A Brief History of Portugal

Part  6 - Dom Phillip I (Phillip II of Spain)

MY EVER FAITHFUL reader will remember that, through lack of space as usual, we had to leave things in a particular interesting state of affairs.  You will recall, I'm sure, that there was in the 1500's the chance that Portugal, Spain and England might be joined together by the possible marriage, however implausible it might seem now, of Philip II of Spain and Queen Elizabeth I. The answer has many parts of course.  For the time being, I think we will leave things as they are.  If we have enough space at the end of these ramblings then the writer might shed further light on this area which, although not directly connected with Portugal and her troubles at this time, it might make an interesting `but if?' sequence.  We'll see! Although only a `brief encounter' but, getting carried away with all this talk of linking Portugal, Spain and England, we could easily forget the important things.  And so let's carry on with our meanderings through Portugal's history.

Dom António (Prior of Crato): 1580

On the death of Dom Henrique in 1580, António, also known as the Prior of Crato proclaimed himself King of Portugal.  However, his reign lasted only 20 days, culminating in his defeat in the Battle of Alcãntara by the Spanish armies.  The battle ended in a decisive victory for the Spanish, both on land and sea.  Two days later, the Duke of Alba captured Lisbon.  Although there was a short period, when various factions within Portugal tried to put together a government of solidarity, all of them failed and on March 25, 1581, Philip II of Spain was also crowned king Philip I of Portugal.

HOUSE OF AUSTRIA (Spanish Usurpation)

Dom Philip II of Spain (I of Portugal): 1580-98

After all other avenues appeared closed, the Portuguese Cortes, meeting at Tomar, decided that there were no sensible alternatives.  And therefore a proclamation was made that Philip II was not only King of Spain but also to be known as Dom Philip I of Portugal.  He assured the assembled Cortes that they would be the only ones to make or change laws affecting the Portuguese people.  The currency and language would remain unchanged for the foreseeable future.  In addition, of great importance to the merchants and their contacts in various parts of the former Portuguese empire, particularly that relating to the African and Indian trade routes, a further pledge was made.  All matters relating to their business would still remain entirely in Portuguese hands.  Of course, as in all relationships, be they relating to countries or peoples of a certain country, mutual respect is necessary to work these loose agreements.  But of course, these arrangements are gradually worn away with time and, however carefully these relationships are dealt with, some raw edges start to be exposed.  Violations of the trade agreements eventually grew to the extent that Dom Philip I had to step in to try and stop them.

In hindsight, it has been stated that, if the king had made Lisbon his capital from which to rule both Spain and Portugal, then things would have worked a great deal more smoothly.  As it was, some of the liberal allowances gave the Portuguese almost a free hand in what they should declare to their Spanish masters.  These important areas, which ought to have been tied down more closely from the start, regarding the tax paid for traded goods, were eventually studied more closely to stop flagrant abuse of the system.  However, there was a period of political and economic stability for quite a while after the initial Spanish conquest. But, all good things must come to an end, increased shipping losses, mostly at the hands of the Dutch and English, started to make serious inroads into the combined Spanish and Portuguese shipping fleet.

This chipping away, at what Dom Philip I regarded as his maritime supremacy, finally goaded him into action.  Apart from shipping, what he really found hard to accept was Queen Elizabeth I of England's rejection of his proposal of matrimony.  Thirdly, which was very much linked to the second reason really, his inability to influence the people of England towards the Catholic religion as opposed to Protestant.  With Queen Elizabeth I putting up such a strong case for the Protestant faith, rather than Catholicism, in England and a good many other countries of Europe as well, he felt compelled to act.

Dom Philip I was under no illusion that it would be easy to just pop over to England for the day, box a few ears, and change everything to his way of thinking.  No, he very carefully assembled a huge fleet of ships.  To make absolutely sure there would be no question of losing the sea battle he was planning, he also added a further element to the fleet.  The assembled ships included thirty-one of the notorious large Portuguese vessels which had raked havoc in a number of previous sea battles.  Finally, in 1588 he was ready.  The fleet was forced to assemble in the broad Tagus estuary because of its size.  With a final message from Dom Philip I ringing in their ears, they weighed anchor and the two hundred odd men-of-war ships, set sail for England.

In the event, of course, the English fleet, supported by the Dutch, in what is famously known as the Spanish Armada, gave the visitors a hiding.  Out of the original two hundred ships of Dom Philip I's `Invincible Army' that set sail, only fifty-one were able to limp home, some of them hardly making it.  This monumental `slap in the face' was seen by the Portuguese as a serious set-back in their relationship with Spain, which would have lasting repercussions in the long term.

Fortunately for him, Dom Philip I's standing with the Portuguese part of his kingdom was enhanced by the fact that Brazil still came under the `wing' of these two joint countries.  Without much effort, Brazil quickly became the major source of the world's sugar requirements, which brought in a great deal of wealth on its own.  Also, it was from Brazil that the importance, at that time, of a particularly nasty habit was increasingly being adopted by the people across the whole of Europe. It was the ridiculous business of trying to smoke a rolled up type of `weed', locally known as tobacco.  Luckily for these two countries' well-being, the revenue from the trading of this `weed' rose enormously.  We mustn't forget of course, that if it hadn't been for this trade, many fine buildings in Portugal, such as the New Cathedral in Coimbra, São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon plus sumptuous palaces across the principality, would never have been built.

Just before we pack up our satchels after another exhilarating history lesson, I hope you haven't forgotten the task you were set way back in Part I. For those who were not with us in those early days, I had noticed that the outline map of Portugal bordered by Spain on one side and the Atlantic Ocean other resembled, in my opinion, the left-hand side view of a man's face. I even went as far as to say, it looked like a very aristocratic face to me. Well, has anyone out there guessed who I had in mind? To give you a final clue, he has come up already in an earlier `lesson' and so all will be revealed in our next session. Bye for now and don't be late for the next thrilling episode!

     David Devereux

     dfdev@btinternet.com

Why not now have a look at the Family Tree of Kings and Queens of Portugal?

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