HISTORY 



143 



Alonso's natural daughter. Henri was made 

 governor of the whole district between Minho 

 and Tagus, and died in 1114. Alfonso I. de- 

 feated a large Saracen army in the plain of 

 Ourique, Alemtejo, in 1139, took the great 

 stronghold of Santarem, and with the aid of a 

 fleet of English, German, and Flemish crusaders 

 carried Lisbon itself by siege in 1147. Before 

 his death, in 1185, he had kindled the fire of 

 patriotic loyalty in the nation, which his 

 sword had extended to the Mediterranean Sea. 

 The Burgundian Dynasty founded by him con- 

 tinued to rule Portugal till 1580. The war 

 with the Infidels was continued by Alfonso's 

 immediate successors, and Alfonso III. was 

 called the Restorer, on account of his recon- 

 quest of Algarve. His son, Dinis, the founder 

 of the university at Lisbon, and a liberal pa- 

 tron of learning, laid the foundation of the 

 commercial greatness of Portugal in the next 



,ry. 



Henrique the Navigator gathered together 

 voyagers and men of science and sent forth the 

 various expeditions which explored the west 

 coast of Africa, and discovered the Azores, 

 Madeiras, Canaries, Cape Verde, and other 

 islands. The prince bore the expense of these 

 expeditions till a national interest was awakened 

 in the West African trade. Maritime discovery 

 and colonization continued during the reign of 

 Alfonso V., and culminated during that of 

 Jofto II., one of the ablest of Portuguese mon- 

 archs. In 1486-87 Bartholomeo-Diaz doubled 

 the Cape of Good Hope, and sailed along the 

 Kafir coast as far as the Great Fish River in 

 two small vessels fitted out by Joao. In 1495 

 Manoel succeeded Joao. and in his reign Vasco de 

 Gama made his famous voyage to India, and 

 Cabral discovered Brazil (1500). The great 

 navigator Magalhaens was a Portuguese. The 

 cradle of discovery and home of commerce, 

 Portugal at this period attained its greatest 

 intellectual eminence. Its plate and gold sm it IT* 

 work had great artistic value, its Burgundian 

 (lot hie style in architecture was noted for no- 

 bility of proportion and richness of tracery, and, 

 above all, its glory had been sung in the Lusiads 



n Jofto III. ascended the throne in 1521, 

 Portugal was one of the fir-t kingdoms in Europe, 

 and Li-linn one of the wealthiest cities; but in 

 1536 the Inquisition was put in force against 

 the Jews, and tin- was followed by the first 

 admission of the Jesuits. Under their influence 

 Jofio's grandson, Sebastian, a youth of fourteen 

 years, started on a Quixotic expedition to 

 Africa against the Infidels, which ended in the 

 defeat of the Portuguese and the loss of their 

 king at Alca/ar. in I .".7s. Cardinal Henrique. 

 Sebastian's uncle, reigned only till l.Vxn. and his 

 death marks the extinction of the old Burgun- 

 dian line. The nation clung to the h..; 

 Sebastian was still aim- in the hands of the 

 infidels and would return, hut. meantime, num 

 erous aspirants were struggling for the throne. 

 and eventually Philip I IT of Spain am 

 Portugal to his own dominions. Portugal 

 now worse ruled than ever, and was burdened 

 with much of the expense and mi-erv of the 

 :,ish \\ ; ,js j,, < id-many ; ,,i,l the NYi lierlandv 



Moreover, as a penalty of its identification with 

 Spain, it lost to the Dutch great part of its 

 foreign possessions. But at last, after a shame- 

 ful union of sixty years, Portugal regained its 

 liberty by a conspiracy which placed Joao de 

 Braganca, a descendant of the royal family, on 

 the throne in 1640. After a war which lasted 

 till 1668, Spain ceded all claims to Portugal by 

 the Treaty of Lisbon. The Dutch also restored 

 Brazil to the Portuguese, and in 1683 a com- 

 mercial alliance was entered into with England ; 

 but nothing could bring back to Portugal her 

 old prosperity. 



In the reign of Jos6 I. the minister Pombal 

 effected certain reforms and procured the expul- 

 sion of the Jesuits in 1759. But Portugal lapsed 

 into maladministration during the reign of Maria 

 Isabella (1777-89). In the war between France 

 and Spain Joftp VI. was ordered by Napoleon to 

 seize the British merchandise in Portugal, and 

 on his refusal was declared to have forfeited 

 the throne. He solicited the protection of 

 England, and, setting sail with his family, trans- 

 ferred the seat of government to Rio de Janeiro 

 in 1807. The French occupied Portugal, but 

 wfcre forced to withdraw on their defeat at 

 Vimiera by the English and Portuguese allies, 

 under Sir Arthur Wellesley, in 180N. Welling- 

 ton's defense of the triple lines of Torres Vedras 

 against Marshal Massena (1810) completed the 

 deliverance of Portugal from Napoleon s tyranny. 

 Joio continuing to reside in Brazil, a revolution 

 took place at Lisbon in 1820, when, without 

 bloodshed, a constitution was proclaimed in 

 place of the old absolute monarchy. In 1821 

 Joao returned, but was not allowed to land till 

 he had ratified the acts of the Cortes. Adopting 

 a liberal policy, he accepted the constitution, 

 and in 1825 acknowledged the independ< 

 Brazil, under his brother, Dom Pedro, retaining 

 himself merely the imperial title. Jofi 

 succeeded in 1826 by Pe<lro IV., who organized 

 the state and then abdicated in favor of his 

 daughter, Dona Maria de Gloria. In I.XL'S. 

 Miguel the "absolutist." uncle of Dona Maria. 

 usurped the throne, and plunged Portugal into 

 three years of anarchy. In is.JJ Dom Pedro 

 landed with a strong force (partly English) and 

 after a feeble resistance Miguel capitulated, ami 

 was allowed to leave the country. Pedro died 

 in 1834, and Dofia Maria, who had assumed 

 royal authority, married Prince Ferdinand of 

 Saxe-Coburg in 183ti. The disorders of her 

 reign were checked, but only for a time, by the 

 armed intervention of the great powers in 1M7. 

 As a result of one of many insurrections the 

 Marquis de Saldanah. grandson of Pombal, was 

 appointed minister, but the popular hei 

 cuml>ed to court influence. Maria died in 1WJ. 

 and her son ascended the thr- dro V. 



on the death of the latter in IStil. his brother 

 became king as I. nix I. 



Under constitutional government. Portugal 

 remained tranquil until recently. Some years 

 ago. the country took an honorable part in the 

 1 oration, and thereby se- 

 cured valuable colonial possessions. In 1907, 

 tin re were numerous riotous outbreaks in Por- 

 Ahich culminated in the assassination ot 

 King Carlo* and th-Cn,wn Prince on Feb. 1. 



