kingdom many places destroyed by continual Wars with the Moors he peopled with noble Colonies re-edifying many decayed Towers and building many new Edifices He likewise with an extraordinary liberality erected most stately Temples and Monasteries He instituted for the increasing of Commerce with his Neighbor kingdoms several solemn Fairs delighting much in Traffick and for the encouragement of it remitting his Customs But these singular vertues of Alfonso were darkned by a thick shadow of lust not abstaining for to satisfie his sense from seducing the most noble to his pleasures Interest of State making him afraid to repudiate his wife he contracted a most nefarious Marriage with Beatrice the illegitimate daughter of Alphonso the Ninth king of Castile and his Concubine Maria Villenia This Beatrice was brought up with greater love charge and attendance than any of Alfonso's children Alexander the fourth then Pope moved with the tears of the Countess of Bologna the complaints of her friends and the indignity of the action it self admonished him first by Letters to remember both his wife and his duty as a Christian but those saving documents prevailed nothing with the shut ears of deaf Alfonso whereupon the Pope fulminated forth an excommunication against him and his kingdom prohibiting divine service throughout all his Dominions hoping that these celestial arms might soften Alfonso's obdurate brest but it prevailed nothing till at length the death of the Dutchess procured his pardon which Urban the sixth granted rather to satisfie the clamors of the people then out of his own genius or that Alfonso desired it Beatrice now Crowned Queen and the succession confirmed by the birth of two children Alfonso had a desire to prosecute a War against the Moors but Lusitania having no confines upon Mauritania he procured to be invested King of the confining Countries still possessed by the Moors and that done he drave them from the Confines increasing his kingdoms glory and his own reputation Alfonso had by Beatrice three sons Dyonisio or Denys who succeeded in the kingdom Alfonso who married with Violanse daughter of Prince Emanuel son to Ferdinand the third King of Castile the third son called Ferdinand died in his infancy he increased the number of his children by his amorous conjunctions those thus begot were Egidius and Ferdinand made Knights Templars Alfonso Dionysio or Denys married to Maria Rivera and lastly Leonora wife to Count D. Gazzia de Souza a man no less potent by his great riches then friends Alfonso was blest with a most comely countenance sparkling eyes a most comely proportion of body but so large that it struck no small admiration into the King Sebastian when he made him be taken out of his Sepulchre yet was not his body more large then his soul was sublime he was extream profuse in gifts which made him beloved by those who found themselves benifited by them his prudence was by all admired and amongst his vertues there was nothing wanting but a more serious veneration of Religion greater gratitude towards his first wife Matilda and less dishonesty in his loves in his latter days he was extreamly troubled with the gout which so tormented him that impatient of his pain he permitted himself to be transported by excess of passion He died in Lisbon in the year 1279. at sixty nine years of age and in the two and thirtieth year of his reign not accounting till the death of his brother Sancho he was buried in the Church of St. Dominica from whence his body was removed to that of St. Vincenzo and laid in a great but no curious Tomb on the other part of the Church is to this day to be seen the Sepulchre of his Queen Beatrice whose body preserved by Balsoms is to be shown in the Chappel looking so firm as if it had but lately yielded to death DIONISIO The sixth KING of PORTVGAL DIonysio or Denys his son succeeded to Alphonso who was born in the year 1260. and called Dionysio because born on
their souls He was equally strong and valiant nor was it ever known that the greatest danger 〈◊〉 strike terror into his undaunted minde he observed with a strict punctuality the rules of hoâ—nesty and justice and towards God he with 〈◊〉 ordinary piety was both zealous and reverâ—â—â— he made several Laws for the benefit 〈…〉 kingdom which are still continued among the Statutes of that Realm If he had not taken Arms against his father or if he had moderated his hatred to his 〈◊〉 or if he had not imbrued his hands in the 〈◊〉 blood of Agnesa envy it self coul◠〈◊〉 have found out any subject of blame in the 〈◊〉 course of his life he resembled his 〈…〉 many vertues but was much inferior to him in liberality his death happened to him in that condition when he had little reason to desire longer life for it was when he saw his actions of glory forgotten though he was yet alive for his subjects began onely to remember his faults which being fresh in memory made his loss the less lamented PEDRO The Eighth KING of PORTVGAL PEdro the first of that Name who succeeded his father Alfonso in the kingdom of Portugal was born at Lisbon in the year 1325. two years before his father came to sit at the heâ—m of government at the time of his being Crowned he was about the age of three and thirty years He was the onely male-childe that lived of four and some danger there was of him in his youth he being very sickly till he arrived to about eighteen years of age which made his father to be assured of a Successor for his Crown to defer the marriage of Leonora his youngest daughter to Pedro King of Arragon till he perceived him in a perfect measure of health He was about the age of one and twenty years married to Constance daughter to D. Iuan Emanuel by whom he had onely one son named Ferdinand who succeeded him in the kingdom and she as if she had onely come into the world to bear him and having performed that task died After the death of the Infante D. Pedro fell in love with Agnesa de Castro a most beautiful woman and descended of the blood Royal by her he had many children amongst whom one was Iohn who afterward was the first of that name King of Portugal this Lady being accused to King Alphonso at his return from his great Victory over the Moors nigh the River Saledo was by him for what crimes is unknown put to death which so incensed Pedro that he took up those Arms against his father which he laid not down till his death As soon as he was come to the Crown he brought to condigne punishment those who had wrongfully accused and counselled the Lady Agnesas death he afterwards renewed the old War betwixt his father and the King of Castile about the stopping of his espoused wife Constance But because the Pope had before made up this breach he by his Letters commands Piedro to desist from further prosecuting the War which he for the present obeys but soon after upon a slight pretence again enters into Castile with his Army whereupon an excommunication was thundred out against him which forced him to retire and to gain his Pardon turn his Army upon the Moors from whom he took the strong Port Town of Pharo in the kingdom of Algarve At his return home he fell sick and in the tenth year of his kingdom and about the three and fortieth of his age in September 1367. he died he was buried in the Cathedral of Lisbon not far distant from his father having caused before his death three Tombs to be erected on each side he caused the bodies of his wife Constance and the Lady Agnesa to be laid reserving the middle one for himself where he was accordingly buried He was a man of as comely a personage as any whatsoever of the Kings of Portugal of a sweet and affable disposition nor did he want any of his fathers vertues but one vice they both had which overshadowed all their vertues warring against their fathers FERDINAND The ninth KING of PORTVGAL FErdinand the first of that Name succeeded his father Pedro in the kingdoms of Portugal and Algarve he was born at Lisbon in the year one thousand three hundred forty seven and was the onely childe of Constance daughter of D. Iuan Emanuel He arrived at the Crown at the age of about two and twenty years in the year 1369. as soon as he had fininished the Ceremonies of his Coronation he prosecuted the War his father had begun against the Moors and in several battels drove them quite out of Algarve he built a Monastery upon a Promontory of Land called Cape St. Vincent now by us the Southern Cape which stretcheth it self out into the Atlantique sea He addicted himself to the planting and peopling of that kingdom distributing the waste Lands among the Inhabitants he repaired many Cities Towns and Castles which had been destroyed by the fury of the War he built several Churches and Monasteries in that kingdom all which he enriched with great Revenues but particularly a Monastery for Franciscan Friers erected in Silva the chief City of that Territory About this time it was that Pedro son of Alphonso the eleventh king of Castile having committed several tyrannical outrages intollerable to his subjects oppressing and destroying his subjects putting away and after murdering his wife daughter to Peter Duke of Burbon was by his bastard brother Henry chased out of his kingdom and forced to live an exile He at first seeks for aid to Ferdinand King of Portugal but in vain he next addresses himself to Edward the black Prince of Wales who was then at Burdeaux with an Army of thirty thousand men he consents to assist him and encountring Henry on the borders of Castile with near one hundred thousand men utterly discomfits him and establisht Pedro in the Throne who shortly after falling again to his former tyrannical courses is deserted by his subjects taken by his brother Henry and put to death Ferdinand had but one only daughter that survived named Beatrice who was married to Henry King of Castile and thereby excluded from the right of succession according to the Law made in the first Assembly Estates held at Lamâ—go in the reign of Alfonso the first King so that in this King ended the legitimate Line of Henry Duke of Lorrein This King had now reigned 18. years and lived forty when seized by a violent sickness he gave up the ghost in the year of our Lord God 1387. and was buried by his Ancestors in the Cathedral Church of Lisbon JOHN the 1. Tenth KING OF PORTVGAL JOhn the first bastard son to Pedro the first by Agnesa de Castro who succeeded Ferdinand in the kingdom was born in Lisbon in the year 1356. he was in his minority educated in the famous Conimbricense University where he addicted himself to all those studies which became a Prince
though 't is to be supposed at that time he thought not to have arrived at so great height as to be King of Portugal When he was grown to the age of about three and twenty years he was by his brother made a chief Commander of his Armies in which Military imployment he behaved himself with so much courage and magnanimity as was admirable his valor soon gained the love of the soldiers and his courtesie and affability the affection of the people the very Moors his enemies would applaud him as both a perfect soldier and a Courtier His brother being dead and his Nephew Beatrice uncapable of succession by reason of her having married a forreign Prince he claimed the Crown as next of the blood but his claim was at first made void by reason of his being illegitimate when afterwards the Councel of Estates finding that if they should refuse him they might perchance choose one less deserving conferred the Crown upon him yet so as he should receive it not as his indubitable right by birth but as given him by election Yet some Writers there be that affirm that there were several legitimate sons of his father King Pedro then alive who all laid their several claims to the Crown as of right belonging to them before him but that he being at the time of his brothers death General of the Armies in Algarve and having gained so much upon the soldiers and people presuming upon their affection and his desert laid claim to the Crown which they being no way able to resist were forced to rest content and permit him to enjoy what was likewise willingly conferred upon the people so that he came to the Crown partly by force and partly by election But howsoever he came by it enjoy it he did and entred into his government about the two and thirtieth year of his age and in the beginning of the year 1388. received with great applauses by the whole kingdom as a Prince from whom they expected great and good things having already had so large experience of him Soon after his Coronation he married Philippa daughter to Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster which match he the rather inclined to because Henry the bastard King of Castile in right of his wife Beatrice pretended a title to the Crown of Portugal which he hoped he might the better oppose by matching into that â—amily which had equal if not more indubitable â—ight to the kingdom of Castile For Iohn Duke of Lancaster having married Constance the eldest daughter to Peter the deposed and murthered King of Castile and Leon claimed a right to and was a great stickler for those kingdoms yet never enjoyed any other but the bare title King Iohn having setled his kingdom applied himself to the prosecuting the War against the Moors who being quite driven out of his conâ—ines he resolves to follow into their own country and be the first King of his Nation that ever past the sea to this purpose he mans out a potent fleet and having fraighted it with a sufficient Army puts to sea and lands in Mauritania where in several battels he discomfits the Barbarians wastes their Countrey burns their Villages and possesses himself of a Sea-port Town called Seplene or Ceâ—ta whereby he gained both a retiring place and an in-let into the Country when he pleased By his Queen Phillippa King Iohn had a noble and numerous Issue first Edward so named from King Edward the third of England his God-father who succeeded in the kingdom secondly Ferdinand a man of so great abstinence and so devoutly religious that the Portuguese added him to the Calender of their Saints he was in the Wars against the Moors taken prisoner and during his captivity behaved himself with such an admirable patience as worthily deserves our wonder never murmuring to be linckt together with one of his meanest servants and with him forced for his living to grinde in a Mill though such was the piety of the servant that if he could he would willingly have performed the task himself and excused his Lord from the toil if it had been possible at length he was ransomed and returning ended his days in a recluse the third son of King Iohn was named after his own name the fourth Pedro but the fifth who most worthily deserves to be recorded was the Infante Henry This Prince whether emulating the great actions of his father or out of a natural inclination in himself was the first that encouraged the Portugueses to affect forreign Voyages he first set out with a great fleet in or about the year 1425. and made discovery of the Islands in the Atlantique sea which at first were called from their being newly found out Insulae Novae or the New Islands afterwards and now vulgarly called the Azores he likewise in many other Voyages made discovery of the Islands of Maderae Holy Port and Capo Verde and sailing farther along the Coast of Africa was the first that found out the way by Sea to Guiana at length wearied with travel and overpressed with age he retired and lived upon Cape St. Vincent which place he choose because of the constant sereness of the Air being a great lover of Astrologie and the Mathematiques he died about the year 1465. and was buried in the Chappel of that Monastery built by Ferdinand the first King Iohn reigned in all forty seven years having from the King of England received the honor of being Knight of the Garter as likewise did his two sons Prince Edward and the Infante Henry He died in the year 1436. leaving the World full of his glory He was a Prince in whom all Vertues seemed naturally to flow endowed with all imaginable Ornaments both of body and minde of a tender and affable Nature yet in the field as Valiant as the fiercest though 't is by some observed that he was never perceived upon any charge given upon the enemy many of which he made in his own person to change countenance or shew any sign of discomposure from his constant temper EDWARD the I. Eleventh KING of PORTVGAL EDward the first of that Name King of Portugal was born at the City of Braga in or about the year of our Lord one thousand three hundred ninety and two he was educated during his youth in all those exercises befitting a a Prince under the tutorage of the Arch-Bishop of Lisbon in which he profited so that in his most tender years his great judgement was deservedly wondered at after he had past his minority in studies he several times accompanied his father in the Wars of Africa where he showed great proofs of his magnanimity and courage He came to the Crown at the age of forty four years or thereabouts some report that being to have the Ceremonies of his Coronation performed the same morning that the Crown was to be put upon his head a Jew one of his Physicians and a great Student inâ— Astrologie came to him and falling down
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-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
always accounted good Sea-faring men and fortunate in discovery of forein Countreys It aboundeth with Rivers of all sorts having neer two hundred great and small The chief are 1. Minius full of red Lead and thence called Minium by the Latines navigable with small Vessels neer a hundred miles 2. Lethes now Lavada 3. Muliadas now Mundego 4. Tagus 5. Duerus and 6. Anas These three last common to all the rest of Spain Anas or Guadiana passing by Portugal onely for seven leagues Tagus for eighteen and Duero for eighty None of these navigable for any long space by Ships of any great burthen all the Rivers of Spain being generally swift of course restrained within narrow Channels between sharp Rocks and therefore incommodious for navigation but that want is supplyed by three excellent Havens 1. That of Lisbon upon Tagus 2. Porto upon Duero to the north of Lisbon 3. That of Setaval south of Lisbon scituate on a Goll twenty miles in length and three in breadth a place of great importance The principal Cities of this Countrey are 1. Lisbon seated upon Tagus a City famous for Commerce called by the Latines Olisippo or Ulisippo and as some have fabulously imagined built by Ulysses in his ten years travel It is in compass seven miles and contains upwards of thirty Parishes in which are at least 20000 houses neat and comely Fabricks There are on the Walls seventy six Turrets and Towers twen-two Gates to the Sea-side Towards the Continent it is scituate upon five small Hills betwixt which is a valley which runs down to the River On the highest Hill stands an ancient Castle not strong but by reason of its vicinity to the Palace serving now onely for a Prison for great men The Entrance of the River is defended by the Castle of Cascais and neerer the City by the Fort of St. Iulians and the Rock of Belem muniâ—ioned by twenty Pieces of Ordnance This is the Chamber of the Kings of Portugal the Sea of an Archbishop the Staple of Commodities for all the kingdom and thought more worth than all the Realm besides 2. The second City of note is Santaren seated on the Tagus so called from Sancta Irene a Nun of Tomar a Monastery wherein the old Kings of Portugal used to be crowned martyred heâ—e by the Moors this City is called by Ptolomy Scavaliscus then a Roman Colony 3. Sintrâ— upon the main Atlantick at the end of high mountains called Montes Lunae hither by reason of the cool refreshings of the Sea and pleasure of the Woods adjoyning the Kings of Portugal use to retire in the heat of Summer 4. Corimbra seated on both sides the River Mondego a pleasant Scituation among the Vineyards and Woods of Olives a Bishops Sea an University and sometime the Residence of the Kings 5 On the north side of the River Duero betwixt that and Minio is placed the City of Braga once the Royal Seat of the Swevian Kings now the Sea of an Archbishop conâ—ending for the supremacy with Ioledo 6. Porto the Haven of the Galls before-mentioned standing at the mouth of Duero now vulgarly called Portuport 7. Miranda a Bishops Sea seated also on the Duero 8. Bragance the Dukes whereof now Kings of Portugal were accounted so great Princes that it was thought one third part of Portugal were their Vassals and lived on their Lands they are originally descended from Alphonso natural son to Iohn the First who was first by his Father created Earl of Borcellos and after Duke of Bragance they after came to have right to the Crown by marriage of Katherine Daughter to Emanuel 9. On the south of Tagus and betwixt it and Algarve is seated in the middest of a large and spacious Plain the City of Eubora the Sea of an Archbishop and an University the last founded by King Henry the Cardinal 10. Is Portolegre a Bishops Sea 11. Olivenza on the Guadiana 12. Beja called by Pliny anciently Pax Iulia now Mean not very well inhabited but anciently a Roman Colony and one of the three Juridicial Resorts of Lusitania The Kingdom of Algarve THe kingdom of Algarve lyeth South of Portugal from which it is divided by a Line drawn from Aschorin on the Western Sea to Odochere a Castle on the Guadiana on the East bounded by Andalusia on the West and South by the main A lantick more wilde and barren it is then the kingdom of Portugal peopled with few Towns and those not very populous hilly and mountanous but by the benefit of the Sea yielding a great Trade of fishing specially of Tunny of which there is abundance caught It took its name from its Western scituation for so Algarve signifieth in the Arabick the utmost end of it was antiently called Promontorium Sacrum now Cape St. Vincent because the bones of St. Vincent religiously preserved by the Christians were here burnt and scattered by the Moors but now vulgarly by Mariners called the Southern Cape the Places of most importance in this kingdom are 1. Niebla the seat of Abed Mefad once King of this Country 2. Sylvia an inland City the seat of a Bishop 3. Villa Maona scituate beyond the Cape 4. Tavila 5. Faro 6. Lagos all Haven Towns This Country conquered by the Moors with the rest of Spain in the distractions of their power was for a time under the Soveraignity and command of the Kings of Sevil recovered from the Moors of Sevil by the Kings of Morocco It became subject unto them till they left this Country and was after parcelled among many Kings one of which was Aben Mefad reigning in Niebla and the parts adjoyning being dispossessed of his Estate by Alfonso the wise most of the other Towns and Princes submitted unto him and became his Vassals Anno 1257. more absolutely subdued and made subject to the Crown of Portugal by Alfonso the third Anno 1260. to whom the said Alfonso the renth of that Name in Leon and seventh in Castile had given the same in Dowry with Beatrix his daughter The Azores or Tenera Islands THe Azores or Tenera Islands are certain Islands belonging to the Crown of Portugal seated in the Atlantick Ocean directly opposite to Lisbon and distant from it 250 leagues first found out and subdued by the Portugals under the Conduct of Prince Henry son of Iohn the first scituate between 38. and 40. degrees of the Latitude and one of them in the first Longitude which is commonly reckoned from these Islands being the most Western parts of the world before the discovery of America They were called Azores from the multitude of Gossehawk at first found there Azor in the Spanish Tongue signifying a Gossehawk though at this time there are few or none found they were called also the Flemish Islands because first discovered by them and in the Isle of Faial one of the chief there are some families still resemble Flemings both in complexion and habit and not far from their abode is a Torrent called by the Portugals
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