Manuel I of Portugal: Difference between revisions

Manuel grew up among the conspiracies of the aristocratic high nobility against king John II. He watched many people being killed and exiled, including his older brother Diogo, the duke of Viseu, murdered by the king himself. Thus, when receiving a royal order in 1493 to present himself to the king, Manuel had every reason to worry. Without reason: John II wanted to name him heir to the throne, after the death of his son prince [[Afonso of Portugal]] and the failed attempts to legitimise [[Jorge de Lancastre|George]], thehis illegitimate son. This lucky event granted him the nickname ''the Fortunate''.

Manuel was a very religious menman and invested an important amount of the Portuguese income to sponsor missionaries in their way to the new colonies, such as [[Francisco Alvarez]], and the construction of religious buildings, like the [[Monastery of Jerónimos]]. Manuel also endeavoured to promote another crusade, against the Turks. He persecuted the [[Jew]]s of Portugal, driving them from the country or forcibly converting them, notably in the period [[1496]] – [[1498]]. These actions were meant to please the [[catholic kings]] and were taken as a clause of his marriage to princess Isabella of Aragon, then heiress of the future united crown of Spain (widow of his cousin [[Afonso of Portugal]]). Nevertheless, Manuel ended the juridical distinction between Catholics and conversed Jews and the ones who decided to be baptized were protected from further abuse. However, a massacre of Jews in Lisbon occurred in 1506.

Isabella died in childbirth in 1498, putting an end to the Portuguese ambitions to rule in Spain, which had started in John II reign when Isabella was married with John's son Afonso. Manuel's young son Miguel was for a period the heir apparent of Castile and Aragom, but his death in 1500 put the final end to the Portuguese ambitions to rule in Spain. Manuel's next wife, Maria of Aragon, was also a Spanish princess, but not the oldest. This was [[Joan of Castile]], the mad queen.

*First wife, Isabella of Aragon, princess of Spain (born 1470 – died 1498 of childbirth), widow of the previous Crown Prnce [[Afonso of Portugal]]

** Miguel da Paz (1498-1500), prince des Asturias and heir to Spain

** [[John III of Portugal|John (Joao) III, king of Portugal]] (1502-1554)

** FernadoFernando, duke of Guarda (1507-1534) married Guiomar Coutinho, countess of Marialva

** Duarte (Edward)), duke of Guimarães (1515-1540) married Isabel of Bragança, great-grandfather of [[John IV of Portugal]]

*Third wife, Eleanor of HabsburgHapsburg, princess of Spain (1498-1558) (later married to [[Francis I of France]])