that he declare that what he hath remonstrated to the Councel is false and demand pardon since he hath therein offended God your Majesty and Me and the Councellors whom he hath also deceived as well as Justice which he hath abused with divers lies and malicious suppositions and that there may be an Act made of this beginning of Satisfaction and that it be inserted in the place of that detestable Conclusion in the Registry of the Councel of State My Lord May it please your Majesty to order that this Crime and my Complaint may be examined since that there ought to be satisfaction given to an offended Queen to repair her Honour which is inseparable with that of your Majesties as well as of your Sovereign Authority I demand Justice my Lord against this Decree which were unjust had it been given against the least of your Subjects without being heard and therefore with more reason being given against a Queen oppressed with the Artifices the Violence and the great Credit of her Enemies The King put this Letter into his Pocket without reading it and very unbecoming his State publickly solicited the Secretaries Return which the Queen not being able to consent to shut her self up in her Apartment without seeing any one but the King who gave her nothing but cross and unbecoming words In the mean time the Secretary appears in the Palace with all his Accouâ—rements and there went a Report that the King was resolved to leave the City and to carry with him all the Cavalry with an order to all the Gentlemen who were about the Infante to follow him to which they added that in case they did not obey that Order he would come back into the City to cut off the Heads of some of whom he had a List Upon this the same thought which formerly the Queen had to chase away Anthony de Conti came into the mind of the Infante to demand from the King that he should oblige the Secretary to retire from about his Person so that on the 5th of October 1667 the Infante went to the Palace followed by the most part of the Nobility and by a grand concourse of the People The King was yet in his Chamber which obliged the Infante to attend with some Councellors of State with whom being entred he spake to the King with very much vehemency nevertheless without losing the Respect which he owed him but the King falling into a rage cry'd out in a fury that they should give him his Sword the Infante had no sooner heard that but he drew his half way out of his Belt and presenting the Guard to him said my Lord if it is against me that your Majesty asks for a Sword dispose of mine if it be against any other suffer me to defend your Majesty But the King would not take it only continued his cries The Queen who knew nothing of this enterprize ran to the Chamber of the King trying to appease him by reasons and prayers but she was not able to gain any thing upon him being perswaded they had killed the Secretary although they did assure him he was not slain saying he would not believe it unless he saw him which obliged the Duke de Cadaval to go fetch him from the Chamber where he had shut himself up that he himself might satisfie the King that they had done him no violence but however they had much a-do to keep him safe for bringing him to the Kings Chamber through the crowd of people they had kill'd him if the Duke turning himself about to those who had that design had not said to them with an angry countenance and imperious tone that he was his Conductor The presence of the Secretary having a little appeased the King the Queen retired and also the Infante Upon this there was heard a Voice that cry'd oftentimes that all would be well The same Voice having called on the Queen and the Infante the King went out of his Antichamber with them having the Secretary by his side going to a window which looks into the grand Place of the Palace where the people seeing him cry'd out oftentimes God save the King After this the King withdrew thorow the people who had fill'd the Antichambers those who went before him saying he pardon'd all the people which offended them so much thinking that they had committed no fault that John Mascarenhas Count of Sabugal was fain to tell the King that they would not have a Pardon but Thanks The King who did not well hear those last words repented he granted them Pardon but having at last comprehended that the Count refused it and that he asked of him only his Thanks he replied he granted both the one and the other But that which most of all astonish'd the people was to see him in the midst of this trouble and importment fall to playing upon a Flagelet it very ill becoming so grave a person to do so This boyish divertisement and his crying out were remark'd as an unbecoming thing in the mind of a King and imputed to the default of his Organs This success so different from what they had imagined made them conceive such an indignation against the King that they said aloud they ought to take from him the Crown and give it to the Infante insomuch that one pronounc'd these words Either take it your self or we will take it for you but the Infante growing angry made him hold his tongue with his look As it was the design of the Infante to make the Secretary leave the Palace he resolv'd to lie there that night to finish the Work he had begun but the Secretary fearing it would be fatal for him sent to tell the Infante that if he did not leave the Palace that very moment it was because he could not do it in security and that he would not fail to depart assoon as it was night for which Laurence de Sousa de Meneses Count de Santiago Don Pedro D'Almeida Admiral of the Realm became Sureties Emanuel Autunes sent at that time to demand the same Grace which was likewise granted him although he had merited a more severe Chastisement This man who had been the Son of a Sexton to the Church of Miserecorde de Vilaviciosa had passed from the Charge of the Repostery to that of Groom of the Chamber besides that the King had granted him the Order of St. Jaques and several other Favours it was he that made the secret dispence but the 〈◊〉 and the profusion of it had rendred this private expence too publick The near access that he had with the King came from the service that he rendred him in his secret pleasures his boldness was such that at all times he intermedled with the Affairs of the Infante and the King Upon these assurances the Infante withdrew to his own Palace followed by the greatest part of the Nobility and an innumerable concourse of People The King the next day seeing neither
leave him The King as he lay in his Bed sent to John dos Caes to have a care of his Dogs which was his ordinary employ and which griev'd him in such sort that he could not refrain from Tears We have reported this though but little considerable that you may thereby judge the better of the Spirit of the King and whether he was capable to govern the State When the Infante had made known to all the Realm that which had hapned he signed the Letters which were writ in the King's Name to call together the States on the first of January And because the Act which the King since he was arrested had sent to the Infante gave him power to take upon him the Quality of King which the greatest part of the Nobles and of the People ardently wish'd he would do he order'd by this Decree that they should examine the Cession which the King had made Don Rodrigo de Meneses Gentleman of my Chamber and Master of my Horse Makes known upon my part to Pedro Fernandes Monteiro Councellor of Parliament to Martin Alphonso de Mello Deputy of the Council of Conscience to Joseph Pinhero Councellor of the Finances to Lewis Fernandes Teixeira Judge of the Pleas of the Crown to John Lamprea de Vargas one of the Quarter Provosts and to John de Roxas de Osevedo my Secretary That I desire that they will assemble themselves in the Chamber which Don Rodrique possesses in the Palace to the end that they may let me know after they have made serious reflexions upon the Estate in which they find the King my Lord and the Affairs of these Realms if I ought to demand the Convocation of the States and if that after their Assemblies shall be ended I should continue the Government with the Title of Curator of his Majesty and that of Regent of this Realm which are those which I have taken at this present or whether I ought to consent that they give me that of King with all the Prerogatives that accompany it And I also desire to know if I shall make use of the Renunciation that his Majesty hath made in my favour a little after he was arrested of the Right which he hath to the Crown or of that which they have given me through his incapacity of Governing himself Considering that though I have accepted the Government of these Realms it is not through any Ambition nor Covetousness nor for any End which respects my self but only for the Conservation of the State and to satisfie the desires which the Portugals have incessantly made to me Let them put their Opinions in this Business in writing and I declare to them that I shall follow the greatest number From Lisbon 10 Jan. 1668. The Infante These Ministers assembled themselves according to the Infante's Order and some days after they wrote their Conclusion When it was read in the Presence of the Infante of his Gentlemen and some other Persons of Quality whom he had most Confidence in they found that the greatest part of the Voices were That he should not make use of the Renunciation and that he should not take upon him the Title nor the Quality of King which gave him a very great Contentment because this Conclusion was according to his Desires and moreover this delivered him from the Importunities which he suffer'd under every day upon this Subject The Procurators of the Chapters and those of the Greater and Lesser Cities of the Realm being arrived the three Estates assembled themselves in the Great Hall of the Guards where the Infante was solemnly declared Prince by a publick and Authentick Act conceived in these Terms We Swear and Declare upon the Holy Evangelists which we touch with our Hands That we do acknowledge and receive for our true and natural Prince and Lord the most High and most Excellent Prince Don Pedro the Legitimate Son of the King Don John the Fourth and the Queen Dona Louysa his Wife and Brother to the most Great and most Puissant King Don Alphonso the sixth our Lord his True and Natural Successor to these Realms and as his true and natural Subjects and Vassals as we are we render him Faith and Homage and promise him That his Majesty hapning to die without Legitimate Children we will acknowledge and receive him for our True and Natural King and Soveraign of the Realms of Portugal and the Algarves on this side and beyond the Sea Lord of Guinny and of the Countries conquer'd by our Navigations through the Commerce of Ethiopia Arabia Persia and the Indies c. And that we will obey thorowly and wholly all his Orders and Judgements Soveraign and others making for him War and entertaining Peace with his Allies and that we will not obey any other King nor acknowledge any other than Him And all this which is above said we swear and protest to God and to this Holy Cross and to the Holy Evangelists upon which we lay our hands we will observe and keep fully and wholly and in sign of our Obedience and of our Acknowledgement of this Royal Soveraignty we Kiss the Hand of his Highness here present After this Oath had been made to the Prince every one of the three Estates began to assemble themselves in particular That of the Nobles in the Colledg of St. Roch that of the Commons in the Covent of the Religious of the Order of St. Francis and that of the Clergy in the Covent of St. Dominick The first day of their Assembling the Prince sent to each of the States the substance of this Act with the Dismission of the King I desire that you may see in the Assembly of the People the dismission of the King where'tis inserted and that it should be examined by you as well what hath been pass'd when I took upon me the Government as the Reasons that mov'd me to do it and to take upon me the Quality of Curator of my Lord the King and that of Regent of these Realms by vertue of which I have caused his Royal Person to be arrested And because these two things might be justified by this Act I pray this Assembly to approve them and to Declare whether I shall continue the Government with this Title or whether you think good that I should take any other and in that Case what it ought to be If your Conclusion be found conformable to that of the other Assemblies as I hope it will I shall after that swear to maintain the Laws and the Priviledges of the Realm in the accustomed manner after which also you shall make to me an Oath of Fidelity and Obedience during the time I shall have the Government The Body of the Nobless is composed of Thirty Great Lords Councellors of the King Lords of Castles Lands and Territories the chiefest of their Rank That of the People is of Two Procurators or Burgesses from every City of the Realm who have a deliberative Voice which they call definitive
Roman Church or also Legats à Laterè Nuncio's of the Apostolick See or others who have or may have any preheminence or power from all and every one of whom we take away all power and Authority to Judge and Interpret after any other sort And wee declare Nul and Voyd all that shall be enterprised against what hath been here above reported The Rule of our Chancery Apostolick de jure quaesito non tollendo and that of Boniface the Eighth of Happy Memory our Predecessor de una dicta and that of the General Councel de duabus dictis and all other Constitutions and Ordinances Apostolick Special or General made in general Councels Provincials or Synods or any other thing whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding Given at Rome from St. Mary Major under the Seal of the Fisher the 10th of Decemb. 1668. in the 2d year of our Papacy Signed J. G. Slusius The Judges to whom this Brief was directed having approv'd the Deeds contain'd in the Request gave Sentence which follows Christi Nomine Invocato Having seen the Brief of his Holiness which hath committed to us the Judgment of the Impediment publicae honestatis upon the Dispensation which it makes mention of and the Articles of Justification and the proofs which hath been given thereto as well as all the Instructions Certificates which have been joyntly made thereupon it appears That the most Serene Lord Don Alphonso the Sixth King of Portugal and Algarves being married to Maria Frances Isabella de Savoy the said Princess press'd in Conscience to pursue in Justice the Nullity of the said Marriage which she had contracted in Fact with the said most Serene King because of the perpetual Inabibility which was in his Person to consummate the said Marriage and that indeed he had not consummated it during the Sixteen Months that they had lived together as Man and Wife Which Cause was pleaded before the Vicar-General of the Archbishoprick of Lisbon and other Judges nominated by the Chapter of the said Archbishoprick before whom it in right lay in the vacancy of the said Sea It appears that the Cause was prosecuted even to a definitive Sentence by which the said Marriage contracted between the said King and the said Princess was declared Null because of the aforesaid perpetual Inability of the said Lord and King Don Alphonso to consummate the said Marriage with the said most Serene Princess Maria Frances Isabella de Savoy It appears that this Sentence was publish'd and judiciously signified to the said Lord the King Don Alphonso who declared in Terms reported by the Register of those Acts That he was willing it should be executed and that he did not at all desire to appeal which Declaration hath been signed by the King himself It appears that the three Estates of the Realms of Portugal and the Algarves who were at that time assembled at Lisbon did propose to the most Serene Prince Don Pedro Regent of the Realm and did supplicate him to Espouse the most Serene Princess Maria Frances Isabella de Savoy to give repose to the State and to secure the Royal Succession and that also they did make the same Proposition and the same Prayer to the said most Serene Princess It appears that for the Impediment publicae Honestatis the most Serene Prince Don Pedro not be-being able to Contract this Marriage with the said Princess they had recourse to the most eminent Cardinal de Vendosme Legat à Latere to his Holiness and of the Holy Apostolique Sea with the most Christian King of France to the end that he might dispense with that Impediment publicae Honestatis It appears that this Brief of Dispence was directed to the Vicar-General or to the Official of the Archbishoprick of Lisbon and that it was presented to the Bishop of Targa who at that time officiated the Functions of the said Archbishoprick who conformable to the Power therein given him and with all the accustomed Formalities did dispense with the said Impediment publicae Honestatis of the said Prince of the said Princess It appears that by vertue of this Dispensation and with the Trust and Confidence thereof the Lord Prince Don Pedro was married according to the Rule of the Holy Council of Trent to the said most Serene Princess Mary Frances Isabel of Savoy and that they did Consummate the Marriage of which there already is born one Daughter It appears that the said Prince and the said Princess being married in good earnest and in the face of the Church and living together in a Conjugal Life for the greater security of their Conscience to the end to deliver it from scruple and the State from trouble they had recourse to his Holiness that he might approve confirm and ratifie the said Marriage and take from them all Scruples that might arise which Grace his Holiness afforded them by the Brief above reported recommending this Affair to Judges who are therein named to the end that they finding just the Request of the said Prince and Princess they might after they had made full inquest and all necessary Informations to discover the Truth of the Facts upon which it was founded dispence with the said Impediment publicae Honestatis of the said Prince and Princess and of all other Impediments that might happen cancelling abrogating and declaring null the Tye and Bond of the former Marriage Contracted between the most Serene Lord the King Don Alphonso and the said most Serene Princess Dona Maria Frances Isabella de Savoy The whole being seen and considered and chiefly in consideration of the Brief hereunto annexed by the Apostolick Authority to us committed we do hold our selves bound faithfully at the Request of the said Prince and Princess to justifie them So that conformable to the said Brief we do dispence with the said Prince and most Serene Princess to the end that they may continue and abide in the said Marriage which they have well and lawfully Contracted without having regard to the said Impediment publicae Honestatis which resulted from the first annulled Marriage And we Declare for Legitimate and born in lawful Marriage the Infanta which through the Will of our Lord God has been born of this second Marriage and for Legitimate and born in lawful Marriage all other Children which shall hereafter be born without any lett or trouble from any Ordinances and Apostolick Constitutions to the contrary From Lisbon 18 Feb. 1669. Diego de Sousa Antonie de Mendosa Martin Alphonso de Mello Lewis de Sousa Emanuel de Magalhans de Meneses The Prince having rendred Thanks to his Holiness for his Benignity and Paternal Love which he had witness'd both to him and the Kingdom some time after he received this Brief To our dearly beloved Son in Jesus Christ the Prince Don Pedro Brother to the King of Portugal and Algarves Clement the IX OUR dearly beloved Son in Jesus Christ Health and Apostolick Benediction c. We having diligently travell'd in your
nature gave to the Queen an excessive trouble The Count D' Odemira was sensibly touched knowing that they ordinarily impute the faults of Princes to their Governours as it happened to Don John Alphonso D' Albuquerque who was charged with the cruel Actions of Don Pedro King of Castile The Count resolved then to withdraw the King at what price soever he did it from this shameful conversation Having one day found in the Court of Lion the King environ'd by Conti and all that Gang he chased them away he forbad entrance to Conti with menaces to chastise him if ever he durst return thither again The King more troubled than Conti at this Prohibition and Menace retired himself into his Appartment with excessive trouble Some of those who were about him had no sooner known that he was discontented with his Governour and that he had an Affection for Conti but they let him understand that to subject his own Inclinations to the Sentiments of another was to consent to the ruine of his Authority This had such power on the mind of the King that after this he rejected whatever advice they would give him he grew obstinate even to rage that he would learn no Lesson nor eat nor drink till they had brought back Conti to him so that they were obliged to bring him to him In the Court of Lyon they oftentimes for his diversion had Dog-fighting which Combats were at first private but at last they became publick These Mastiffs were kept in the great Court of the Palace where being all sorts of Dogs and unty'd they very often fell upon those they found in their way The diversion of Bough-fighting was brought also from the Court of the Chappel to the same place and at last became so common in the Suburbs that what was formerly the sport only of little children became in a short space to be a bloody Combat In all these Diversions those wherein the most Blood was shed pleased the Kingmost These Disorders being come to that excess his Governour thought that it was best for him to find out diversions conformable to his humour but that they might not be so publick so that if any thing should happen that might be any blemish it might be the less taken notice of They resolved then to teach him the use of Weapons and they gave him for his Master therein Diego Gomes de Figueredo but they found it impossible to make him follow any Method for he would not learn to do any thing skilfully as he should do but was all for downright blows This exercise handsom and innocent enough became however very deadly and criminal through the ill use that he made of it That they might cause an emulation in the King they permitted to enter the Palace certain young men who under pretext of making a flourish in his presence brought with them all sorts of Weapons every one having a design to let him see his force and skill But in these exercises there happened almost every day one or other ill accident especially when they darted certain Knives purposely made which many times slipping from their hands wounded some or other in the throng of Spectators John â—e Conti was in all these Exercises and though his skill was not very great he was still recompensed by the King so that he became his Favourite insomuch that whatever violences he committed in the Palace were suffered unpunished This Example was the cause that those Crimes from which they had abstained before for fear of Justice were now committed with Assurance so that the King hereby drew upon himself the ill-will of all the People not only by his own Actions but also by those of others They had lodged the Infante Don Pedro in the Queens Apartment that his Union with the King might thereby become the more strong and easy to be compassed and therefore they had given to them both one Tutor that they might likewise learn together But this did no good to the King and was a notable prejudice to the Infante for when they should have followed their Books the King would disturb them and often interrupt his Tutor in reciting his shameful Divertisements The King and the Infante had oftentimes differences between them which being grounded but on slight matters quickly ceased However the malice of his Favourites fomented these petty misunderstandings in such sort that the King put himself to oppose the Infante on every occasion It was at this time that the Favour of Conti with the King who was now sixteen began to spread abroad certain Courtiers perswading themselves that he had perfectly established himself in the Heart of the Prince for that he had wholly destroy'd his Governour they grew so shameless as to make him the object of their respects After which he had the boldness to vaunt himself to be descended from a Branch of Vintimiglia an Illustrious Family in the Realm of Sicily and this was maintained by the testimony of some Flatterers For the most part the persons that came near the King were debauch'd in their speeches and it was no wonder to hear him speak dishonest words even before the Ladies Some of his Councellors offended thereat advis'd the Queen that he might be removed into the new Apartment called the Fort where those Persons who Corrupted his Manners should not have so much liberty to come To this end the Queen ordered he should be served there by Don John de Silva Marquess de Govea grand Master of the House Garcia de Mello grand Chamberlain the Count de Padro Master of the Horse Don John de Almeida Master of the Wardrobe and by Lewis de Mello Captain of his Guards The Count de Padro being gone to Command the Army in his absence the Charge of first Gentleman of his Chamber and that of Master of the Horse were given to Don Diego de Lima Vicount de Villanova de Cerveira they gave also the Charge of Chief Gentleman of the Chamber to Lewis de Vasconcelos and Sousa Count de Castlemelhor All these Officers were to serve Weekly and to lie in the Palace and to the end that some of them might always be about the King those before mentioned were to be Relieved in the Day-time by Don Vasco Mascarenhas Count of Obidos Nuno de Mendosa Count de Valdereis Lewis de Silva Tello Count de Aveiras and Francisco de Sonsa Coutinho Councellor of State All these Lords having Keys to enter in at all times when they pleased The Queen ordered this Project to be kept secret and that they should keep open the Door which gave way for a Communication between her Apartment and that of the King 's But he soon frustrated all these Designs The Count de Odemira his Governour having told him That the quarter through which he should go out was made up He answered him briskly that he would then go thorow the Hall of the Almane Guards The Count having told him that there was a great
Dispatches to have given him notice of what had passed But that Door according to custome being fast he went by the Clock-House which was upon the Tarrass where having found the Duke he highly condemned his Enterprise telling him he had lost all respect to the King whose Palace ought to be a sacred and inviolable Sanctuary and went so far as to give the Duke very outragious words But seeing they had seized on both Passages he returned the same way he came and went to try if he could get in through the Queens Apartment but he found that also fast so that with all the diligence he had it was impossible for him to speak with the King An Ax being brought the Duke told Conti that if they were compelled to break open the Kings Doors there was no hopes of Life for him but if he would open them they would do him no hurt at this Threat he rendred himself and as he came out of the Chamber with a grave Countenance the Grand Provost arrested him who also presently after took Baltasar Rodrigue de Matos Groom of the Wardrobe who exercised the Charge of Lievtenant of the Guard for his Father in Law Diego Botelho de Sande and led them both through the Tarass to the place where they build Ships and there they made them enter a Shallop to be carried aboard a Ship that was ready to set sail for Brasil John de Matos and Francisco Bernardo Taveira were also arrested the first had been a Groom in the Kings Stable the second a Clerk to the Covent of Hermites of St. Augustin both of them having gotten into the favour of the King the one as a brave and skilful Runner at the Bulls the other for serving him in his secret pleasures John de Conti was also arrested Of these five Prisoners who according to the order they had given should have been carried to Brazile only Antony de Conti John de Conti and John de Mattos went for Baltasar Rodrigue de Matos was brought again to Shore because they found he was not so guilty and as for Francisco Bernardo Taviera he flung himself from his Prison upon the Rocks where he was taken up so very much bruised that it was impossible to Embarque him The Queen who waited with great Impatience the news of this Execution which she had no sooner heard but sent word to the Councellors of State to the Tribunals to the Councel of the City and the Chamber of the Four and Twenty to the Grandees and Gentry who were before Assembled that they should come into the Chamber where the King and she were to understand what follows which Speech was made to them by the Secretary of State The Obedience the Queen our Princess owed to the Orders of the deceased King the kindness she had for the King her Son and the desire she had to be a Comfort to her Subjects in acknowledging those great Services which she had received from them were the Motives that obliged her maugre the great need she had of Repose to take upon her the Government If she hath not acquitted her self to the content of all it is not that she hath spar'd her self nor that she has shun'd any Cares or Troubles This Princess extremely touch'd with the Disorders which trouble this Monarchy and with the Complaints of the People did believe it was most fitting to call together to this Place in this absence of the States General all those Tribunals which represent them to the end she might declare to the King in their presence the Remedy which she hath endeavoured to bring to them and to receive from them what Counsel she shall need therein if what she hath done for the good of the State be not sufficient assuring them that she has no other intention then to follow their Counsels All the People complain that Justice which is a thing that Kings ought to love more than their Eyes is not Administred As the Queen does not alone Administer it but there are Judges who take Cognisance of Affairs Civil and Criminal she hath resolved to Examine all the Tribunals to the end if any one among them hath given Cause of Complaint to the People they might receive the Chastisement their Fault merits and the People the Satisfaction they ought to have It is a very great Regret to the Queen our Soveraign that there is heard murmuring among the People who complain that the King our Lord although he be of Age to take into his own Hand the Government of the State of which the Queen so vehemently desires to Discharge her self doth not apply himself however to any Affairs necessary thereto but on the contrary lets himself be carried away by his Courage in which Exercises of Violence he hath Exposed his Life so many times to evident Dangers hazarding to leave the Kingdom without a Successor instead of giving himself wholly to other Exercises which should draw upon him the Blessings of Heaven the Love of his Subjects and the Esteem of Strangers And since we are all here present the Queen would have us that we Conjure the King to think of himself and of us which is the true way to render a King as commendable by his Merits as he was before by his Birth He owes this Consolation to his Subjects who are assuredly the best Subjects that ever King had since without thinking of the loss of their Children which are for the most part Dead in the War nor of their Goods which are almost all consumed they yet expose continually all that remains with their Lives to conserve the name of Faithful Subjects to his Majesty Sir By the the acknowledgment which your Majesty owes to God who hath made you so Great by that which you owe to the comfort of so good a Mother and to the services of your good Subjects who cast themselves at your feet with Hearts full of Grief to see your Soul subjected to so many Passions and burning with desire to see it delivered from that Tyranny they do Conjure you to quit the way you are in and deliver us by your Royal Bounty from those extreme Fears into which the Love that we have for your Person doth continually cast us Your Majesty Sir might better employ your Courage your Generosity and your other Virtues in imitating as it is with great Passion desired the Example of that Great King the Author of our Liberty whose Remembrance will be eternally engraven in our Hearts May then your Majesty suffer us to make you these Remonstrances which we hope may be no ways offensive although they may not be altogether conformable to your Thoughts since there may be occasions in which it is to be unfaithful to Princes to have Complacency for them Besides our Nation as you know is naturally an Enemy to Flattery although we have already Sworn Sir we Sware again and we shall Sware a Thousand times humbly prostrate at the Feet of your Majesty
it and there one was heard to say That he should have been of the same mind with others if they had asked his Advice but since they had no Confidence in him he should not approve of this Novelty This day being the last of Count Castelmelhors waiting Week the King ordered him to wait another On Monday the King went as he was wont to Alcantara but with more Pomp and Attendants than ordinary being accompanied with the Infante and the greatest part of the nobility this day every one stood upon his Guard at the Palace for they saw the Count to wait two Weeks one after another and because he Wrote to the Secretary of State in impeperious terms the King would know if they had given order that Conti should be put to Death assoon as he was out of the Haven or that Emanuel Autunes should be Imprisoned The King was no sooner returned but he went to see the Queen without shewing any discontent either in word or actions Tuesday passed without any extraordinary thing happening On Wednesday about Noon the King in his Litter with the Count de Castlemelhor went together secretly to Alcantara without letting any Body know of it but Don Hieronimo de Ataide Count de Arouguia whom they found there from whence all three sent to find out Sebastine Cesar de Meneses Councellor of State not long since released out of Prison where he had been put by King John and to fetch the Guard of Archers The King Wrote at the same time to those Persons in whom he had the most Confidence to call together the Nobility and to give Advice to the Governours of Places and Provinces that he had taken the Possession of the Government of the State The Queen being advertised of what had passed called her Ministers of State for their Counsel where it was resolved she should write to the King to pray him to return to Lisbon to the end she might put the Government into his Hands and the Bishop of Targu should carry this Letter but before it was sent it was Ordered for some particular Reasons that Emanuel Pacheco de Mello Lieutenant to the Camp-Master General should go and Post himself near to La Croix by which place they must pass who would go to the King at Alcantara to tell them from the Queen that for the good of the State they should come first to receive her Orders All they who were advertised of it exactly obeyed her except Alvaro Pires de Castro Marquess of Cascaes and Antony de Sonsa de Macedo The first said he would go thither to give the Queen an account of all things that passed there which he did the othe stay'd with the King in recompence of which he held him in the Quality of Minister When Night approached and the King saw he was less Accompanied than his Favourites thought having no other Militia but the Guard of Archers some of them were of opinion the King should retire to the Fortress of St. Julian Situate at the Mouth of the Tagus where he might be in Security but this Counsel was not followed because there came a great many Gentlemen to waite on the King besides those who attended him which reassured the Favourites The Queen judging if she should go in this condition she was in without Troops to the King she should expose her Authority and if she should carry them with her they would accuse her that she had a mind to Retain the Government She considered of it and Wrote to the King this Letter which was carried by the Bishop of Targu Most High and most Puissant Prince I the Queen send to Salute your Majesty as one whom I Love and Esteem above all my Children I understand you are gone to Alcantara with a Design to continue there and that you have Commanded the Gentlemen and Officers of your House to come to you thither As you have done this without Advertising me some do believe that you have a desire to Separate your self from me but I not having failed even to this present time of doing the Devoirs of a Mother cannot be perswaded you will fail of those of a Son I then Conjure you to put an end to these Reports which run among the People that you will presently return to me assuring you that not one of those who follow you hath so tender a Love for you as I nor desire more your Conservation and Aggrandisement than I do If you have no other Design but to take the Government of the Realm God is my Witness I desire it as much or more than you As for those things that are past and of which you have had a Resentment it is with me that you should Treat of them without Bustle or Noise it is with me that you should be plain and clear at least if you would testifie the Obedience which you owe to God and to your Father and Mother The Kingdom is yours and I Govern not but in your Name if it were mine it should be only for you that I would keep it Let us then call together the Realm as we ought to do to the end they may put the Government into your Hands as they put it into mine before any Disunion put us into the Power of our Enemies who have on foot three puissant Armies which if there be any Insurrection in the Realm a thing much more to be feared than the Enemy will infallibly destroy it Be pleased then in the Name of God for the Love you bear your People and which I ought to hope from you Consider this Affair which merits it so much and take care to recommend it to God whom I pray to Conserve your Majesty most High and most Puissant Prince and above all my Children the most beloved and most esteemed Son and Conduct you according to my wishes From Lisbon June 21. 1662. Your Loving Mother the Queen The Bishop of Targu presenting to the King this Letter assured him in few words that the Resolution of the Queen was to give him full Satisfaction The King told him he would return Answer the next Day at which time he sent Thomas de Noronha Count de Areos with a Letter conceived in these Terms Most High and most Puissant Princess Queen of Portugal and Algarves on this side and beyond the Sea in Affrica Soveraign of Guinny and of the Conquests made by Navigations and Commerce in Ethiopia Arabia Persia and the Indies whom I Esteem above all others Most beloved and most dear Lady and Mother I the King salute your Majesty Having regard to the Condition in which the Realm now is by the Neighbourhood of the Enemies Armies and having a design to bring a Remedy thereunto as an obedient Son to your Majesty being touched with the continual Trouble which since the Death of my Lord and Father you have had in Governing the Realm which owes its Conservation to the Cares and to the Prudence of your Majesty I have resolved
Tribunals assembled with the Ministers of State the Titulares Councellors Governors of Castles the Lords of the Realm Gentlemen the Ecclesiasticks and the chief of the Orders which being done the Grand Master of the Wardrobe placed before the King a little Table of Crimson Velvet with a Cushion of the same and the Secretary of State put upon the Cushion a Purse in which were the Seals some time after having taken them up he put them into the Queens Hands and she into the Kings saying to him these Words See here the Seals with which I have been Charged by the States of the Realm by virtue of the Testament of the King my Lord who is now with God I remit them into the Hands of your Majesty and at the same time the Government which I have received with them of the same States God grant that all things may be Prosperous under the Government as I desire The King taking them put them at the same time into the hands of the Secretary after which all the People came to kiss the Hands of these three Royal Persons and so the Assembly broke up The Queen seeing her self Discharged of the Burthen of the Monarchy had now no other thought but to execute the Resolution she had taken to Retire and her self to found a Religious Covent of the Order of St. Augustine Being willing to begin to Build she ordered Doctor Belchoir de Andrade in the time he was her Secretary to visit divers Places but they raised a thousand difficulties to hinder her so that she found no fit Place Whereupon her Enemies published she had hidden Designs and feigning to seek for a place to Build a Covent she had no mind the leave the Palace She had no sooner begun to make a passage of Communication from the Quinte to the Covent of Religious of the Order of St. Dominic being situated near it but they said the Queen had chosen this House that she might flie away when she pleased These malicious Reports pressed the Queen to execute her Enterprise Having remembred her self one day that the Marquess of Sandy had offered her aâ— House which he had at Grillo she spake of it to Garcia de Mello Son to the Marquess who having also offered it to her she accepted it and presently began to Build there When the Queen had rendred the Government to the King the Courtiers began to change their Discourse and many of them who before were still speaking oâ— the Incapacity of the King now extolled the quickness of his Wit and made him seem more worthy of a greater Kingdom than his own To hide their Inconâ—â—â—stancy they protested the King was become another Man and spake of his Change as of a Miracle but this added nothing of belief in the Case for his Reason being hurt by his Maladies it rendred him incapable to conceive either that which they made him say or that which they said to him When he was to say something in Publick they instructed him before hand as well as they were able what he should say but as they could not instruct him to answer to things that would be spoke on the sudden he was then mute or else answered far from the purpose and if on these occasions it happened that he spake something of good sense these Flatterers would say more by half than the King had said But in his good Intervals if he had made some liberal Discourse his Favourites would be sure to Preach on it but this did but serve to render him Ridiculous for they would render those things which came from him by chance to appear otherwise and that his ordinary Discourse was not the same Before the King had taken Possession of the Government the Earls of Atouguia and Castlemelhor and Sebastian Cesar de Menesses had taken possession of him As in policy these three Favourites did praise one another before the King he was perswaded they were filled with rare Qualities so that he Reposed on them all the Affairs of State But at the first they judged it best for the King to assist in all Publick Affairs and though there was nothing more contrary to his Inclinations yet they so brought it about that he gave Audience went to Councel dispatched Businesses but this Application lasted not long whether it were that the King was weary of it or some of them had perswaded him otherwise by the Counsel of those who Governed him But it is thus that Favourites inspiring Idleness into Princes invade their Authority under the pretext of discharging them of the Care of their Affairs There is yet another ordinary Artifice of such Favourites to maintain their Credit and to hinder any from doing any thing against them to Banish from Court all those who were not tied to their Interests and to introduce in their places either their Creatures or their Friends The Count de Castlemelhor and his two favoured Companions very admirably practised this Maxim as we shall see in a little time Henry Auriquez de Miranda began about this time to put himself near the King by the Services which he had rendred him in his Pleasures and within a while entred into so much Trust and had so great a share in his most secret Thoughts that if the Count de Castlemelhor had more of Authority about the King than Don Henry Auriquez yet it might be said that Don Henry Auriquez de Miranda had more of his Heart than the Count Castlemelhor This new Favourite according to appearances ought to have given some trouble to the favour of the Count however it happened quite contrary and he so well â—anaged the Spirit of that Gentleman and of the Kings that he made that a support to his Fortune which it was thought might have ruin'd him And indeed after this he became the most Puissant of the three Favourites by the consent of his Competitors having more Facility than the Count de Atouguia who did not profit by the occasion which was presented him either by Moderation or otherwise The Count de Castlemelhor being in Italy whither he had withdrawn himself because of the death of Don Lewis of Portugal Count de Vimioso who was there vaunted that one Day he would return into that Realm as its Governour From these happy beginnings he conceived so much hope that his Prophesie should not be in vain he was therefore resolved to push on his Fortune as far as he was able So soon as he had found he was Master of the Kings Affections he took the liberty to Lodg in the Apartment of the late Prince Theodosius as he enterprised to have himself the whole Favour this was not ill aimed at to find a means to render himself inseparable to the Person of the King But it was not enough to establish himself near the King he must have some Charge which might serve to make his Credit seen and valued There was then nothing at Court with which he could
Reasons that the King and the presumptive Heir to the Crown should not live apart That there was nothing more proper to cause their Amity a thing so necessary for the State than the Union of their Persons That if he Lived in his Palace with little Satisfaction he would have much Content in the King Besides That it was too great a Charge to the State which wanted Money to maintain the War As this Motion was opposite to those which they had made formerly to appear it was not very difficult to penetrate into the thoughts of the Favourites which was that by this means they might render themselves Masters of the mind of the Infante as well as they had of the Kings but the Infante who discovered their Cunning answered That he was well enough in his Palace as deserted as it was So that despairing to be able to make him change his Lodging they treated the Prince ruggedly and accused him that he did not love the King as he ought But that which troubled them most was That he would not be loosed from the Queens Interests who was every day preparing her self to retire and that she would prevent their Dis-union which these Favourites so passionately desired Although they had received several repulses from the Infante they did not leave to continue their endeavours to draw him to their Party hoping they should be able to do that by Importunity which they could not do with their Reasons Whilst they were at Alcantara the freedom of the Country served them to make some progress on his Spirit chiefly by Henry Auriques But as much as they gained the Favour of the Infante they took away from the King the evil Impressions they had given him concerning him in so much that the King began to make him dine with him and to take him abroad with him in his Coach and to give him the divertisement of Fishing in his Pleasure-Boat which they made by night with lighted Torches they went together to Alcantara to see the Coursing of the Bulls and the King obliged him to lye at his Country-House to see these Divertisements All these things gave birth to a Hope in the Breasts of the Favourites that he should not be able to escape them any more for the time to come They vaunting already that they had made peace between the two Brothers every one of them attributing to himself the Glory to have been the Mediator particularly Henry Anriques de Miranda for which Consideration he pretended to have the greatest part in his Favour and testified the most zeal for his Service above all others At this Time most of the Officers which the Queen had given him had left him The Count of St. Laurence had quitted him to exercise his Charge of Superintendant of the Finances The Count de Soure was banished to the Algarves Ruy de Moura Telles had retired himself John Nunes de Acuna was with the Army in the Province between Douro and Minho whither he was sent the handsomer to hide his Exilement In the place of these Officers they had put Don Fernando de Meneses Count de Ericeira Pedro Gesar de Meneses Ruy Fernando de Almada Ruy de Figueredo D' Alarcaon Antonio de Miranda Anriquez and Don Diego de Meneses As all these new Officers about the Infante were of Kin to the three Favourites this Change was a very grand help to them but this would not suffice unless they could be able to break the Union which was between the Infante and the Queen which was very difficult for them to do They were willing the Queen should have retired of her self and after that manner the Separation should have been because then none could have imputed it to them but their impatience was too great to stay for that But among the Artifices which they used to advance this Separation there was one which would scarce be credited if the Writing had not been found in the hands of one of those Ministers at that time of which this is a most faithful Copy It shewed That there were two ways to oblige the Queen to quit the Court. The First is to cause her Displeasure in all those things of which she would be most sensible As to order Donna Isabella de Castro to go into her Covent of the Incarnation and to cause Donna Maria Francisca to go home to the Countess her Mother and to prohibit all those Officers of her House in whom she had most Confidence to enter the Palace The Discontent she will receive thereby will oblige her to retire of her self or else cause her to make her Complaints to our Master with more heat this will oblige him to declare to her that a voluntary Retreat will be most handsom for her to the end she might not be constrained to do it after another manner This way hath more than one Step because if she shall shew her self obstinate and shall not be willing to follow the Councel of the King she then will render her self worthy of Chastisement The Second way is to have it told her by her Confessor or by some other Person of Authority That it is necessary for her Glory she should retire her self to the Town of Allenquer or into that of Cintra because of the Report she had caused to be spread abroad of her Retiring and for other Reasons that may be made known to her and they judged that our Master desired the thing might be executed with all possible sweetness that other ways might be avoided which might any ways give him a Vexation That if she should answer as I believe she will that she had changed her Mind and would know the Reasons which had obliged the King to take that Resolution they should in that case put presently into her hands a Billet which should let her understand that it was to revenge himself of that insolent Remonstrance which she had caused to be made to him in which we may under a Colour bring some Reasons for our particular Justification Below this Memorial there was the Billet for the Queen wrote in the same hand in which were these Words You shall say to the Queen my Mother that having regard to the Intention she hath had of retiring into a Covent and to the Reasons she hath given for it I find my self obliged to tell her maugre the satisfaction which I have to see you neer me in the Palace that for the Interest of her Repose and of her Piety she ought to execute that Design If she will then follow the Example of many other Princesses who have done the same thing she might chuse what Covent she pleased out of the City where she may live only for her self and for the memory of the late King my Lord and Father who is with God I do promise my self from her great Wisdom that she will take care that the World believe this Resolution comes from herself and not from me This Discourse
the effect rather of his cowardice than modesty for they already began to murmur against him as if he were not touch'd either with the publick Interest the Kings or his own since he suffered every one to groan under the tyranny of the Favourites who had usurp'd the Sovereign Authority In this perplexity the Infante knew not which way to take but being desirous to try all fair means he was contented to put himself upon his guard somewhat more than he was accustomed having had advice a little before that they would imprison him besides the Count de Castelmelhors Partisans had said publickly that if they believed any thing that was violent would be acted against the person of the Count it would do well to prevent it on any one that should entertain such a design The day following the Count went forth in his Coach accompanied with some Gentlemen to a Garden which he had at the Calcada de Gloria a place where he often recreated himself from the fatigues which were already very great upon him by reason he charged himself with all affairs This assurance of the Count 's confirmed the Infante in that resolution which he had taken of writing to the King this Letter which he sent to him by his Secretary John de Roxas about ten of the Clock It is not without extreme regret that prostrate at the feet of the Majesty whom I revere as my King and Lord I find my self obliged to inform you of the Count de Castelmelhor's endeavouring for some time since all manner of ways to destroy me I cannot doubt of his intention because I have advised of it by the Ministers of the first Rank and those who are the most zealous for your service and the publick good nor can I say that I should have escaped the dangers of those violent enterprises which they cast me into but by my own foresight and that of my friends His insolence is gone so far as to put the Palace of your Majesty into Arms under a pretence of my violating a place so sacred As by his actions past it cannot but be judged that he is capable to attempt upon my person so I hope that your Majesty's Justice will chastise a person so audacious by removing from about your person so dangerous a subject that I may not be reduced to the necessity of seeking in the Realms of Strangers for a security which I cannot find in yours I shall prove without doubt on this occasion the love which I have always found and which I shall eternally deserve from your Majesty in whatever place I shall go God preserve your Royal Person as I have always desired and as I have ever taken my care From Lisbon Sept. 2. 1667. The Secretary had no sooner put this Letter into the King's hands but it was by him put into those of the Count who upon reading it put all the Palace once again into Arms not only enforcing the ordinary Guard adding to them some of the Citizens causing all those in whom he had most confidence to repair to him The Council of State was likewise assembled by the King's Order who assisted there himself and after the Infante's Letter had been read the Councellors of State were of two contrary opinions how to find out an expedient to satisfy both the Princes but they were not able to do it Justice being altogether on the one side and Authority on the other The Infante's Gentlemen whom he had sent home to their Houses being advertised of what passed at the Palace came back in haste to him just as he had understood that the Council of State were separated without having concluded any thing but he had so much confidence in the justice of his Cause and Courage that he dismissed them home again except the Count de Vilarmayor whose week it was In the mean time the Favourite wrote to the King desiring his permission to retire but afterwards having made reflexion on the greatness of his Credit and on the number of his Friends and considered that this Affair might be decided by his advice he changed his mind and resolved to try all ways to maintain himself with the King The Tuesday following past without any answer from the King only at night he sent the Marquess de Marialva to tell his Brother that for very just reasons he had caused the Guards of the Palace to be redoubled with order to ask him as from himself if it would please him that the Count should come to cast himself at his feet and kiss his hands As the Infante made no answer all that day his remisness raised in the Favourite a belief that he was satisfied divers reflections were made on this Business Some said that upon the King 's avowing the action of the Favourite the Infante was obliged not to take notice of the offence he had received that nothing was more true than that the King made but little reckoning of the Life of his Brother since he would have him contented to take for satisfaction only a simple disowning and slight submission from him who would have quite destroyed him but notwithstanding this he ought to content himself with that accommodation the King had proposed to him since it would disengage him from a perplexity out of which he could never get without putting the Kingdom into a combustion Others were of the opinion that the Infante could not forego his pretention which seemed lawful to all the World that is the Retreat of the Favourite it being the Proposition he had first made he should stand to it to the end lest otherwise the Favourite should draw an advantage from such an impunity and all the people an evil consequence of his little stoutness against him and that they might perhaps believe he himself had complained without cause which would much diminish his Reputation and Honour The Infante then not being able to resist the motion of his Courage sent word to the King that the Count had put in Arms all the Palace under a seigned pretence of his coming to kill him in his Apartment which he hoped from his justice he would not let himself be perswaded that he ever had such a thought that he would proceed against the Count as an Impostor of that Quality deserved and would repair the injury he had done to his Honour They took time to answer this second Complaint as they had done the former The Favourite grown Insolent to see the King took his part so highly against the Infante resolved in a Conference which he had with his Friends to oblige the King to go in Person at the Head of all his Councellors of State Gentlemen and Officers of the Army to Arrest him in his Palace with all those of his House and to declare that they were more guilty than he was that upon this pretence they might make the Process against them to the end that the Infante seeing himself without Followers might quickly
leave off his pursuit The day following the Marquess return'd with an Order in Writing from the King which contain'd the same thing with the former only he had added that he hoped by this second satisfaction things would be accommodated and that the Infante would find he most passionately desired it But this Billet did not yet satisfy the Infante because it let him understand that they would bury his Complaint in silence which obliged him to answer the next day by another Billet which the same Marquess rendered to the King the substance of which was That as nothing was more evident than that those Arms wherewith he had filled the Palace were not introduced but upon some secret design of the Count 's he was content however to believe this was done by order of his Majesty since he would have it so that however he could not pardon the Count for having called all his Friends to secure the Person of his Majesty he had forgot him although he well knew he was every way more interessed than they were in his conservation That to see the Count prostrate at his Feet was not a satisfaction proportionate to his Complaint since at other times the Count caused to be made most exact search and had exiled thereupon very Illustrious Persons upon the only suspition that they had conspired against his favour It was not just that for the offence had been done against him there should not be the same Inquisitions and the same Punishments and that an Infante against whose life they had conspir'd should be worse treated than the Count who had only had a simple thought that they would have opposed his favour That to give liberty to those that would inform of the Count's Crime they ought to interdict him from the Functions of his Charges and remove him from Court with all the security possible for his Person and Family against whom he had no design but only to secure himself Besides that he was not able to go to the Palace to cast himself at the Feet of his Majesty as he had desired to see that the tye of Blood which he had in the quality of his Brother had less power over his Spirit than the Amity which he had for a simple Subject who was his Minister When this Billet was sent the City of Lisbon was in a great trouble and alarm to see the Regiments embattell'd in the Grand place of the Palace the Guards redoubled the Rounds re-enforc'd and the rest of the Troops in such an estate that it seem'd a War was already begun The Infante in the mean time not knowing whether all these preparations were made to affright the people or make an assault upon him under the pretext of hindering him from executing his pretended Resolution was in his own Palace with as much tranquility as if there had been nothing exrraordinary in that of the King 's trusting to his own Innocency and the Affection of the people But fearing nevertheless that his Complaint should be ill interpreted by any he resolved to communicate it to all the Tribunals to the Court of the City and that of the Four and Twenty writing to them upon this subject and sending them a Copy of his Letter and Billet which he had sent to the King At the same time he sent to the Councellors of State to the Grandees and Gentlemen of the Realm that they should repair to him after all which he so well instructed them in the Causes of his Complaints that even the Partisans of the Count said they would themselves be the Executioners of the Counts Chastisement should he happen to forget that respect which he owed to his Highness The justice of the Infante's Complaints by this means became so publick that there was not one who did not blame the Favourite in not being willing to justifie himself and the King for hindring any from informing against him At last the King answer'd the Infante's Billet with another and sent it him by the Marquess de Marialva the Marquess de Sande and Ruy de Monra Tilles the substance of which Answer was That he desired to know the person by whom he was informed of the Counts intention to kill him to the end that the Count might be punish'd if they were able to prove he had fail'd in his duty if not that the Informer might Desiring also that he would have the Infante understand it was necessary for the conservation of the State and People that they two should live together in good correspondence To which the Infante answered That it had pleas'd his Majesty to order him to name the person from whom he had understood the design of the Count against him but that he was not able to do that or to go about to make it clear until he should be interdicted of his Charges and removed from the Court so long as it should be judged fit because whilst he should exercise them be at Court it was impossible they should be able freely to do any thing against him This Billet having been read the King assembled the Councellors of State the Great Chancellor the Councellors of Parliament two Ministers of each of of the other Tribunals The Judges of the Crown the Procurator of the Crown and that of the Finances to the end that he might examine with them all the proposition of the Infante but the night before they assembled they made most powerful solicitations for the Count and he himself entertained the Judges before they entred into the Council at which the Ministers were offended insomuch that they would not deliberate before him of his business but only in the presence of the King where this Proposition was read My Lord the Infante having wrot to his Majesty a Letter in which he complain'd that he had not been advertised of the redoublement of the Guards which they had made in the Palace and that the Count de Castlemelhor had conspired against his Life although ineffectually whereupon he had demanded of his Majesty that he would remove the Count from his person and service His Majesty had declared to my Lord the Infante upon his first Complaint that it was by his Order they had armed the Palace And as to the second that he was ready to cause the Count to be chastised as he deserved for so detestable a Crime a greater than which none could imagine but nevertheless it was first necessary to have proofs against the accused and for that end he should name the person from whom he had received that advice The Lord the Infante did rest satisfied with what his Majesty had said in reference to his first Complaint but that did not hinder him from maintaining what he had urged before in reference to the other that it was absolutely necessary the Count should be interdicted his Charge because of the power it gives him and that he ought to be removed from Court so long as it should be judged fit to the
without being able to shun to go seek for a Retreat seeing well that this is the only means to restore tranquillity to the publick for which I would sacrifice all my Interests and my own Life if need be this way the State will be deliver'd from the noise of War and the Count enjoy in repose without apprehending the disturbance of that felicity which makes him so insolent The Infante had no sooner sent this Letter to the King but he began to think he should execute the design of his Retreat being desirous to serve the State and the Realm in giving proof of his Courage even when he was constrained to abandon it wholly he disposed himself to depart for the Province of Tras os montes which he judged most proper to his design because the Count de St. John first Gentleman of his Chamber was Governour there and his two brothers Michael Carlo de Tavora and Francisco de Tavora were the one of them General of the Artillery and the other Serjeant Major of the Field But fearing equally least the violence of the King and the zeal of the People should bring any obstacle to his Voyage he resolved to go away secretly The King let pass two days without making any answer to the Infante and then sent him this My most honoured and most beloved Brother I the King send to salute you as him whom I very much love and esteem I have seen the Letter which which you have wrought to me the 9 th of this Month which lets me know that I am obliged to you for confirming your sentiments to mine this informs me that you are not ignorant that all the Resolutions I take are advantagious both for me and you I love you as my son and if I should have no other reason that were enough to oblige me to a thousand good wishes for you as to the particular business concerning which you wrote I have already sent to let you know that I was ready to do you Justice so soon as I shall be instructed which way to do it as to your design of retiring I would have you change it and come to me I shall always have my Arms open to receive you with that love which I ought to have for a Brother upon whom I look as upon my Friend my Son and my Successor in the Realm so long as it shall please God to give me no other in which case I shall take much Consolation if God permit you to succeed to my Crown and that when-ever it shall please his Divine Majesty This Letter as full of dissimulation as of tenderness increased the Infante's distrust and the more because it was not the Kings manner to act thus with him and obliged him to make this Answer Not having the power to obtain of your Majesty that they should examine my complaint anew and that upon better informations than the former although it be of such consequence that it is not unknown to your Majesty or to any in the Realm I conclude from that Resolution of your Majesty that you would bury in forgetfulness the demand which I have made to you taking from me by this means the liberty of ever parting from it Therefore I render my most humble thanks to your Majesty for the Goodness which you have expressed towards me in the last Letter which you were pleased to write me If I do not go in person to do it I have for it an excuse so lawful that I hope your Majesty doth judg it so since your Majesty hath given such Authority in your Palace to a man who is not only accused to have endeavoured the taking away my Life but who hath made himself guilty in opposing the clearing himself from that accusation After this can there be any security for me although I am the only Infante and your Majesty's Brother But I conjure your Majesty to give credit to the sincerity of my heart when I assure you that in whatever place I go I shall always respect your Majesty as my Father and serve you as my King and Lord. God conserve your Royal Person and give to you long and happy years Many of the Ministers among whom some were Friends to the Favourite resolved to try all their force to keep the Infante The Queen desiring the same thing sent to know of him by her Confessor Father Francis de Ville if he desired she should be a Mediatrix between the King and him and if he thought good to defer his departure whilst they should labour for some accommodation The Infante accepted her offer and sent to thank her for the Favour she had done him saying he would not depart since she had order'd it so After this answer of the Infante which was but by word of mouth the Queen sent a Billet by Pedro Fernandes Monteiro which was That she was very much obliged to him for accepting her Mediation and deferring his Voyage In case the King yeilded the Count should go away from the Court after what manner his Higeness would have it done what place of retreat and what security should be given to him And as the Infante said that after the retreat of the Count he would remit his interests into their hands she desired that he would better explain himself upon that point To which the Infante answer'd That he hop'd by the respect was due to Royal Authority she would obtain what he had so often aim'd at that he asked to come only to that point she was arrived at That his Majesty might chuse a place for retreat of the Count where he pleased provided it were at a distance as it ought to be on such occasions and that he was wholly ready to execute all that which her Majesty should ordain in respect of assuring to them the person of the Count submitting himself also so soon as he shall be gone from the Court to all that it shall please her Majesty As the Queen desired to accommodate this business she had no sooner received the Answer of the Infante but she wrot to him That the Resolution of his conforming himself to hâ—â— sentiments was very agreeable to her that she demanded of him an assurance signed by him for the person and for the honour of the Count so soon as he shall be removed from Court and that he would never more speak of his complaint They promising him on their side that the Count should go away as soon as they should have this assurance for he desired nothing more than his Favour And besides that he might quit the Court with the less embroilemen the would of himself lay down the charge of Escrivaon de Puridade To this Billet which they judged to be dictated by the Favourite the Infante made this Answer That prostrate at the feet of her Majesty he rendred her a Thousand most humble Thanks for the Honour and the Favour which she had done him in employing her Royal Authority for the
accommodating that affair that he had sent her the Assurance in the form it had pleased her Majesty to ordain him That in respect to what her Majesty had declared to him in her last Billet he hoped she would act after that manner she should judg most fit for the service of the King her Lord the conservation of the State and the repose of his Subjects This Billet was accompanied with that of the Assurance which was addressed to the Queen in these terms So soon as your Majesty was pleased to take notice of this affair you engaged me straitly to execute all that you should be pleased to prescribe and to satisfie you of that which your Majesty demands of me as to the Assurance for the Person and the Honour of the Count I do engage my Faith to your Majesty that I will enterprize nothing neither against the one or the other And to the end the Count may know what the Mediation of your Majesty is able to do I am willing to bury my Complaint in perpetual silence as if it had never been thought on God preserve your Majesty and grant you many happy years In the mean time the Favourite made an attempr to carry the King into Alemtejo where the Army was this proposition pleas'd him at first but when it came to the execution he found the King chang'd he not being able to resolve to his divertisements which ty'd him to Lisbon It was very late at night when the Infante sent to the Queen the Billet with the Assurance for the Count which he no sooner had receiv'd but he retired accompanied with the Cavalry into a Religious Covent in the Province of Arabida seven Leagues from Lisbon After this Retreat it seem'd that all things would be at peace but it it did not happen so because the Favourite did still govern the King which appeared chiefly in that the King did not receive the Infante as he had hoped he would and as he had made him believe for he did not so much as answer one word to all his civilities nor to all his acknowledgments It was agreed they should not speak of that which was pass'd the King did something more he would not so much as speak of any other thing The Infante having demanded of him permission to render his Duty to the Queen he was contented only to make him a sign with his Head As the Infante proposed to himself the going often to the Palace endeavouring to get by his assiduity the favour of the King Those whose interest it was he should not come there at all broke his measures so that the Queen knowing the aversion which the King had for the Infante sent him word that he should not present himself before the King fearing lest there should happen any broil between them After this the Infante was easily perswaded that they had fram'd some dedly design against him especially when he saw that the Souldiers which they had made to come to the Palace were not sent away and that they had posted some Companies of Foot near his Palace The Company of the Patrovils belonging to the King also saying that one morning they should see the Heads of those cut off whom they should arrest over night made him judg they intended to do so to those who were of his Party and ty'd to his Interests There ran also at that time a report that there had hapned a very unlucky Accident to Henry Anriquez de Miranda of which he was very ill Some said he himself had caused this report to be spread however whether this sickness was true or feigned for some days the King went every night to consult with him of all things as with him that had taken the place of the Count this made them believe it was he who did ill offices betwixt the King and the Infante making the King so bitter against him and being told some persons were so transported with choler against him that they were gone to search for him intending his death The King would have had him come to the Palace but he thought it better to retire himself and quit the Court leaving the King in the hands of Antonio de Sousa de Macedo and of Emanuel Autunes These two Favourites finding it fit for their purpose to cause the Infante to come to the Palace made their intentions known to all the Court without letting the King be seen in it To this end they sent to tell him as from the Queen by the Count de St. Croix Grand Master of her House that the Council was to assemble at such a day and the Queen would be very glad if he would be there But as he thought upon the Advice which the Queen had given him this Order which was brought to him in her behalf by the Count was suspected he therefore thought best to write to the Queen a Billet which was carried by the same Count de St. Croix of which this was the substance That on the 22th of the same Month of September she had sent to him by the Count de St. Croix an Order to abstain from coming to the Palace to the end that there might not arrive anything to displease the King which might cause an unhappy difference betwixt the King and him That this Order which was not brought to him but with the Kings consent had most sensibly touch'd him seeing that presently after he had granted him the honour to come and cast himself at his feet he had forbid him to present himself before his Majesty which was to him a most rigorous punishment not having committed any fault that should merit it except the incertitude wherein he was not knowing after what manner he should act to please the King might be called one That things being in these terms he did supplicate her that she would please whilst there was yet time to examine the danger to which he exposed himself if he should not give satisfaction to the King since that the last Order which she had sent him did not disengage him from the former which was general and of which the cause was not yet ceas'd at least that he had no intention to treat him as a Councellor of State which he could not comprehend since that a Councellor of State could not give Councel to a King he having an aversion for him that gives it That he hop'd she would seriously consider the two Orders of their Majesties and that she would not blame his irresolution which arose from the profound respect he had for them and that in the end she would know it was necessary the King should give him liberty of going to the Palace to the end he might be always near their Majesties which was the only thing that he desired to be ever in a condition of serving them as his Duty engaged him Whilst they waited for the Infante's answer they sent to him several times some of the Pages of the Chamber to let
him know that he should come to the Councel but as they came not from the King nor with the ordinary Formalities he would not go The Favourites seeing this Artifice was unprofitable to them they made use of another they made the King write a Letter to the Infante which they sent him by Antony de Mendosa Archbishop of Lisbon containing these words Most honoured Infante my most beloved and most esteemed Brother I the King wish you health c. I have judg'd it convenient to order you by this Letter to come to speak with me this day and I shall be glad that it be presently because I would testifie to you publickly as being a thing that is but just that all the world should know that I have your person in that esteem which I ought as your King your Brother and your Father whose place I hold Also you may act near me after the manner that you have demanded by the intercession of the Queen whom I honour above all Queens as my most beloved and most esteemed Wife The Infante having reflected on this Letter doubted yet whether he should go to the Palace although the King had so order'd him but having conder'd that after he had declared he did not go to the Council because he was forbid if he should not now go at this time when he was recall'd with honour they would say it was his mind to be separated from the King To hinder this he went thither but was received with the same coldness as formerly But even in the middle of the Tempest that was raised against the Infante there was stirr'd up another more furious against the Queen Antoniy de Sousa de Macedo Secretary of State solicited his re-establishment demanding at least that he might be permitted to appear in the Palace where all the world knew he was hid The King having already made for that some instances the Queen let him know that it stood not with her Honour he should return so soon upon this they would not at this time press the matter any further Sometime after he spake again of it to the Queen which made her to answer him that he might by his absolute power cause him to return but it should never be by her consent so that they were obliged to approve of the Repeal of the Secretary by the same Council of State who had order'd his Exile This was no sooner done but they sent this Conclusion to the Queen which seem'd to have been dictated by the Secretary the discourse being the same with that of the contestation he had with her And as all that which hapned afterwards in the State drew its original from the Complaint of the Queen it is very convenient to render publick the Conclusion which was in these terms The contestation that the Secretary Antony de Sousa de Macedo hath had with the Queen our Soveraign having been proposed to the under-subscribing Ministers conforming to that which he hath represented and the Princess remonstiated to us in that he did forget the Respect he owed to her it hath seemed to us altho the Secretary hath justified himself that he had no ill intention to the Queen our Soveraign and that his intention was but to perswade her Majesty that the Portugal Nation had no other intention than to honour her Majesty and not to treat her as she had complain'd that the King our Lord ought to order the Secretary of State to retire himself from Court for ten or twelve days and that during that time Antonio de Cavide exercise his charge and remonstrate to the Queen our Soveraign that he doth this only to content her on condition however that she henceforward never engage her self in the like contestations because of the evil sequels which may happen thereupon in the State as affairs stand and that this advice may serve as well for the present as for the time to come At Lisbon Aug. 31. 1667. This Decree was no sooner seen by the Queen but for answer she sent this Letter to the King who was at the Council by Emanuel de Sousa de Silva Superintendant of her House I have not been able to represent to your Majesty and the Council of State the just subject of my resentment no more than the strange motive of my complaint because that even to this present they have maliciously concealed from me the Conclusion that had been made upon this subject but having in the end seen it that which it contains hath cast me into an extraordinary astonishment had I had sooner notice of it I had at first represented to your Majesty the injury my Honour hath thereby received in remonstrating the justice of my Complaint But assoon as I knew what the Councel has determined notwithstanding all the assurance that I may have as Queen I complain to your Majesty with all the humility of a Subject demanding of you that Justice which might be expected by any particular person against the temerity which Anthony de Sousa de Macedo hath calumniated me with in assuring most maliciously the Councellors of State that in the Contestation which he had with me I should speak against the whole Nation of the Portugues although he knows very well as I do also declare unto your Majesty who ought to believe the Faith and Word of a Queen that I did never speak to him but most obligeingly of the Sentiments and Interests of the Nation and that it was only against the proceeding of Anthony de Sousa and two or three of his Friends who had treated me unworthily that I shewed any resentment For in fine can any one behold a thing more astonishing than the boldness of this man who dares upon a supposition that has not the least likelihood of Truth and upon a gross lie fill'd with Calumny solicit and obtain secretly a conclusion of the Councel of State so injurious to a Queen since it is manifest that my Heart hath not been touch'd with any thing more than with the marks of Love Respect and Compassion which on all occasions have been paid to me by all the Portugals whom I esteem and love as my Children and that it is only the malice and cruelty of two or three who oblige me by their Insolencies to treat them as my Capital Enemies After all this my Lord after I have declared and protested as I do again that I shall never for the time to come be able to see a man who hath by artifice and under colour of a false report obtained against me a determination so odious and from which they have framed an Act so scandalous full of reprehensions and menaces humbly prostrate at the feet of your Majesty I do demand of you reparation and satisfaction upon my Complaint and that you will be pleased to ordain Anthony de Sousa de Macedo adjudg'd and punish'd according to the Rigour of the Laws established against those guilty of High-Treason and that above all things
circumstances in this business worthy of examination that we demand permission of your Majesty before we enter upon this examination to recommend it and to cause it to be recommended to God that he may be pleased to guide us according to those pious intentions which shall be for the universal good of the State and for the conservation of your Majesty whom we pray the same God to keep and to whom we all wish long and happy Years The Queen sent into France to give notice of the estate of Affairs by Monsicur Verjus Envoy in the Court of Portugal on the part of the Princes of the House of Vendosme a Gentleman very much esteemed for his Worth and for his rare Accomplishments So soon as this Process was begun to be framed and the King's inability became to be publickly talk'd on and of which no body doubted the people began to wish that the Infante might Espouse the Queen And this desire was grounded vpon very many Reasons but chiefly on the Virtue and the prudent Conduct of this Princess which had gained her the Esteem of all the People And moreover this Marriage was not without example since that in Poland John Casimir had succeeded to the Crown and to the Wife of Sigismond Casimir his Brother and the City of Lisbon heretofore desired that the Queen Dona Eleanor Widdow of the King Don Emanuel should be Married to King Joh. the 13 th his Son so that after the dissolution of the Marriage of the King and Queen there might be a Marriage between the Infante and the same Queen Monsieur Verjus having made known the Estate of this Affair to Monsieur the Cardinal of Vendosm â—ogat in France for Clement the 9 th he obtained a Dispensation for the Prince Don Pedro and the Queen in case the first Marriage was adjudged null Although the King had knowledg of all these Negotiations they were not able to make him consider with himself But on the contrary he acted and spake with so much indiscretion that there was no body who did not believe they ought to employ these last remedies against his ill Conduct This so urgent a necessity obliged the Councellors of Estate the Nobility and People of Lisbon to conjure the Infante that he would take upon him the Regency because the Kingdom was in War and full of Troubles the King incapable to govern and the Queen retired into a Nunnery and therefore there was great reason to substitute the Infante in the place of the King The Common Council of the City and of the Four and twenty having sent their Deputies to the Infante to demand of him permission to proclaim him Regent in the Palace and if he would not yield to it they would do it against his mind he answered them that they should deliberate whether it would be convenient they should accompany him to the Palace The Marquess of Cascars thrust on by his Zeal and his Age went the next morning to the King when he was in his Antichamber the Grooms of the Wardrobe told him he was yet in Bed but approaching to him told him it was time for him to awake and if he didnot leave that Lethargy out of which he had awaked him he would in a very little time lose a Kingdom which he had already ruined by his negligence and incapacity that it were better to do that of his own motion which he would be made to do by force That he should send to seek for the Infante his Brother and to put into his hands the Government which was the only way he had to conserve the Crown This Remonstrance was immediately followed by that of the Counsellors of State who made theirs publickly to him and represented to him that after he had left the Government of the State to his Favourites who had ruin'd it he at present had abandoned it altogether there being none that would intermeddle with it unless he himself would act in it But he was nothing moved neither with the one nor the other which obliged the Duke de Cadaval to press the Infante on the part of the Counsellors of State to go to the Palace to begin his Regency Novemb. 23. 1667 the Infante accompanied with the Common Council of the City the Chamber of the Four and Twenty the Nobility and an innumerable company of people entred into the Gallery of the Palace and from thence he entred with the Counsellors of State into the Antichamber of the King where after a short Conference had together they Arrested the King in his Chamber by making fast the doors without touching him any other way The Infante presently named for Secretary of State Dr. Pedro Vieira de Sylva who had been Secretary to the King Don John and to the Queen Mother who having taken his place the Motives of this change were read and approv'd of in the first Assembly of the Council of State The next thing agitated was in what place they should put the King and after what manner he should be served It was then concluded he should be kept in his Apartment and serv'd by those persons who should be most agreeable to him and that he should want nothing either for his necessity or pleasure or the Dignity of his Character But he treated with so much cruelty those who serv'd him that divers Gentlemen came to excuse themselves from the Employment But whilst the Infante was yet in the Council of State Antonio Cavide brought to him this which was wrote in his own hand and signed by the King Our Lord the King having regard to the Estate in which now the Kingdom is and to what hath been represented to him by his Ministers and also to divers other things and reasons of his own proper motion and by his Absolute and Royal Authority and for the advantage of his Realm doth dismiss himself and resign in favour of the Infante that he may possess the Realms in the same manner as he did and his Legitimate Descendants after him declaring that of all the Revenue belonging to his Crown he reserves to himself two hundred and seventy thousand Livres of yearly Rent of which he may also dispose for ten years after his death and moreover he doth reserve to himself the House at Bragansa with all its dependances In the Faith of which and in assurance that what his Majesty hath Ordained shall be executed and observed he hath enjoyned me to draw up this present Act which he hath signed Antony Cavide done at Lisbon this 23d November 1667. The King The Infant having granted to the King all that he demanded they expedited the Dispatches necessary for it but he would not accept the Crown of which the King would have made a Cession As they had judg'd it convenient that the King should not go out of the Palace the Infante resolved to stay there also with those Councellors of State and a great part of the Nobility and People who would not
the Prince made once more an attempt upon him but he was no more to be shaken now than he was at other times he only let the Three States know that on the 9th of June 1668 He would take his Oath to maintain the Laws of the Realm and he would then receive from them theirs of Fidelity This day being come they all Assembled in the Great Hall of the Guards where that Ceremony was done with all the Pomp requisite thereunto and the Prince took his Oath in these Terms I do swear and promise the Grace of God assisting to rule and govern well and Equitably and to administer to you Justice in all Cases as far as the frailty of Humane Nature will permit and to keep and preserve your good Customes Priviledges Graces Recompenses Liberties and Franchises which hath been given granted and Confirmed by the Kings my Predecessors And the Three States of the Realm took theirs in these Terms We swear upon the holy Evangelists which we touch with our hands that we do acknowledge and receive for our Governour and Regent of these Realms because of the perpetual Impuissance of his Majesty as we have adjudg'd the most High and most Excellent Prince Don Pedro Legitimate Son of the King Don John the Fourth and of the Queen Dona Lewysa his Wife Brother and Curator of the most high and most excellent King Don Alphonso the sixth and his True and Natural Successor to these Realms And as the True and Natural Subjects as we are of the Prince Don Pedro we make to him Faith and Homage in the same manner as we have made to the King Don John the Fourth his Father and to the King Don Alphonso the Sixth his Brother whom we do at this present deprive of his Government because of his Incapacity with the same Jurisdiction Power and Authority that any of the Kings and Lords of this Crown have ever had and wee will obey fully and wholly all his Orders and Judgments be they high or be they low Jurisdictions and we will make War with his Enemies for him and entertain Peace with his Allies as it shall please him without obeying any other King but him All this abovesaid we swear to before God by this Cross and by the Holy Evangelists which we touch with our Hands to observe on our parts fully and wholly And as a Mark of our Submission and Obedience and of our acknowledging his Royal Soveraign Jurisdiction we kiss the Hand of his Highness here present These Oaths being made all the Dispatches began to be expedited in the Name of the Prince as Governour Regent of the Realm in the same form as had been formerly done when the Infante Don Alphonso Count de Bologn was made Governour of this same Realm because of the Incapacity of his Brother having been acknowledg'd for such by the Kings of France Spain and England at whose Courts his Embassadors and Envoys had been received with all the prerogatives which they had given to Kings After this Act the Three States continued to deliberate about the Affairs of the Realm until the First day of August 1668. when they separated This change was approved of by all the People excepting some persons who had no reason to approve of it because of their Interest In truth the deposing the King Don Alphonso was maintained not only by those Reasons which have been rehearsed but for many others which they were willing to have Concealed besides the same thing hath happened heretofore in Portugal in the Person of Don Sanche the Second In France in that of Childerick Philip and Theoderick In England in that of King Edward In Germany in that of Charles le Gross In Denmark in that of Christian In the Realm of Naples in that of Charles and in many other Kingdoms As soon as the Prince and the Princess had Consummated their Marriage in good earnest which they had made by Virtue of the Dispensation which they had obtained of Monsieur the Cardinal of Vendosme Legat a Latere in France to the end that there might remain no scruple they sent Father Francis de Ville Jesuit to Clement the 9th to supplicate on their part that he would Confirm this Dispensation His Holiness having received this Request as a Testimony of respect render'd to the Holy Sea he ordained with his Paternal Love That they should expedite this Brief with this Superscription To Our Well-Beloved Sons Deigo de Sousa Chief Inquisitor in the Inquisition against the Hereticks in the Realms of Portugal and Algarves Antony de Mendosa Commissary-General of the Bull of the Croisaide and Deputy of the Inquisition Martin Alphonso de Mello Dean of the Metropolitan Church of Evora also Deputy of the Inquisition Lewis de Sousa Dean of the Church of Porto and Emanuel de Meneses Arch-deacon of the Metropolitan of Evora Clement the 9th Pope Sends Health and Apostolick Benediction to Our Well-beloved Sons The Charge of Pastor which God hath given to us Commands us that according to the understanding which he hath granted us we should provide according to the Laws of Justice and Prudence repose to all the faithful Servants of Jesus Christ and chiefly to the Great Ones And because we have understood by the tenour of a Request which hath been presented to us a little while since on the part of our Son in Jesus Christ the most Beloved and most Noble Don Pedro Prince of Portugal and of our Daughter in Jesus Christ the most Beloved and most Noble Maria Isabella de Savoy Dutchess of Nemours That the said Princess after she had contracted a Marriage with our most Dear Son in Jesus Christ Alphonso the Illustrious King of Portugal and Algarves and lived with him about the space of six months as his Wife during which time she perceived his perpetual inability to consummâ—â— the said Marriage being pressed in her Conscience she hath been obliged to cause the said Marriage to be adjudged Null beginning her Process the Sea of the Archbishoprick being vacant before our Well beloved Sons the Vicar of the Chapter of the Metropolitan Church of Lisbon lawfully deputed and the Chapter and the Cannons of the same Church who hold by reason of the said vacancy an ordinary Jurisdiction and before several other Judges named by the same Chapter joyntly with the said Grand Vicar of the Chapter to the end that they might be the better instructed in that Affair and that they might deliberate thereon more maturely by whom there was given a Sentence that declared the said Marriage Nul because of the aforesaid Impotence which Sentence having been read and shewed to the King Alphonso was approved by him by word of Mouth and by Writing Moreover the aforesaid Princes Mary Isabel and the aforesaid Don Pedro Brother of the aforesaid King Alphonso being willing to Contract a Marriage together at the Requests of the States of the Realm who were at that time assembled at Lisbon to the end that
of them to take away from her Majesty and the Prince all those scruples of Conscience that they might have in marrying without demanding it Besides they had considered the time and the difficulty which would be in obtaining it from the Court of Rome although contrary to the Will of his Holiness which might endanger the Repose and Health of the State which could not be able to get out of its forepast miseries but in putting it self in a Condition to give Successors to the Crown which was the only way to do it 3. Notwithstanding all these Resolutions of these Doctors and the politick Instances given them by the most considerable Persons of the Realm to oblige the Queen and the Prince to consent to their will yet they had nevertheless so much Respect so much Reverence and so much Submission to the Authority of the Holy See that they believed their Marriage would neither be fully blest nor approved of by God if first it were not so by him who was in his stead and place upon Earth and in this Consideration they employed all their Care and all their Diligence possible to get with speed a Dispensation 4. It is most certain that as the Queen had not recourse to the Holy See the first time that it might judge of the Nullity of the Marriage for no other reason but that aforesaid doubting the way would not be found so easily open as the Case required So the second time also the way seemed open since the peace made between Portugal and Spain the Prince and she had a passionate Desire and full of sincerity and they would not have failed to have had recourse then for right if it might have been so easily had as the urgent necessity required and the length of the Voyage and the unavoidable Factions of those Persons who would not have failed to have opposed it at Rome as they had tried to do at Lisbon had not made them fear that it would be too great a Delay and that the least ill that attended it would be the putting into danger the Quiet and Safety of the State which depended upon the sudden and speedy Consummation of this Marriage 5. This is the Reason wherefore they had Recourse to Mounsieur the Cardinal de Vendosm Legat a Latere in France believing also besides the nearness of Places and the facility of Access that in addressing themselves to his Eminency they had Recourse to the Pope himself and not being able to go to Drink at the Fountain Head it would suffice that they Drank at a Stream which they saw to proceed immediately from its Source 6. And seeing that the Legat gave them the Dispensation which they required believing he had Power so to do The Queen and the Prince received it as not being able to imagine as they ought not to do that a Cardinal so Illustrious and so Wise in whom the Pope had so much Confidence and whom he Esteemed so much and who was his Legat a Latere did not know how far his Power extended or what he did in granting their Request 7. It followed then that from this Dispensation sought for Received Examined Approved and Registred by the Official of Lisbon to whom it was Directed that the Marriage was Made and was Celebrated in the face of the holy Church with all the Formalities requisite by the Bishop of Targa in presence of the Curate of the Palace where it was done and of Four Gentlemen of the Chamber of the Prince commonly called Chamberlains the Duke de Cadaval's Proctor Espousing for the Queen and the Marquess de Marialva for the Prince 8. All the People also Approved of it by the most extraordinary marks of Contentment that ever were seen and the King Alphonso would shew that which he had in particular by the Complements which he sent to the Prince his Brother And Heaven was not backward to let us plainly see that God did give his Blessing to this Royal Marriage by the happy Pregnancy of the Queen which was perceived within a Month after and is now at this time gone half her Time So that all the People hope his Holiness will not refuse them his and that he will have the goodness to have regard First To the most humble Petitions of these two Great and Religious Princes which they make with other Crowned Heads Secondly To the particular Respect and to the sincerity of the Reverence which they have had and which they still have to the holy See in having Recourse to it Thirdly To the great Submission which the Realm of Portugal hath Witnessed at all times to the Will of the Popes and particularly within this Thirty Years whilst it hath Laboured under very great Calamities and which hath Laboured so much as all the World knows for the Propagation of the Faith without so much as Estranging it self so much as in one Point notwithstanding all the Disgraces it had suffered under the Papacy of his Predecessors with so much Patience Fourthly To the perfect and respectful Confidence which it still at present hath for him who hath so worthily Succeeded and who doth surpass them all in Bounty Justice and Wisdom that he will repair all its past Losses and will to render them intirely happy do them the favour to Establish the Repose and the Spiritual and Temporal Peace of these poor People who have Groaned so many Years which depends absolutely on the Approbation and Benediction which he shall have the goodness to give to this Marriage Fifthly And lastly To the Immortal glory that his Holiness and the holy See shall receive after they have by their Applications and their Paternal Cares so happily extinguished the Fire of a War that Consumed all Europe by the means of the Peace made between the two Crowns who are as it were the two Poles of it It shall yet please them to take away the Subject and the Occasion which may be soon able to Rekindle it and to render it more Hot than ever FINIS Books lately Published The Courtiers Calling shewing the Art of Living at Court according to the Maxims of Policy and Morality By a Person of Honour in 12s price bound 1 s. 6 d. The Art of Making Love or Rules for the Conduct of Ladies and Gallants in their Amours in 12s price bound 1 s. Don Carlos Prince of Spain a Tragedy as it is Acted at the Dukes Theatre Written by Thomas Otway in 4. price 1 s. Newly Publisht this Term Titus and Berenice with a Farce called the Cheats of Scapin As it was Acted at the Dukes Theatre Written by Thomas Otway in 4. price 1 s. All Sold by Richard Tonson under Grays-Inn Gate next Grays-Inn Lane 1640. Aug. 28. 1643. April 26. 1648. 1650. May 15. 1653. Nov. 6. 1656. Nov. 15. 1656. * That is in the time of repose after dinner which they all use in those Countrys 1657. A Palace Royal a League from Lisbon A House of the Duke d' Aâ—eiâ—o's 4 Leagues from Lisbon on this side of the Tagus Stout nâ—erâ—y Companions 1661. This Dona Maria is a natural Daughter of the late King Don John This Discourse was addrest to the Assembly This to the King This to the Assembly To the King These were the Lords of the Realm Houses of Pleasure are called Quintes in Portugal That is one of the Extreamest Quarters of Lisbon Because of the Palsie that had enfeebled one side This Charge answers to that of Master of the Ordnance This Charge answers to that of Superintendant of the Sea Affairs The Queen loved these two Persons This is the manner of writing such Billets These Imploys are Triennial in Portugal A Town on the other side the Tagus over against Lisbon This is one kind of the Carouses Which were Monte Claros Evota A little Village at the mouth of the Guadi and in the uttermost parts of Algarves The younger Sons of the Kings of Portugal are not Princes but by Declaration The true cause which they dared not yet to speak of was the Impuissance of the King That is the publick Prison Lewisa Marie de Gonzague
Act be performed which gives equally a Title both in regard of the Present and of Posterity That by Virtue of the Testament of the King the States had given the Government to the Queen and had put into her hands the Seals to which is tyed the Royal Power which if his Majesty should exercise without them he would do Violence to the Laws and Justice That those who should yield him Obedience would do it rather for fear than by reason because although the Crown did belong unto his Majesty the Queen his Mother nevertheless as Regent had the Royal Power in her hands so that if they owe an equal respect to both their Majesty's they owed only their Obedience to the Queen That he would not chang a Custom which had been always inviolably observed It was not reasonable his Majesty should take the Government by force since the Queen desired with so much passion to surrender it to him that besides the Violence so contrary to the good hopes they had conceived of his Reign it would lessen his Reputation not only in his own Kingdom but with Strangers If his Majesty doubted of the Sincerity of the Queen he should send one of his Gentlemen to look in the Cabinet belonging to the Secretary where he might see all the Orders necessary for the formalities of that Ceremony And since these Orders did manifestly make known the Queeens Intention his Majesty ought to follow his Councel and to return to the Palace where the Business should be done not only with all necessary Congruity but also with an universal Applause That that manner of acting will be beneficial to all the people and especially to those who are nearest to his Majesties Royal Person who were obliged above all the rest to give good Councel to his Majesty which he hoped from all those who were present The Ministers of State touched with the force of these Reasons all of them became of the Secretaries Opinion and omitting what they had before said to the contrary thought of another thing That the King should send to demand the Seals by the Secretary himself and having them once in his hands he might continue his Government and no body be able to say any thing against it Upon this the Secretary replied That he had not Authority enough to demand them and the Queen ought not to render them unless it should be to the King himself without the interposition of any Minister That his Majesty ought not to undertake any thing against Justice and good Order he should not at least do it if he would follow his Councel As it was not the King who did decide these things he would not determine for either side but told the Secretary he should attend and within a while he should receive an Answer upon which the Councel broke up But after that the King asked the Secretary in private If he would assure him that the Queen would in good earnest resign up the Government To which the Secretary answered That indeed it was impossible for him to make such a Promise since he was not able to answer but for his own proper Actions however he was perswaded the Queen would execute what she had promised provided his Majesty would return to the Palace The Favourites did not hold themselves satisfied with what the Secretary had said The King once again sent for him back and ordered him he should go to the Palace and assoon as he should come thither he should write a Letter signed by the Queen which should in express terms signify That she would the first day he arrived remit to him the Government promising so soon as he had received that Letter he would return to the Palace as the Queen did desire So soon as the Assembly was finished the Infante took leave of the King and went to the Queen to whom he rendred an Accompt of that which passed in his presence The Secretary also having told her the order he had received from the King she was resolved to execute it After which he retired home to take order in some Affairs and did not return to his Office till night to write that Letter which was demanded He had hardly begun to write when the Count de Pombeiro arrived from Alcantara with order to know the Queens mind from her own mouth Being entred into the Secretaries Room he told him That the King and Councel doubted the success of that Affair because of the delay of the Letter which he had made them hope for and which they had waited for with much impatience that all that which he had said was but an Artifice to engage the King by his return to the Palace to perpetuate the Regency of the Queen That it was absolutely necessary speedily to carry a Remedy to that Suspition to put some stop to the Violence of the King which was almost upon breaking forth But the Secretary having told him the Reasons which caused the delay of the Letter which he complained of he made an end of writing it which being signed by the Queen he put it into the hands of the Count who carried it to Alcantara where being opened they found these Words Most high and most puissant Prince c. To morrow at ten a clock the Tribunals shall be advertised to assemble to the end that in their presence I may remit to you the Seals and the Government of all your States in the accustomed manner I pray you earnestly that you will be there Most High and Mighty Prince c. So soon as this Letter was sent the Queen gave order for all Preparatives necessary and sent to advertise all those who ought to assist at this Ceremony to the end she might do it with all the Authority and Demonstration of Content that so considerable an Action required The Reading of that Letter calmed the Spirits a little at Alcantara and it was resolved by the King that he would be with the Queen at the time appointed The 23d of June 1662. the King being within a Month of Nineteen Years of Age came from Alcantara to Lisbon accompanied with all the Nobles and followed by a great Concourse of People The Infante was yet in his Palace for he had not got ready his Coach soon enough which obliged him to send to tell the King as he passed by that his People were he cause he could not come sooner to him which he pray'd him to excuse and not stay for he would follow him The King having consulted thereupon those who were about him ordered that they should pass before the Infante's Palace which he seeing from the Window immediately went down to the King and going into his Coach they went strait to the Palace by the New-Street that they might make their entry by the great Place where being arrived they went up into the Chamber where the Queen was and and then being placed the King at her right and the Infante at her left Hand all the