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
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