Edward Duke Of GUIMARAES

Family/Spouse: Isabella Of BRAGANZA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: Between 1495 and 1521, King of Portugal

Notes:

Manuel I, King of Portugal KG KGF (pron. IPA [m?nu'??]); Archaic Portuguese: Manoel I, English: Emanuel I), the Fortunate (Port. o Venturoso), 14th king of Portugal and Algarves (Alcochete, May 31, 1469 ? December 13, 1521 in Lisbon) was the son of Infante Fernando, Duke of Viseu , by his wife, Beatrice of Aveiro, princess of Portugal. His mother was the granddaughter of King John I of Portugal; his father was the second surviving son of King Duarte of Portugal. Manuel succeeded his first cousin John II of Portugal who was also his brother-in-law in 1495.

Manuel grew up among the conspiracies of the aristocratic high nobility against king John II. He watched many people being killed and exiled. His older brother Diego, the duke of Viseu, was 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 George, Duke of Coimbra, his illegitimate son. As a result of this stroke of luck he was nicknamed the Fortunate.

Manuel would prove a worthy successor to John II, supporting the Portuguese exploration of the Atlantic Ocean and the development of Portuguese commerce. During his reign, the following was achieved:

1498 ? Vasco da Gama discovers the maritime route to India
1500 ? Pedro ¡lvares Cabral discovers Brazil
1505 ? Francisco de Almeida becomes the first viceroy of India
1503-1515 ? Afonso de Albuquerque, an admiral, secures the monopoly of the Indian ocean and Persian Gulf maritime routes for Portugal
All these events made Portugal rich on foreign trade whilst formally establishing its empire. Manuel used the wealth to build a number of royal buildings (in the Manueline style) and to attract scientists and artists to his court. Commercial treaties and diplomatic alliances were forged with China and the Persian Empire. The Pope received a monumental embassy from Portugal during his reign, designed to be a show of the newly acquired riches to all Europe.

Coat of Arms of Manuel I, according to the Livro do Armeiro-Mor c. 1509In Manuel's reign, royal absolutism was the method of government. The cortes (parliament of the kingdom) only met three times during his reign, always in Lisbon, the king's seat. He reformed the courts of justice and the municipal charters with the crown, modernizing taxes and the concepts of tributes and rights.

Manuel was a very religious man and invested a large amount of Portuguese income to sponsor missionaries in their journeys to the new colonies, such as Francisco Alvarez, and the construction of religious buildings, such as the Monastery of JerÛnimos. Manuel also endeavoured to promote another crusade, against the Turks. His relationship with the Jews started out well. At the outset of his reign, he released all the Jews who had been made captive during the reign of Jo„o II. Unfortunately for the Jews, he decided that he wanted to marry princess Isabella of Aragon, then heiress of the future united crown of Spain (widow of his nephew Afonso of Portugal). Ferdinand and Isabel had expelled the Jews in 1492, and would never marry their daughter to the king of a country that still tolerated their presence. In December 1496, it was decreed that any Jew who did not convert to Christianity would be expelled from the country. However, those expelled could only leave the country in ships specified by the king. When those who chose expulsion arrived at the port in Lisbon, they were met by clerics and soldiers who used force, coercion, and promises in order to baptize them and prevent them from leaving the country. This period of time technically ended the presence of Jews in Portugal. Afterwards, all converted Jews and their descendants would be referred to as "New Christians", and they were given a grace period of thirty years in which no inquiries into their faith would be allowed; this was later to extended to end in 1534. A popular riot in 1504 would end in the death of two thousand Jews; the leaders of this riot were executed by Manuel.

Isabella died in childbirth in 1498, putting a damper on Portuguese ambitions to rule in Spain, which various rulers had had since the reign of Fernando I (1367-1383). Manuel and Isabella's young son Miguel was for a period the heir apparent of Castile and Aragon, but his death in 1500 ended these ambitions. Manuel's next wife, Maria of Aragon, was also a Spanish princess, but not the oldest. This was Joanna of Castile, known as Joanna the Mad.

The Monastery of JerÛnimos in Lisbon houses Manuel's tomb. His son Jo„o succeeded him as king.

Manuel married Maria Of ARAGON on 30 Oct 1500 in Alcazar De Sol. Maria (daughter of Ferdinand V of Castile Ferdinand II King Of ARAGON and Isabella I Queen Of Castile And LEON) was born on 29 Jun 1482; died on 07 Mar 1517. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Wikipedia Encyclopedia:

Maria was an Aragonese princess, second wife of Portuguese King Manuel I and because of that queen consort of Portugal from 1500 until her death. She was the third surviving daughter of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon.
Her eldest sister Isabella of Asturias was the first wife of Manuel I, but her death in 1498 created a necessity for Manuel to remarry; Maria became the next bride of the Portuguese King, reaffirming dynastical links with the future Spain, that in 1580 lead to a dynastical crisis in Portugal that made Philip II of Spain King of Portugal as Philip I.