HANDBOUND
AT THE
UNIVt.RSlTY OF
TORONTO PRESS
THE GOLDEN AGE OF
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR
WORKS
BY
J. JOHNSTON
ABRAHAM
)N'S LOG
THE SURGEC
{-jtk Edition)
THE NIGHT
NURSE
(5//5 Edition)
h' rijiit i9pit^cc
JOHN OF AVIZ
y^
THE GOLDEN AGE OF
PRINCE HENRY THE
NAVIGATOR
.T 1 *f BY
J. P7 0LIVEIRA MARTINS
«•>
TRANSLATED, WITH ADDITIONS AND ANNOTATIONS
BY
JAS. JOHNSTON ABRAHAM
AND
WM. EDWARD REYNOLDS
Wnn TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON
CHAPMAN AND HALL, Ltd.
1914
\
Richard Clay & Sons, Limitud,
brcnswick street, stamford street, 3.b.,
axd bungat, suffolk.
TRANSLATORS^ PREFACE
The following work is an account of the lives, adventures,
discoveries, dreams, and ultimate fates of that wonderful
family of brothers, the Portuguese Grandsons of John of
Gaunt — sons of Join of Aviz, and Philippa of Lancaster.
In its pages will be found living, moving pictures of
grim old John of Aviz himself, as well as of his sons, Duarte
the Eloquent, Peter the Traveller, Henry the Navigator,
John the Unfortunate, Fernando the Martyr, and last,
but not least, Barcellos " le batard," head of the future
Royal House of Braganza.
The glimpses it gives of the colour and movement of
the fifteenth century, when Moslem and Christian fought
fiercely for dominance in Europe, when grim mediaeval
barbarism, cruelty and lust, mixed and mingled with the
pomp and circumstance of knightly chivalry, with child-
like Christian piety and budding transcendentalism, makes
it read more like a cunningly devised historical romance
than sober history. Yet all the facts presented have been
carefully verified ; and often the very words of the original
documents have been interwoven in the text : for the aim
of the author has been to attempt, as it were, a resurrec-
tion, striving to make his readers see events, not with their
own sophisticated modern eyes, but as they appeared to the
men and women of the time in which they were happening.
In the Iberian peninsula the work is now a classic. It
has been drawn upon freely by foreign writers in the com-
pilation of histories of discovery and colonisation. But
up to the present it has never before been presented to the
English public.
In this translation we have used the last edition published
during the author's lifetime {Os Filhos de D. Joao I,
vi TRANSLATORS' PREFACE
Lisbon, 1901), following as closely as possible the original
text, adding notes only when such appeared to us neces-
sary. Certain liberties of suppression must, however, be
acknowledged : one complete chapter dealing with the
political constitution of the country has been entirely
omitted as of no interest to English readers ; an elaborate
appendix giving in extenso the text of many of the docu-
ments cited has been left out; and various carping refer-
ences to the late reigning house of Braganza, due to the
author's strong Republican bias, have been deleted since
the recent Revolution has rendered them obsolete.
It will be found that the impression of Henry the Navi-
gator here presented differs considerably from the classical
view as found in the works of Major and Beazley. To
appreciate this properly it must be remembered that the
author looked upon the Portuguese colonies as the main
cause of the poverty and decadence of his country, a
continual drain upon the nation's life-blood, an incubus
the removal of which would at once bring new life, new
hope, new prosperity to the land that he loved so dearly.
Holding such views it is natural that his mind should be
biassed considerably against the man who was mainly
responsible for that enormous outburst of colonising energy
which raised Portugal, for the time being, into the position
of the foremost nation in Europe, and likewise caused her
eventual decay through inability, owing to her meagre
population, to defend and maintain the enormous posses-
sions she had acquired.
Remembering these opinions, each reader must decide
for himself how much of truth there is in the picture here
presented of Prince Henry. Our part has been to offer
in the text the author's views without further comment.
J. Johnston Abraham.
W. Edward Reynolds.
Carlingford Lodge,
Tunlridjc Well*,
Ort'Mr, 1915.
CONTENTS
CHAr.
TRANSLATORS PREFACE
I THE COURT AND COUNCIL
II THE CAPTURE OP CEUTA
III THE PRINCE NAVIGATOR
IV THE TRAVELS OP PRINCE PETER TO THE SEVEN PARTS OF
THE EARTH .....
V A STATESMAN OP THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
VI THE LOYAL COUNSELLOR
VII TANGIER
VIII THE SLAVE MARKETS OP LAGOS
IX THE REGENCY
X ALFARROBEIRA
XI THE DECREE OF DESTINY
APPENDIX ....
INDEX .....
PAGE
V
1
30
61
85
129
145
169
205
232
272
306
316
321
VI
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Tofo.ct'pagt
ZQiss OF A^iz Frontispiece
{From Martim' Life of Nun'alvarts)
JOHN OP GAUNT
{From an old print)
NUN 'aLV ARES ....
{From the ' Chronica do Condeitahre,' 1528)
6
36
THE CHURCH OP THE NAVIGATORS AT SAGRES . . . .66
(From a water-colour drawing by Commander the Eon. H. N. Shore, U.S.)
THE SACRED PROMONTORY, PROM THE SOUTH-EAST ... 80
(Commander the Eon. E. N. Shore, if.iV.)
THE SACRED PROMONTORY, PROM THE NORTH-WEST . . .112
(Commamler the Eon. E. N. Shore, M.N.)
THE MONASTERY CHURCH AT BATALHA 146
(From a photograph by £. A. Bennett)
COIMBRA IN THE TIME OP PRINCE PETER . . , .192
(Fro)n Martins' '■ Nun'olvares)
COIMBRA, FROM THE RIO MONDEGO jgg
(R. A. Bennett)
PLAN OF THE WALLS OF LISBON IN THE TIME OF JOHN OP AVIZ 248
(Martini' ' X^un'alvares ')
THOMAR, THE CHURCH OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS . . . 284
(A A. Bennett)
THE CASTLE OP LBIRIA 296
(B. A. Bennett)
12
THE GOLDEN AGE OF
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR
CHAPTER I
THE COURT AND COUNCIL
This is the story of the Golden Age of the expansion of
Portugal, during which it rose from the position of an
obscure struggling Principality to that of the great pioneer
colonising power of Europe; and to appreciate properly
the narrative that follows it is necessary briefly to re-
capitulate certain details of history assumed as common
knowledge by the Portuguese author in his original version
of the work.
For two hundred years the country had been gradually
finding its nationality, driving back the Moors, often with
the help of English Crusaders, rising from the position of a
mere fief of Galicia to that of an independent kingdom.
Frequent treaties with England from the time of
Edward I onwards marked the growing commercial pros-
perity of the country; family alliances with the kings of
Aragon and Castile allowed it to expand safe from the
attack of its nearest Christian neighbours. Its sons had
been trained by constant warfare with the Infidel to a high
pitch of courage and adventure ; and thus we arrive at the
period when its King, Fernando I, lay dying, leaving no
heir except an only daughter, Donna Beatrice.
To safeguard the succession, therefore, and at the
instigation of Queen Leonora, his wife, he signed a treaty
2 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
with John I of Castile, by which John married the
Princess, and it was arranged that Donna Leonora should
be made Regent till Beatrice's eldest son came of age —
thus the thrones of Portugal and Castile would ultimately
be joined.
On October 22, 1383, Fernando died, and Donna Leonora
accordingly assumed the Regency. But the whole nation
hated her. She was not of royal blood; she was living
openly with her lover, Andeiro, Count of Ourem; the
national feeling of Portugal was outraged by the thought of
the contemplated union of the two Crowns; and this
feeling found expression and a leader in the person of Dom
John, Grandmaster of the Knights of St. Bennett of Aviz,
a natural brother of the late King Fernando. He headed
an insurrection within tw^o months of the King's death,
slew the Queen's lover, Andeiro, in the very precincts of
the Palace at Lisbon itself, and forced Leonora to fly to
Santarem, where she called upon John of Castile to come
to her aid in defence of the rights of his unborn child.
Thus the revolution, eventually successful, was started,
and a new dynasty arose which was only formally acknow-
ledged in 1411, five years after the death of Henry III of
Castile, when his widowed Queen finally signed the treaty
of peace with Portugal.
The war, however, had not been actively carried on all
this time. Indeed it ceased on a large scale after 1387,
when the marriage of the blaster of Aviz with Philippa,
daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster brought
much needed help to the struggling kingdom ; and so, for
some ten years before the formal peace, there had been little
more than those intermittent guerilla conflicts between the
combatants, so characteristic of European warfare before
the close of the eighteenth century, and possible only in a
time when the political mechanism of a country was much
less sensitive to disturbance than it is to-day.
This marriage of the Master of Aviz with Philippa of
Lancaster was the outcome of an agreement, between John
of Gaunt and the new Portuguese King, by virtue of which
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 3
Lancaster gave up all claims to the Portuguese throne in
exchange for help in furthering his pretensions to the Crown
of Castile, which he claimed through his wife Constance,
daughter and heir of Peter of Castile and Leon — a title
which had been usurped on Peter's death by the illegitimate
Henry of Trastamara, and was now maintained by his son
John I of Castile — the John who had married the Princess
Beatrice, and now claimed the Portuguese throne through
her.
It was obvious that John of Gaunt and John of Portugal
were both natural enemies of John of Castile, and that this
contemplated marriage of Philippa would give each of
them an added interest in the other's fortunes.
A treaty was accordingly made between England and
Portugal in 1386 ; and in the following year John of Gaunt
set sail from Ph^mouth with a powerful fleet in further-
ance of his claims to the barren title of King of Castile,
taking with him also the strong approval of his nephew
Richard II, who was only too glad to have his dangerously
powerful uncle thus far out of harm's way.
Two years before, the Master of Aviz had been helped at
the Battle of Aljubarotta (1385) by levies of soldiers raised
in England, companies of adventurers who in those days
of violence wandered from country to country in search of
spoil. As Portugal had secured her independence largely
by the help of English Crusaders, and there was frequent
intercourse between the two nations, the Master of Aviz
(John I) at the beginning of this crisis naturally sought
the aid of such English mercenaries as he could get, and
these were readily forthcoming. Under the leadership
of Lord Cobham, Cressingham, Blithe, Grantham, Dale
and others, a large number were recruited, men careless for
whom they fought, eager to help any one who paid them to
conquer any country in which spoil was to be had — for the
age was one which as yet had felt only the first faint
glimmerings of light in the mists of mediaeval barbarism,
and men's minds alternated between a fear of death and
the Final Judgment, held up to their trembling souls by
4 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
the prophecies of Holy Mother Church, and wild orgies
of bestial sensuality in which for the time being they
mocked at their former fears.
These English mercenaries proved invaluable at Alju-
barotta ; and the archers whose name was to become a terror
in Europe after Agincourt (1415) were mainly responsible
for giving the Master of Aviz the victory, scattering the
Castilian cavalry and wounding the King himself.
The sense of comradeship following on the flush of this
victory, and the additional aid brought by John of Gaunt,
was further strengthened by the conjugal union of the two
Royal Families, a union which was to have a far-reaching
influence as yet undreamt of amongst the nobility of the
country and the Portuguese Court, which up to then, it
must be confessed, had not risen above the semi-barbarism
born of violence, and nurtured by a pursuit of the pleasures
of the senses, untrammelled by any of the common law-
abiding instincts of later days, given over as it was to
orgies shocking even to the lax morality of the age, kept
in check only by the universal belief of the approaching
end of the world which was one of the ma^n stimuli in
mediaeval Europe for those frequent crusades against the
Infidel Saracens so characteristic of the times.
It was largely due to the influence of Philippa that in the
next quarter of a century all these things were changed ;
but, nevertheless, before her time the first faint glimmerings
of the new era had their harbinger in the person of the
Constable Nun'alvares, a man of commanding personality
to whom is due the credit of stimulating the genesis of the
coming (iolden Age which is the subject of this work, and
which^was to add such a glorious chapter to the history of
his country.
In this, however, he had little help at first from his King
and pupil, the Master of Aviz, who in his youth, though
brave and fearless, was yet devoid of almost every moral
sense, taking his pleasures freely where he found them, and
having no love for the elaborate rules of Chivalry so
treasured by his Constable.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 5
It was while in the first flush of early manhood he gave
a characteristic glimpse of this disposition. Returning
from the pursuit of a wolf during a hunting expedition in
the Alemtejo, he came across the daughter of a farmer of
Veiros in the forest, and immediately fell madly in love
with her passionate black eyes. With him then to love
was to act ; and, with the licentious freedom of the nobility
of the time, he had the girl seized and carried off, finally
making her his mistress and placing her in a convent near
his Palace.
Though the girl herself was probably little loath, her
father was so incensed at the shame thus cast upon his
family that he swore never to cut his hair until he had
revenge, thus earning for himself the sneering nickname
" Barbadao " (hairy one).
The future King heard of this resolv^e, and once on passing
the homestead drew rein and called out, half-laughingly,
half-resentfully : " Have you not got over your anger yet ? "
The farmer hearing the question, came out, and gazed at
him with sullen eyes. Then suddenly, overcome with rage,
he jumped at him with his knife, crying furiously :
" Not till I have finished with you."
The Prince, however, had been watching him, and a
touch of the spur sent the horse careering out of reach.
He might have slain the old man where he stood, baffled,
inarticulate with rage at the futility of the stroke. But
instead he had sufficient grace to ride away; and after-
wards history relates the pair were reconciled.
Bu^ none the less there came from this liaison the fruits
of bitter trouble to his Royal House, for as the result of this
youthful indiscretion a son was born, the Count of Bar-
cellos, ancestor of the future House of Braganza which
afterwards aspired and eventually managed to raise itself
to the very throne of Portugal itself.
Even in his youth the boy showed something of his future
disposition, for, nurtured in the rough school of his father's
campaigns, and morbidly conscious of the inferiority of
his birth in a Court which later on became almost prudish
6 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
in its morality, he was soured in character and poisoned in
mind by the seeming slur thus cast upon him. Conse-
quently, instead of attempting to rise superior to his up-
bringing, he allowed the seeds of envy to germinate in his
soul unchecked, and strove to imitate the arrogance of his
superiors by haughtily trampling on the feelings of those
beneath him, unconsciously betraying thus the base blood
that flowed in his veins. Unscrupulous and eager to
obliterate the stigma of his birth he managed, neverthe-
less, by the aid of his wealth and position eventually to
wriggle himself into a position of equality with his two
more noble brothers, Henry Duke of Vizeu, and Peter
Duke of Coimbra, managing to obtain for his son the title
of Duke of Braganza, a rank that, as we have stated,
eventually served his descendants as a stepping-stone to
the Crown itself.
He was scarcely ten years old when his father married —
in fact, he was little more than a child when Oporto in 1387
was called upon to rejoice over its King's marriage, though
in reality there was but a very meagre enthusiasm in
Court circles for the new-made bride, whose father and
whose newly wedded husband somewhat ungallantly left
her immediately after the ceremony, being more eager to
pursue the war than to linger in her company.
Philipj)a was then in the very prime of womanhood.
She was twenty-nine years of age — a year younger than
her husband — beautiful, gentle and fair. But she appeared
phlegmatic like all the women of her country, though deep
down in her nature she was in reality passionate and full
of sentiment — two characteristics, however, which were
resolutely controlled by a keen sense of duty. It was this
seeming coldness, perhaps, that at first made her fail to
attract the more passionately expansive character of her
husband ; and yet, perhaps, again, it was for this very same
reason that she influenced him so profoundly later on, and
transmitted to her sons certain Saxon qualities — a racial
amalgamation producing a generation that was to be for
ever famous.
To face p. 6
JOHN OF GAUNT, DUKE OF LANCASTER
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 7
It is possible, moreover, that the King, though welcoming
the union for political reasons, may have hesitated some-
what in choosing as a wife the daughter of such a man as
Lancaster. He may have doubted, naturally, whether the
gentleness of expression, the distant coldness, the air of
reserve of the Princess, might not have been merely on
the surface, knowing as he did that she had been brought
up under the worst possible environment. For Lancaster's
life was far from beyond reproach ; he kept his wife and his
mistress Catharine under the same roof; and nurtured in
such an atmosphere the Princess could offer no other
credentials for her character than her saintly airs.
Events, however, proved otherwise ; for the very example
of the paternal scandal, as is often the case, reacted in the
opposite direction, and had a salutary effect in the develop-
ment of the daughter's character. Instead of the innocence
of the child, she possessed the wisdom of the woman who
had been warned by example to avoid evil ; and for the
very reason that she had been brought up in intimate
association with sin, she was all the better able to avoid
its snares.
This resisting power, this moral energy, which, without
doubt, moulded the character of the new Queen and gave
her such an air of gravity, is one of the priceless heritages
of the Saxon people; for unlike the Latin races, prone to
express themselves emotionally, their natural reticence
makes them chary of betraying their inner feelings by their
actions, they tend to live within themselves, and strive to
hide excess of joy or woe whatever fate befall them. A
certain Northern stiffness prevents them from unbending
to the little joys and sorrows that so potently move the
more responsive Southerner. A temperament ruled by the
laws of self-analysis makes them incapable of such a thing
as natural frivolity. The Saxon character is subjective,
essentially that of a thinker ; the Southerner on the other
hand, is a born actor, preferring to play with the joys of
life that run riotous in his veins, obeying only the laws
dictated by nature itself. Life to one is a task — a solemn
8 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
duty. To the other it is a banquet, or else a sacrifice.
The tendency of the one is to produce an even eminence ;
that of the other great saints or else great sinners.
It was natural that John at first was blind to the deeper,
rarer qualities of his bride. He saw no other beauty in
her than that of the unaccustomed, nothing beyond the
difference between her and the women of his own country.
Her hair the colour of ripe wheat in June, her delicate
complexion, her thin red lips, too compressed to have the
beauty of a natural curve, her small blue eyes, apparently
cold and incapable of affection, all failed to attract him.
As a woman she did not rouse in him a man's emotion.
As a bride he distrusted her when he remembered what he
knew of her father. The match was purely political, the
last article in the agreement against Castile ; and the
wedding was therefore hurried through between two
military campaigns.
Until the eve of the wedding Philippa occupied the
Palace of the Bishop of Oporto, a great castellated strong-
hold closely surrounded by the black fortified walls built
by Dom Muninho after defeating the Moors. These
immense walls, grey with age, cyclopean in size, built of
immense blocks of granite held together by their weight
without mortar, were flanked by substantial towers sur-
mounted by battlements, and defended the stronghold of
the powerful Bishops of Oporto, who often in those days
vied with the petty Portuguese Princes themselves for
power.
Silhouetted like some great spiny monster, grimly
serrated against the sky, the walls crowned in those days
the top of the hill where the town was built, descending
from thence on one side in an almost straight line to the
banks of the Douro, while on the other they extended as
far as the ancient Celtic castle of Porta-ventosa, before
turning down to the river again, where a small wicket
formed one exit.
The whole tremendous structure thus towered over the
I
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR U
town whose tiers of shaded streets and small white-washed
houses formed with it a throne of masonry on top of which
the Palace seemed to reign imperially.
Outside the walls a bridge gave access to the hostile
burgh that Queen Theresa had granted to Bishop Hugo;
and, deep do^Mi between, the river Douro wound a dark
and sinuous way between high banks of granite made more
gloomy still by the dark green foliage of the pine woods
that bordered its edges. On a level space of ground in
front of the bridge an arena for tournaments in honour of
the wedding had been laid out. The bridge itself, begin-
ning by the Church of S. Domingos, marked the boundary
between the Episcopal territory and the land belonging to
the Priory of Cedofeita, whose church the ancient Chapel
of S. Martin of Tours was the traditional site of the christen-
ing of Theodomiro ^ in the remote period of the Roman
expulsion. The Priory lands on which the modern town of
Oporto is now built consisted in those days only of a few
callages and scattered cottages. Eastward where pine-
woods stretched towards the marshes of Campanha could
be seen the monument raised to the Leonese Count Dom.
Hermengildo who, in 920, defended the city against the
Moors, whilst nearer the horizon lay a more level landscape
of divided fields named the Rio Tinto because of the bloody
battle fought there when King Ordofio defended the city,
arriving by forced marches just in time.
Such was the scene that must have greeted Philippa's
eyes, and such was the history that probably occurred to
the minds of the good citizens of Oporto when the Master
of Avi/ arrived amongst them; and looking upon him
also as the champion of their national independence they
were only too willing to celebrate the occasion by general
^ Theodomiro was the famous Bishop of Iria who, guided by visions and
led by a star, discovered the sacred reUcs of St. James the Great at
Santiago in GaUcia in a.d. 835. The slirine of this saint was one of the
most famous ia Europe during the IMiddle Ages, gathering crowds of
pilgrims from many distant parts, and making the city of Santiago de
Compostela the centre of reUgion and diplomacy for the kingdoms of
Galicia, Aragon, Navarre, and the Castiles.
10 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
rejoicings. So, on the night before the wedding, when the
Kin<i arrived with his Constable, the clamorous bells of
the Cathedral were joyfully answered beyond the ragged
pine-clad hills by those of Cidofeita, and the night became
riotous with feasting, dancing and games. The good
citizens of Oporto in their sad grey town broke for once
the monotony of their lives, feeling the fitness of the
occasion ; sounds of merry-making penetrated far into the
night ; and in the morning, the sunshine flooding the narrow
streets found only smiling faces as the people flocked o'er
pathways strewn with rosemary and myrtle to watch the
happenings of the day.
The King had spent the night in the burgh of S. Fran-
cisco ; and early in the morning he set out for the Episcopal
Palace to greet the Princess. Already the confined space
between the Palace and the Cathedral was dense with
faces ; and when the crowding throng saw their King and
his bride presently emerge, mounted on white chargers
covered with gold-embroidered saddle-cloths, they made
their multitudinous welcome resound again and again
above the blasts of the Heralds' trumj)ets.
At the head of the procession came the iirchbishop of
Braga leading the horse of the Princess by its bridle ; and
behind her walked her two maids-of-honour. Following
them came the Kjng and his Constable.
On the threshold of the Cathedral the Bishop of Oporto,
gorgeous in his robes and mitre, and surrounded by a cloud
of priests and acolytes waving incense-burners, awaited the
bride and bridegroom, ready to conduct them to the altar.
After the service they all returned to the Palace to a
banquet. Here the aged Constable acted as Master of the
Ceremonies, and joined in the general rejoicings of the
guests with as lively a spirit as the youngest of them all.
As was the custom, an immense quantity of food and wine
had been provided; and as the banquet progressed girdles
were unbuckled, wine-cups were emptied, and the various
sweetmeats became rapidly scantier. The maids-of-honour
sang ill the chfiir. .nnd round the tables eager page-boys
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 11
stood on tiptoe, or even climbed the ropes of the decorations
and pillars in the hall, to get a better view of the proceedings.
Thus the day passed ; and the long-drawn-out banquet
was followed by a round dance in which all joined, lords
and ladies, the King and Queen. Even the Constable
himself, infected by the gaiety, forgot his years, his long
grey beard, his troubles of State, his irascible temperament,
and became as light-footed as Mercury himself.
The bishops and prelates alone looked on smiling. Out-
side the delirious cheering of the people gave an added
stimulus to the dancing. From streets, orchards, and
fields, came the sound of revelling. In S. Domingos there
were tournaments. From every quarter came the same
festive note. With the spacious manner of those days the
rejoicings lasted for a. fortnight; but the real ceremony
ended when on the approach of night the bishops blessed
the royal pair, and these retired to leave their loyal
subjects to carry on the revels till the break of day.
In 1390, three years after her marriage, Philippa's
first child was born. This was Prince Affonso, who died
in 1392. In 1391 Prince Duarte (Edward), so-called
in honour of Edward I of England, was born. He
eventually succeeded his father, and his book. The Loyal
Counsellor, is the best witness we possess of the history of
his times. It has been largely drawn upon in these
memoirs.
In 1392 her son. Prince Peter, began the life which was
fated to such a tragic end; and in 1394 Prince Henry the
Navigator first saw the world wherein he was to play such
an important part, deservedly earning for himself the name
of " The Portuguese Scipio," by establishing the vast
future Colonial Empire of his people. The Princess Branca,
who died in infancy, was born in 1395 ; and the Princess
Isabel, afterwards the wife of the Duke of Burgundy, in
1397. Prince John was born in 1400; and the Ill-fated
Martyr of Tangier, Prince Fernando, in 1402.
This was Philippa's last son. She finished her duties by
generating a saint after producing a race of heroes. Little
12 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
did she think as she gazed upon this last and dearest in
her arms that he was destined to be sacrificed by his
brother on the altar of that Semitic tendency inherited
from his Phoenician ancestry — the desire to explore the
unknown in search of adventure and of gain.
But while Philippa was thus doing her best to consolidate
and perpetuate the succession of the new dynasty, she was
at the same time making almost fundamental changes in
the atmosphere of the Court, having gradually gained an
all-powerful influence over the mind of the King. She
found the Court a sink of immorality. She left it as chaste
as a nunnery. We have it on the authority of Prince
Duarte's own pen that she induced the King to ordt-r the
marriage of more than a hundred people ; ^ no other form
of union was recognised than that of the Church ; and the
Court henceforth became almost a school of morality.
Philippa, wearing the veil of a chaste bride, and with her eyes
directed heavenwards, was remorseless in her gentleness.
No one became more altered than the King, himself.
He was now completely under her influence. Once,
according to tradition, while the Court was at Cintra he so
far forgot himself as to kiss some lady of the Court, when
the Queen, entering unexpectedly, looked at him with such
a frigid expression that, completely taken aback, he pointed
to the ceiling above him where the motto " Pour bien "
was emblazoned, and muttered lamely that this too was
" Pour bien." Philippa without a word, but with a look
more eloquent than the most violent reproaches, left the
room and the King to his own conscience, with the result
that her victory was absolutely complete, and he sur-
rendered at discretion.
Her influence indeed lay in this puritanic exclusiveness
* " If it be said that few wore virtuous I say that many became so;
for neither do 1 hear, nor do I know of, any nobleman who is other than
loyal, notwithstanding that more than a hundred have been ordered in
marriage by my father the King, and my mother the Queen, whom may
God jtrotect. further, our Lord hears me when I say that I know not
of any one thus married who afterwards fell into Bin." — The Loyal
Cou nsellor, X I A' .
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 13
of temperament which is so characteristically English —
that unconscious mixture of pride and convention which,
though much below the level of religious duty, is never-
theless the opposite of hypocrisy. It was a feeling that
kept Philippa above all attempts at subterfuge. When she
disapproved her nature did not permit her to do otherwise
than express that disapproval. There are no more despotic
characters than those possessing such a temperament.
The Queen came to rule the King as with a rod of iron.
The easy tolerant guidance of the Constable became changed
to that almost of the cloister; and when Philippa fixed
him with her cold blue eyes the King felt bound to do
whatever she wished him to. Fortunately she was as
sensible as she was good. Under her tutelage the King
became another man. In his desire to please her he some-
times even became unnecessarily active, because the Queen
remembering the state of affairs in her father's house, was
inclined somewhat to exaggerate in her own mind the
sinfulness of anything distasteful to her.
Accordingly she constituted herself censor of morals at
the Court. She watched the dalliance of lovers, kept a
sharp look-out for any surreptitious love-making amongst
those whom marriage debarred from such things, and
frowned unfavourably on any match-making in which she
thought the people concerned unsuitable to one another.
With the almost unlimited power of the King behind her
she herself chose the brides and bridegrooms, totally dis-
regarding as something quite negligible any secret inclina-
tions on the jDart of the unfortunate victims of her marrying
instincts.
Thus any day some one or other might receive the
following command, impossible to disregard —
" The King and I expect you to hurry your wedding.
It will be held to-morrow."
" But to whom, your Majesty ? " would be the startled
answer.
" Never mind. You will know at the altar," would be
the invariable response.
14 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
In this startling manner the whole Court was not only
paired, but actually married, an extraordinary example of
the enormous power of mediaeval despotism. The curious
thing was that, strange as it may appear, the result seems
to have been an almost unqualified success, for the genera-
tion that followed stands out as one of the most virile in
Portuguese history.
That this strange subservience, however, could not have
been brought about without at least one tragedy is only
natural. Witness the fatal story of Fernando Affonso,
and one of the Queen's maids-of-honour. Fernando was a
favourite of the King, and the story of his liaison getting
about the King had reproached him, but probably, as is
often the case amongst friends, only in a playful way.
Consequently when it was suggested that he should marry
the lady he did not take the advice seriously to heart.
Feigning instead that he had vowed to make a pilgrimage
to the shrine of St. Maria de Guadalupe, he disappeared
from Court, and to the Queen's annoyance was discovered
instead to have secreted himself in an alcove of the church
where his lady habitually performed her devotions, no
doubt with the tacit connivance of the lady herself. Word
of this was brought to the King ; he was summoned to the
presence; and again, perhaps with a smile, dismissed with
a warning to fulfil his duty towards the lady. The warning,
however, was interpreted by the amorous courtier as a
dismissal to the lady's chamber; and here unfortunately
he was found and arrested by the King's command. The
situation by now had become serious ; Fernando recognised
his risk, and awaiting his oj)portunity managed to escape
and conceal himself in the Chapel of St. Eloy. This
brought matters to a climax; the Queen was openly
affronted ; and the Court, in a state of deep but suppressed
excitement, waited to see if she or the courtier would win
the day. The Queen, herself, feeling that if she did not
succeed in this battle of inclinations all her influence would
be gone, was determined to make an example of the culprit.
Perhaps it was she therefore who induced the King to
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 15
leave the Palace in pursuit of the irresponsible youth. At
anv rate the fact remains that John, wakened from his
siesta in the afternoon, set out half dressed in a towering
fury, and in the church, seeking sanctuary behind a statue
of the Virgin, found the author of all the uproar. There
and then, totally regardless of all the laws of Sanctuary,
that safety-valve invented by the ingenuity of faith to
mitigate the acts of violence characteristic of the age, he
ordered his rearrest. The order was obeyed, but not with-
out damage to the statue, which fell with a crash on the
soldiers struggling with the prisoner, who now stood accused
of the awful act of sacrilege as well.
On the following morning, without trial, the King had
him burnt at the stake; and with this sharp salutary
lesson the power of Philippa was firmly established.^
The modern mind shrinks from deeds like this with
horror; but before we condemn Philippa or the King we
have to remember that civilisation and customs as well as
our nerves have changed, that mild-mannered men in those
days, and even later, as witness the burning of heretics
in every country in Europe, looked upon such things with-
out any of the horror which modern humanitarian teaching
has developed in us.
There is no doubt that John was immeasurably elevated
by the influence of his consort, and ended by acquiring a
character which had a strong influence and served as an
example to his sons. They were splendidly educated ;
their spare time was employed in translating the classics
of other languages ; and all the young Princes, more
especially Duarte and Peter, developed a taste for the finer
flowers of mediaeval literature.
Thus through fire and blood the mists of mediaeval
ignorance began to scatter ; and the world at length slowly
appeared as a place where law and righteousness must
ultimately reign over, and govern, even the minds and the
actions of kings ; though spiritual thought, still in its in-
^ A romance fomided on this tragedy, Monge de Cister, has been written
by the Portuguese poet, A. Herculano.
16 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
fancy, was not yet capable of curbing the turbulent passions
bred of centuries when might was always right, and the
law of the jungle still held good. In the mind of the Master
of Aviz, the view that the King could do no wrong faded ;
and in its place came the newer, deeper belief that his office
entailed a sacred duty, a duty to the people whom God had
called upon him to reign over as well as to himself.
The King, his son informs us, felt the weighty responsi-
bility of his office so much that he ordered a banner to be
embroidered with the figure of a camel — he chose the camel
because it was a powerful beast of burden — carrying four
sacks, each one of which bore an inscription. The first
had the words, " Temor de mal reger " (The fear of an
unwise rule) ; the second, " Justi9a com Amor e Tem-
peran9a " (Judge justly) ; the third, " Contentar cura9oes
desvariados " (Console the afflicted); and the fourth,
" Acabar grandes Feitos com pouca Requeza " (Accomplish
great deeds with economy).^
In those days symbolic signs of heraldry were becoming
popular ; and in these four mottoes we see the true spirit
of the time. We find this love of economy transmitted
in the character of his son Prince Peter; this desire to be
just in the King's actions ; and lastly, this entirely new
sentiment, fear of an unwise rule, a sentiment capable of
breaking even a royal back, giving rise to a conception of
duty in his successor. King Duarte, which marked the
birth of the new thought destined to transform the world.
It showed that the King was beginning to feel the rights
of the people ; that the days of barbarism when kings were
no more than the blind instruments of violence were gone
for ever; and lastly, and somewhat unexpectedly, that
the fetichism that made even such kings bow down tremb-
ling before the threat of eternal punishment, fulminated
by the clergy, too, had seen its climax. The new philoso-
phy had been born, a philosophy yet in its infancy, destined
still to bear the stigmata of superstition, but, nevertheless,
' The. Loyal Counadlor, L.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 17
a true philosophy based on a love of knowledge and a desire
to regulate conduct according to the dictates of reason.
The introduction of crests and mottoes from England
by the King's marriage was a feudal convention that
originated in Normandy, and for that reason the mottoes
were in the French tongue. This fashion is in itself of
little significance ; its importance, however, lies in the fact
that the crests and mottoes of the House of Aviz reflect,
as in an heraldic mirror, the spirit and the new order of
ideas at the Portuguese Court. Moreover, this ritual of
chivalry under the inspiration of the Constable Nun'alvares
was destined to bear fruit, starting as it did a new ideal
which was afterwards abundantly displayed in the history
of the country, forming a race of men who, like the Con-
stable himself, were not less worthy of the name of noble-
men than those who were later nurtured on the legends of
Amadis of Gaul.^
The Master of Aviz was the first Portuguese King to
rescue the nobility of his country from the opprobrious
title of cut -throats which they had acquired in Europe;
and it was largely through the teachings of the rules of
chivalry this improvement was accomplished.
It is interesting, therefore, to study the crests and mottoes
adopted by his house because of the lessons they teach.
The Queen chose as hers the two words " Pour bien,"
words which the King had gilded on the ceiling of the
throne-room at Cintra. It w^as this, it will be remembered,
that suggested to him a means of evading Philippa's anger
when she caught him in the act of kissing one of the ladies-
in-waiting. " Pour bien " w^as the sum total of her life.
She lived solely for her sons, her duty, and her religion.
" Desir " was Prince Peter's motto, vague and enigmatical
^ This famous mediaeval romance was originally written in Portuguese,
possibly from forgotten French legends, by Vasco de Lobeira of Oporto,
who died in 1403. A century later it was translated into Spanish, and
added to, by Garciordonez de Montalvo. Succeeding commentators added
more, and yet more, until in 1540, when it was translated into French by
Nicholas de Herberay, it had assimied enormous proportions. The best
English version is the abridgment of Southey. (London, 1803. 4 vols.)
C
18 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
like himself, ever preoccupied with the burdens of life, and
the fleeting intangible desires of his supersensitive imagina-
tion. After his return from Ceuta he adopted a crest
representing a hand emerging from a cloud — again the
characteristic mysticism — holding a dagger thrust through
a rock with the motto " Acuit ut penetrat." Prince John's
motto was " J'ai bien raison," a sentiment which he fol-
lowed during his short life ; while Prince Henry chose the
words " Talent de bien faire." He was partly the means
of stimulating Christian Europe to resist and finally over-
come the spread of the Moslem faith.
" II me plait " was the King's motto, and he had every
reason to pride himself upon its suitability, for few can
claim to have had a greater measure of success in this
world than himself.
By the strength of his own right hand he had wrested
from his enemies the throne of his country, securing, at
the same time, his people's independence and firmly
establishing his own dynasty. His marriage had been a
happy one. His sons, in the words of the country's poet,
Luiz de Camoens, were " an illustrious generation of noble
princes." ^ In his declining years, surrounded by these
same sons he invaded and conquered Morocco, and began
the famous era of Colonial expansion that was to leave
his kingdom on the very threshold of glory. In addition,
during his long reign of nearly half a century he reformed
the customs, laws, and even the calendar. Thus a people
whom he found steeped in ignorance and superstition,
lawless and scattered, without any national cohesion, he
left to his successors a nation, conscious of itself, and
proud of its own name.^
' Lusiads, IV. 50.
* '■ The Caesarian Calendar, or the Safarense Calendar as the Arabs
called it, was abolished in Portugal in 1422, when the Christian Calendar,
as propounded at Pisa, was adopted — the year one corresponding with
the year thirty-nine of the Arabs. Aragon adopted the Christian Calendar
in 1350; Ca«tile-Leon in 1383.
" There were several versions of the Calendar — that of the Birth of
Christ, that of the Incarnation, that of the Ascension — besides the Floren-
tine and the Pisan, the difference between these two latter being that
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 19
In 1426 he further granted a Royal Charter to the City
of Lisbon, with two books containing the Justinian Laws,
and a glossary and digest " so that, with the aid of these,
deeds may be drawn up, and sentences passed." ^
Thus was the dawn of a just government founded which
was to set a century later under the shadow of the In-
quisition, bringing with it all the evil results of the
former disorder. Fortunately for the faith of the people,
however, this later misfortune had not yet cast its blight
over the land; hope and enthusiasm ran high; freed
from the thraldom of dogmatism by the fresh breezes of the
larger thought, the nation grew accustomed to looking
forward to enormous power and wealth in the new lands
being discovered by its intrepid navigators ; and the spirit
of chivalry acquired a native shape, the crest of the day
becoming a galley-of-war with its sails distended by the
sure winds of Hope and Science.
Such was the spirit of high adventure permeating the
nobilit}^ when the treaty of peace was signed with Castile
in 1411.
To celebrate the occasion the King suggested that an
International Tournament be held, in which his three sons,
Duarte, Peter, and Henry, should compete. But these
the Florentine began one year after the Birth, the Pisan marked the Birth
of Christ as the year one."— Cf. J. P. Ribeiro, Diss. Chron. e Crit., Vol. II,
Chapter VI.
" King John of famous memory made the follo\ving laws in his reign —
" I, the King, command all workmen and clerks of the kingdom that
from henceforth all ^Titings and documents must be dated from the birth
of Chr'st, our Lord Jesus, in similar fashion before dated according to the
Caesarian era. This is the King's command. If disobeyed the penalty
will be forfeiture of office.
" N.B. — The above law was published by the King's command in
Lisbon by me, Philip Affonso Loguo-Teente, writer to his Majesty's
Chancery, before Diego Affonso de PaSo, auditor to his Court, and witnessed
in August A.D. 1422.
" This law is duly witnessed by us, the undersigned, and we order it to
be obeyed."
^ " And ye place these books in the Council HaU, bound by a long
chain; and allow no one to read therein other than those who are Pro-
curators, and those who have deeds, or those who wish to prepare and
draw up new deeds." — Ann. do Munic. de Lisbon, Vol. I, p. 312.
20 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
immediately answered that such a tournament as proposed
would not be anything Hke so worthy an object as an
expedition against some valorous foe, whereby they might
gain some real chivalrous distinction infinitely greater than
was possible by any mere formal ceremony.
" But what sort of an expedition ? " naturally inquired
the King; and his high-spirited sons, itching for battle,
and not knowing in the fulness of the country's prosperity
and their own superabundance of chivalrous energy where
to turn for a sufficient answer, were dumb. It was then,
at the psychological moment, that one of the three advisers
of the crown, John Affonso de Azambuja, whispered the
magic word " Ceuta " in the King's ear.^
At first he jumped at it. To conquer Ceuta, the door
that the Moors had always used in their invasions of Spain
— that surely would be a glorious expedition. The more
he thought of it the more it grew upon his mind. To
attack the Moors in Granada would have been most in-
advisable, as it would involve further hostilities with Castile,
which already looked upon Granada as part of the territory
it hoped to possess. Indeed, any expedition, no matter
where, required the utmost circumspection if they were to
avoid exciting the fear of jealous neighbours ; and the
further away, in consequence, such an expedition was the
easier for all concerned. All these considerations the King
turned over quietly in his own mind. Finally he consulted
some of his most trusted advisers ; and finding that they
heartily agreed, he now thought it high time to sound his
sons upon the project.
The three elder were then, in 1412, almost full-grown men.
Duarte was twenty-one, Peter twenty, and Henry eighteen.
The three others were still too young to be consulted on
matters of State, being yet in their mother's care. The
King himself was then fifty-four, and already beginning to
feel the weight of his years, worn as he was by the hardships
of his early campaigns and the cares of State. Moreover,
' Chron. de D. Jodo, I. iii. 71.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 21
he had been suffering for some time from rather alarming
attacks of pain and faintness which were then attributed
to the bite of a rabid dog, though it is much more Hkely
that he was really subject to " angina pectoris," an hypo-
thesis all the more likely when one remembers the active
life he had led.^
His three eldest sons brought up together, and almost
of the same age, like branches of the same tree nourished
by the same sap, resembled one another closely. But, as in
nature there are no two branches ever alike, so there are
no two characters ; and already the different dispositions
of the three Princes were showing their future mould.
Prince Duarte even then began to show signs of that over-
conscientious sense of duty that afterwards caused him to
sink into an early grave, overburdened by the cares of
State. Prince Peter, already deep in the study of philo-
sophy, was seeking to subordinate his life and actions to the
dictates based upon the conclusions he had arrived at.
Last of all. Prince Henry began to show himself a typical
man of action, following the impulses that guided him with
a blind obstinacy totally regardless of the rights of others.
Of the three, Peter's was undoubtedly the master mind —
Duarte being too gently considerate for the rough customs
of his time, while Henry was for ever dreaming of mighty
conquests beyond the seas, and so, a slave to his imagina-
tion, this fixed idea made him afterwards strive by every
means fair and foul, heroic, cruel, or the reverse, in order
that his great objective might be accomplished.
It vvas probably he who cunningly induced John Affonso
de Azambuja to suggest the idea of an expedition to Ceuta.
Be that as it may, the fact remains that for him, at any rate,
the capture of Ceuta meant not a mere expedition against
the Moors, but the beginning of a conquest which was to
^ " For five years he suffered greatly, having been bitten by a mad
dog. So much indeed did it affect him that once, when landing, on being
handed a letter, not knowing its contents, a sudden attack seized on him,
and caused him to drop it, his attempts to open it giving him so much
agony that he broke into a perspiration and lost consciousness." — The
Loyal Counsellor, XX.
22 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
open to the arms of his country the golden gates of the
mysterious east, where it is true there were many Christians
already, converts of Prester John,i but where also, in addi-
tion, gold beyond the dreams of avarice could be obtained,
precious stones, perfumes, frankincense and myrrh, silks,
and spices, all the multitudinous luxuries that returned
Crusaders talked about with bated breath.
Portions of this fabulous wealth trickled into Western
Europe, brought across the desert in caravans from the
mouth of the Red Sea through Egyptian Tripoli to Morocco,
of which Fez was the nominal capital and Ceuta the chief
seaport ; and, in his eagerness to control the outlet, there
mingled in Prince Henry's mind an odd medley of greed,
chivalry, and proselytising zeal.
The early voyagers looked upon themselves, with a
curious naive simplicity, not only as merchant adventurers,
but also as harbingers of the Cross of Christ, sent to bring
light out of darkness. They were as eager to save the
souls of the heathen from the danger of eternal damnation,
which they firmly believed would be otherwise their fate,
as to seize upon their lands, their riches, and their daughters.
As soon as his sons were old enough. King John taught
them to take an interest in the Government of the country
by making them members of his State Council. Thus was
formed a unique assembly of four men united })y family
' The legend of a great Christian Empire in the Far East, ruled over
by an Emperor named Prester John was current in Europe from the
eleventh to the fifteenth century. Every one apparently believed it;
and a letter was actually written and possibly an embassy sent from the
Pope Alexander III to this mythical monarch in 1177. His dominions
were supposed to be of enormous e.xtent. His wealth was reputed to be
boundless. Within his kingdom were the Fountains of Perpetual Youth,
mountains of gold and precious stones, rivers whose sands were diamonds.
In his realms also was to be found the worm called " salamander " which
lived in fire, and worked itself an incombustible envelope from which robes
were made for the Emperor which were washed in flaming fire. At 6rst
his country was supposed to be in Asia; but later it became identified
with Aby.ssinia, and Vasco da Gama in his famous voyage northwards
from Mosambique heard of him as dwelling there, and endeavoured to
f[et in touch with him by order of John II of Portugal. Twenty years
afer, Alvarez, in his history of Abyssinia, invariably calls the King Prester
John.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 23
ties, animated by absolute faith in one another, cemented
together by the bonds of natural affection, and presiding
over a people who loved and were proud of them all.
Brought up to respect and revere their father, the younger
men, naturally more open to the reception of new ideas,
brought the invaluable adjunct of youth, and the high
courage associated with it, to the aid of this family council,
modifying and to some extent combating the more cautious
opinions which the conservatism of habit, and increasing
infirmity, naturally produced in the King. The family
council thus, as it were, established, by this constant
method of rejuvenescence, a form of immortality trans-
mitting its ideas, thoughts, and wishes from one generation
to another. Rallying around the King the young Princes
with the celerity of youth saw that his decisions were
quickly executed. By suppressing irritating details of the
worries of the Government, by lightening his labour as
much as possible, they tried to make his rule, instead of a
fatigue, as near a pleasure as they could. By leaving him
the appointing of the times of meeting, and the order of
business, they tactfully led him to believe he was still
directing the administration, while actually he was ruling
through them.
\'\Tien, therefore, he confided to them this project for the
invasion of Morocco, giving them his opinion of the diffi-
culties that lay in the way of its accomplishment, they
listened to his views with all the respect due to a father,
determined none the less to overcome all difficulties, for-
midable as he made them appear. Stating in the first
place that there was not enough money in the Treasury for
the expedition, he pictured how cruel it would be to tax
the people further, since they had already suffered so
severely in men and money carrying on the long war with
Castile, now happily ended; and pointed out that even if
the tax could be raised without any hardship to the people,
the very fact of it being raised would put a possible enemy
on the qui vive, thus immediately vitiating their plans, the
success of which depended so much on the secrecy with
24 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
which they could be completed. He reminded them,
moreover, that the country did not possess a fleet capable
of transporting the army to Ceuta, and that the army itself
was not nearly large enough for such a formidable under-
taking—in fact,that they lacked the most essential materials
for the success of the scheme.
^^ Turning to the political side of the question, he said that
" even in the event of victory the honour of being a noble-
man of this city of Ceuta may do me more harm than
good," for the kingdom of Granada seemed to him easier
to conquer, and, if they did not attem))t it, Castile most
certainly would do so, especially when they were thus
otherwise occupied. From the standpoint of Portugal
a conquest of Granada by Castile was an evil to be avoided,
as it would disturb the balance of power in the Peninsula,
augmenting the strength of their old enemy. Lastly, he
urged that fighting the Moors in i\Iorocco would expose
their own possessions in the Algarve to counter-attacks
from the Spanish Moors; and moreover, it would close
their own door to the Mediterranean, where Portuguese
vessels traded in oil, wine, and fruit.
With this weighty indictment he ended ; but to his sons it
seemed as though he were purposely exaggerating the diffi-
culties so as to dissuade them ; and after he had expounded
his doubts they pointed out that it was unnecessary to
levy taxes, as the money could be readily raised by means
of a loan from the merchants of the kingdom, and, in any
case, the sums earmarked for the suggested tournaments
certainly could be thus employed. With regard to
transports, they argued, it would be quite feasible to use
the merchant vessels trading in salt and wine to Galician,
French, and Flemish ports, the sailors already manning
them acting naturally as crews. Finally, they assured
him that, given peace with Castile, it would be a matter of
no difficulty to raise sufficient men for the prospective
invading army.
The King appeared difficult to persuade, especially on
this last point : for after the first exhilaration, the idea of a
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 25
naval expedition grew more and more disturbing to his
mmd, already becoming conservative through increasing
years. All his days he had been fighting and conquering
on land; he understood, and could practically forecast
the chances of such warfare; but in this enterprise the
thought of the intervening sea daunted him. So he still
hesitated, although he was forced to admit that to attack
Granada would only be courting future trouble, since
Castile would eventually be united to Aragon, and when
this occurred the new kingdom would be compelled to
attack whoever then held Granada in defence of ancient
rights never legally abandoned to the Moors, whom now
they would feel sufficiently powerful to sweep from out
the holy land of Spain.i
All this the King saw clearly. But when one reaches to
the verge of sixty it is not easy to grasp new ideas ; and
111 such circumstances one is apt, therefore, to practise
old follies under the delusion one is following new inspira-
tions—hence his procrastination. Fortunately, however
he had around him the fresh eager minds of the young
Princes ; and thus was added to his more sober survey the
stimulus of their more buoyant outlook.
They made light of all the difficulties ; and Prince Henry
in particular was most insistent in his attack on the idea
of invading Granada, the only alternative outlet suggested
to employ the superabundant spirit of adventure possessing
them. For this reason the King discussed the matter
fully with him alone on the following day, and finally
overborne by his impetuosity, consented. Beside himself
with joy. Prince Henry rushed immediately to tell his
brothers that the expedition against Ceuta had been decided
upon, and there was much rejoicing amongst them all.
For purposes of State, however, it was necessary to keep
* Aragon and Castile were united under Ferdinand and Isabella in 1479
rSl!^ anticipated by King Jolin war was soon after declared against
Granada It began in 1481 and continued to 1492, when GranadI was
conquered Thus the long reign of the Moors in SpaS^ ended in ^he
year in which Colombus discovered the West Indies, and gave to the
newly consolidated Spain its great empire in the West.
26 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
the matter as secret as possible, and the real object of the
expedition was therefore disclosed only to a favoured few.
Some plausible explanation would, however, have to be
given to their immediate neighbours to account for the
collection and arming of such a large fleet ; and it was
absolutely essential that they should become secretly
acquainted with the strategic position of Ccuta, its anchor-
age, etc., so as not to precipitate matters, and, by allowing
the enemy to prepare, thus court disaster.
The methods employed to attain this knowledge were
typical of the tortuous ingenuity of the time. A certain
military priest, the Prior of the Hospitallers,^ famous for his
shrewdness, was entrusted with the secret ; and it was given
out that he was proceeding to Sicily to arrange the marriage
of the widowed Queen with Prince Peter.^ He actually did
sail from Lisbon to Sicily; but there he purposely failed in
his supposed mission : for it was only a plausible excuse to
permit him to visit Ceuta either on the outward or the
homeward journey. So well, indeed, did he play his part
that he actually managed to land both going and coming
back, thus acquiring all the necessary information as to
the character of the coast, the anchorage, the defences,
without arousing the faintest suspicion on the part of the
Moorish authorities.
Meanwhile from the moment the campaign was decided
upon the King became a different man. He seemed to be
living his youth over again, to have become rejuvenated
by the mere prospect of hearing once more the clash of
arms. Already he imagined himself leading the attack,
' The Knights Hospitallers or Knights of St. John of Jerusalem sliared
originally with their great rivals, the Knights Templars, the duty of
defending the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, founded after the first
Crusade. The Prior of the Hospital, or the " Hospitaller," was the
keeper of the house or " Hostium," a lodging for sick pilgrims. The
most notod institution of this order of priestly Knights was in Jerusalem
itself, before it fell again to the Saracens. The headquarters of the Order
in Portugal were at Crato. After their expulsion from Palestine they
hold Rhodes, and finally Malta. Ihe latter island was taken from them
by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798.
* Widow of Martino T, whoso death causes! th«- aimexation of Sicily to
the throne of Aragon, leaving her without a kingdom.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 27
sword in hand, at the head of his devoted followers. He
threw himself heart and soul into the preparations for
gathering together the most powerful army possible,
leaving the conduct of the country's affairs entirely to his
eldest son, Prince Duarte, calling, however, upon the two
younger Princes, Peter and Henry, to help him in his own
chosen part.^
So conscientiously did Prince Duarte take it upon him
to fulfil the duties devolving upon him in matters of State
that, lacking the endurance of his father, he soon began to
feel the fatiguing strain of the weighty responsibility cast
upon him.
Rising early he would first attend Mass, and then
afterwards appear in the High Court of Justiciary where
he would hear cases until noon. At the mid -day meal he
would talk business with some official ; and, this finished,
would only very occasionally indulge in a short siesta,
for frequently at about two he would be interviewing
some Surveyor of the Royal Household, or else some
member of the Council with whom he remained closeted
till 9 p.m., at which hour he had his evening meal. After-
wards he would discuss business with some official of the
Household till 11 p.m., at which hour he went to bed.
His father's Palace he only visited when the exigencies of
business demanded his presence there. He rarely went to
his own estates, or indulged in hunting, neglecting all
bodily exercise, and accustoming himself to a life entirely
sedentary. Thus for the first time in the annals of
Portiigal we come upon a bureaucratic Prince.
Considering the natural feebleness of his constitution,
it is not to be wondered at that the Prince's health
became permanently undermined by this over-zealous
attention to duty ; but with the morbid conscientiousness
of the type he refused to acknowledge the fatigue he suffered
from. Staggering under the weight of the responsibilities
^ " So many thiug'5 had to be accomplished for this expedition that
other great matters of pressing urgency could not be attended to,"
The Loyal Counsellor, XIX.
28 THE GOLDEx\ AGE OF
his mind came to exaggerate every little difficulty, making
mountains out of molehills. The greater the difficulty
appeared the more he martyrised himself; till finally,
under the burden of his work he became a victim to
anaemia and chronic dyspepsia, developing all the symptoms
now grouped under the head of " neurasthenia," and which
he himself refers to under the name of " Melancholy
humour."
His medical advisers urgently pressed upon him the
necessity of relaxation, couching their advice in this typical
mediaeval form :
" Your Royal Highness, instead of devoting yourself
exclusively to Minerva, should, instead, rather offer sacrifice
at the altars of Bacchus, Orpheus, Venus, and Morpheus."
But this sage advice apparently was not acted upon.
The Prince developed a constitutional melancholia, which
made him the prey of an unaccountable sorrow, a victim
to the terror of impending death ; and the condition lasted
for fully three years, beginning to leave him only after the
painful shock of his mother's death roused him again out
of himself.
In him were all the elements of greatness had his feeble
frame been equal to the burdens thrust upon it. Methodi-
cal, painfully conscientious, utterly devoid of arrogance,
this Prince, neglected by Fortune, became instead a warning
example of the fate of those rulers whose passive qualities
deny them the gift of an easy conscience, thus making them
miss the fruits of the tree of Success — fruits that fall often
instead to the lot of the bold and unscrupulous who have
had the courage to rise to opportunities when offered, and
so have seized upon them.
Thus it cainc about that the megalomania of his brother,
Prince Henry, infinitely his intellectual inferior, resulted
in those glorious conquests of which the world now knows.
Kindled by the torch of Faith, his grandiose imagination
raised high the fire of Hope in the breasts of his fellow-
countrymen, casting a brilliant searchlight into the dark-
ness of the great unknown world, till then spoken of only
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 29
in bated whispers by even the most venturous spirits
amongst the navigators of mediaeval times.
Thus the characters and the different fates of these
two brothers were already foreshadowed by their actions
in this early period of their history ; and we, looking back
through the vistas of time, can see and marvel at the blind
workings of destiny. To one was given an early, almost
forgotten grave ; to the other a name that will endure as
long as the tale of those golden days of pioneer discovery
can find a listening ear and a responsive eye.
CHAPTER II
THE CAPTURE OF CEUTA
Ever since the time of the Chaldeans, Fortune has been
represented as a wheel, and a circle formed by the figure
of a snake devouring its own tail has been symbolic of Life,
representing as it does the beginning and the end, the cycle
of Fate finishing where it has begun.
So it is in Life ; and so it has been in History : for, after
all, History is but a record of many lives. It is not sur-
prising, therefore, that we find many places have become
historically famous because they have been in turn the scene
both of the prelude to some great triumphant movement,
and later on of the last act wherein the curtain drops on
the ultimate defeat and ruin of this selfsame undertaking.
In the Palace of Cintra, in a small blue-tiled room, there
is to be seen to-day a divan, also blue-tiled, built out from
the wall. From this room and from this same divan came
the resolutions which began and which ended the cycle that
surrounded the various Portuguese invasions of I\Iorocco.
History tells us that here sat Dom Sebastian when he
decided the plans of the fatal campaign in Aleacerquiber,
the last expedition against the Moors; and here it was in
earlier days that at the point we have arrived at in this
narrative. King John and his sons sat waiting to receive
the report of the Prior sent to spy out the land, the report
that determined the commencement of this same cycle,
the first expedition against the Moors.
Already, despite the utmost attempts at secrecy, talk
of a Holy War against the Infidel was current everywhere;
and p('o|)I<' })cgnn to relate various signs and omens,
.10
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 31
visions and dreams, concerning the imminent downfall
of the Moslem power. There was in those days a firm
belief in auguries of every kind. Men looked upon them
as serious things not lightly to be laughed at. To them
the workings of Nature were still an unfathomable mystery ;
they saw signs and wonders in every natural phenomenon ;
and Satan and his angels were an ever-present, almost
visible, daily menace to their souls.
It was known at the Court that there was some secret
behind the Prior's ostensible mission; and his silence on
arrival heightened the interest to boiling point — an interest
in which he seemingly luxuriated, so much so that even
when closeted alone with the King and his sons he did not
then seem anxious to begin.
Their eager curiosity, however, was not thus to be
baulked; and, finally, on being questioned directly, he
made the following curious reply :
" Sire, with all due deference, I feel that I would rather
not speak of what I found, and have seen, until I have
beside me here two sacks of sand, a reel of ribbon, half a
bushel of beans, and a porringer."
" Are you a wizard preparing an incantation ? " said
the King laughingly.
The Prior of the Hospitallers bowed gravely.
" I would not dare jest with your Majesty ; but I would
beg to repeat my request," he replied, solemnly.
Again the King laughed.
" Do you hear how he answers me ? " he said, turning
to his sons. " I ask him for an account of Ceuta ; and he
replies in terms of astrology and magic. AVho would have
believed that a priest could have been capable of bringing
back such a reply ! "
Then, with a smile, he ordered what the Prior asked for,
commenting in mock plaintiveness on the expense he was
putting the State to.
To this the Prior made no reply. He waited gravely
till the curious articles he had asked for were brought to
him. Then after they had been taken into the adjoining
32 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
room he followed, leaving the King and his sons to content
themselves in paticnec till he should be ready to unveil the
riddle to their understanding. At length the door between
the two rooms opened, and the Prior appeared.
" Now, your Majesty," he said, " the result of my
labours can be seen. I can not only answer on any detail
you may question me about, but I can also show by ocular
demonstration what I mean."
He stood aside respectfully as he spoke ; and the King
and his three sons, their curiosity now whetted to a keen-
ness fitting the occasion, trooped past him into the room.
\Vliat they saw amply repaid them for the time of waiting
they had so courteously endured. It also fully explained
the curious request of the Prior.
On the stone floor of the room moulded in sand was a
large relief map of the Straits of Gibraltar. It showed the
southern coast of the Iberian peninsula, with the Bay of Alge-
ciras and its range of mountains in the hinterland. On
the other side of the Straits was the promontory of Ceuta,
crowned in front by the eminences of Mount Musa and
Mount Almina, where the Arabs once had contemplated
building their city. A small isthmus joined it to the
mainland. The city itself was indicated by rows of
beans ; and a piece of unwound ribbon showed the contour
of the walls. Below, the beach offering ample anchorage
and landing facilities was indicated in sand; and the Prior
pointed out the places around the city where there were
gardens, lime-groves, and fields of sugar-cane, expatiating
on their fertility, and showing where the coast around was
rich in coral nnd tunny (a kind of mackerel).'^
' " The city of Ceuta or ' Septa ' is situated on the African coast
opj)oaite Algeciran or the ' Green Island.' It is built on seven hills; and
is a populous city extending over an area that measures from East to West
aytproximately about one mile. Djabal Mu8& (The Mount of Musa) named
after Musfi, ibn Xo(,air, who was the first to conquer Spain for Islam, rises
about two miles from the city, which is surrounded by gardens and orchards
when; the Pomegranate trees produce their fruits in abmidance. There are
also fertile fields of sugar-cane, and lime-groves that supply the city with
the means of export to surrounding neighbourhoods. This fertile area,
with it« springs of crystalline water, is known as Balyunich. Westward
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 33
While the others openly expressed their admiration and
delight over the Prior's ingenious idea, Prince Henry-
remained pensive, thoughtful. With his arms folded across
his chest, and his right hand stroking his chin absent-
mindedly, he watched this cartographic lesson in silence ;
for the enormous future possibilities of the plan were
already fermenting in his receptive brain. He saw how,
following this idea, the whole world, its convolutions,
irregularities, and multiplicity of shapes, could readily
be depicted by graphic means ; and immediately he began
to ponder how this knowledge could be turned to the
acquisition of tangible wealth. It was probably at this
very moment, therefore, that the first glimmerings of the
idea formed in his mind which afterwards gave birth to the
great nautical school at Sagres which he established, and
which marked the commencement of all modern scientific
navigation. Little wonder, therefore, that he kept silent
while his brothers eagerly questioned the Prior on all the
multiplicity of detail they wanted explained to them.
can be seen the mountain called Djabalo L'Mina, on whose plateau-like
summit can still be found the walls constructed in the time of Mahomet
ibn abi Amir after his return from Spain. He had intended to transport
the city to this summit; but he died just after the defensive walls of his
new city had been built ; Ceuta remained where it was ; and the new city
on the mountain has been for ever since without inhabitants. The walla
of Al-Mina remain even unto this day, and are possessed of such extra-
ordinary whiteness that in clear weather they can be seen plainly from
the Spanish coast though almost hidden by the luxuriant vegetation that
has sprung up around them since. In the heart of this dead city there is
a spring which supplies water all the year round. The name ' Septa '
means an island, and was given to the old city because it was built on a
narrow-necked peninsula surrounded on aU sides by water except where
a bridgt over a strip of marshy land connected it with the mainland.
Ceuta is an excellent seaport; and there are no better fishing grounds
than those in its immediate neighbourhood. There are over a hundred
different kinds of edible fish ; and the tunny is especially abundant there-
about for harpooning. The immediate vicinity is also very rich in coral
which surpasses in beauty that of any other neighbourhood. Conse-
quently in the city bazaars one may see this coral being cut, poUshed,
pierced, and threaded — for it is one of the chief exports, and the finished
article is sent by caravan to Ghana and other towns in the Soudan." —
Edrisi, Desc. of Africa and Spain, 167-8.
" N.B. — In Dozy's and Goeje's translation of the above (Leyden, 1866)
we do not find Edrisi' s original footnote on the derivation of ' Septa.*
Edrisi derives it from the seven hills, called ' Septem Fratres.' "
D
34 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
After the first flush of delight over the success of this initial
movement in their campaign faded, it now became neces-
sary to divulge the secret to the Queen and the aged Con-
stable, as on their willing consent so much of its future
fortune depended. It was John, himself, now an eager
convert, who, knowing the difficulties, undertook the task
of enlightening the Queen and his trusted adviser.
When she was informed Philippa was in a quandary.
Openly she applauded the scheme ; but in her heart she
was afraid of the results of such an expedition : for,
remembering the weight of his years, she did not wish the
King to go, thinking that he who had spent the greater
part of his youth in harness ought surely to enjoy the calm
of a peaceful old age rather than adventure forth again
upon such unknown perils, and that his duty now was to
remain beside her administering the affairs of the kingdom
he had held so successfully against all comers. For her
sons, on the other hand, she was more than willing they
should go. With the high heart of a mother of Kings she
felt indeed that it was their duty to endure such hardships,
fight valiantly against fearful odds, gain all possible honour
and distinction, so that at the last they might show them-
selves worthy of the race from which they sprang. But
for the King, their father, her husband and lover, she
wanted peace ; and so, her heart palpitating beneath her
outward stately calm, she pleaded with him not to go.
The King would have none of it. Like an old war-horse
he sensed from afar the sound of battle; and his heart
sang, and his blood boiled with the glad joy of it again.
Nevertheless, her pleading eyes caused in his breast an
accusing irritating consciousness of the weakness of his
position ; and his tongue failed him as he tried to put the
matter before her in what seemed to him its proper light.
For a moment, almost, he felt like yielding; and then the
persistence that had stood him in such stead in his stormy
youth came to his relief, and with a sudden inspiration, he
said :
" Madam, I remember that in my younger days 1 soiled
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 35
my hands in Christian blood ; and so I feel that I can only
complete my penance now by washing them in that of the
innael. 1
This improvised argument amounted to an inspiration •
for, although It was but a cloak hastily assumed by the
King to cover his southern thirst for violence, it appealed
with overwhelming force to the almost fanatical religious
instincts of the Queen-not that she was alone in such
beliefs, however, for, in part, the same feeling honestly
underlay the King's o^vn eagerness also, and, indeed, was
shared by him with all the rest of Christendom, since in
those days Christianity, like its great antagonist Moham-
medanism, was a jTiilitant faith, and conversion by the
sword was looked upon as a most fit and proper method
of saving the heathen from those eternal fires otherwise
awaiting them. Thus the Queen's consent was won; and
nothing now remained but to gain over the Constable, who
was still looked upon as the King's most powerful adviser
though now living in retirement on his estates at Arraiolos.'
The Court was then at Santarem : for in those davs it
moved with the King, the idea of an administration Led
in the capital not having yet arisen. Kings were then
perpetually upon the road, taking the primitive machinery
o government with them; and like itinerant pedlars they
distributed their gifts as they progressed, presiding here
over a Court of Justice, settling there some dispute between
CIVIC bodies almost independent and always very jealous
of one another and their prescriptive rights, granting else-
where some charter, and periodically calling together at
any convement centre the representatives of the three
CorTeT ^°"^P°^^d his kingdom, and made up his
To have summoned the Constable to Santarem would
have given rise to much comment, and might have en-
fZfi ?>f T'"^ °^ '^' proceedings. For this reason,
therefore, the King and the young Princes set out acros^
the ragus, ostensibly on a hunting expedition towards
1 Azurara, Chron., III. 18.
36 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Montemor; and there the Constable was asked to meet
them. The great affection he was known to entertain
towards the Royal Family made such a meeting look the
most natural thing in the world, and, consequently, it
excited no curiosity whatever. When they met in the
forest the King and the Constable walked slowly ahead,
leaving the young Princes to follow at a respectful distance,
full of eagerness to know what course events would take,
feeling that if the Constable was violently opposed to the
scheme all would be lost.
Consequently they watched every look and gesture of
the two elders in front of them, saw how the King hesitated
and appeared uncertain of himself, remembering his recent
interview with Philippa. They knew the very moment
when he began to unfold his plans, watched how his face
clouded with uncertainty, saw him knit his brows in thought
as he searched for his most convincing arguments, trembled
with anxiety as they noticed how he glanced occasionally
at the imj)assive face of the aged Constable to see how he
was taking it. Finally, after the King had told him of his
interview with Philippa and what he said on that occasion,
they saw the Constable smile. It was an omen of
victory, and, unable to contain themselves further, they
rushed up to them to find the Constable saying solemnly :
" What I think. Sire, is that you, yourself, have no hand
in this, nor indeed, has any mortal. It is an inspiration
direct from God ; and you are the instrument of his
purpose."
The King, touched by a solemn awe, bowed his head
before the veteran warrior, then raised it again proudly as
the thought came to him that he was indeed the leader of
a glorious enterprise, and that the hand of God was with
him. With such help, and the confidence he reposed in
the strength of his own right arm, he felt that the success
of the expedition was assured. Around him the warm
south wind, laden with the resinous balm of the brush-
wood, sang rustling in the cork-forest ; and to his en-
chanted ears it sounded like the roar of bygone battles
nun'alvares
[To face p. 3G
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 37
when sword met sword, harness clashed with harness in
deadly impact, and he and his companions fought shoulder
to shoulder for crown and country in the days of his
tumultuous youth.
The fact that something in the nature of an expedition
was being contemplated by now gradually became public.
Indeed, it could not have been otherwise seeing that
preparations were already on foot, and the time was
ripening. Naturally, seeing the smoke, everybody sus-
pected a fire ; but where the fire was, and what it was in-
tended to burn was still only a matter for conjecture.
Prince Duarte was absolutely overwhelmed with work.
Prince Henry feeling within him the demon of glory con-
tinually kept entreating his father to hasten matters,
begging as a special favour that he should be the first to
be allowed to land on African soil, the first to attempt to
scale the walls of Ceuta ; and the King, in whom these
affinities of character had created a preference, readily
assented.^
The Cortes had now to be approached : for in those days
the monarchy had not yet entrenched itself amid the ruins
of the representative institutions of the Middle Ages —
those feudal guilds which were afterwards destroyed for
ever by John II.
Thus, though the initiative came from the King, he
always, before embarking on any weighty enterprise, took
the opinion of his people as represented by their delegates,
not in any mere formal manner, but with a sincere desire
that they should help him in the interests of the country ;
for was it not by the unanimous wish of these same people
he had been called originally to assume the reins of Govern-
ment, and lead them in their struggle to maintain their
national independence ?
The representatives of the Council met in 1414 at Torres
Vedras. Nun'alvares the Constable, JoSo das Regras, the
Lord Chancellor, the Archbishop of Braga, and a few others,
with Marshal Alvaro Pereira, the Constable's brother, and
1 Azurara, Chron., III. 24.
38 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Joao Gomes da Silva, rcno^\Tlcd for his wit and strength of
character, formed this momentous Council.
The King in a few words told them about the proposed
invasion of Morocco. The Constable almost as briefly
followed, seconding the proposal ; and then kneeling, he
kissed the King's hand solemnly.
A brief silence followed. Every one felt the tension of
the moment. Every one sat still. JoSo Gomes da Silva
glanced round at the bowed heads bent solemnly over the
table. They were all grey with years, bleached with the
winters of over half a century. Every one of them had
taken a valiant part in the last war, the war of independ-
ence; and they were all that remained of Aljubarotta and
of the many battles against Castile. Several of them had
almost reached their second childhood, the age when a
man again becomes the ready instrument of his own
emotions, when he knows not whether to laugh or
cry. All these thoughts rushed through Joao Gomes'
mind.
Suddenly he laughed aloud ; and, startled, they all
stared at him.
" Sire," he cried, " forgive my levity. I kno\r not what
to say, except that to me it seems that a race of albinos
(white-heads) is going to fight the Moors."
The laugh and the quaint conceit appealed strongly to
their tense strung minds. It seemed as it were to break
the spell of the solemnity that held them. Every one
relaxed ; and with a laugh, and the words, " Albinos to the
front," on every toothless mouth, the assembly dispersed
noisily. 1
Immediately after this decision arrangements were
straightway set on foot to get the expedition ready, for
it would require fully two years to prepare all that was
required. Indeed, before this certain preliminary matters
had already been arranged. The Treasurer, without being
admitted to the secret, had received orders to prepare the
Mint, and, as it had been decided to raise a loan, as much
* Azurara, Chron., III. 26.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 39
money as possible had been accumulated in the Treasury,
and arrangements made for importing more.
In addition all master crossbowmen had been notified
to make as many enlistments as possible, and recruiting
had already become active. (Soares de Barros, Acad.
Municip. Econom., calculating from this enlistment,
estimated that in 1422 there were 252,067 crossbowmen
per million of the population.)
The standing army in those days consisted of the King's
troops, together with certain companies supplied by the
nobility. In time of war these noblemen and their troops
would join the King's army, and the local councils would
further swell the forces by levies which varied in number
according to the charter of the particular municipality.
But, in addition, the King, his constable, and marshal,
could call at any time, directly to their service, cross-
bowmen from every part of the kingdom.
At this period King John had for the first time estab-
lished arsenals in the country ; and for the maintenance of
these he had made the State responsible. The permanent
cavalry force at his disposal consisted of 3,500 lances, of
which 2,000 were his own vassals, and the rest were raised
by the nobility and local councils. In addition, all over
the country there were the master bowmen ; and these
were held responsible for recruiting, training, and leading
their companies in war. Now all these various arms were
put upon a war-footing once more, and much activity and
speculation in consequence arose all over the country.
Provision had next to be made for the Armada. ^Vhole
pine forests were felled and transported to the ship-
building yards, to help in the construction of new ships
and the strengthening and repairing of such others as
alread)^ existed, or of the merchantmen that had been
commandeered for service.
Fifteen new galleys -of -war were constructed, and
fifteen pinnaces. In addition, the entire existing navy
was dry-docked and repaired. Affonso Furtado was in
command. It was he who in 1387 had brought Lancaster
40 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
from England ; and on returning back with the Duke he had
remained there with ten auxiliary galleys, in accordance ,
with the treaty of Windsor (1386). In England he had
studied naval construction ; and so he now came back
prepared to supervise an Armada such as never had been
seen before in Portuguese waters. It was he who effected
the seizure of every merchant ship he could find in the ports
of his country, enrolling them together with their crews
in his navy, having the power to " apprehend, and im-
prison any one according to the fault or disobedience
committed."
The post of Admiral was in those days an hereditary
one. It was then held by Admiral Pessanhas ; and in
the event of there being no successor, it would pass to
some nobleman — " one who had conscience enough not to
do anything he should not do " [Orden. Aff. 3 LV.). By
an ancient ordinance the Admiral had to supply " twenty
Genoese acquainted with the sea, who shall be competent
to master and captain the ships." He also had to furnish
one fifth of every accessory excepting the hull, arms, and
fittings of the vessels. In those days, and indeed much
later in every European country, the comman*! of a ship
on an expedition lay with the senior officer of the troops
on board. The captain, as we understand him now, did not
exist. There was a master who was a practical seamen,
and gave orders to the sailors under his command on all
technical matters ; but he himself was completely under
the control of the military commander — a condition of
affairs which was a fruitful source of trouble until sheer
futility forced it into desuetude.
As it became increasingly necessary to invent some
excuse for all these warlike preparations, the Council,
after fixing its next session for June 1415, decided that the
best device would be to send an ambassador to the Court
of the Duke of Holland complaining of the treatment
Portuguese shi|)s had experienced at the hands of the Dutch
pirates, and demanding satisfaction. To lend colour to
this fabrication, and to make the people and more par-
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 41
ticularly the neighbouring nations connect it with the
building of the Armada, considerable secrecy was pretended
about the proposed embassy, while at the same time its
object was quietly whispered around.
The actual mobilisation of the army was left in the hands
of Prince Peter, Prince Henry, and the Count of Barcellos.
Prince Peter collected his men in Estremadura and
Alemtejo, Prince Henry in Beira and Traz-os-Montes,
the Count of Barcellos in Entre-Douro-e-Minho. Thus
the kingdom was divided between the three; and the
troops under Prince Henry and the Count of Barcellos
were to take ship at Oporto, while Prince Peter's contingent
came to Lisbon. To Prince Duarte was apportioned the
part of looking after the affairs of State, and the nursing
of his " melancholy humour."
While these preparations were going on there was much
activity at the naval shipyards. In Lisbon and at Oporto,
along the banks of the Tagus and the Douro, great quan-
tities of material were accumulated ; and the sound of
hammering became incessant. The yards hummed with
activity like vast ant-heaps. At night the work was
carried on by the resinous glare of torchlights. At one
spot busy carpenters planed the timbers to cover the
vessels' frameworks which, still incomplete, looked like the
skeletons of prehistoric monsters, their arched ribs looming
in the shadows half illuminated by the fitful crimson glare
of the torches burning with smoky brilliance in the night.
Further along, the banks resembled a huge abattoir :
bullocks were being slaughtered, skinned, quartered,
salted, and packed in barrels. There were women busily
engaged in scaling and salting fish, which were then dried
in enormous stacks that extended so far as to be almost
lost to \'iew. The air was heavy with the acrid smell of
blood, brine, ropes, and resin. The spring was hot, and
people had already begun to talk of the plague.
Beyond the victualling yards many coopers were busy;
while tailors seemed ever to be cutting and sewing sails.
Each man felt the importance of his trade. Each felt he was
42 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
a useful unit in the vast machinery of workers engaged on
this important mission — the mission planned by their be-
loved King. At one spot carpenters were busy mounting
mortars and other artillery gathered on the beach ready to
arm the unfinished ships. Enormous coils of cordage un-
wound their twisted fabric along the neighbouring fields, idly
awaiting not only the vessels being built in their immediate
vicinity, but also those merchant ships that were to return
from abroad to be equipped for war service. Pulleys
groaning monotonously, ropes contorting themselves into
a thousand twisted shapes proclaimed that the nation's
muscles were straining in the throes of labour; and while
the windlasses turned creakingly, the furnace flames of
the neighbouring Mint transformed the scene into a
veritable Inferno with its roaring fires, hissing cauldrons
of molten metal, and the perpetual hammering and coining
of money — the vital force that quickens the pulse of War.
Old men, with the leisure of crippled age, looking on the
scene, discussed its meaning, trying to fathom the real
motive of all this activity — the fact that there was a secret
quickening the public curiosity, and freeing each individual
imagination.
One would say that the Armada was to take the Princess
Isabel, who was then seventeen, to be married in England ;
and that it would then proceed to conquer Flanders.
Another would discredit this, asserting that its destination
was Naples, and that it was to take Prince Peter there to
marry the Queen of Sicily. A third would heatedly deny
this. The Armada, he would inform his listeners with the
assurance of one who was divulging a great secret, was
really being built to take the King to the Holy Sepulchre,
in compliance with a vow he had made should he defeat
Castile. Still another would ridicule this with the
superiority of one better acquainted with the happenings
at Court. It was this one's idea that Holland was the
ultimate destination of the Armada. Another individual
was positive that it was being built as an auxiliary to Pope
Benedict XIII, who was recognised as the true Pope by
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 43
Spain, but not by Portugal ; and he would support his theory
by relating, what was as yet little known, that both the
Roman Pope and Benedict XIII had been deposed in 1409,
after a council held at Pisa, and Alexander V, who was
succeeded by John XXIII in the following j^ear, had been
elected. He would tell how all this discord in the Holy
Church was due to the intrigues of the vile French against
Italy, and almost persuade his listeners of the truth of his
conjecture.
But at this mention of the French an objection would be
raised by one of the listeners ; and he would proffer his
explanation in a cautious whisper, suggesting Normandy as
the point of attack. Every one knew that the King was
the grandson of the Count of Bologne, and that he claimed
the Duchy on that account ; and here again, some sem-
blance of probability underlay the suggestion : for at that
time France was actually at the mercy of anyone who raised
a claim to her lands, monopolised almost completely by
the Burgundians, and the Armagnese, and further threat-
ened by the English, who invaded and actually conquered
Normandy again in 1415 at the Battle of Agincourt.
Finally, some one would diffidently suggest that there
might be something in the verses written by a negress,
Philippa's slave, to her lover. Prince Peter's valet, which
asserted that Ceuta was the destination of the expedition.^
But after such magnificent versions this last appeared sadly
lacking in colour. Perhaps the verses were crude — at
any rate the theory was discredited, and thus secrecy was
maintained. In the cloud of contradictory gossip the
actuLil truth became labelled as a lie.
Meanwhile, the neighbouring nations began to be
alarmed. Castile felt uneasy. She was hard put to it to
maintain her unstable conquests in Andalusia. Aragon
found it difficult to hold Sicily. Granada began to feel
herself perilously surrounded on all sides. And so all
three sent ambassadors, and these arrived practically at
the same time. All were commissioned to ask if these
^ Azurara, Chron., III. 29.
44 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
hostile preparations were connected with their respective
Governments ; and all were dismissed with the assurance
of nothing but the most peaceful intentions.^
There arrived at the same time, however, another visitor
whose departure it was impossible thus to expedite. This
was the plague which broke out virulently in Lisbon in
the spring of 1415, claiming a heavy death-roll, and driving
the Court to seek refuge in Santarem. Nevertheless, the
incessant warlike preparations still went on ; and these,
with the ravages of the plague, acting simultaneously on
the excitable imagination of a credulously pious population,
stimulated the war fever to extraordinary heights.
Militant priests went about the country preaching that
the plague was a visitation from God on account of the
sins of the people, that these sins must be atoned for before
the hand of his wrath passed from them, and that to die fight-
ing abroad against the Infidel insured eternal happiness,
whereas the equal risk of death at home from the plague
brought no such hope of ultimate salvation. Then a friar
of S. Domingos, rising at dawn for his morning devotions,
saw clearly and distinctly a vision of the King in full
armour kneeling before the image of the Virgin, whilst
over him there shone a resplendent flaming sword. The
mere report of this filled every breast with a burning
enthusiasm, and recruits came flocking in thousands to
the standard, for it was now evident that God Himself was
on the King's side.
Prince Henry had been at Oporto since January, busily
superintending the equipment of the Armada, and receiving
the contingents arriving from beyond the river Mondego —
companies of archers, and levies of men-at-arms from the
retainers of the various noblemen and Councils, each under
the flag of its own commander. Amongst them was a
veteran warrior of ninety, Ayres Gon9alvcs de Figucircdo,
white-haired, upright, in full armour at the head of his
vassals.
" It seems to me," said the Prince, as the old knight
^ Azurara, Chron., 111. 30-33.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 45
bent to kiss his hand, " that one of your age, sir, has
already amply earned repose after so many years of faithful
service in the field."
" I may be conscious of my years, my Prince," came the
feeble but firm answer of the veteran, " but yet am I as
willing now to serve as when I fu'st took up arms under
your father. Nor can I think of any higher obsequies
than those granted by the battlefield." ^
It was animated by a spirit such as this that on July 10,
1415, Prince Henry's fleet arriving from Oporto, entered
the Tagus and cast anchor. It consisted of twenty galleys-
of-war, and viewed from the land, they looked more as if
decked out for a pageant than prepared to face the stern
arbitrament of war : for each sailor wore the Prince's tri-
colour, and all the vessels, their hulls resplendent with
new paint, the image of their patron saints carved and
gilded at the bow, flew his standard and the tricoloured
flags on which the Prince's motto, " Talent de bien faire,"
fluttered triumphant, while ever and anon the metallic
sound of trumpets came in eddies to the shore.
Outside he had been joined by the contingent under
Prince Peter ; and it was the combined fleet which eventu-
ally cast anchor in the Tagus before the eyes of the as-
sembled multitudes, each ship folding its white sails as
it took its moorings for all the world like sea-gulls folding
their wings when they rest upon the waters and are still.
Then the two Princes, accompanied by the Count of
Barcellos, their half brother, D. Fernando of Braganza, the
King's cousin, and the chief noblemen commanding the
ships, proceeded to land. Here, however, black news
awaited them. The Queen had sickened of the plague at
Odivellos, and everything at Court was consequently in
confusion. It had happened in this wise. When the
disease had so far increased in Lisbon that a few sporadic
cases began to occur in Sacavem, where the Court had
moved to, it had been hastily decided to abandon it for
Odivellos. Thither the King had gone immediately; but
1 Azurara, Chrm., III. 30-33.
46 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
the Queen, for some reason, had delayed her departure
for another day, and on that day she began to feel symp-
toms of the disease. Nevertheless she decided to complete
the journey to Odivellos ; and so, when she arrived
there she was already in a high fever, and had to be put
immediately to bed.
It was at this cruelly inopportune moment that the
King, not realising the danger of her condition, his mind
completely occupied with thoughts of the expedition, came
into her chamber and stated his intention of going with the
expedition.
Oblivious of everything, he talked on eagerly, never
looking at the Queen, his mind full of roseate dreams of
glorious feats of arms ; whilst all the time the Queen lay
still with closed eyes, tears quietly welling from below the
lids, the presentiment of death lying heavily on her, and
behind, in the darkness of the chamber, some of the maids-
of-honour were furtively weeping. Suddenly a strangled
sob reached the King's ears, and startled him out of his
self-complacent monologue. He turned to stare, and at
the same time the Queen opened her eyes.
" Friends," she said gently to the frightened maids-of-
honour, at whom the King was glaring fiercely, " friends,
you should not weep for me."
Then she turned to the panic-stricken King, now fully
awake to her extremity.
" May God give me strength," she said, taking his hand
fondly, " to hold out until I have given my sons the swords
I have promised them, and also my blessing."
Wounded to the heart, the King could endure no more.
He burst into a flood of tears, and, vehemently desirous of
avoiding all eyes, hurried out of the Palace, vaulted on the
first horse he could find, and galloped off blindly like a
wounded animal to hide himself from every one in the woods
surrounding the Palace.
It was obvious to all that the Queen was dying, and
messengers were sent post-haste to summon her sons
around her. Her only fear, however, was that the swords
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 47
she had ordered for each of them to take on the forth-
coming expedition might not be ready before the end, and
she kept continually asking for them throughout the day.
Meanwhile the whole Royal Family had assembled in the
Palace, but for fear of the plague had not been summoned
to her presence. At length the swords arrived — three
precious blades, their hilts fashioned of gold, studded with
seed-pearls. Eagerly the Queen stretched out her hands
for them, and they were laid on the bed beside her. Then
she bade them summon her sons. Prince Duarte sobbed
like a child ; Prince Peter tried in vain to check his emotion
by the rules of philosophy ; whilst Prince Henry, angered
at this cruel jest of Fate on the eve of their momentous
expedition, bit his lip with suppressed emotion, and
worked his fingers nervously.
At a signal from their mother the three Princes knelt
beside her, while she, supporting herself feebly, presented
a sword to each — first to Prince Duarte, recommending
him to be a just king, next to Prince Peter, urging him to
wear and use it honourably, last of all, to Prince Henry,
reminding him of his duties to his country. Then she
asked for the King, and when he entered the room, like
one in a dream, beside himself with grief, she beckoned him
to approach, drawing from her bosom a gold locket which,
when opened, displayed a relic of black wood carefully
wrapped in silk, and said to be a chip of the original cross
of Christ.
Raising the relic to her burning lips with fingers now the
colour of wax she kissed the relic reverently, then handed
it to her husband, asking him to keep a fragment and divide
the rest amongst her three eldest sons.
Finally she asked her son, Prince Duarte, to look after
his younger brothers, Prince John, and Prince Fernando,
who were kept away for fear of infection, and stated that
it was her wish that her daughter, the Princess Isabel,
should inherit her estates.
After this., exhausted, she closed her eyes as if already
dead; and the King in a frenzy of grief left the room,
48 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
refusing to see her die, taking horse instead for Alhos
Vedros, where he remained until the end.
After he had gone the Princes returned to the death
chamber; and the Queen hearing their footsteps opened
her eyes.
A gale was whistling around the Palace windows.
" How is the wind ? " she said feebly.
" Northern gale," they answered.
"It is favourable for your voyage — I had hoped to —
to hear of your landing."
" So you will."
" No — Yes — I shall see it from above. You must
not let my death delay you. In a week I shall see you
landing."
Suddenly she shivered, pulling the bedclothes up to
her chin. Then she asked for the priests. They came,
anointed her, and gave her absolution. Thus the saintly
Queen departed to another world, leaving, however, the
heritage of her spirit behind her.
The same night she was buried ; and immediately
after the young Princes, heavy with grief, departed to rejoin
the Armada at Lisbon on their way to the war. Death
and Plague had been the funereal inauguration of the first
National Armada.
Lisbon and the whole nation were plunged in gloom.
The ships in the estuary, their naked masts stripped of
flags and ornaments, appeared now like a forest stripped of
its foliage by some relentless and devastating autumnal gale.
Only one more catastrophe was necessary to augment
to the breaking point the gloom that surrounded the
superstitious and plague-stricken people — and this too
happened ; for, strange to tell, on the same day the sun
was totally eclipsed for a period of two hours.
In earlier times no one would have dared to risk such a
hazardous enterprise in face of such omens; and indeed,
even in those days, men of less courage would have been
daunted. But in this case the common people had got
it firmly rooted in their minds that this expedition had
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 49
been specially ordered by Providence, and that they were
the chosen race whom He had appointed to the task.
Faith closed the barrier, therefore, against fear; and no
danger in consequence was sufficiently great to weaken their
fanatical belief in their fortunate destiny. For this reason,
at a meeting of the Council, held after the Princes had
returned from Odivellos, a resolution was passed that the
expedition was to sail at once, just as if the Queen were
alive to bid it God-speed, and according to the original
intention which she had prayed them on her death-bed
not to alter.
Prince Henry, thereupon, rising to the occasion, deter-
mined to suppres.. his family grief, and, to stimulate the
drooping spirits of his men, decided that all emblems of
mourning must cease.
The next day, therefore, saw all the bunting rehoisted on
the ships; the sounds of merry music floating o'er the
waves was once more heard ; and the festive flags waving
in the breeze, and the white flapping sails bending and crack-
ing in the sunlight roused the lowered enthusiasm of the
people once more to the fever pitch. Death and plague
were forgotten ; and the soldiers remarked that truly
the King was right when he looked upon Prince Henry as
the most heroic of his sons.^
The King sailed from Alhos Vedros to join his Armada
anchored off Santa Catharina. The fleet consisted of
two hundred and forty vessels all told. Of these twenty-
seven were galleys-of-war with three banks of oars, thirty-
two possessed double rows ; there were sixty-three trans-
ports, and a hundred and twenty other vessels probably-
carrying stores.^ There were fifty thousand men on board
— thirty thousand sailors and rowers, and twenty thousand
soldiers. One English nobleman had brought five vessels
crowded with archers.
^ Azurara Chron., III. 45-48.
* " Trium et sexaginta navium onerariarum, septem et viginti triremium,
duarum et triginta bireinium, et centum et viginti aliarum navium." —
Math. Pisano, De Bello Sejitensi, " Acad. Ined.," I. 43.
£
50 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Tlie King and the three Princes, together with the
Constable and the Count of BarccUos, were going with the
expedition, leaving the kingdom to be governed in their
absence by the Regent, Fernao Rodrigues de Sequeira.
On Wednesday the 23rd of June 1415, the vessels left
their moorings, and in full sail accompanied by the swishing
of oars and the flapping of canvas they foamed their way
down the estuary. The brazen note of trumpets seemed all
pervasive. The city appeared suddenly to have become
depopulated, for all and every one remaining hurried from
their homes, lining the city walls, crowding along the shores,
or climbing to the neighbouring hills to see the last of the
great fleet, and raise their hands and voices to God calling
upon Him to aid the enterprise to victory.^
Women wept for their husbands. Old men mourned
for their sons. It could in truth be said that all the youth
of the country was sailing in those vessels. Every one
was cruelly ignorant of the real destination of this their
first Armada. The cry on every lip was : " Where is it
sailing to?" And though some answered glibly Ceuta,
others Sicily, and still others Holland, no one yet knew
definitely.
And so on the shore and on the hills the watchers stood
for hours, saw it sail beyond the estuary, and waited till
it disappeared hull down beneath the rim of the horizon
followed by the setting sun. Even then many were loath
to leave. They stood listlessly gazing at the empty
ocean till nightfall came and drove them, lingeringly,
to their homes, to dream on their pillows the restless
dreams of those who had been left behind. Such was the
farewell.
• • • • • • •
On Saturday the 26th of July the Armada, passing Cape
St. Vincent, saluted certain Holy Relics that were kept
* " Gives qui remanserant atque plelxji ad classem, pulcherrimum
spectaculum, videndum confluxerc, paasis velis recedent<;m : qiiidam
vero inoviiia civitntis, quidain loca edita Hcandcrunt : quidam ad littora
concurrere et, tnanuB ad coelum tendentes, a Deo pro suis victoiiam
expoeoebant." — Math. Pisano, Ibid., XXXIX.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 51
on the Sacred Promontory; i and that night it cast anchor
at Lagos. During the four days there its destination was
made pubhc at home ; but after so much preceding secrecy
people still doubted the veracity of this, in spite of the
proclamation of a Holy Crusade by the Pope.
On the 30th it sailed towards Faro; but here, meeting
with a calm, it was delayed for a whole week; and it was
not until Wednesday the 7th of August that it sighted
Cape Espartel. Here, turning to enter the Straits at
nightfall, it made for Tarifa, where the Governor was
assured of their perfectly peaceful relations with Castile.
From Tarifa they went to Algeciras which had recently
been acquired by the Moors of Granada; and here they
were received in friendly fashion.
From Algeciras they made straight across for Ceuta,
the 12th of August being the day fixed for the attack.'
As soon as they were perceived in the offing they were imme-
diately met with hostilities, for the object of the expedition
had now become plain to every one.
Prince Henry's galley, being nearest the shore, received
the most damage; but though a few men were landed
nothing more than an unimportant skirmish resulted, for
the Armada, anchored east of the peninsula, was exposed at
the same time to the wind and the attacks of the enemy.
For this reason, on Wednesday the 14th it was decided to
sail to the west side of Ceuta ; and this was accomplished
on Friday, the attack being fixed for the following day.
A severe gale, however, compelled the King with sore of
his smaller vessels to run for shelter to Algeciras; and
m the confusion of the storm many of the other vessels
dragged their anchors and were buifetted against the rocks,
threatening disaster. In vain their captains besought
the Constable to allow them to put out to sea, and thus
weather out the storm in safety. The old man refused.
He was no sailor, but he was a good general, and dreaded
the effect such a seeming retreat might have upon his men ;
and so he took refuge in the excuse that he could issue no
^ Hence the name Sagres.
52 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
such orders till the King returned from Algcciras. Accord-
ingly they drifted thus for one day and two nights, till
at length the King sent orders to make for shelter with
him.^
This belated wisdom on the part of the King and his
nautical advisers came as a great surprise to the Constable,
who probably did not appreciate the extreme peril of utter
destruction from shipwreck that the men under him had
thus escaped. Frankly he was puzzled. He could not
understand the move ; and began to wonder if the attack
on Ceuta had been abandoned for the safer one of a raid
on Gibraltar. On board ship there was also much division
of council, many wondering if an attack on Ceuta was
advisable at all, seeing the number of misfortunes that
had befallen them in pursuance of this aim. First of all
there had been the death of the Queen. Then came the
storm to add to the sense of ill-omen amongst these super-
stitious people. If this had not been enough there followed
also the plague, which, introduced amongst the sailors
from Lisbon, was now decimating the fleet. Little wonder,
therefore, that many, even including the King himself,
preferred rather to attack Gibraltar than to re -encounter
the dangers of the first project — Ceuta. Apparently the
Moors in Ceuta, themselves, believed that such councils
of prudence would prevail, for on the departure of the
^ " The following day, during a violent thunderstorm, .UI the captains
asked the Constable to allow such ships as were able to put to sea to do
80, leaving those disabled behind, pointing out that as the King had sailed
for safety they should be allowed to do likewise. As an alternative they
said they were equally willing to land and fight to the death ; but that
either one or other of these courses was imperative. The Constable
anHwered them blandly that he would gladly accompany them to land,
and HutTcr whatever punishment C!od wished; but that he did not know
if that would please the King, who would thus be deprived of the honour
and glory of the exjMjdition, and tiiercfore he could not consent to a landing.
As for putting out to sea he would never do so, even to save his own life,
&n by such a course he might lose many of the smaller vessels. As a conse-
quence the fleet was at the mercy of the storm for two nights and a day,
until the King ordered them to join him and anchor off Gibraltar where
he now waa, and where the Constable joined him." — Coron. do Condest,
LXXVIII.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 53
fleet they ceased altogether making any more preparations
for defence, believing they were now safe from further
molestation.^
In this way an entire week was lost ; and then the storm
abating, and the fleet having become re-united, fresh
courage came with the improvement in the weather, and
the spirits of the men rose, so that the King decided to
cross the Straits again on the 20th of August, during the
night, and make a surprise attack in the grey of morning.
So, in the darkness before the dawn, amid the palpitating
silence of the sea, to the sound of the water swishing along
the sides of the ships, and the splashing and creaking of
oars half seen in the mist, these new Greeks, like a second
Salaminian fleet, guided by the torches reflected in the
water from the city of Ceuta, opened their attack from their
floating city on this outpost of the Infidel.
It was a fight against the ever-recurring eastern tide
breaking on the coast of western resistance, a fight against
the repetitions of history. There had been quiet since the
time of Darius and Xerxes in Southern Europe; but now the
great Moslem wave had swept as far as Spain, and still
showed no sign of ebbing. On the contrary even, it was
busily engaged, at that very moment engulfing the great
Byzantine Empire, and the fatal day was not far off when
Constantine's City, the heart of the Eastern Christian
1 " And the most victorious and virtuous King, my father, may God
receive his Soul, finding himself between Gibraltar and Algeciras, with
me, my beloved brothers Prince Peter and Prince Henry, the Count of
Barcellos, and the Constable, was told by some, who were not in favour
of our intentions, that for many reasons we should not return to Ceuta,
because of the danger of crossing the Straits in a storm. Moreover,
many signs and omens from Heaven made them beheve this : the death
of the most virtuous Queen, my beloved mother, the storm which had not
allowed us to stay in harbour, and the plague which we now had amongst
us in our ships. He replied that his conscience would not aUow him to
depart imtil he had first proved his strength, and, moreover, that he
wished to die doing his duty. Only after doing that would he depart,
and signs and omens such as had occurred ought not to affect truly pious
men, who should rather be convinced that it was their duty to continue
as far as was in their power, and not mistake their own forebodings for the
wish of God." — Prince Duarte, The Loyal Coujisellor, XIV.
54 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
world, Avas fated to fall to the Infidel, and become the
chief jewel in the crown of the Padishah.^
But even before the fall of Constantinople there was an
uneasy feeling pervading Europe that, at all costs, the
triumphant progress of the Moslem faith must be checked,
otherwise Christianity would be doomed; and it was a
sub-conscious knowledge of this fact that animated more
than anything else this attempt on the part of Portugal
to seize Ceuta, attacking, as it were, the Ottoman Empire
on its western flank, and at the same time helping to bottle
the egress from the Mediterranean against future expansion.
For these reasons the taking of Ceuta was not only a
turning point in the History of Portugal, but also the ful-
crum on which the Christian civilisation of Western Europe
was resting. It marked, moreover, the beginning of the
age of maritime discovery, as well as the critical |)criod
in the duel between the Christian and Mohammedan faith,
when the latter was conquering not only the East, but also
Africa, where the Byzantine Greeks had been submerged
by the influx of the Arabs.
Dimly, yet powerfully animated with the consciousness
of the momentous consequences depending on their success,
it was in such a mood the Portuguese fleet approached the
African coast.
With the first grey of dawn the shrill sound of whistles
rent the air, giving the signal to attack. Every man of the
* Constantinople, consisting of the old town of Stambul, as well as
those of Galata, Pcra and Sontari, is after Athens the oldest city in Europe.
Ever since it,s foundation by the Greeks in the seventli century B.C., it
has been surrounded by a tragic history. It became the alternate posses-
sion of the Greeks and the Persians, suffering severely in the Poloponnesian
War. It belonged to the Macedonians before it was chosen by Constantine
as the capital of the Byzantine Empire in a.d. 328. It remained in the
h.inds of the Chri.stians for eleven centuries, and was taken by the cru.sadera
in 1204, and again by the Greeks in 1201. Its doubly fortified walls
successfully rej)ellcd assaults of both Turk and Bulgar for many genera-
tions, until 1453, when the Turks under Mahomet II, laid siege to and
captured it, massacring its inhabitants, ruining the " Oblation of Ages "
in St. Sophia, destroying its libraries and priceless trciisures of Art, and
making it the Ottoman capital. It was threatenrd by the Russians in
1829, and again in 1878. Ita recent history will be in the memory of all
readers.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 55
great fleet was on deck. Some were hammering on their
armour, or throwing on their doublets. Others unsheathed
and brandished their swords, or sharpened their daggers,
after previously sharpening their wits by stretching away
the relaxing effects of sleep. Yet again others held torches
aloft, as the light of dawn was yet no more than a silvered
streak on the horizon. The raw morning air wafted from
the shore sounds that told them the enemy were similarly
ready to receive them. All were prepared to meet their
last day, having examined their untutored consciences,
and confessed themselves to the priests who were to be
seen on every ship with raised crosses, giving absolution
and their blessing to the perfervid crews.
King John put out in a galliot to command the assault.
He had ordered that Prince Henry was to have the honour
of being the first to land, and as soon as he set foot on
shore the rest were to follow. The day had now broken,
and the sun was already beginning to throw its long morning
shadows. Tired with their long inaction, an intense eager-
ness to get to close quarters with the enemy pervaded the
whole fleet; and thereupon Joao Foga9a, the governor
of the Count of Barcellos' household, no longer able to
restrain himself, set out in a small boat and landed with a
few men. He was thus the first to set foot on African soil,
stealing a march on Prince Henry, much to the latter's anger.
Quickly the rest of the Armada followed ; and with the
blast of trumpets and shouts of battle the fighting began.
A dense crowd of Moors opposed the landing. The invading
Christians seemed to be lost in the multitude of them;
but for all that, their resistance proved in vain, for in a
short time there was scarcely a live Numidian or Sudanese
left on the shore to tell the tale, though their gigantic
stature, their savage blackness and bareness, their thick
lips and huge white teeth, and their fierce bloodshot eyes
considerably startled their assailants at first. Their chief
method of defence was by hurling huge stones at the in-
coming attack, thus knocking off the visors of the armoured
men, wounding and disabling them ; but the thick shower
56 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
■with which the first adventurous assailants were received
rapidly dwindled, and became less accurate as lance and
bow began to find their quarry. So while Prince Duarte,
the Count of Barcellos, Prince Peter, the Constable and
the King, were in the act of landing. Prince Peter and his
men had already cut their way to the gates of Almina,
and effected an entry into the city over a heap of
dead.
The King could only walk with difficulty as he had been
wounded ; but it was soon evident to all that without his
aid the city had already been captured; and though the
castle resisted for a little longer its walls were also presently
scaled, and the conquerors entered to fmd it already
abandoned. It was an almost bloodless victory, for though
many were wounded, only eight Portuguese were killed. ^
After the capture came the sacking of the town. The
booty collected was tremendously great, for Ceuta surpassed
Venice in those days in riches on account of its Indian
commerce, and save for the dead in the streets the city
appeared one great bazaar. Into this treasure-house of
riches, then, was let loose a flushed, exultant army of ignorant
villagers from the mountains of Traz-os-Montes, untutored
men-at-arms, illiterate archers, who in their greedy search
for plunder unwittingly destroyed many priceless treasures.
Coming as they did from miserable thatched cottages, or
troglodyte caves merely covered by a few slates, they
suddenly found themselves masters of enchanted palaces,
* " Inter barbaros, quidam barbarus satis deform is fuisse traditur qui
viribus et corporis magnitudine reliquos superabat, crispos habens capillos,
nigrum colorem, dentes admodum albos et niagnos, labra grossa et ad
mentura usque revoluta, qui non ex Septa civitate oriundus, caeterum
iEthiopibua siniilis videbatur, nudusque incedebat nequc prneliando aliis
armi.s nisi lapidibus utebatur, quos tanta vi contorquebat
quem ipse uno ictu prostrasset." — M. Pisano, De bello Septensi, 49.
in the Paris Library there is also a MS. by Ant. dc la Salle, which
de-scribes the taking of Ceuta (No. 10,748, Fonds de Bourgogne).
" The day that Couta was taken many Moors went to the castle together
with some Genoese that were staying in Ceuta. The Prince Henry asked the
Constable to guard all exit from it; so in a few hours the Genoese shouted
from the walls to tell them of its .surrender, and when they entered they
found that the Moors had already deserted it." — Cornn do Condest,
LXXVIII.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 57
walking over floors paved with the most intricately beauti-
ful enamelled mosaics, looking up at panelled ceilings,
leaning over carved marble balconies, seeing their reflections
in the alabaster basins and fonts adorning the garden-
courtyards, wallowing on soft feather mattresses, lying
between snow-white linen or silken sheets. The greatness
of the contrast made their destructive intoxication all
the more intense. In their Philistine ignorance they were
able only to appreciate gold, silver and jewels; so they
set about tearing up mosaics, searching in the depths of
the fountains and wells, breaking and destroying furniture,
emptying cellars and warehouses, spilling wine and oil,
ripping up sacks of wheat and rice, in their greedy search
for hidden treasure; and soon the streets became strewn
with broken mosaics, and furniture, torn tapestries and
priceless carpets, soiled with the powder of cinnamon and
pepper, stained with oil and wine, dusted with wheat and
rice which was poured from the broken jars and torn sacks
that the soldiers piled upon them after they had broken
them or ripped them open with their swords in their search
for the precious metals that they valued. Frequently
they did find treasures in these jars, more frequently not.
Occasionally on turning one out they would discover a
terror-stricken woman concealed in its depths ; i and often
enough these would be dragged out by their ears or hair,
to be roughly thrust aside by their captors who sought gold,
not women, and, therefore, allowed them to escape weeping
into the woods around the city. Here they found still
other refugees; and so throughout the night there came a
wailmg of lamentation from them, bemoaning the loss
of their sons, their husbands and their homes. Even on
the next day a black crowd could still be seen on the city's
outskirts, gathered on the fringes of the neighbouring
hills, overwhelmed with sorrow, chanting desolate hymns
for the golden city that had been theirs yesterday.
^ These are the enormous " AH Baba " jars still used in Spain at the
present day to siAjre oil and honey. The largest ones are capable of holding
three men.
58 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Perhaps this weird chorus of lamentation instilled some
courage into the men that were left, for there occurred
throughout the day a few uneventful skirmishes, and
occasional straggling looters met an untimely end. On
this day, however, the Portuguese army consecrated the
great Mosque as its Catholic Church; a " Te Dcum " was
sung with all solemnity, followed by a blast of trumpets;
and the day was brought to a fitting close by the King
knighting his three sons with all the pomp and ceremony
befitting the occasion.
The King, having decided to leave his newly acquired
possession, named Dom Pedro de Menezes as its first
governor, and provided him with a garrison of three thousand
men. The rest of the Armada prepared joyfully to sail
for home again, thanking their lucky stars that they were
not of the three thousand condemned to uphold the stan-
dard of the Cross in this great ocean of the Infidel stretching
over the vast unknown continent behind them, looking
forward to seeing their wives, their children, and their
homes once more, returning whole and sound, their pockets
laden with gold and jewels, their baggage heavy with
spoils.
Accordingly the Armada returned to Lisbon on the 2nd
of September, having been away forty days ; and there the
King, to celebrate the occasion, created for the first time
Dukes in Portugal. Prince Peter received the Dukedom
of Coimbra, and the knighthood of Cavilha. Only the
Count of Barcellos was forgotten. He also was the King's
son. He too had fought valiantly; but his claims were
overlooked. It is not difficult to account, therefore, for
the jealous feeling he afterwards displayed towards his
step-brothers.
The new Governor of Ceuta, who had been made Count
of V^ianna, was left with his garrison to defend the city
against the constantly threatened attacks of the Moors.
It was his ambition to increase the territory left in his
charge; but all the circumstances were against him, and
he soon found that this isolated colony was becoming of
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 59
less and less value as the months went on ; for its importance
had depended solely on the trade of which it was the natural
outlet, and since this trade was in the hands of his enemies
it was soon diverted elsewhere. The only chance of
reviving its fallen fortune was by means of a great conquest
over the hinterland, giving dominion over the dark con-
tinent, and opening up the route across the desert to the
wonderland of India. This was the idea at the back of
Prince Henry's imaginative mind; and Ceuta was to him
but the first link in the chain which was to strangle the
power of the Ottoman Empire and give Portugal command
over the route to that undiscovered land of his dreams —
an India of plantations, gold and jewels, silks and spices,
ivory and rubies.
The King, his father, had given him the business adminis-
tration of his African possessions, an administration which
he held for thirty-five years. Three years after the con-
quest of Ceuta, news came that the Governments of Fez
and Granada were about to combine to recapture it and
destroy its Christian garrison. The Governor asked
urgently for help ; but the political situation at home was
precarious, for the King was at Cintra, daily dreading
an invasion from Castile, and the Princes were away pro-
tecting the frontier. Prince Peter in Villa Real, Traz-os-
Montes, Prince Henry in Vizeu, the Count of Barcellos
in Braganza, and Prince Duarte occupied with the civil
Government. Nevertheless the king rose to the occasion.
He summoned his sons immediately, and ordered the fleet
to be got ready with 1000 men to sail for Ceuta, leaving the
largei- part of the army for home defence. Prince Henry
was put in command of the fleet. He arrived at Ceuta in
three days, fortunately in time, for the assault had already
commenced, and the small garrison hopelessly outnumbered
had only with difficulty been able to hold their own. The
arrival of the fleet, however, saved the situation ; the be-
siegers saw that their opportunity was gone; and a hollow
peace was concluded between the belligerents.
Prince John, then a youth of eighteen, under arms for
60 PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR
the first time, accompanied his elder brother; while
Prince Duarte and Prince Peter went overland to the
Algarve to collect reserves in case of an emergency which
fortunately did not arise. Ceuta being thus so speedily
relieved, Prince Henry found himself suddenly idle with
seasoned troops and an overwhelming fleet concentrated
near Gibraltar; and remembering his father's previous
intentions, his naturally restless mind, always craving
for action, immediately jumped at the idea of attacking
the fortress. The King, however, had probably anticipated
his thoughts; for just as he was on the eve of making the
attempt imperative orders came forbidding it, and ordering
him to return home immediately. Thus ended the first
chapter in the history of Portuguese expansion.
CHAPTER III
THE PRINCE NAVIGATOR
In 1418, on his return from his second voyage to Ceuta,
Prince Henry was a man of twenty-four, and already in
the prime of Hfe, for to men of his active temperament
maturity comes early.
He was tall, broad-shouldered, long-limbed, bronzed
almost negroid by the sun and the south winds. His
hair was thick, shaggy, and black like his heavily moustached
face. He was thus anything but handsome, his manner
lacked geniality — the beauty of spirit without which there
can be no bodily charm; and the hardness of his look,
inherited from his father, was distinctly antipathetic to
most of his contemporaries. His character, too, in addition
to his appearance, was very like that of King John, in
whom we find a perfect example of those stubborn tenacious
natures, totally lacking in poetic imagination, which, when
they have once formed a plan, are capable of combining
equally cunning and violence in order that they may bring
it to a successful issue. He was a typical Portuguese.
Such men are exclusively ruled by their prejudices and
passions. Slaves to their own natures, they are incapable
of calm reasoning, and thus become the blind instruments
of their own schemes. To them the germination of an initial
idea becomes the moulding influence of their destiny.
They are of the stuff of which great heroes, great martyrs,
great criminals are formed. Perhaps it was because King
John saw so much of himself in his son that he had such
a marked preference for him.
Like his brother, the Count of Barcellos, Prince Henry
was totally deficient in those finer qualities, those Saxon
61
62 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
characteristics transmitted through Phihppa to his other
brothers, those indefinable elements, compounded of senti-
ment, melancholic emotion, contemplative tranquillity, and
transcendental impulses, which in their infinite variety
tend to produce the most sublime, as well as the most
elfish and erotic types of poets — characteristics which
have produced a Shakespeare, a Goethe, a Byron, and a
Heine. He was thus a typical Peninsular, positive, hard,
determined, practical in everything — his actions, his
vivid enthusiasms, his deeply laid plans. In pursuit of
his fixed objects in life he did not scruple to descend to
intrigue. To bring his schemes to a successful issue he
was capable of any cruelty. Nevertheless, to give him his
due, he had none of his father's loose morality : indeed
he was so obsessed by the necessity of concentrating all
his energies on his plans that he absolutely avoided the
company of women, and remained unmarried all his life.
It is probable that it was this cold-blooded, calculating
selfishness that explained, if it did not excuse, the in-
humanity and cruelty that tainted his life history.
The greatness that has been accorded him by subsequent
centuries was not due so much to his own persoxiality as
to the happy accident that he lived at a time when great
events were happening in the history of his country, and
his was the spirit that voiced the dumb impulse towards
expansion that possessed the soul of the nation. His
enterprises chanced to be stable, and fruitful. His
grandiose ideas of a great new empire starting from the
Peninsula, spreading through Morocco to all Africa, and
from thence to the boundless limits of unknown continents,
actually became realised. His countrymen, therefore,
are indebted to him for a second Fatherland, and civilised
Europe for one of its three or four fundamental conquests
and discoveries. It is for these reasons that his memory has
been handed down, almost as that of a legendary hero,
in spite of the ignoble actions that marred his life, and
the total lack of those finer qualities which distinguished
the other sons of John I.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 63
Chaste and abstemious in body, he was a soldier and at
the same time a zealot — that curious combination, produced
by the crusades, in which the dawn of the new thought
heralding the Renascence was still tinged with the old
Hebraic belief that it was the pleasure of God that all
who did not acknowledge His spiritual dominion should be |
ruthlessly destroyed. His mind, like that of many of his
contemporaries, was essentially mystical ; and he saw in his
visionary plans nothing less than revelations from heaven
itself. This fixed belief, this mental bias, which goes by
the name of insanity when its main end is an object without
real utility, was the guiding factor moulding his life and^
character.
At first sight he appeared all humility — at least so we
learn from contemporary observers; but, once angered,
this humility quickly melted into open disdain : for no
man dominated by fixed ideas is ever capable of gentleness,
nor is he in full possession of that power of self-criticism
which permits him to yield to the logic of other minds in the
light of later reason. Nevertheless he never permitted
himself to be carried away by betraying temper when he
was opposed. On the contrary he retired if possible more
into himself ; and though he might show signs of boredom,
frown, express a sarcastic surprise, yet he would with all
apparent humility dismiss his opponent from his presence
with a simulated polite hope that perhaps he might be
in the right, that perhaps success might put the capping
stone on the edifice of his theories.
He was not personally ambitious, like his half-brother
Barccllos; and this we can understand, for his passion
carried him in quite another direction. Fame and riches
were to him only the instruments that served his purpose.
He never thought : " How will this benefit me ? " but,
" How will it help my cause ? " The motive power domin-
ating his actions also dominated himself, causing him to
sacrifice even his own kith and kin in order to exalt his
faith and his country. His sole ambition was to see the
cherished ideas of his imagination grow, become realised,
64 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
bear fruit. Never did he dream of the burden he was im-
posing on his country when he set it the duty of pioneer
in those great discoveries which were to benefit humanity
so greatly, and yet were to prove to his own people nothing
but the bitterness of Dead-Sea fruit.
Unlike most of his countrymen, he was incapable of
enjoying the Olympian ease his position assured him.
He could not tolerate the indolence of quietude. He was
for ever consumed by the fire of his own ideas, always
burning with the flame of his ardent enthusiasm, filled
with roseate dreams of the fulfilment of his cherished
ambitions. If his manner was cold, and his words few
when opinion was against him, he, nevertheless, became
all the more convinced of the truth of his own ideas, and
in the greatness of his aim rose superior to the frailties of
lesser minds. He had the true modesty of greatness, for
the great have no necessity to advertise themselves. The
feeling of his all-absorbing mission protected him from
the facile pleasures of his inferiors. His monomania en-
abled him to avoid, without conscious effort, the tempta-
tions inevitable in the atmosphere of a Court.
It is obvious that he must have been anything but popular
amongst his contemporaries ; for in his preoccupation with
his schemes he displayed a lack of charm, a reserve, an
absent-mindedness that gained for him the appellation of
misogynist. His ideas were incendiary, and came from a
mind in conflagration. Consequently his manner was
frigid. His mind was a furnace that could not find a vent
for the fire it contained. From what we know of the
people of Tyre and Sidon, of Carthage in the days of its
greatness, we can see that Prince Henry was a true
Phanician. He not only planned his own ulterior fame,
but saw that his people and his country acquired the same
rejjutation and glory. Perhaps some blood relationship
I with these people, some graft of Punic origin in the genea-
logical tree of the Portuguese nation, gave the Prince the
fruit of this far-off ancestry.
Amid the general indifference of the Court his own
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR G5
burning enthusiasm supported him : for it is an error of
deduction to suppose that the intensity of a thought dies
after it has taken shape — enervation and indolence alone
are the natural enemies of enthusiasm, and such things
were absolutely foreign to his nature. He was a true
scientist. He spent whole days and nights studying,
experimenting, meditating, bent over the primitive geo-
graphical charts of his time, not speculating on the vague
fanciful theories of theology or metaphysics, but seeking
ever after positive realities, facts which could be applied
to the everyday things of life. Like the Alchemists
searching for gold amongst the baser metals he hoped to
transmute his parchments into facts. He was a dreamer
of futurities, knowing prophetically that his dreams would
become realities, as they did, within the lives of his
successors.
His father's marriage had made the Portuguese Court,
never exclusive, more cosmopolitan than ever; and the
country was now opening her gates wider and wider to
foreign commerce. The capital had by now been fixed
in Lisbon ; and it was already becoming a maritime centre,
a " resting place for wanderers," as Jo^o Lopez writes.
The city on the Tagus was preparing herself for a trans-
formation similar to that of Rome when she rose from a
small state on the Tiber to become the centre of a mighty
Empire. Prince Henry not only gathered round him
such of his countrymen as would help in the realisation
of his dreams, but he also gave an open welcome to such
foreigners as might be useful in the schemes that absorbed
him. He even favoured these foreigners more than his
fellow-countrymen. He would invite them to his presence,
make friends of them, load them with presents in order
that he might obtain from them any such secrets of naviga-
I tion, seamanship, or knowledge of other countries, as
1 would be of use to him in his schemes of conquest.
[^ In his scientific ardour he knew no bounds of caste
or country — he was accused even of favouring the Jews
because he encouraged the study of Medicine, which in
66 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
those days was a perquisite of the Jews handed on from
the Arabians.
In 1431 the University of St. Deniz was reconstructed
under his encouragement. In it he created a chair of
Medicine, himself furnishing a room in wliich he placed
a portrait of Galen ; ^ and, as the University had " no
proper building wherein they could read or make their
writing, for which purpose a room had had to be hired,"
he bought some premises in the parish of St. Thom6 in
1448, and granted twelve marks of silver per annum for
the maintenance of the first Chair of Theology, derived
from rents in the island of Madeira.
• • • • • • «
Directly after his return from Ceuta in 1418, he began
to materialise his plans. We wonder if he obtained infor-
mation from the Moors regarding the more distant parts
of the African continent. Perhaps he did. At any rate
we know that his idea, now, was to explore the coast to
the southward of Morocco, as well as to acquire all the
Moorish territory.
But here he found the conservatism of old age against
him. His father would not allow him to attemj^t to seize
Gibraltar ; nor would he permit him to use the ships for
another expedition such as he had just returned from.
Quietly, therefore, the young Prince desisted from his
attempts. He was bitterly disappointed : but he was
young; he could afford to wait; and he knew circumstances
would change.
So he set to work on the second part of his plans, aban-
doning the Court, and going into solitary exile at the
" Sacred Promontory " (Sagres), taking with him only two
of his personal attendants and the ships in which he had
returned from Ceuta.
And there in his lonelv evrie above the sea he sat and
dreamed, planned and brooded, looking ever to south-
ward across the ocean, wondering what lay beyond the
edge of the horizon, wondering, wondering. It is probable
* Max. Lemoa, A Med. em Port., 1881, Oporto.
a
W
Pi
O
<
O
H
O
I— (
>
o
o
Si
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u
\
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 67
that his disappointment at the inaction of his father was
even greater than he knew himself. It is Hkely that at
times he was more than a Httle mad. At any rate he
grew quieter, more self-absorbed, more unsociable than
ever. Day by day, as he sat brooding, his men watched
him, half in fear, half in reverence, seeing him sit for hours
gazing southward, wondering what was passing in his mind,
wondering what was going to happen, wondering, as the
days grew into weeks, if anything was ever going to happen
again.
And then quite suddenly the inaction was broken.
It was daybreak, and the men were just beginning to
rouse themselves from slumber, when he appeared amongst
them, vibrant with his long-pent energy unloosed, giving
orders for his ships to make all haste and sail once more
for the Moroccan coast. The men watched him in awe.
They believed that his violent haste indicated that he
had had some special miraculous revelation (for in those
days the Divinity of Kings was a very real thing), and they
set out with alacrity under the stimulus of the inspiration. ^
It was, however, only the reaction after forced inactivity ;
and his main thought was to find out what truth there
was in the reports he had heard concerning the Arabs of
the Desert and the natives of Guinea. ^~~\
After some days the ships returned reporting that one \
of their number had been lost, and they had discovered j
nothing new. And then some little time afterwards the I
lost ship also hove in sight. The captain had a most un- 1
expected story to tell. It appeared that the currents had 1
carried them away from the coast, and drifting in the Trade
winds they had come to an island which they named Porto
Santo. It was from this they now returned full of tales
of its beauty and fertility, and eager that the Prince should
colonise it.^
This was a totally unforeseen result. It did not fit in
with his plans — which were solely connected with the
^ Barros, Dec. I, 1-16.
* Azurara, C<mc[. de Guine, CXXXIII. '"'^
68 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
East. Were there more islands westward ? It is possible
he had heard in Ceuta rumours about islands in the Atlantic.
He may have known of the travels of Xerife Edrisi who
lived about the end of the eleventh century, and who, in
order to escape the persecutions of Mahdi, went to Sicily,
where he was entertained by King Rogerio, and com-
missioned to summarise the geographical knowledge he
had acquired in his fifteen years' voyaging. It is possible
he may have seen a translation of his book, or the earlier
works of Madusi e Ibn Said who taught that the world
ended beyond the " Seas of Obscurity," fading off in vapours
and slime just beyond Nigeria, where Arabs had been in
their caravans, and architects had gone from Granada,
as far as Timbuctu on the Niger, to superintend the building
of certain edifices.
More recently, however, certain Arabian geographers,
Abulfeda and Albyruny, had described their voyage along
the Western coast of Africa as far as Sofala. In 1403
they had got to Bakui, and Ibn Fattima had described
the coast to Arguim. Prince Henry now began to speculate
as to how and where this great continent ended,
whether it rounded off in the sea, or opened out mto some
larger continent still, whether, most precious thought of
all, there was not some way round it to the gorgeous lands
of the East his mind was for ever dwelling upon. Such
Yi£re the thoughts that were for ever seething in his mind.
Now, the discovery of Porto Santo, identified as the
" Fortunate Islands " of the ancients, assured him of the
truth of the writings of Xerife Edrisi who had thus described
his father's capital several centuries before : " The land
here being on the north side of the river Taga, which passes
through Tolaitola (Toledo), opens out in front of Medina-
Lisboa (Lisbon), in a bay that is affected by the tide and
is six miles from side to side. Beyond its south coast is
the castle of Mina (Hisn al-Ma'dan) or Almada, so called
because along its shore the river Taga depositeth pure gold."
Prince Henry, reading it anew, began to wonder if he
could find in other lands the gold which the river Tagus
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 69
no longer deposited; and this gold acquiring phantastic
proportions in his dreams fired him with renewed hope and
energy. What he read further on stimulated him still
more. It was the story of how some Moorish travellers
had set out from Lisbon :
" Eight brothers, having decided to make a voyage, armed
a vessel, and stored it with enough provisions to last them
several months. Then they sailed out of the Tagus with
a favourable wind which continued for eleven days, when
it came to pass that they reached a certain portion of the
sea where the water was viscid, evil-smelling, and as black
as tar. Moreover, there were strong currents there. So,
fearing disaster, tl-ey rowed towards the south for the space
of twelve days more ; and then they came to ' Gezirath al
Ganem,' or the Island of Rams, so called because of the
great flocks of sheep that grazed upon the fertile pastures
of the island. Landing in search of water and fresh food
they there found a spring of crystalline water beside a
wild fig-tree. Afterwards they killed some sheep, only to
find the flesh was so distasteful that they could not eat
it. So, keeping the skins, they sailed again southward for
yet another twelve days until at length they came to another
island with habitations and ploughed fields. On landing
they were immediately attacked by a people armed with
arrows, who captured them and took them by sea to a
city where the natives were red-skinned and the women
exceedingly beautiful to look upon. For three days they
were kept close prisoners; and on the fourth they were
visited by an interpreter who could speak Arabic, asking
them who they were, whence they came, and what was
their business. To him they thereupon related their ex-
perience, upon hearing which he raised their hopes of
a speedy release and a safe departure. On the following day,
therefore, they were taken to a court where the King through
his ' trugiman ' (dragoman) asked them the same questions.
To him they replied that they had sailed to settle the rumours
about new lands in the Atlantic, at which the King was
very much amused. Laughingly he told them, through
70 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
the interpreter, that he would see to their safe return to
their own country, and informed them that his own father
had aheady ordered all the Atlantic to be explored, and
that his men sailing for a whole month had returned without
sighting land. They were then taken back to prison to
await the return of a favourable wind ; and when it came
they were blindfolded, bound, taken on a three days'
journey, and eventually landed upon a beach.
" When the sun rose, they, thus ill-treated and in sore
straits, heard the welcome sound of voices; whereupon
they shouted for help, and a people who spoke Arabic
came to their rescue and unbound them.
" ' Do you know how far from your native country you
are ? ' they were asked.
" ' No.'
" ' Well, you have a two months' voyage before you.'
" ' Wa asafi (Heaven help us!),' they exclaimed; and
from this incident the place became known as Asafi or
Safi."i
Later, in the reign of Affonso IV, between 1331 and
1334, other vessels had left Lisbon and reached the
Canaries; so that it can be said that ever since the days
of the Phoenicians the Canary Islands had been known, at
least traditionally. They were represented in the ancient
maps of the Middle Ages, in the Florentine charts of 1417,
in the Apocalyptic maps of the twelfth century, in the
Turinese maps of the same date, and in the Catalonian
atlas now in the National Library of Paris (No 681H fonds
anciens). It must also have been in Prince Henry's memory
that in 1393, scarcely twenty-five years before, some sailors
from Biscay, Guipuzcoa, and Seville, had returned from
the Canaries, bringing to Henry of Castile a few captured
natives, numerous hides, wax, and other articles of value
as proof of the truth of their story. They had named
' Safi is on the Moroccan coast at 32 20' N. The Canary Islands,
probably the scene of this story, arc further south lying between 27' 30'
and 29' 30' N. In the eleventh century the Moorish Empire did not
extend west of Safi.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 71
Teneriffe the " Infernal Isle " on account of its volcano,
and the other islands Lancaster, Graciosa, Fortaventura,
Palma, and Ferro Island.^
Such was the state of Prince Henry's mind, after his
men had returned from Porto Santo, that it seemed almost
more than a coincidence that shortly afterwards there
should arrive at Sagres one Joao Gon9alves Zarco a noble-
man of his household, and a pilot, Joao de Morales, straight
from Ceuta, with a most marvellous tale. It appeared
that in 1416, four years before, the Prince of Aragon, Don
Sancho, had died, leaving by his will a certain sum of money
for the ransom of Christian prisoners amongst the Moors.
Amongst those j-rmsomed had been Morales; and he
knowing Zarco had told him the story of a certain English-
man named Machin who had been lost on the beach of
some unknown island, which from the description did
not appear to be Porto Santo. Fired by the thought, the
Prince immediately decided to organise a second expedition,
and after sending his two gentlemen, Zarco and Perestrello,
to obtain the King's consent, the expedition duly sailed
accompanied by those who had been on the previous voyage.
The direction was as near as they could guess towards
Porto Santo ; but one day as they were proceeding under
full sail towards the southern horizon something which
appeared as a dense fog, and which they attributed to
the presence of land, was sighted.
Immediately a terror fell upon the crew. They cried
out that it was " the island of Cipango (Japan) hidden
by the mysteries of God, where the Spaniards had sought
refuge from the persecutions of the Saracens," and prayed
the intrepid commander to put back before it was too late :
for the seas in those days were thick with terrible legends,
flakes of foam that had been created by superstition,
and were only now being dispersed by the fair fresh winds
^ Chron. of Henry III. " And they returned to inform the King how
easy they were of conquest if the King wished it." Henry, however, did
not acquire the Canaries, which, at the beginning of the fifteenth century
(1402), were taken for Normandy by John de Bethencourt.
72 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
of perseverance. To them it was sinning against Provi-
dence to seek to discover what God wished to remain
concealed. But Zarco, a true Phoenician, hke Prince Henry
and Joao de Castro after him, and equally fearless, put
himself at the helm and steered steadily onward. The
fog grew thicker and thicker. They began to wonder had
they come to the " Seas of Obscurity " described by
Masudi e Ibn Said. No land could be seen ; but they
were beginning to hear the angry roar of unseen breakers.
Zarco, however, steered steadily on, cutting the splashing
yielding waters. The sound of the breakers was becoming
more and more distinct; its angry thunders echoed closer
and closer, more resounding, more menacing. And then,
suddenly, like some gigantic monster, a dim-seen, craggy
coast loomed up in the grey swirling mist. The sailors,
white with fear, crossed themselves. The very air seemed
to cry aloud of disaster.
*' Back ! Back ! " they cried.
And then, almost as suddenly as if at the touch of a
wand, the scene was marvellously transformed. They
found themselves gazing on a green carpet of calm waters
that stretched before them; and smiling down on them
was a seductive amphitheatre of sun-lit hills. ^
A beach and a bay were before them. It was the island
* Cf. F. Manuel de Mcllo, Epanaph. Ill, and Azurara, Co7iq. de
Quint, 83. The story of the discovery of Madeira by the Englishman
Machin, the lover of Anne d'Arfct, is authenticated in Major's Life of Henry
the Naingator, and is exhaustively studied in note five of Caspar Fnictnoso'a
Suadades da Terra (pp. 348-429), Edit. A. R. de Azevedo. According to
Beazley {Henri/ the Navigator, p. 109) Robert Machin was an Englishman
who fled from Bristol in the reign of Edward III (1370) carrj'ing off with
him his mistreiw, Anne d'Arfet. He intended to seek refuge in France;
but his ship was driven out to sea by adverse winds; and after thirteen
days in the Atlantic without a sight of land they were wrecked on the
shores of an unknown island. Here Aiuie d'Arfot died of terror and
exhaustion, whilst five days later her lover succumbed, also, and was buried
beside her. One of the ship's boats, however, had been saved; and in
this some of the crew escaped to the African coast. Here they fell into
the hands of the Barbary pirates and were sold as slaves. No doubt they
told their story to some of their fellow Christian slaves, and it was this
story that Morales the Spaniard, when he was ransomed, told to Zarco,
and thus brought to the knowledge of the Prince Navigator. (Sec also
Hakliiyt's Voyages for a somewhat similar account of Machin.)
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 73
of Madeira, that paradise emerging from the sea embowered
in shadowy palms, gay with flowers, and surrounded by
fogs which the fearless spirit of this dauntless sailor had
been the first willingly to penetrate.
Perestrello returned to Lisbon to tell of Zarco's discovery,
leaving that intrepid sailor behind him ; and Prince Henry
thus encouraged was able to turn the tables on those
shallow-minded, sneering noblemen at his father's Court
who had laughed at him as a dreamer of visions, and
scoffed at his disciples as foolish followers of a cause from
which no possible profit could be derived.
It was an epoch-making discovery, a discovery of which
at the present time it is very difficult to grasp the enormous
import : for it Ireed men's minds from the traditions of
ages, the paralysing incubus of the Ptolemaic conception
of the world as a mass of land lying for ninety degrees in
every direction from a mythical centre, " Arim," situated
on or near the equator, surrounded by an ocean of illimit-
able water melting into unknown regions of perpetual fog
inhabited by fearful monsters. According to its traditions
the world ended absolutely at the Pillars of Hercules (The
Straits of Gibraltar). There was no land beyond save for
the mythical "Fortunate Islands"; and though these
now re-discovered were identified with them, yet the fact
that they were found made men's minds more open, so
that they began to doubt even the great name of Ptolemy
himself, and free themselves from the traditions of the
Arabian geographers following his teaching, which up to
-~-then they had implicitly accepted.
Encouraged by this preliminary success resulting from
his thirst for exploration. Prince Henry became more and
more filled with the ever-present increasing desire which
had for years possessed his mind — that of finding how
Africa really ended, whether it was joined with China
by land, as many of the maps indicated, or whether indeed
there was an entrance into the Indian Ocean around Africa
by which the ships of his country could reach that land
of his dreams independent of the Saracen.
74 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Born in the purple, he might easily have idled his life
away in rosy philosophic dreaming of such things, leaving
accomplishment to others; but being essentially practical,
under all his mysticism, he refused to allow himself to be
carried away by any such idle poetic dreaming, and the
discovery of mere enchanted islands, however Arcadian,
could not satisfy his eager active mind.
So from his eyrie in Sagres he was ever looking witli
visionary eyes southward and ever southward, seeing the
markets of the unknown world opening before him, travel-
ling in his imagination along the coast of his dreams,
voyaging in his mind to the uttermost limits of far Cathay. *
Doubling Cape St. Vincent, the coast runs for about
four kilometers from East to West, and then turns at
a right angle due South, forming the peninsula chosen
by the Prince for his observations. This small tongue of
rocky land, with no other vegetation than wild juniper
shrubs struggling to flourish in the close sandy soil,
measures one kilometer in length and half a kilometer
in breadth. On its eastern aspect there is a small semi-
circular bay, formed by a cliff which marks the beginning
of the coast line extending towards Lagos. The bay itself,
about a kilometer in breadth, formed a miniature port,
a nest in which his " caravels " like eaglets or young falcons
were being constantly manoeuvred, their white canvas
wings marked with the scarlet of the Christian Cross
swelling to the sunny breezes as their crews continually
practised to acquire dexterity in those waters which
they were later destined to explore and strip of the secrets
of centuries. Facing directly towards Morocco this penin-
sula received its full share of any southern storm that,
coming from Africa, was laden with the desert sand of the
Sahara; and tlic Prince could thus be said to be almost
treading those sandy wastes, since their soil was thus brought
' " And to hotter observe the stars and the celestial bodies, he selected
a mountain on Cn]n: St. Vincent, because there it seldom rained, and very
rarely did the skies become cloudy." — Caspar Fructuoso, Saudades da
Terra, II. pp. 8-9, Kdit., 1873.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 75
to him on the " Simoom " as it crested the waves that broke
daily at his feet.
Here he spent his days with the feeling almost that he
was on board ship : for ahead of him was the sea and
Africa, to starboard the vast unknown Atlantic, to port
still sea and beach — only the stern, forgotten, was moored
to the mainland. Thus was his ship tied to Portugal, just
as his body was to the soil and the people of his country ;
and thus his soul, like the bow of his ship, was for ever
looking outward towards other lands filled with dim
visions of the Empire yet to be. It was here that he dreamed
of Africa and the sea ; and here that he started his nautical
school, afterwards known as the Villa do Infante
(The Prince's Tovvu), and destined, though he knew it not,
to become the harbour of refuge for his grief-stricken
soul after the tragedy of Tangier. It is here that we, to-
day, can see the remains of " Sagres," destroyed as effectu-
ally by the efflux of time as the Empire he had been equally
active in erecting.
At first this settlement on Cape St. Vincent was no more
than a shelter for small sailing craft that timorously
ventured out to acquire a knowledge of the African coast.
As we have seen, these first exercises resulted in the dis-
covery of Madeira and a few other small islands (1418-1420).
Afterwards (1428), when his brother Prince Peter returned
from his voyages, bringing with him the writings of the
Venetian, Marco Polo, and those of George Purbach, the
school was considerably augmented, and the first library
dealing with scientific navigation was formed.^
1 Along with Marco Polo's writings, Prince Peter brought also a map of
the world in which the latest additions to geographical knowledge were
noted. It had all the known countries marked on it ; but in addition the
southern coast of Africa, afterwards called the Cape of Thunders or the
Cape of Good Hope, was indicated ; and in spite of the fact that it did not
show with any exactitude the " end of Africa," it nevertheless was remark-
able in that it opposed the view common amongst Arab geographers,
handed down from Ptolemy, that it was impossible to sail by this route
to the East. This map was seen by Antonio GalvSo, and mentioned in
his book Tratada dos Descobrimentos Antigos e 3Iodernos (Treatise on Old
and Modem Discoveries), Lisbon, 1563. It was also seen by Dr. Gaspar
Fnictuoso (1522-91), who, in his book Saicdades da Terra, relates the story
76 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
This George Purbacli was he who afterwards trained
the celebrated Johann INIiiller of Konigsberg, who wrote
a treatise on geography and translated the Almagest of
Ptolemy, both of which had a great influence on navigation.
Already Prince Henry had working for him a carto-
grapher named Mestre Pedro, who illuminated and coloured
the charts which were gradually becoming a maze of symbols
indicative of the people, legends, fauna, and flora of these
newly discovered regions ; and in addition he had brought
over from Majorca a certain Maestro Jayme, an experienced
map-maker and designer of the rude navigating instruments
of the time, whose duty it was to make daily observations
during any voyage.
The works of Marco Polo, and the Venetian maps brought
back by Prince Peter were consequently a source of inlinite
joy to Prince Henry. He threw himself with enthusiasm
into a careful study of them both, perceiving that the
ancient geography of Ptolemy, round which the AraV)S
had woven a golden network of tradition, had received its
deathblow from the experience of this wonderful traveller
who had journeyed to Cathay (China), crossing from Pekin
to its extreme south, penetrated into India, describing
the riches of Bengal and Guzarate, heard about Ziprangri
(Japan), had been in Java and the neighbouring islands,
and in Ceylon, Malabar, and as far as the Gulf of Cambaya.
Reading the wonderful narrative, his imagination became
fired once more by the mysterious charm of the East ; and
the suggestion of the maps in his possession that there
was a way thither round Africa fixed his mind more fully
on his preparations to find if this were really so.
Nevertheless, he did not neglect the unexplored wonders
of the Atlantic. John de liethcneourt after proclaiming
himself King on his discovery of the Canaries had abandoned
of the discoveiy of the Azores. He says : " And for the reasons and con-
jectures that I will refer to later, and on account of certain directions
found in old Koman writings, the Coniniittee of Cosmographcrs and of
men experienced in Navigation, wiwhing to extend the Empire with new
di»coverie^«» and conquests, concluded that it was possible to navigate from
Portugal to India."
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 77
them in 1405,^ and so when his men had found Madeira,
Prince Henry, thinking this was a good opportunity,
to take possession of all the islands, prepared a fleet in
1424 with 2,500 men to consolidate his power over them.^
There arose at the time, however, complications with
Castile; and King John, wishing to end his days in peace,
would not allow him to carry out his plans.
In the meanwhile the settlement at Cape St. Vincent
was beginning to establish itself firmly. There was already
a school, a port, and a small fortress. There were also two
churches, Santa Maria's and Santa Catharina's — the parish
churches of the Navigators. Anchored close to the beach
were a number of small, broad vessels called " caravels,"
which according to Cadamosto, a Venetian employed by
the Prince, were the best sea-going vessels of the time.^
They were faster, finer lined, more easy to handle than
other vessels of the time. The barges {jragatas) found
to-day on the Tagus and the Douro are the lineal descen-
dants of these caravels.*
The caravel was a three-masted vessel 20-30 metres
in length by 6-7 in breadth, without basket towers, or
top-sails. The sails, triangular in shape, looked like wings
when they were unfurled and freed to the winds. In
^ Hist, de la prem. disc, et conq. des Canaries, faite dis Van 1402, Paris,
1630.
^ Azurara, Conq. de Guine, LXXIX.
^ Tlie forests of Madeira were favourable for the progress of naviga-
tion, allowing the construction of " round-topped vessels " as Fructuoso
describes them. Before this there were only small vessels ; but " in this
island there was so much wood, so large and so hard, that they were able
to collect great quantities of planks, rods, and masts, which were sawn
there uy the saw-mills which even to-day may be seen on the north part
of the island. Moreover, with the great quantities of wood exported to
the kingdom, they began to build ' round-topped vessels.' Before this
there were none in the kingdom." — Naviga^'oes de Cadamosto, II. 3.
The name " Madeira " means " wood " or " timber " in Portuguese.
* The design is really Phcenician in origin, and such " fragatas " can
be seen any day on either of these two rivers giving a quaintly mediaeval
air to the quays of these Portuguese cities. They are used for the transport
of oil, wine, com, etc., and are often to be seen daring the Atlantic off the
Portuguese coast. Strangely enough, too, the men who form their crews
are themselvec; of an almost pure Phoenician origin, quite different from
the Portuguese, and keeping to themselves as gypsies do.
78 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
full sail if the wind was on either quarter they could still
progress as if it were astern ; and to change the course
it was only necessary to tilt them as a bird tilts its wings.
Consequently they were extremely easy to handle, and,
watched from the shore as they flitted, agile, swift along
the coast, running in and out of the indentations, darting
away swiftly with flapping canvas, or stranding quietly
on the beach, they irresistibly reminded one of a flight of
graceful sea-gulls manoeuvring on the waters.
When not in use they were anchored close to the beach
in the harbour of Sagres, while on the sands convenient
the armament and equipment was piled up. The Prince
called this his " Terca," or " Tierce," derived from the
Venetian " Darcena," an arsenal. The name was appro-
priate, for it was indeed an arsenal with its fortress, and
its nautical school, erected almost at a point where the
Mediterranean met the Atlantic,
Coming from the shores of this inner sea the Pho^nieians
had looked upon the Pillars of Hercules as the limits of
their world ; but now these modern Pha'uicians, estab-
lished not far off on the Sacred Promontory, were preparing
to disprove these theories of their ancestors, and show that
instead of ending here it really was just beginning. Such
was the task this nest of sea-gulls had unwittingly set
themselves; and it was for this they were continually
rehearsing those flights which later took them on so
many distant voyages, and landed them amid a wealth of
adventure such as the world had never dreamt of before.
The proximity of the school to Cadiz was intentional.
The mind of the Prince was for ever upon Africa; his
father would not allow him to take Gibraltar; and so he
hoped that this new settlement of his, now called Villa
do Infante, would become the stopping place for the trade
from the Levant, as here, perhaps better than in Cadiz,
passing ships could find shelter and experienced pilots.
His fixed idea was to divert to Portugal all the Oriental
commerce which had left Ceuta on its capture, and which
had not, as it afterwards did, yet come to Lisbon. He
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 79
evidently thought of transporting Ceuta and its trade to this
new locahty on the northern coast of the Straits; and,
when the town was still in its infancy, made a treaty with
Genoa to establish there an open port such as the Italians
had arranged with Jaffa, Smyrna, and other cities in the
Levant.
But the near proximity of Lisbon militated against this
plan ; and in addition Lagos was also very close. It was
to this latter place, at first, that African commerce diverted
itself until Lisbon finally forged ahead and captured all
the transmarine trade of Europe. Eventually, therefore,
the Villa do Infante became a place of solitude wherein
he cooled the fervour of his burning enthusiasm, and tried to
forget his sorrows after the fatal error of Tangier. It
was there he wrestled simultaneously with his impulsiveness
and his despair, with his fortunes and misfortunes, and
there he tried to forget the world buried in the work that
eventually immortalised him.
He founded his town in 1418 ; and for more than thirty
years, and up to seven years before his death, it consisted
only of the fortified walls and a few houses. Azurara,
describing it in 1453, stated that at that time much build-
ing was going on,i but the death of the Prince in 1460
seems to have put a stop to that, and his town, scarcely
finished, was abandoned, and tumbled to ruins. The work,
too, that he had started was abandoned, not to be
revived until the time of John II ; for during the reign of
Aff onso V, Portugal was not able to execute even one half
of Prince Henry's programme.^
But though Villa do Infante crumbled to dust, the spirit
of adventure and discovery hatched in this maritime nest
lived to produce its fruits ; and when Vasca da Gama and
his men in 1498 succeeded in doubling the Cape, showing
how Africa ended, and opening a free way to the Far East,
the " Tercena " again became known as " Sacrum " or
1 Conq. de Ouine V.
2 Gomes Eannes de Azurara was nominated keeper of the Tower of
Tombo in 1454. In the preceding year he finished his work, Chron. da
Conq. de Guine.
80 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
" Sagres," as it is called to-day. It was called Sacrum
at first because there in the long-forgotten days of hoary
antiquity the ancient Celts erected a temple and made
sacrifices to their unknown Gods. To-day the later tradi-
tion hallows its lichen-covered ruins, enshrining the memory
of Portugal's first and greatest Prince-navigator.
Its walls crumbled to dust, its houses fell, its parchment
maps rotted, its caravels and galleys-of-war, swan-like,
departed slowly, till only its sacred sands, defying the
progress of Time, remained, only the lonely promontory,
deserted by the fleets of bygone days, was left, and there
was nothing for the pious pilgrims to see save the spot where
the mysterious vessel grounded that carried the blessed
body of St. Vincent guarded by his attendant ravens.
To the ancient world the relics of the Celtic temple
sanctified the Cape; to the mediaeval mind the legend of
St. Vincent made it holy ground; to the student of later
days the time-worn ruins of Villa do Infante, the historical
cradle of all Western discovery, make it more holy and
more sacred still, justifying for all time the name " Sacrum
Promontorium." ^
^ Commander, the Hon. H. N. Shore, R.N., a recent visitor (1899) to
this desolate shrine of Navigation, writes an interesting article, " The
Seamen's Mecca," in The United Service Magazine of July 1910, describing
his pilgrimage to Sagres.
After referring to Drake's destruction and storming of Sagres in the
sixteenth century he tells us that :
" The scene of Drake's exploit is well worth a visit, if only to enable one
to realise the difficulties of his task. . . .
" My tour of inspection revealed little in the way of antiquities. A
town. Villa do Infante, as it is called in the old chronicles, may have
stood there; but the care with which every trace of it, along with the
observatory, school of navigation, and arsenal, have been swept away is
remarkable. With the exception, indeed of Lloyd's Signal Station, a
venerable church, and a few hovels yclept barracks, the space is . . .
a barren waste of rock. The church— a structure of great antiquity —
probably the solitary connecting-Hnk with past ages hereabouts, contains
Bome fine tomb-stones bearing the dates, I.'jSO, 1627, and 1G63.
" In short, a drearier spot than this rock of Sagres fancy could hardly
picture. And the 'intelligent foreigner' cannot but tliink it odd that
no reUc should have been unearthed, or clue discovered calculated to
throw the merest sidelight on Prince Henry's sojourn here. The earliest
mention of the place, in the English language — Fenncr's account of Drake's
visit — contains not even an allusion to town, arscnaJ, or observatory.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 81
In the foregoing description of the desolation that was
allowed to follow on the death of Prince Henry in 1460
we are anticipating somewhat the course of this history;
but it is necessary here to dwell upon it as it explains to a
very great extent the difficulties he had ever to encounter
in his lifetime from the deep-rooted objection of his
countrymen in general to anything pertaining to adven-
tures over sea. They were essentially a land-loving and
a farming people. In the attack on Ceuta they followed
their beloved King willingly; but they looked upon it
merely as a forgivable caprice on the part of their royal
head, who wanted thus to give his high-spirited sons a
chance of testing their mettle.
It was a caprice, however, that was not to be repeated.
Adventures were not always to be sought, especially
adventures that might endanger the safety of the State.
The classical idea of exchanging the plough for the oar
did not appeal in the least to this nation of farmers. To
them it seemed there were fields and mountains sufficient
at home to cultivate without meeting the danger of the
seas, and incurring other risks as well.
The only relics the captors found worth carrying away were the guns.
And yet their visit was but one hundred years after Prince Henry's death.
" So completely, indeed, have all traces of Prince Henry's establish-
ments on the rock of Sagres been obliterated, that a feeling of scepticism
has sprung up in many minds as to any town, school, observatory, or
arsenal ever having existed thereon. It is well known that most of Prince
Henry's expeditions were fitted out at Lagos, near by, and that he often
retired to the village of Reposeira, some five nules inland. It is possible,
therefore, that the old chroniclers may have used the name indiscrimin-
ately. And it is certainly pleasanter to picture the mathematicians, the
astronomers, and the map-makers, comfortably ensconced at Lagos, or
Reposeira, than shivering and scorching by turns, in a state of insufEerable
boredom in that forlorn ' castle of the winds ' at Sagres.
" Of the scientific work actually accomplished at Sagres, under Prince
Henry's supervision, nothing very definite is known; all records have
perished. But were no other memorial of the Navigator's life-work
extant, the scene to be witnessed at any hour of day, or night, from this
rock supplies the most eloquent testimony to the reality and enduring
worth of his achievements. The majestic stream of commerce that sweeps
past . . . within hailing distance of Lloyd's station during the twenty-
four hours, constitutes a grander and more enduring monument to Prince
Henry's genius than any mere words engraved on stone, or written in a
book."
G
82 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
It had been tlie custom of the Portuguese kings to en-
courage immigration into their own country, its population
being too small for the lands it possessed. This idea,
therefore, of the Prince that they should themselves popu-
late other countries was something quite new, since they
remembered how the wilds of Lavra, near Coruche, had
been granted to Lamberto de Orches so that he might
plant it with German emigrants,^ how William and Robert
de la Corne had parcelled out Athouguia-dosfrancos,
how Lourinha was granted to Jourdan, and Azambuja
to Childe Rolim for a similar purpose, and how Villa
Verde, Alcanede, Almada, and afterwards Villa Franca
and Montalvo de Sor were populated by Sanclio I with
emigrants from Flanders.
The obstinate persistence of Prince Henry, therefore,
in sending ships continually south along the African coast
was looked upon as a sign of madness; for the Arabian
theory that the world ended in a sea of mud and slime
still had its supporters, since this was the opinion of the
many navigators who had returned from the first expedi-
tions to Cape Bojador. The ideas of the Prince were
looked upon accordingly as the ravings of a person afflicted
with a monomania, an irrational obstinacy in the face
of so-called impossibilities, a " narrow-mindedness, like
the world itself, without any apparent end."
All this was before the colonisation of Madeira, and before
Gil Eannes had returned after being shamed unto doubling
the awful cape (Bojador) in 1434, bringing with him the
news that the world did not terminate there, that there
was much fruitful land beyond, and that the waters of the
tropics were not boiling hot as had been believed by all
heretofore, in spite of the Prince's scepticism.
As soon, therefore, as people began to travel to and from
Madeira, adverse criticism began to cease; and they started
instead to praise in whispers what a short time before they
had detested and slandered.
King John died in 1433; and once freed from the incu-
bus of his conservatism the new King, Edward (Duarte),
^ Barros, Dec. 1-4.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 83
endowed his brother Prince Henry " during his lifetime
with our islands, Madeira, Porto Santo, and Deserto,
together with all their taxes and rents, and also, as is the
law here, with their civil and criminal jurisdiction, except
the power of gi\'ing sentence of death."
Madeira, accordingly, in a short time became inhabited
by a flourishing community. In 1445, twenty-five years
after its discovery, Cadamosto visiting it found there
four towns, Machico, Santo Cruz, Funchal, and Camara
da Lobos, with a population of eight hundred inhabitants.
Their farms were yielding bountifully; and sugar-cane
1 and vines, introduced by Prince Henry, were a good source
of income.^
Large quantities of cedar and yew w^ere exported. The
island was a garden, and its people found themselves
happy and rich.
The visionary hopes of the Prince in his observatory
at Sagres were becoming an actual reality. He was already
seeing a new country populated, tilled, and planted by his
endeavours.
By now the tremendous cape (Bojador) which had been
the utmost limits of all pre\'ious knowledge, even amongst
the Moors, had been stripped of its mysterious terrors, and
so loomed out no longer as an end but as the beginning
of a new world as yet unconquered, a milestone on the
wide expanse of ocean leading to the unknown East,
Yet was he not elated. Indeed he was wont to frown even
at his own success, gauging it not by the importance of what
had been done but by the immensity of what yet remained
to do. As his mariners progressed along the coast they
erected wooden crosses by the way as a sign of possession,
signs that King John II afterwards replaced by mark-stones.
^ " Prince Henry, as Master and Governor of the Order of Christ, under
which was the jurisdiction of the Island as well as its administration,
ordered sugar-canes to be imported from CeciUa, and to be planted and
grown on the island. Moreover, he ordered experts to experiment and
see if the island and climate were suitable, and the result was a harvest
that surpassed the best anjrwhere else, and that enriched many merchants
and farmers in the kingdom."' — Saudades da Terra, edit. Azevedo, p. 65.
St PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR
The death of his father at the age of seventy-seven
came ahnost as a rehef to Prince Henry; for the King
had ahvays been too old to enter with any sympathy into
his ideas, and so while he was alive he had not been per-
mitted to take either Gibraltar or the Canaries, nor would
he have accomplished even what he did had lie not exer-
cised his own resourcefulness to the utmost. Following
out the idea of his own plans he would already have taken
Tangier, Alcazer, Azamor, Arzilla, and all the Moorish
coast : for the taking of Ccuta was to him but an experi-
mental venture; he thought in continents, not islands;
and to him it seemed incredible that no one but himself
seemed capable of seeing the ideas that filled his soul with
the brilliance as of an aurora. Ceuta was to him a mere
nothing, the result of a momentary struggle taken with the
sacrifice of only eight lives; and now that he saw his
brother, passive and docile on the throne, he turned on him
his every faculty, used every art in his possession to gain
him over to help in the furtherance of his projects, listening
only to the counsel of those who shared his views about
the feasibility of the Empire of his dreams.
So he urged continually the necessity of conquering
Morocco in order that he might be able to proceed unhin-
dered Eastward. Material resources were all he needed to
continue his discoveries on the West African coast, and
these he now had ; but to conquer Morocco it was essential
that the King who sat upon the throne should sanction
the plan, and be filled with the same burning enthusiasm
that consumed himself.
CHAPTER IV
THE TRAVELS OF PRINCE PETER TO THE SEVEN PARTS OF
THE EARTH
The appearance and disposition of the two brothers,
Prince Peter and Prince Henry, was singularly different,
a thing often noticed in families. Instead of being dark,
saturnine, reserved like the Navigator, Prince Peter was
fair like his English mother, bright-eyed, warm-hearted,
sympathetic. He early acquired a reputation for prudence
and wisdom.
Yet, in spite of this dissimilarity in their minds, the two
brothers had one great feeling in common : the desire to
discover what lay beyond the mountains, the divine rest-
lessness that prompts its possessor to penetrate where none
of his kin have ever been before, the soul of the pioneer.
In Peter, however, the impulse was not the concentrated
passion that impelled his brother's mind to action. It
was, on the contrary, compounded rather of the spirit of
high adventure engendered by the songs of the minstrels,
interlaced, co-mingled with the zeal of the Crusader; and
so, as soon as he returned from Ceuta, he urged his father
to permit him to make the voyage to the Holy Sepulchre,
mingling with his pious impulses rosy visions of quixotic
hazards in which he figured, in shining armour, slaying
dragons, rescuing damsels in distress, helping by the
strength of his eager, young right arm the cause of righteous-
ness in peril, going on any random, perilous adventure, the
accomplishment of which might help to lighten those vows
of chivalry he had made at his mother's death-bed.
85
86 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
None the less mingled with these dreams was a certain
sober groundwork of design. When he planned his pious
pilgrimage he had decided, at the same time, to endeavour
to penetrate as far as possible eastward, eager to find the
rumoured empire of the great Christian monarch, Prcstcr
John. By this means he hoped to help his brother's
plans ; for while Prince Henry was working and dreaming
over his discoveries at Sagres, seeking to find a sea route
to the East, Prince Peter intended to explore, as much as
possible, the overland route from Palestine itself, bringing
back all the available knowledge, and gleaning also on
his way such information as he could from the Venetians
and the Genoese, who were then the most renowned
geographers throughout the known world.
Already mariners were beginning to recognise the
spherical shape of the earth; but the world was still to
them a dark enigma, the most enthralling problem of the
age. The travels of the Crusaders had kindled into
flame the spirit of inquiry, and Christianity, militant
against a still more militant Mohammedanism, was eager
to find new lands, new people whom it might convert
to the True Faith. Nowadays the world seems too
cramped for our far-reaching thoughts, almost even for
our actions. VVc talk in the same breath of both Conti-
nents. In a brief month or two we can rush round the
whole earth's surface. We have explored all the habitable
globe; and every little insignificant island is now charted.
In truth, we have at last realised the old symbolical idea :
man is the modern Atlas; he holds the world in his hands
as in a sceptre, and for this reason becomes more weary of
it daily.
But at the beginning of the fifteenth century things
were very different. The earth had still the charm of
surprise it no longer possesses. Its mysteries were still
fascinating, its dark places mind-enthralling, its enigmas
drew, as with a magnet, all eager inquiring souls. Nothing
was known for certain of its oceans and continents, of its
people outside the cramped basin of the Mediterranean.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 87
The days of the older, ever-fighting periods were over;
countries and nations had again taken shape on the map,
after the long period of anarchy following the disruption
of the Roman Empire. The period of internal adjustment
was now almost complete; Governments were becoming
more stable, and nations and rulers, now free to look
beyond the confines of their own land, were feeling the
impulse of expansion, the desire to find fresh outlets for
trade, fresh vent for the enterprise of their warlike spirits,
free from their own immediate neighbours.
Nowhere was this influence more felt than in Portugal,
situated as it was on the confines of the known and the
unknown ; and, perhaps, in no other country did the fine
flower of Aryan inquiry bloom more fully or more brilliantly
at that time. Seductively alluring, sweetly poisonous, it
gave to the nation the brief greatness that eventually
destroyed itself in her.
Prince Peter was twenty-four, two years senior to Prince
Henry, when he was created Duke of Coimbra. Impatient
to start upon his adventures, he was delayed by the
complications with Castile in 1417, and afterwards by the
situation in Ceuta in 1418, when his father forbade him to
join the expedition. We have it from Azurara,^ that, find-
ing he could not get leave, he slipped away quietly from
the Court disguised as a servant, with the intention of
sailing in one of the ships, under the pretence that he
was one of the captain's attendants. Confessing himself,
ho^ycver, before he sailed, the priest, afraid of the respon-
sibility, divulged the secret in a sermon, and the Prince
was promptly ordered off with Prince Duarte (Edward), as
we have seen, to raise reserves in the Algarve.
Nevertheless he was able to start on his eagerly antici-
pated journey in the same year, for we know that early in
1419 he was in Hungary. He took with him twelve
companions, in memory of the twelve apostles, a number
^ Chron. do Conde D. Pedro de Menezes, II. 77.
88 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
which was not only supposed to have some mystical
meaning in the days of Mediaeval Christianity, but was
also customary in the history of chivalry ever since the
days of Charlemagne. One of the twelve was Gomes de
Santo Estevam ; and it is to his work we are indebted for
the chief details of this narrative.^
They started on their journey travelling on horseback
straight to Valladolid, where the Castilian Court was at
the time — the Prince, afterwards John II of Castile., a son
of Catharine of Lancaster, and, therefore, cousin to Prince
Peter, being then in his minority. ^
Here they were received with great pomp, and Prince
Peter formed a friendship with his youthful kinsman, and
the future all-powerful Constable, de Luna, which, by the
family alliances produced afterwards, had such an effect
on the future history of the Royal House of Portugal.
When they set out again on their journey, the Prince, de
Luna, and an imposing cavalcade, escorted them for a
league on the way outside Valladolid ; and there Prince
Peter was presented with a gift of 25,000 gold pieces, and,
in addition, with what probably turned out more valuable
still, the scholarly help of Garcia Ramircs, learned not only
in Latin and Greek, but also in the Oriental languages,
Turkish, Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Arabic. Beside the
Prince rode his fidus Achates, Alvaro Vaz de Almada;
and from this journey began a friendship between the two
which only ended with their death together on the fatal
field of Alfarrobcira. Alvaro Vaz, an older man, had
already travelled extensively before he chanced to be
chosen as the guide and mentor of the Prince. His father,
John Anncs, builder of the walls of Lisbon, had twice been
Ambassador to foreign Courts, and had transmitted to his
son his love for travel. Thus it came that Alvaro Vaz
had returned to his country scarcely two years before
* " The Book, or Autoscript of Prince Peter of Portugal, who travelled
throughout the seven parts of the Earth : Written by Gomes do Santo
Eatevam, one of the twelve who went in bis company." — Lisbon, J644.
See Appendix p. 316-.'i20.
» Vide Romey, Hisloire D'Espagne, I. 16, 17.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 89
covered with glory and honour. He had fought for the
Enghsh at Agincourt, and Henry V had made him Count of
Avranches, and a Knight of the Garter.^
These wars with France had commenced three years
before, and, though no one then suspected it, were to
continue for half a century. It is just possible that the
Prince and his companions may have had some idea of
participating in them, for no doubt Alvaro Vaz, riding
beside him, would tell of his experiences in the campaign
culminating in Agincourt, after he had recounted the
doings at Ceuta, for they were both now seasoned cam-
paigners. But as it happened their fortunes eventually
turned instead towards the Court of King Sigismundo of
Hungary, at the other extreme of Europe, led, no doubt,
by the fact that his dominions were the bulwarks of the
Christian West against the invading hosts of the Turks.
In 1389 had come the first invasion from the East, and the
awful calamity of Cassovia, and seven years later the
Hungarians had again been defeated by the Sultan Bajazet,
and the Turkish influx had overflowed Moldavia and
Wallachia.^
After this, internal dissensions had kept the Turks
quiet for some years; but by 1419 the pressure had re-
commenced; and now the whole weight of this Turkish
invasion was centred on Sigismundo and his kingdom.
At this critical period, therefore, he received the visit of
the Portuguese Prince, coming from across Europe accom-
panied by his escort of noblemen in search of chivalrous
adventure ; and it was not unnatural, therefore, that when
they saw how things were, they eagerly offered their
^ Major's LA.fe of Prijice Henry incorrectly states that Charles VII of
France gave Alvaro Vaz these two titles. Ferdinand Denis in his Portugal
Pittor., p. 86, states that Louis XI recognised the title at a later date.
As this King reigned 1461-83, and Alvaro Vaz was killed in 1449 at AJfar-
robeira, this recognition can only have been to his descendants. It is
probably from this later recognition that Major's mistake arose, as no
French King could create Kjiights of the Garter, though English Kings
made Counts in their French possessions.
* See Chron. J-' Jean Brandon, Bruxelles, 1870, pp. 156-61 ; Gilles de
Royo, Chron., p. 179.
90 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
swords to the Emperor, asking to be allowed to join his
army.^
Such a help could not, and would not be refused.
Sigismundo eagerly accepted their help, conceding to the
Prince an annual pension of 20,000 ducats, together with
the fief of Traviso, the Government of which was deputed
to one of his noblemen, Alvaro Gon^alves de Athayde.
It was on the western confines of the Empire, and the
object of putting such a good soldier at its head was that
he might hold it against the Venetians, who, though their
ambitions had been crushed by the Treaty of 1381, were
still watched with intense suspicion by the various
Republics of Northern Italy, as well as the Duke of Austria
and the King of Hungary.^
Prince Peter, in the meanwhile, accompanied the King
to defend his eastern boundaries, and fought also in his
campaigns in Germany, having as a companion in arms at
the siege of Prague, Eric, King of Denmark.^ Appar-
ently he remained four or five years in Germany, accompany-
ing Sigismundo in his lengthy though fruitless campaigns
— campaigns which only terminated in 14.33, several years
after the Prince had departed. Probably the monotony
of this soldiering life in Germany on one side, and the
mainly unsuccessful struggles with the Turk on the other,
wearied the Prince. A desire also to see this mysterious
East at close quarters, this East from which the Turks
were constantly extending their talons, together with the
pious wish to visit the Holy Land, grew stronger and
stronger in him as the months went by, till finally, he
decided to leave the Court of Sigismundo, and start once
more on his intended journey.
We now come to a period in Prince Peter's history,
dealing with his travels in the Holy Land, in which, owing
» Vide .'En. Silv. Piccol., Oper. Hist., Eiiropa, p. 445.
' See Sloria delUi vmrca Treingiann, Vorci, XVI. (i-63; Leo-Botta,
ibid., 549; JEnesis Silvius. Oper. Epist., X. 506.
3 Ant. Bonfinii, Rer. Ungaricar. (Hann., 1606), p. 392.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 91
to the confusion of dates, it is exceedingly difficult to un-
ravel truth from fantasy, the real from the unreal. Accord-
ing to Santo Estevam's book, which is the main authority
on which we have to rely, these wanderings must have
started in or about 1425, extending over an indefinite
number of years ; yet, as we shall see later, we have authentic
records of the presence of the Prince in Denmark, England,
Flanders, and Burgundy, in 1425-26, and the known diver-
gences in the calendars of these countries are not sufficient
to account for the discrepancies here noted. We shall
therefore follow Santo Estevam's narrative, collating it
with the much later itineraries of d'Aveiro (1556-59),
and Pietro della Valle (1616) in regard to the legendary
sites in the Holy Land usually visited by pious pilgrims in
those days, neglecting the confusion in dates, and allowing
the reader to form his own opinion of the truthfulness or
otherwise of Santo Estevam's narrative, which in many
quarters has been classed, possibly rather harshly, with
that of Sir John Mandeville of pious but unblushingly
faith-straining memory.
Sailing towards Cyprus, probably from Venice, Prince
Peter began his journey to the Holy Land, following the
classical itinerary of the Crusaders.^ Cyprus was still
governed at that time by the Lusignans, a French family
to whom Richard Coeur de Lion had granted it, after
subjecting the Arabs in 1191. On arriving, therefore, at
Nicosia, the capital, the Prince landed to pay his respects
to the reigning King, Hugo IV, only to find that this
unfortunate monarch had been defeated by the Mamelukes
of Egypt in the previous year, when they had attacked
the island, sacking Famagusta, and that, just before the
time of his arrival, they had returned again, succeeded in
defeating the King a second time, taken him prisoner,
and carried him off to Alexandria.
Consequently they were received by the mourning Queen
his wife, who addressed them thus : " Friends ! Whence
^ Vide ItinerariG da Terra Santa, etc., by Fr. Pantaleao d'Aveiro, Lisbon,
1596, 2nd edit.
92 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
have you come ? " To which, on their replying that they
came from the Iberian peninsula, she rejoined still weeping :
" Truly, it is a blessing from Heaven that the Portuguese
kingdom is so near, and that we can help one another :
thus the enemies of our Faith will be less powerful."
This she said, echoing the fear that possessed all Europe
at that time of the all-conquering Turk. P^or everywhere
they felt his coming, as in the remoter centuries they had
been able to hear the distant thimder of the Knights of
Attila. All the Eastern Mediterranean beyond Italy was
a veritable Inferno, and the Byzantine Empire, crumbling
to decay, stone by stone, was slipping from the impotent
hands of the Pala^ologi.
But the Prince could be of little service to the stricken
Queen : for at a time when all the Christian powers of
Eastern Europe were keeping guard in fear of the Turk,
each thinking only of their own possessions, what could
one puny arm avail ; and when all trembled for themselves,
who was ready to come to the help of one obscure little
kingdom ? Leaving Cyprus and the Queen, therefore, in
her desolation, the Prince and his companions made
instead for the all-powerful presence of the great Sultan,
Amurath II, encamped then with his army at Patras in
the Gulf of Lepanto, bringing with them letters of safe
conduct from Venice, and paying twenty-six gold pieces
for permission to travel in the Sultan's possessions in the
near East.
Amurath II had ruled over the Ottoman Empire for
four years, having succeeded Mahomet I in 1421. The
world-power of the Turks dates from then. Expanding,
smothering, dominating all resistance, their dominions
increased yearly, spreading from the -^Egean, stretching as
far as the Danube, engulfhig Bulgaria, Macedonia, Thes-
salia, Thrace, over-running Servia, Wallachia, and the last
miserable remains of the Greek Empire, until only Byzan-
tium and a narrow strip of hind was left to the last of the
Palffologi. Two years before (1423) Constantinople itself
had been besieged by Amurath, encamping in Nicodemia;
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 98
and it was then that the deafening roar of cannon first
resounded in the Dardanelles. The city had been saved,
it is true, but not by the prowess of the Christian powers.
The Sultan's two sons had rebelled against their father in
Nicaea, and Aniurath had been compelled to raise the
siege to cope with this trouble within his own dominions.
The Emperor, John II, was able therefore to die on his
throne in 1448 ; and it was not until five years after (1453)
that Constantinople fell into the hands that have held it
ever since, and the Byzantine Empire came to its inglorious
close.
Thus when the Prince and his cavalcade rode from Patras
to the great city, they found it still in the hands of those
of their own faith, impenetrable behind its triple walls and
moats, still glorious and golden, brilliant in its decadent
splendour, gay with continual festivities, as unconscious
of its future fate as Nineveh in the hour before its doom.
Crossing into Asia Minor, the Prince and his followers
set out across the sandy wastes on their way south, appar-
ently with only the vaguest notion of their route. The
traveller. Gomes Estevam, notes great mountain ranges
capped with snow, and states that they sighted Jerusalem
on the one hand and Norway on the other from their
heights, travelling on dromedaries, each dromedary carry-
ing four men, with their necessaries " bread, water, honey,
figs, raisins, together with four or five sacks of dates, the
rations for the beast." It is evident from his narrative
that they did not penetrate beyond Asia Minor, and his
sighting of Norway is, of course, pure fiction, like the
many uther inaccuracies found in the descriptions of ancient
travels. The viewing of Jerusalem is another obvious
error, the sight existing only in their perfervid imagina-
tions. The probability is that from Constantinople they
did cross into Asia, and losing their way in the mountains
of Armenia they came again to the shores of the Mediter-
ranean, whence they eventually sailed to Alexandria.
Had they proceeded overland through Syria they would
certainly have passed through Palestine.
94 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
When in Egypt they visited " The Great Babylon " in
Babylonia. This was the fanciful name applied to the
Sultan of Cairo by early Christian writers, many of whom
refer to Cairo as Babylon, confusing it with the more
ancient Cairo (Babul) founded in a.d. 658 by Amru,
situated one and a half miles from modern Cairo, of which
it now forms a suburb where the Nile joins the Canal de
Trojano.^
Egypt was at that time in the hands of the Mamelukes;
and the description of the Prince's travels from thence to
Palestine here given is drawn, in addition to Estevam's
description, from the writings of d'Aveiro, the Viaggi of
della Valle, both already cited, and La Terre Saincte of
F. Eugene Roger, Paris, 1646.
Wishing to proceed to Palestine through Egypt, it was
necessary to obtain a safe conduct from the Sultan; and
Estevam tells us that they remained fourteen days in Cairo
for this purpose, and that the Ruler of Egypt questioned
them at great length about the various European countries,
and especially Spain.
It seems to have been at Cairo also that the idea of visit-
ing the Kingdom of Prester John was first mooted openly
amongst the company, though it must have been already
present in Prince Peter's mind, suggested by the conversa-
tions of his brother, for by this overland journey the one
would thus complete the plans carried out overseas by the
other, and the circle would be made complete.
From Cairo they started overland to Jerusalem, by the
beaten caravan track, that, even to-day, passes in a straight
line eastwards through the northern parts of Suez. This
is what Estevam calls the Province of Centurius, where he
states that " when a male child is nine months old it is
customary to put a band of iron round his head, whereby
he grows up with little wisdom but great hardness." This
ancient custom of producing cranial deformities, by mould-
1 Vide Pietro della Valle, Viaggi. Venice, 1661, 8, 283, and d'Aveiro,
Itinerario, V. 181.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 95
ing the soft bones of the calvarium in infants, is still
practised to-day amongst the inhabitants of the peninsula,
and is prevalent also amongst the various tribes of the
Kabyles, their neighbours. The deformity found in Egypt
is that which Vesalius terms lateral or temporo-parietal
compression, described as macrocephalic by Hippocrates.
It has been found also amongst the original North Euro-
peans, and, in addition, amongst the tribes on the north-east
of the Caucases. It consists of a lateral compression of
the skull throughout its antero-posterior extent, obliquely
from above downwards and before backwards, producing
a bulging of one or both of the frontal and occipital poles,
or a narrowing of the calvarium with a consequent broaden-
ing of the base. It was practised, as we have noted, only
upon males, and was brought about by manual manipula-
tion or by means of a fillet. ^
The caravan track wound along the base of the range of
hills which limits on the east the Desert of Tih, a country
inhabited by the " Alarves," savages who went about
naked and fed on herbs and raw flesh, wandering amongst
the mountains and the desert, attacking any travellers
whom they thought sufficiently weak to plunder.^
Half way across the peninsula that ends at Mount
Sinai, separating the Red Sea from the Gulfs of Suez and
Akabah, the caravan route turns northward, bifurcating
into two, one leading to Gaza, following the coast-line
from Jaffa to Caesarea, the other going over the hills of
Judaea on its way to Jerusalem. It was the latter which
Prince Peter and his companions now took. Along this
road, tiien, they entered the Holy Land, a land fated to
have become the world's stage, representing its Paradise
and its Gehenna, destined to be the seat of its redemption
through the cross, and prophesied to be the scene of the
last great Judgment when time shall have melted away and
history be buried for ever in the deep valley of Jehoshaphat.
^ Vide Magitot, " Essai sur lea mutilations ethniques," Int. Cong.
Anthrop. 1880, p. 549-612.
' Vide della Valle, Viaggi, I. 346.
96 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
In those days the Holy Land was divided into four
provinces. The first was Gahlee, between Lebanon and
Samaria, extending on the north from the Jordan to
Phoenicia, and on the south from Saphet to the hills of
Gilboa, including Lake Tiberias and the mountains of
Zebulon. In it were the mountains of Gilboa, Hermon, and
Tabor, and the ruins of the ancient cities of Nazareth, and
of Nain, of Salem, Bethlehem (of Galilee), Tiberias — after
which the lake is named — Cana, Scpphoris, and Bethsaida.
After Galilee came Phoenicia, extending from Adonis,
the boundary of Syria, along the Mediterranean coast as
far as " Castellum Peregrinorum " of the Crusaders, near
which we find Bibiis, and Barut. Next came Saruaria,
and then Palestine proper followed, with the four coast
towns of Caesarea, Jaffa, Ascalon, and Gaza, and the holy
cities of Ramlah, Ludd (Lydda Diospolis), Bethlehem (of
Judasa), Hebron, Emmaus, Azotus (Ashdod of the Philis-
tines, the seat of the worship of Dagon), and Jericho
hidden amongst its orchards and fields of palm and sugar-
cane, irrigated by streams that join the Jordan after
having watered the vast district of Galgala,^ and famous
for its scarlet roses, " The Roses of Sharon," that fade and
revive again, in spite of being cut, as soon as they are
immersed in water.^
The Chosen Land, so often soaked in blood, yet always
blessed, was then still a land flowing with milk and honey.
The Romans had strewn it with cities and monuments.
The Empress Helena, wife of Constantius Chlorus, and
* d'Aveiro, Jtinerario, p. 214.
2 Eugene Roger, La Terre Saincte, p. 18-20, 149. The Rose
of Jericho or Sharon, Anaslatica heirox, is a cruciferous plant the
flowers of which, after it has been dried, will always as soon as
moistened open out its petals and appear as if revived. It is a curio with
which all travellers in the Levant are acquaint<;d. From its pecuUarity
arises the ancient superstition of its influence in labour, and the con-
fciderable trade in it that even to-day is carried on between the Jews and
the Arabs of Palestine. As soon as labour commences the stalk of the
flower is placed in water, and the child is said to be lucky if it is bom
before the flower opens out its petals completely. Afterwards it is with-
drawn, dried, and kept for another occasion. The sj)ccimen8 sold to
travellers, however, are usually too old to change colour as described.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 97
mother of Constantine the Great, after her conversion to
the Christian Faith, had built in it many churches and
monasteries, and re-consecrated the Divine history of
Judaea. But at the time of the Prince's visit desolation
was to be seen everywhere, and the ruins caused by the
invading Arab and Egyptian met the eye on all sides.
Various events had combined to produce this. First, the
destruction following the conquests of Saladin in 1187,
when the Christians were expelled from Jerusalem and
the country became attached to the Government of
Damascus ; next, the further desolation that followed the
burning of the Holy City by the Turks of Egypt in 1244;
finally the capture of St. John d'Acre in 1291, when the
whole of Palestine was lost to the Christian Faith, and
another long century of bloody and destructive warfare
ended.
But though the once busy cities had many of them
crumbled to dust and become depopulated, though the
ruined monasteries were even then rapidly falling to
pieces, and the shrines they guarded becoming converted
into stables for travellers, the country itself, sacred equally
to the Jew, the Moslem, and the Christian, still continued
to bloom, and produce its fruits in their season— true
Paradise that it was. Sycamores, acacias, palms, pines,
aloes, and all the species of tree indigenous to the basin
of the Mediterranean wooded and cast their grateful
shade over the dappled, grassy carpet, patterned with
ranunculae and narcissi, with anemones and hyacinths,
spikenards, liUes, irises, and other flowering plants that
evolved their intoxicating fragrance, dotting the valleys,
and bordering the footpaths beside the lethal aconite
whose destructive roots caused their neighbouring blossoms
to wither and decay, like the Kermes that yields its pure
purple, and the mandrake, and the solane£e whose ritual
poisons helped to contribute to the mystic exhalation of
this land chosen by God. Here vine-trees crept along the
hill-sides, and melon-plants, octopus-like, crossed the net-
work of their tendrilled stems. There olive-trees rustled
H
98 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
their silver-green above the mounts, while almond and
fig-trees brightened the lower-lying fields, planted with
nmlberries which helped to supply the famous silk of
Pha-nicia, and cotton crops that grew beside the sugar-
canes. Beyond these garden-fields appeared the golden
oceans of wheat rippling in the breeze ; and further beyond
again on the mountain-slopes herds of pendent-eared goats
could be seen from which came the soft hair that produced
the rich Syrian and Damascus fabrics, and flocks of sheep
whose flesh was used as a substitute for pork by the Jews
and Mussulmen.^
Thus Judaea slept in peace amongst its ruins, crushed,
it is true, under the foot of the Egyptian, but nevertheless
a haven of rest cooled by the refreshing breezes from the
north, that swept from the perpetual snows of Lebanon,
sheltered from the scorching desert sands by the hills of
Seir, and Idumaea, and watered in its midst by the Jordan,
which flowed from north to south, bordered by orange
groves and luxuriant cane-fields, 2 issuing from the Sea
of Galilee, distributing its life-giving moisture on both
sides, blessing the land with life » until it becomes lost in
the Dead Sea, whose soil is for ever absorbing the stagnant
waters of Sodom, and whose mephitic emanations are
wafted with all their unpleasantnesses towards Jerusalem.*
Before entering the Holy City, the Prince's cavalcade
turned eastwards towards the Wilderness of Judaea, and
proceeded by the shores of the Dead Sea, along the valley
of the Jordan, until they came to the place of the fountain
1 d'Aveiro, Itinerario, 53.
2 Delia Valle, Viaggi, I. 463.
» Eugene Roger, La Terre SaincU, 3-4. , j .u
" The Jordan runs along that part, near Jericho, with much depth
but little width. It hath no sand but is muddy and chalky. The Abbot
Caly a.sked me to take some of this mud and dry it m the sun, and to take
it back with me to France, assuring me it possessed miraculous powers
against fevers."— d'Aveiro, Itinerario, V. 217. „ .. *
♦ " The cause of this evil odour continuing is due to the smell tbat
comes from the Dead Sea," says d'Aveiro, Itinerario, V 149. This is of
course, a delusion. The real cause of the evil atmosphere of Jerusalem
in those days and even until lately was the entire absence of any sanitary
arrangements in a place crowded with pilgrims.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 99
where tradition hath it St. Paul was baptised, and where,
in consequence, one could " get absolution for four
hundred sins." From there the cavalcade went on to
Nazareth, the native town of the Virgin.
Nazareth, which means a " flower," is situated on a plain
facing east, and is circled by peaceful wooded hills. It
was then a town of two hundred hearths, where Moors
sacrilegiously dwelt amongst its sacred ruins. Below, in
the centre of the ancient city, stood the house of St. Anne,
where the Virgin received the message of the " Annuncia-
tion." The house then standing was that built by the
Empress Helena, as " the original one had been transported
by angels to Lor<^tto." ^ Upon its foundations the
Empress had raisel another house, the doorway of which
faced Jerusalem. Round it had been built a basilica;
but the Moors, at the time of this pilgrimage, had con-
verted it into a stable. Two columns of porphyry marked
the place where the Archangel had communicated to the
Virgin her sacred duty; and now amongst the ruins, as
if placed there by the pious hands of Nature, grew flower-
ing anemonies, chalcedonias, ranunculse, cyclamens, and
irises, permeating the atmosphere with their scented
treasures. Near this they visited the Holy Fount, and the
gardens planted by the Empress ; whilst higher up, near
the bridge, about two hundred paces away, they saw the
circular tombstone upon which Christ and His disciples
ate the Last Supper.
Moving with reverent feet quietly from place to place,
the travellers crossed themselves continually, commenting
gravely on the pious works of the Empress, who, repudiated
by her husband on account of her faith, had earned for
this very reason the title of Emperor for her son, and that
of saint from the Church.^
Leaving Nazareth, the pilgrims turned again, descending
through the hills of Samaria, probably along the road that
passes through Sebasta or Samaria, Silo and Arimathsea
1 Itinerario, V. 267.
- Eugene Roger, La Terre Saincie, 48-54.
100 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
(Raniah), leading straight to Jerusalem. On the way
they visited Emmaiis, scarcely six miles north-east of
Jerusalem, the place from which the Virgin and the Child
started on their fugitive journey into Egypt, and pro-
ceeded to see the palm-tree that had miraculously lowered
its fruit -laden branches to the reach of the passing Virgin,
so that she might pick its dates and feed her Child.^ Near
this palm was the fountain that, on the same occasion,
had quenched the thirst of the Virgin and of St. Joseph.
Untroubled by any thought of modern scepticism, the pious
travellers gazed reverently on all these things.
Though the town itself was deserted, demolished, and
abandoned, there still was in existence the monastery built
on the spot where Jesus had appeared miraculously before
His disciples. It rested on the summit of a hill, surrounded
by a grove of grey olive-trees, placed upon rocky founda-
tion made fertile with infinite toil by canals and wells
that had been made in the hard rocks, whose moss-covered
crags now dripped with the life-giving moisture. There
they saw the fountain which the Redeemer and His
disciples had once frequented, and whose waters ever
since had become miraculous, as well as being of an untold
freshness and purity. ^
Though they were so close to Jerusalem, they did not
enter it as yet. Perhaps they wished to prepare themselves
first by visiting all the introductory scenes of the Passion
and Drama of Christ. At any rate, the fact remains,
that after skirting the city they went first to Bethlehem,
going southwards along the road that, following the hills
of Judaea, joins the caravan route from Gaza at Hebron.
In Bethlehem they visited the birthplace of Christ
and the sepulchre of St. Jerome, who had ended there a
stormv life devoted to the cause of his Master The
Church erected over the birthplace by the Empress Helena,
a grotto of fifteen paces in length by four and a half in
breadth, and nine or ten in height, was still standing
' Delia Vallc, Viaggi, I. 478.
a Itinerario, 237.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 101
covered with its cedar-wood roof ; but the infidels had
already destroyed its marble frontage; and the convents
also had been sacked, and now remained deserted and
ruined, nothing but a framework of turreted walls. From
the ruins they gazed over the fertile landscape as it gradu-
ally unrolled itself before them, dividing into cultivated
fields as far as Engaddi which nestled in its wonderful
valley, vine-clad on every side. Near by was the spot
where the angel had appeared to the shepherds, as well as
a grotto the earth of which was supposed to stimulate
lactation.^
From Bethlehem they at length turned back towards
Jerusalem ; and as they journeyed gradually the city rose
before them crowned upon its sacred hills, each one of
which was blessed with some holy memory. The brook of
Kedron, bifurcating, encloses a plateau upon which lies the
Holy City. Eastwards it runs between the plateau and
the Mount of Olives, from whose commanding summit,
where the Temple of Ashtoreth once stood, Jesus had
ascended into Heaven, leaving behind Him, graven in the
rocks, the last footprints which both Christian and Moor
kissed with equal reverence. Here, again, the Empress
Helena had erected an octagonal Church; but it, too, at
that time was in ruins. ^ On the eastern slope was Beth-
phage, on the western side the Garden of Gethsemane
beyond the brook of Kedron. Further south was the Mount
of Offence, on the summit of which was the Palace of Eros,
built by King Solomon. Through the gap between the
Mount of Olives and the Mount of Offence ran the road to
Bethany; and on its right, again, were the tombs of the
Prophet-. Eastward of Jerusalem, beside the Valley of
1 Eugene Roger, La Terre Saincte, p. 161-77.
'■ The earth of this place and that surrounding it is almost white and
crumbles hke flour. It has the peculiar virtue of increasing the milk in
women and mammalian animals, a virtue not limited to Christian women
alone, but also affecting Turkish and Moorish women also, who, therefore,
also drink it in water, and give it to their animals. They call this earth
• The Virgin's milk.' "— d'Aveiro, Itinerario, V. 186.
^ d'Aveiro, ibid., Uo, and Eugene Roger, ibid., 138.
102 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Hinnom and the aqueduct of Bethlehem, rising to the north
is the Mount of Evil Council, whereon the fatal decision
of " expcdit ut unus moriatur homo " was made. It is
here that the dry bed of the Kedron divides into two, en-
closing the city; and from this it runs southward towards
the Dead Sea, eight leagues from Jerusalem. Above the
Mount of Evil Council, rising towards the west, are the
hills on which David defeated the Philistines ; and going
round the city walls the pilgrims came to the hidden pool
where this part of the brook Kedron rises, and beyond
they saw the two-peaked mountain at the foot of which
was the grotto of Jeremiah, beside the road to Damascus.
Here were the tombs of the Kings, and the identical spot
where St. Paul was converted.
Before entering Jerusalem, the Prince and his knights
visited the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which is four hundred
and fifty paces long, and viewed the rock-hewn tombs
where Jew and Turk alike were buried to await the Last
Trump. ^ Next they climbed the hill to visit the grave of
the Virgin Mary, which lies on the east side of the brook,
the swelling floods of which had almost hidden the chapel
constructed by the piety of the Empress Helena.^ The
tomb was in front of the bridge spanned by the road from
Bethlehem, which enters the city by the gate where
St. Stephen was stoned to death; and here they saw the
place where the disciples had kept watch over her body,
and gazed upon her footprints impressed on the rock to
the depth of two fingers breadth. Moved by pious fear
at the sight, Garcia Ramircs exclaimed :
" Here we shall all be tried on the Last Day. Were it
not well, then, that we should mark the spot so that we
may all meet together ? "
But the Prince thereupon declaimed against him, moved
by a deeper, purer piety, saying severely that such a
thought was blasphemy, and that : " Never did God mean
to have this holy place thus blemished."
1 DeUa VaUe, Via^gi, I. 433-4.
* Eugt^ne Roger, La TerreSaincU, 123-4, 129; Delia Valle, Viaggi, I, 433.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 103
Jerusalem was then about a third smaller than in the
time of the Romans, when Christ was crucified. Mount
Zion was outside the walls, but the Hill of Calvary was
enclosed within them. The city had seven gates, of which
the last, on the southern aspect, was the one through which
Jesus had entered when He was taken prisoner on the
Mount of Olives. The population was about 15,000 at
the time of the Prince's pilgrimage, made up of Turks,
Moors, Arabs, and Latin Christians, Greeks, Armenians,
Syrians, Nestorians, Chaldseans, and Jews. These latter,
according to d'Aveiro, were only a few hundreds in number,
were very poor, and ill-treated by all alike; but the
Christians were " allowed by the mercy of God to be other-
wise. They were treated with respect, lived in the land like
guests, both Greek and Armenian having all they desired;
and those that were actual inhabitants were wealthier
than the Moors, having both bread and water in plenty." ^
The kaleidoscopic effect of the bustling population on
the sojourner in this centre of half the world's faith, the
clash of colours, the multiplicity of nations, was even more
marked then than it is to-day. Swarthy Jews in white
simars, scarlet shoes, dark red caps and sashes, long
beards and hooked noses, jostled against fair Armenians
in striped blue and white turbans, flat-faced, thick-lipped
Nubians, and half -clad Ethiopians. Walking along the
streets one could see Armenian nuns, whose Orders were
without cloister, in their black veils and long robes of
Turkish cloth, begging for alms as they swept the streets
so that the pilgrims might walk barefoot in comparative
comforr.. Prancing on horseback through the crowded,
narrow byways in his white turban and burnous striped
with purple and red, would come an Arab, armed with
dagger, hatchet, and dangling scimitar, his loose trousers
tucked in by elaborate buskins at the ankle, himself proud,
haughty, almost ignoring the swarming crowd of pedestrian
unbelievers who impeded his path. Bare-armed, bare-
legged Syrians moved through the throng in their sheep-
^ Itinerario, V. 62-3.
104 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
skin caps and black cotton skirts held up by shoulder-
straps tightened by a belt round the waist, armed with
bow and arrows, dagger and curved scimitar. Arabian
women with their almost black hands and feet, their bare
wrists and ankles adorned with beads, followed dressed in
spacious blue robes that covered them from head to feet,
wearing headcloths gay with gilt and silvered discs, ear-
rings and nose-rings of agate, lapis-lazuli, and green
jasper, staring through the slits of their black veils with
unfathomable liquid brown eyes, silent and inscrutable.
Everywhere there were crowds of children, naked and
happy, their foreheads tattooed with coloured stars,
playing contentedly, wriggling in and out of the throngs
in the crowded, dusty, evil-smelling streets.
But all-pervasive, dominating everything, as one would
naturally expect in such a place, were the devotees of the
three great religions — Hebrew, Moslem, and Christian —
to which the city was sacred ; and everywhere every one
amongst the inhabitants treated each and all of them
impartially with that respectful mixture of fear and
reverence which is such a characteristic attitude of the
Eastern mind towards all religious zealots. Thus reverenced
by all, the wild-eyed dervish in mantle of bright red,
white-capped, bare-legged, raved and danced, the half-
insane begging friar, shaved or with long, fearsome
locks and tangled beard, carried his iron cross and
stamped in frenzy as he walked, the Maronite women
marched in procession, clad in the Syrian fashion,
wailing in loud, stridulous choruses, " Heli — li — li — li —
li — li — li — li — li — li," as if under a spell, ^ and no one
said them nay ; for in this centre of transcendental
thought, every one was more or less influenced by the
religious beliefs of his neighbour, and consequently all
these devotees were given the hospitality of the city, and
treated with a veneration prompted partly by fear, partly
by piety. Each religion looked upon the other as possess-
ing some portion of its own; and even the Jew was re-
garded, by Christian and Moslem alike, as possessing sacred
» Delia Valle. Viarjgi, I. 455.
I
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 105
relics of the ancient Faith from which their own was
derived, especially so at this time when the rancour of the
Crusades was over, and many of the old heresies had raised
their heads again so that Rephaims, Zuzims, Emins,
Horites, Amalekites, Amorites, Kenites, Kadmonites,
Hittites, and even the devil-worshipping Canaanites and
other Galileans found advocates. ^
Amid such surroundings the wanderers entered
Jerusalem, putting up in the lower part of the city — the
part set aside for Christian pilgrims ; and here they
immediately commenced the devotions proper to their
pilgrimage. First they went to the Holy Sepulchre,
lying south of Golgotha, facing the prison of Peter, and
entering they prayed beside the twelve monks who had
been appointed its custodians by an arrangement made a
hundred years before between Philip VI of France and the
then Sultan. 2
At the Sepulchre, the chief monk himself personally
conducted Prince Peter and his knights, admitting them
to the Tomb, which was guarded by a Moor, to whom
they paid twenty crusados before entering. Above the
Sepulchre there was a chapel, scarcely large enough to
admit three people — the priest, the deacon, and one
assistant ; and here, according to a custom instituted by
^ " ' Ziaret ' is the name given by Mohammedans to the Holy Places that,
although not sanctified by the doctrines of Islam, are, nevertheless, con-
sidered as such, and where Christians are admitted after paying tolL" —
Cf. Delia Valle, Viaggi, I. 462. The worshipping of Moslems in some of
these places is attested by many travellers. Fr. Pantaleao d'Avciro says
concerning the Holy Sepulchre : " And pilgrims. Moors as well as Turks,
who g^ to Mecca, do not consider their pilgrimage complete unless they
visit th's Temple and other particular localities in Jerusalem " (I.e., p. 138).
Beside ihe Holy Sepulchre, the Temple of Solomon, the Virgin's Tomb,
and the Tombs of the Patriarchs in Hebron were always visited on the
Ist of August— six to eight thousand Turks and Moors thus celebrating the
Feast of the Ascension, coming from aU parts, even from India (I.e., p. 152).
The Nativity was similarly celebrated at Bethlehem (i.e., p. 183).
2 " In 1418, seven or eight years before Prince Peter's time, a rival
order of monks to whose keeping, for the time being, the vigil of the
Holy Sepulchre had been entrusted, wished to obtain the honour as a
permanency. Pope Martino V accordingly sent their plea to Egradense,
Patriarch of Jerusalem, but he decreed in favour of the original holders,
the Franciscans." — d'Aveiro, Itinerario, V. 105-6.
106 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
the Moslems to commemorate their triumph over the
Crusaders, each entrant had to submit without demur to
a buffet on the face from the Moor in attendance.^
Having visited the Holy Sepulchre, they ascended Mount
Calvary on the Hill of Golgotha, westward of which could
be seen the yawning Valley of Gehenna, where the brook
Kedron begins ; and here they saw the three marks, still
open, where the three crosses had been placed for the
crucifixion. The Mount itself, including the Holy Sepulchre
and the site where the original cross had been found in
the time of the Empress Helena, had been transformed
by her into a sanctuary of many chapels. The hole where
the cross had been erected was lined by a silver rim.^
It was guarded by two sentries,^ who stood beside the
columns erected on the site of the crosses of the two
thieves. Near the Sepulchre, with its lamps, which in the
age of miracles were said to have been lighted miraculously
by a spark from Heaven, was the Chapel of St. Maria
Egyptiaca, another Magdalene : close by were the tombs
of Godfrey de Bouillon, Baldwin, and many others of lesser
fame, besides the reputed resting-place of the skull of Adam,
brought thither by the waters of the Flood, so th it it might
be bathed in Holy Blood.*
^ Fr. Pantaleao d'Aveiro tells us that these customs were still in use
in his time, a century later. " The door of the Holy Sepulchre is always
locked with two keys, and sealed above with the Turkish seal. This is
done with the help of a hand ladder; and the keys and the seal are always
zealously kept by three Turks. One of these has the seal, and the other
two the keys, so that whenever the door is opened for the admission of
pilgrims these three Turks and their officers have to be summoned "
(pp. 68-9). Cf. also the description of the Holy Sepulchre, C. xxii-xxiii.
' The hole is more than two, and nearly three hands in depth, and it
is large enough for one to place his head in it. This 1 often did, and
attained some spiritual consolation from it. The said hole has a large
silver brim, engraved with iigurcs, and surrounded with the following
inscription : " Locus in quo Crux Domini lixa fuit quando in ea
pependit." — d'Aveiro, Jtinerario, 75.
=* Ibid., 95.
* " Where it is affirmed, that the skull of Father Adam was found, and
that our Redeemer being on the Cross, His Divine Blood fell upon the skull
and wholly bathed it, and this is so earnestly credited, that God alone can
make them beUeve otherwise." — Ibid., V. 94.
Eugene Roger, La Terre Saincte, 103-20.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 107
They ascended the Via Sacra, the Via Dolorosa, and the
Way of Bitterness, that leads from Mount Calvary through
the Gate to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and to the road
that goes to Bethany. The Way of Bitterness crosses at
right angles the street that comes from the Palace of
Maccabees to that of Herod of Ascalon, in the quarter
of Bezetha. At this crossing of the streets was the house
of Pontius Pilate, over the site of the ancient Palace of
Solomon, and in front, forty paces northward, the ruins
of the chapel built on the site where our Saviour had been
lashed. This chapel had, at the time, been sacrilegiously
transformed into a stable.
Beyond the Palace of Solomon was that of the ancient
Praetor of Judse?, which, in spite of the passage of Time,
was then the residence of the Egyptian Pashas, being still
habitable. They saw it, therefore, standing above its
twelve steps of stone — not the original steps, however,
which had been removed to St. John's in Rome.
The Prince and his knights, like other pilgrims, knelt
and prayed at all the sanctified places. They visited the
arch of " Ecce Homo," where the Virgin and the Apostle
John had met Jesus on his way to Calvary, and ascended
the gallery that crosses the street above the arch. This
gallery has two windows, from one of which Pilate, whose
Palace was only thirty paces away, had ordered Christ,
dressed in purple, crowned with thorns and still bleeding
from the lash-marks, to appear before the Jews ; and it
was from it he had asked the people, through a herald,
whether they would have the life of Christ or of Barabbas,
to wi Ich the crowd, in delirium had answered, condemning
Christ : " Tolle, tolle, crucifige ! " This gallery or transit
was open to the travellers, who saw the words of the blas-
phemous clamour engraved upon its pillars.^
^ Eug^ae Roger, La Terre Saincte, 101.
Delia Valle in his Viaggi, I. 429, tells us the following about the Arch
of " Ecce Homo " : " Its appearance is that of a central column supporting
two arches, coming from different directions like two windows."
d'Aveiro, Itintrario, 132 : " This transit has two windows, one facing the
north, the other the south. It is rudely sculptured, having a central
108 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
They trod the very ground where Simon had helped
Chi'ist to carry the cross ; they saw the house of Lazarus,
wherein the women had mourned, the house of Isabel in
front of the College of Scribes ; and with all these memories
crowding upon them they reconstructed in their uncritical
minds the history of the Life of Christ.
Southwards was David's old city, on Mount Zion.
They visited there the houses of the High Priests : that
of Annas, and that of Caiaphas ; and they observed with
compunction, that neither was there grass growing, nor
was there a larger space than eighty paces round the site
where Judas had betrayed Christ. Both the High Priests'
houses were then churches : that of Annas was an
Armenian convent, that of Caiaphas was San Salvador's
Temple, and there was still to be seen, over its altar, the
lid of the Holy Sepulchre. In the courtyard of the
house of Annas they saw the identical olive-tree to
which Christ had been bound while He awaited judgment ;
and near by was the orange-tree by which Peter had
stood when he denied Christ for the first time. They
listened to find out if they could hear the sound of
beating.^
In the courtyard in the house of Caiaphas there still
remained the hearth at which the Apostle Peter had warmed
himself when he denied Christ for the second time. For
twelve " crusados " they were allowed to see the chair
from which the High Priest Annas had condemned Jesus.
pillax of somewhat rude workmanship ; and at the base of the pillar, on
each side of it, there is a large slab with both Latin and Greek inscrij)tious,
which being worn are interpreted in various ways. On the northern facet
the Latin words ' Christus Deus ' can be clearly read, and on the other
side ' Ecce homo,* and * Tolle, tolle ! ' I myself, at least, perhaps
because I had been told, was able to decipher this meaning from the
inscription."
^ " It is the 0])inion among many Christians in the Land, that in this
church one can hear the sounds of beating, in memory of this injury in-
flicted on Our Saviour . . . personally, I have always hstened, but heard
nothing, perhaps because, as is reputed, only those who deserve mercy for
their sins can hear it." — d'Avciro, Itinerario, V. 125.
Eugene Roger, La Terre Saincle, XXXVIII. 99-100.
i
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 109
Next they climbed the hill of the old Metropolis of Jeru-
salem to see the tomb of David. ^
They wished to enter the Temple, but were not allowed.
Near the city walls, on the slopes of Mount Moriah, was
the site of Solomon's Temple, which Jesus had cleared of
buyers and sellers, and where the Virgin had found Him
debating with the Doctors. It had been desecrated and
burnt by Titus, when the Romans sacked Jerusalem; and
on its site the Mohammedans had erected another, the
entrance to which was absolutel}^ prohibited to Christians.
The " Haran," as it is called, was octagonal in shape,
crowned with a cupola, and richly adorned with marble.
The Aurea Gate was beside it. There Jesus had leaned
while preaching to the people; and this was reputed to
have endowed the marble with a healing virtue to those
afflicted with gout and possessed by devils. Through this
Gate Jesus had entered His city in triumph on Palm
Sunday. 2
Pursuing the pilgrimage on the western part of the city,
they went to the place where St. John the Baptist used to
preach, and to the grotto wherein he slept. To be admitted
here, they had to pay four " crusados." Near the city
walls, not far from the northern gate was the house of
the Virgin's parents : " And there is no better known house
in Jerusalem, because its frontage is constructed of large
beautiful marbles." In spite of its chapel being then a
mosque, and the adjacent convent being the house of a
Moor, daily Mass was habitually read there, as was also the
case in St. Anne's room ; ^ for the Mussulmen were very
tolerant in Jerusalem, since their religion was so intimately
connected with Christianity.
^ " King David's ancient tower, which consists of almost one block of
marble, is still to be seen." — Delia Valle, Viaggi, I. 441.
" Covered with a most rich cloth embroidered in gold, its letters in the
Moorish tongue, proclaim whose tomb it is : the tomb is fashioned like an
altar, and is raised, and over it a gold cloth covers it to the ground." —
d'Aveiro, Itinerario, 121.
- d'Aveiro, Itinerario, V. 139, and XLII. Eugene Roger, La Terre
Saincte, 90-5. 3 Jbid., 120-1.
no THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Leaving the gate, the pilgrims passed the bridge over
the Kedron, and arrived now on the opposite side, facing
the Mount of OHvcs. Here the Virgin had spent most of
lier days. They next went to the Garden of Gethsemane,
which stretched along the foot of the Mount of Olives.^
They saw the identical place where Judas hanged himself,
and the exact spot where Christ had been taken prisoner.
Then they went to the Wilderness, where Satan had
tempted Christ ; and from there they saw the tomb of
Zacharias, which lay away in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, to
the south, and almost at the foot of the INIount of Offence,
beside the tombs of The Prophets.
Having finished their pilgrimage in Jerusalem, they
departed northward, crossing Samaria. They stopped at
Tabor, where Christ had appeared to His disciples,
Peter, James, and John, and where Moses and Ellas had
come to speak to Him. Tabor appeared to the travellers
enveloped in its miraculous cloak of snow. " It appears,
with its snow, like a huge white tomb, and when one
approaches the snow seems to elude one, and it no longer
looks like a tomb. It may be that God wishes no man to
know where Moses was buried."
Mount Tabor raises its solitary peak like a sugar-loaf.
Its base measures three miles in circumference ; and its
diameter is about five hundred paces ; while its summit is
1,000 metres above sea-level. One can see all Palestine
from here, except Tiberias and its lake, which is hidden
behind Mount Saron. Tiberias itself, seven leagues west-
ward of Nazareth, was then no more than a huddle of stone
columns, among which some dozen Moorish families made
their homes. ^ In the earlier part of the seventeenth
century, which was when Eugene Roger made his travels
in the Holy Land, there were twelve families of Portuguese
Jews in Tiberias, who were certainly fugitives from the
' " And it is so hidden behind the Mount of Olives, that it almost appears
to be subterranean. Its upper walls are part of the Mount itself, and its
soil is gravel and slato : ... its earth is endowed with healing virtues
against infirmities." — d'Aveiro, Itinerario, 155.
* Eugene Roger, La Terre Saiiicle, 61.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 111
persecutions of the Jews that had taken place in Portugal
during the previous century. In the middle of this
century. Friar PantaleSo d'Aveiro already notes the
existence of numerous colonies of Jews, who had emigrated
back from Portugal and Spain, In Sapheto, there were
more than 500 of these,^ " telling me that their sins had
expelled them from Portugal, not to the Promised Land,
as they had hoped, but to the Land of Despair, where they
now found themselves struggling in their misery." In
Damascus the travellers came across another Portuguese
colony; 2 and in Tripoli, the seaport of Beiruth "there
were about 2,000 Jews, the greater part of whom were
Portuguese." ^
The Sea of Galiiee, extending over an area of sixty
square miles, could also be seen from here ; and its aspect
reminded the travellers of the estuary of the Tagus
opposite Lisbon.* Its waters are holy to the Jew as
well as to the Arab and Christian. Around its shores
were gathered five tribes ; and from the thriving days of
Palestine, when it was under Roman rule, there survived
the ruins of numerous cities : Tiberias, resting almost upon
its waters, Capernaum, Chorozin, Hippos, and Bethsaida
(or Julias), the birthplace of the Apostles Peter, Andrew,
James and John, the Galilean fishermen who had been
the first to listen to the Word of the Divine Master whose
voice had calmed the turbulent waters when they had
sailed out to cast their nets. Between Bethsaida and
Tiberias, on the hill -top, loomed the dark ruins of the
walls of Magdalon Castle, after which Mary Magdalene
had been named ; and along the shores of this historical
sea, among the ruins of its cities, wandered many vagrant
tribes of Moors — ten or twelve families of them living
around Bethsaida.^
Mount Tabor was no exception to the prevailing deso-
lation. It also had been twice adorned with a profusion
of buildings : first in the remote ages of Aristobulus' son,
1 Eugene Roger, La Terre Saincte, 26G-8. 2 ^j^-,;^ 273. ' Ihid., 292.
* d'Aveiro, Itintrario, 264. ^ Eugene Roger, La Terre Saincte, 62-4.
112 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
when it had been defended under the leadership of Gabinius
af^ainst the Roman invasion by Vespasian ; secondly,
when the Empress Helena had erected on its summit
a church with three chapels. The ruins of the ancient city,
the remains of its walls, of its churches and convents were
now half-hidden by the thick brushwood of arbutus-
berries, buck's-horns, crow-berries, civadillas, and carob
plants, struggling amid a sea of wild shrubs and rosemary.
And to add to this general desolation, numerous flights of
wild doves echoed their plaintive song, as if lamenting the
wild boar's possession of this Sacred Mount, whose rugged
slopes were absolutely inaccessible on all sides except one.
At the base of an abrupt rise, a bridge and the village of
Tur, inhabited by Moors, survived with the help of the
taxes paid by pilgrims, who every time they wished to
ascend this Sacred Mount made the rustic inhabitants
richer by twenty " soldos." ^
Leaving these scenes behind them, the travellers re-
turned to Nazareth; and there, after having gone to
Hebron, eight miles from Jerusalem, to see the resting-
place of Adam, they saw the place where our Lord, after
rising from the dead, had appeared to His disciples.
Over Adam's grave the ]\Ioors had erected a magnifi-
cent mosque, very similar in construction to the one in
Jerusalem."^
Beyond Galilee, the travellers entered the Syrian Desert,
from whose mounts of red clay God had fashioned Adam.^
^ Eugene Roger, La Terre Saincte, 55-9. Delia Valle, Viaggi, I. 500,
calls this village " Tabor."
2 Gomes de Santo Estevam calls this " Ecrem" — apparently referring
to Hebron. C^. d'Aveiro, Itinerario, 95, and Eugdne Roger, ibid., 185-(3.
•^ " The Christians of the Land make beads for rosaries with this clay,
and sell them to pilgrims. Some of them are left in their natural colours,
others again are dyed black. The Moors make flat cakes with this clay,
and call them ' Talisman Earth,' exporting them for sale to Persia, Ethiopia.
India, and throughout the whole Orient, where they are sought after as
precious things. The hole from which this clay is taken, at least the one
I saw, is only large enough to holtl three men. and this only as far as their
waists. The inhabitants fell me with conviction, that in spite of both
Moslem and Christian taking out clay, the hole remains always of the
same depth." — d'Aveiro, Itinerario, V. 200.
I
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 113
They took with them some of this red clay as a relic;
and they saw, at the same time, the grotto where Adam
and Eve dwelt after the expulsion from Eden.
All these incidents, sacred to their religious minds, were
either correctly or otherwise associated with the various
places they visited. They now made for Armenia and
Syria, hoping that after their pious pilgrimage they might,
with greater safety, penetrate the mysterious East.
Santo Estevam tells us that they reached the Armenian
Mountains, where tradition has it that Noah landed on
Mount Ararat (Macis or Agri-Dagh), nine miles south-east
of Erivan, after the Flood. It is, however, unlikely that
they travelled so far, because he tells us very little for
such a long journey. Geographical names were, in those
days, applied with great lack of precision ; and this must
have been more so when dealing with such an unknown
country as Armenia then was.
What is more likely is that, proceeding beyond the north
of Palestine, they probably reached the mountain ranges
of the Lebanons, and were compelled to turn back :
" These mountains of Armenia are very high," writes
de Santo Estevam, " and we spent one and a half days in
climbing them. Through this range passes a very full
stream, where many precious stones are found. ^ Between
these two ranges, lying crossways, we found Noah's Ark,
which on account of the river's dampness was overgrown
with weeds, and so covered with bird-lime as to be in
parts snow-white; but none of us could proceed and
approach the Ark on account of the thick woods and the
precipitous ground we encountered."
Defeafed in this attempt to reach the East, they re-
turned to Egypt; and here, the Prince's travels acquire
a new character.
1 Perhaps this is the R. Lita, or the Orontes, both of which rising at Baalbek
(Hehopohs) in the middle of the Bucca Valley, between the parallel ranges
of the Lebanons and the Anti-Lebanons, run in opposite directions, the
first, southward towards the Sea at Tyre, the second northward, mLxing
Its waters with thoc:e of the River Eleutherus, and passing Antioch, opening
into the Sea at Zemar or Simyra.
I
114 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
His caravan arriving at Babylonia (Cairo), they found
there, according to Estevam, another Sultan. He was a
Castilian, a native of Villa Nueva de la Serena, in
Estremadura, and the son of Master Martin and of Barbuda.
Positive statements such as these having no relation to the
prevalent ideas of the sixteenth century, that so powerfully
influenced Gomes de Santo Estevam in other parts of his
narrative, are additional proofs in favour of the truth of
this part of his writings, and lend colour to the suspicion
that in other parts they were mutilated and transposed
by their first editor, working from a more ancient manu-
script, in an attempt to endow them with a superior
historical character to that of the actual facts associated
with Prince Peter's real travels. At any rate the fact
remains that the latter half of the narrative is singularly
confused and falsified, though curiously enough the facts
concerning this Castilian Sultan are accurate.
To the astonished Prince and his suite, the Sultan of
the Mamelukes related his story. It appeared that he
had been taken prisoner in his youth during an incursion
of the Moors from Granada. Subsequently he had been
educated as a Moslem, and eventually hiid gravitated
to Egypt, where he had been enrolled in the Sultan's
bodyguard. His rise to power, though rapid, was not
without precedent ; for cases similar to his were not un-
common, and indeed, were not unlikely to happen in
dependent provinces and States such as Egypt, where the
unstable Government frequently fell into the hands of any
powerful military individual who could make himself
sufficiently feared. Indeed, this was so frequently the
ease that the bodyguard often possessed more power than
the Sultan himself. Under such circumstances travellers
ran the risk of finding these sporadic rulers disporting
themselves with exceptional lawlessness and cruelty; but
on the other hand, as was the case here, they could also
sometimes be approached with the sentimentality of
patriotic recollections ; and in Prince Peter's case, as it
happened, the new Sultan received them with open arms,
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 115
even allowing them to be accompanied on their travels
by his own guards.
It is difficult to be certain what direction they took.
It seems, however, that they travelled up the Nile. For
the third time, they sought the elusive East, seeking
Prester John ; and this time, they had taken a safer if not
a more certain road. Through the deserts that stretched
alongside of the Nile, they arrived at " Assiao," which,
without doubt, is Assuan, on the extreme lowlands of the
Nile. They then crossed the " Ninive " desert — possibly
Nubia ; and their city of " Samara " may be Samhara,
on the shores of the Red Sea, southward, near the Straits
of Bab-el -Mandeb. The writer tells us, indeed, that they
crossed over to Arabia (facing the Yemen shores) ; and here
he cites the well-known custom there of exhibiting the
dead, detailing with exactitude the City of Saba (Mara),
Marieba (Mareb or Sabbiah), between the Yemen and the
Mascati. Intimately connected with Oriental commerce,
this was the ancient and prosperous land from which
tradition tells us came the Queen of Sheba who \'isited
Solomon, and trusted him to establish commercial relations
with Ophir, Western India, through the Red Sea and
the Gulf of Akabah, near Mount Sinai. From there they
turned northward again ; and thus the Prester John
whom they sought, was left behind amongst his strong-
holds in the Ethiopian Mountains.
At Sinai, they visited the tomb of St. Catharine, guarded
by a battalion of 180 monks ; and here Santo Estevam
gives us the following description of what he saw : " The
place where the body of St. Catharine rests is a monastery
built on an enormous and lofty rock, which is said to be
the one that Moses wounded with his rod, when he got
water for the Children of Israel. On the rock there is a
large visible laceration, but there is no water flowing.
Above the rock is a small church, wherein is the Sepulchre
of the Holy Saint; and here there are constantly two
Franciscan monks keeping vigil over the tomb of St.
Catharine, who is yet buried therein in flesh and bone.
116 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Near the rock there are two poles, and two enormous
cables tied thereto ; and on the top of the wall of the church
there are two other poles to which two monks are firmly
tied. By means of a rope ladder, the two monks climb
to the uppermost, which is fully 170 cubits hijrh; and
to them those in the monastery below send up every
third day three things : water, bread for food, and oil
for their lamp, and these they place inside a basket,
which those above pull up by means of a rope. And thus,
when they are in need of anything, they write on a piece
of parchment and put it in the basket, so that those below
may know what they want in the basket. We asked
the Prior's leave to ascend, and he willingly consented.
And we started climbing the ladder, and as soon as those
above knew of our approach, they stooped before the
steps of the altar, so that we saw not their faces. We
entered the church, which is made of two stones only.
The floor of the church, and the steps of the altar, and of
the tomb of St. Catharine, under which is the plate
wherein the oil drops out of the Saint's body, is all made
of one stone; the door of the church, and the roof is all
another stone; and the place wherein she is buried is
all miraculously wrought by the craft of angels. Ascend-
ing the steps, the Saint's body can be seen in its flesh and
bone, which is within the altar to a depth of half a rod.
And so that she may be seen and not touched, there is
in front a stone like a net, marvellously transparent;
and on this altar Mass is said. And there the oil, which
comes from her arms, is seen, and it cures all infirmity.
We prayed here, and saw the perfection of this church
for five or six hours ; and then we descended the
rope-ladder to the monastery below, and Prince Peter
asked the Prior permission to depart, and the Prior
answered :
" ' If it is thy wish to depart, bear in mind that ye
must all pass through the land of unbelievers, and ye
are thirteen, so take with you from here thirteen tunics
to be buried in, if, peradventure, any of you die.'
» »»
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 117
It is possible that in Sinai there were then, when Prince
Peter visited these parts, hermits who Kved on the heights
of almost inaccessible rocks, receiving their food by
means of ropes ; but it is equally possible, that the writer,
Santo Estevam, is mixing truth with fiction in all its variety.
On the summit of Mount Sinai there is, in fact, a chapel,
and tradition further tells us that from this summit the
remains of St. Catharine " are guarded by angels," ^
whilst below is the monastery in which the body of the
Saint is buried. ^ The convent, rising over the place
where the Holy Flame appeared to Moses when he was
leading the Israelites into the Promised Land, was at
first merely a chapel erected by the Empress Helena;
later, Justinian built there a vast church and monastery,
round the encastled walls of which the Alarves of Sinai
came to demand food with an outcry of threats. Tradition
informs us that one of these nomads was Mahomet, who
served these monks as a camel -boy, and who commanded
that, in recognition of this, the monastery was to be
respected for ever afterwards by his followers .^
^ '". . . cappelletta che nella cima altissima del Sinai dove gli Angeli
portarono il corpo di Santa Cathrina e lo cusodirono un tempo. II sasso'
dove a ponto ella giacera e per miracolo, come dicono, gonfio e mostra
quasi la figura do un corpo nel luogo dove il suo corpo riposava." — Delia
VaUe, Viaggi, I. 356.
2 " Bacciamo piu volte la Santa testa e la mano sinistra, che bellissima
si vede con tutte le sue dita, came e unghie." — Ibid., 362.
3 Ibid., 345, 7.
" In early Christian times the solitudes of the Sinaitic district drew
to a site invested with such sanctity a large number of anchorites. A
host of cells and convents arose in clefts of the rocks and at the base of
the mountains; the town of Feiran was founded in the wady of that
name, close to the precipices of Jebel Serbal, and became the seat of a
bishopric, and not less than 6000 monks or hermits were in the neighbour-
hood at tlie time of the Saracen conquests. Some ruins of the town,
overgrown with tarfa-trees, crown a lofty rock in the middle of the valley,
and on both sides of it are seen deserted houses, several perched at a great
height, with ancient excavated tombs. Wady Feiran, the most pleasant
spot in the peninsula, and possibly the scene of the long halt of Israel
prior to tho one at Sinai, has a generally constant brook, and therefore
vegetation of luxuriant palms and feathery tamarisks. . . . Of aU the
establishments of the old Christian population of these highlands, the
only important one remaining is the convent named after St. Catharine,
its vice-patroness, but reaUy dedicated to the Transfiguration. It stands
at the base of Jebel Mousa (Moimtain of Myrrh), 5452 feet above the sea.
118 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
With Sinai finishes the description of the journey;
that is, if the description of the incursion into Arabia
docs not belong to the reahns of phantasy. The " Auto-
script " of Santo Estevam says, that they next went to
Mecca to see the tomb of the prophet; and he further
describes the travels of Prince Peter in Ethiopia, portray-
ing the land of Prester John in the fancy colours of Mediae-
valism.^ It is incredible that Prince Peter went to
Ethiopia, or that he met Prester John ; and in all likelihood
the descriptions given are interpolations of the first
editor. From Mount Sinai Prince Peter must have
returned b)^ way of Egypt to Europe,^ through which he
travelled leisurely from south to north, studying foi some
time at the colleges in Paris, and in all probability going
as far north as Denmark to visit King Eric, his former
and partly on its steep slope, in a valley so narrow that little room is left
between its walls and the mountain opposite. It was founded by the
Emperor Justinian, at the traditional site of Jethro's Well and the Burning
Bush. According to a legend, one of its early inmates was informed in
his sleep that the body of St. Catharine, who suffered martjTdom at Alex-
andria, had been conveyed by angels to the top of the highest peak in the
vicinity. The monks therefore ascended in procession, found the corpse,
and deposited it in their church, and hence arose the cimmon name of
the convent, with that of Jebel Katerin. The building is a regular monastic
fortress, being enclosed with high and solid walls of granite, surmounted
with small towers, and defended by guns against the Arabs. In the
interior are several courts planted with flowers and vines. Balconies with
wooden balustrades run round each area, on which the doors of the several
apartments open. The inmates, from twenty to thirty in number, are all
foreigners, chiefly from the Greek islands, and are employed in some pro-
fession, in addition to their religious duties. No natives of the wilderness
are aUowed to enter the convent, except those who arc retained as servants,
but a supply of bread is lowered down to them from the walls as often as
it is demanded; and as there is no door, visitors from distant lands are
hoisted up to the battlements by a windlass. The interior of the church
has a richly-adorned roof, supported by rows of granite pillars, walls hung
with portraits of saints, and a floor paved with beautiful slabs of marble.
From 5000 to 6000 wandering Arabs constitute the present population of
the desert, claiming at pleasure the hospitality of the monks." — Thos.
Milner's Geography, p. 875.
* Vide The True Fdcls Regarding the Land of Prester John of India, by
P. Francisco Alvarcs, edit, in 1520, republished in Lisbon in 1889.
* The ( 'hronicle ofNuretnburg, edit. 1493 : " Essai sur Thist. de la cosmog.,
etc.," III. 2.31 — includes in folio CCXC Porlufjaliu a lengthy reference to
I'rincc Peter, Regent during the minority of Aflouso V, and says that he
travuUed throughout almost all Europe.
I
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 119
companion-at-arms, who was- then at the height of his
glory as Emperor of the North.
He was styled " Emperor of the North " because, after
the union of the three crowns of Sweden, Norway, and
Denmark, under Margarita, whom he succeeded, the
Scandinavian people, united in one kingdom, wished to
reconstruct for themselves an Empire similar to the old
Roman Imperium. The same had happened in Spain,
when Affonso VI (1072-1109), after a prodigious expansion
of his dominions, called himself Emperor; for in the political
mind of the Middle Ages there still survived the idea
that above the nations' independent thrones there should
be one supreme ruler to dominate the Empire, as happened
in Germany and Italy.
This idea, however, did not become generalised, chiefly
because of the example of France which gave other
monarchies a new type of Government for imitation ; and
so the attempt to constitute a Scandinavian Empire
failed also. Eric I was deposed in 1437 ; and although
Christovan, " The Brave," succeeded in preserving the
union for eight years, the kingdoms were again separated
in 1448. At the time of Prince Peter's visit, however,
the " Emperor " Eric must have been, as we have stated,
at the height of his power.
From Denmark, the Prince went to England, where we
find him in the fourth year of Henry VI's reign (1422-
1461), that is in 1425,^ when he was invested with the
^ " About Michaelmas, Peter, Duke of Coimbra, Prince of Portugal,
came into England, and was honourably received and feasted by the
King's nncles, and was also elected into the Order of the Garter "...
Anno regui 4, Henry VI : John Stow, The Annals of England (London,
1592), p. 693.
Another document, however, dates this visit of the Prince as 1422 :
"The Prince of Portugal, being at this time (1422) on his travels in
England, he, with the Archbishop of Canterbury generously undertook
to compose the difference between the protector and the bishop ; but their
endeavours proving unsuccessful, the duke of Bedford, Regent of France,
and brother to the protector, for the good of the pubUc judged it necessary
to come over to accommodate the affair in controversy." — Thos. Allen,
The Hist, and Antiq. of London, etc., I. 153.
During Henry VTs minority, his two uncles, the Dukes of Bedford and
of Gloucester, the former in France, the latter in England, ruled his two
120 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Order of the Garter, to which his travelHng companion,
Alvaro Vaz already belonged. Close family ties united
at that time the Royal Houses of England and Portugal;
and these ties corresponded to the links of friendship
forged by the various alliances between the two countries.
Though the King was a mere child, the power of England
was almost paramount in France, so much so, that in
14-31 Henry VI was actually crowned King of France in
Paris. In Rouen they were burning Jeanne d'Arc, and
France was looked upon as a country disappearing from
the map of Europe.
Jeanne d'Arc saved it ; the flames of the fire that burnt
her kindled the conflagration of patriotism, and from this
crucial moment the wheel of Fortune became reversed.
In 1451, with the loss of Bordeaux and Bayonne, the reign
of Henry VI over France terminated; and in the following
years the Wars of the Roses cost him his crown and his
reason. His defeats at Northampton, Wakefield, and
Towton (1460-61) dethroned him, exiled his Queen,
Margarite, to France, and raised the House of York to
royal power.
At the end of December (1425), Prince Petor embarked
at Dover and sailed to Ostend, visiting Flanders to meet
Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, and perhaps, indeed,
to make arrangements for the marriage of his sister,
Princess Isabel, which took place four years later.
The Duke had succeeded his father, John the Fearless,
in 1419, and, since 1420, had been allied with the English
in their wars with France. The Flemish worshipped him
for the good he had done them whilst residing among
them constantly. Their fixed hostility to France, whose
Kings had been their overlords from the creation of the
Earldom in 862 to the time of Baldwin-of-thc-Iron-Arm,
had never been able to find adequate expression until
kingdoms for him, each with the title of " Protector." Henry V had
died in France in the year 1422, when his heir waa merely eiyht months
old.
Perhaps Prince Peter visitod England on two occeisions, one before, and
the other after his travels in the East.
I
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 121
1384, when by the marriage of the Countess Margarita III
of Dampierre to the Duke of Burgundy, Philip I, the
two small States, the northern and the southern, wedged
in between France and Germany, became united under
one owner. This union, completing the barrier between
Fi'ance and Germany, like a restoration of the " Lotha-
ringa " of the treaty of Verdun (843), had been the
cherished ambition of the House of Burgundy for genera-
tions, an ambition, which now had been realised by Charles
the Bold, and was to ripen more fully after the marriage
of Philip the Good with Prince Peter's sister.
But, in addition to the natural aspirations of Burgundy,
there had been added now a hatred, and to these future
hopes, a yearning for vengeance which moved Philip the
Good, Duke of Burgundy, and of Brabant, of Limburg
Luxemburg, Count of Flanders, Holland, and Zeeland,
Knight of Malines and Marquis of the Holy Empire, " the
greatest uncrowned Prince in these days throughout all
Christendom," to ally himself with all and every foe of
France ; ^ for he had to avenge the ruthless murder of his
father, John the Fearless, on the Bridge of Montereau,
in 1419, when he was on his way to Paris to conclude
terms of peace with the Armagnacs. His ambassadors,
Guy de Bar, and the noblemen de Chatelux and de I'lsle-
Adam, had been sent in advance of him some months
before. He himself followed in September, and it was
while crossing the fatal bridge, in company of the Dauphin,
that he had been treacherously knocked down by a blow
on the head, and Tannegui du Chatel, whilst he was lying
stunned upon the ground, had buried his sword in his
body.2 Thus perished John the Fearless, at the age of
forty-nine, when he had scarcely reigned sixteen years.
The tragedy could not be forgotten by his son and heir ;
and in Prince Peter, coming from England, full of hatred
^ Azurara, Chron. do Conde D. Pedro, II. p. xxvi.
* " Being summoned by the King of France, he was murdered by a
wound on the head, and by the false hand of Tannegui du Chatel." —
Glossary to the Poem by Don Pedro, 1478, Saragossa, No. 776, Nat. Lib.
of Lisbon, p. 8.
122 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
towards France, he found a congenial counsellor. While
England attacked one flank, they deemed victory would
be certain if they attacked the other. It, however, proved
to be otherwise. France withstood the English attack
and crushed Burgundy ; and the ambitious schemes of
the Prince, if perchance they formed this perspective,
proved fruitless in the end.
The day after his landing at Ostend, he arrived at
Udenburg,^ where he spent the night, according to the
custom of the time, in the Abbey. ^ There the Senate of
Bruges sent an envoy to meet him,^ and prepared for him
a festive reception. Immediately on his arrival, on
Christmas Eve, they offered him " the wine of honour " *
according to the custom of the Flemish, repeating the
ceremony again on Tuesday, New Year's Day, 1426.^
On Thursday, Prince Peter and his suite met the Duke
1 Arch, du Franc, do Bruges, No. 102, a.d. 1240-30 (arch, de I'Etat).
The register of Prince Peter's travels in Flanders were extracted in 1872
from the documents of the Cities of Bruges and Ghent by Herr Eniile van
den Busche.
^ Dep. pour messages : Le 22 decerabre (1425) a Guillaume Haghelin
envoye a Oudenbourg a la recontre du fils du Roi de Portugal, pour un
jour XX gros — valent XX sous. " Comptes de le ville de Bruges pour leg
ann. 142.>-26." No. 32, 480 V Invent, impr. des ch. de^ comptes.
' " XXa secunda die mensis decembris, ann. Dni. MCCCXXV illustr.
princeps Petrus fil. regis Portucalensis, visitav. ctenobiura et ecclesiam
nostram." — Arch, de VEtat, abb. d'Oudenbourg, A-nnot. Hist. Inv. litt.,
V. 2.
* Dec. 23, dimanche. Offert k Dom Pierre, tils du Roi de Portugal :
24 cruchons, tout en amer, payes a Jean de Bicke a 7 gros le cruchon,
141.
" Dec. 25, mardi, jour de Noel. Achet6 a Pierre Bustyn. 18 rasi^res et
5 cruchons de vin qui fut affert au bailli, bourgomestre, Ichcvins et autres
qui ont I'habitude d' avoir du vin, ct tout ccux que corame le fils du Roi
de Portugal, etaient ici, etc." — Arch, de Bruges ; reg. des ch. des comptes,
cah. 1425-26.
'" Janvier Icr., mardi —
A Monseigneur le chancelicr 16 cruchons a 8 gr. 101. 8.
Au fils du roi do Portugal— 24 cruchons.
A Monseigneur de Tomai — IG cruchons.
Janvier C, dimanche —
A Monseigneur Toumai — 12 cruchons a 8 gr.
Au fils du roi do Portugal — 24 cruchons.
Aux d<5put^s do Gand — 12 cnichons.
Aux d(!'put€s d'Yprcs — 4 cruchons.
Arch, de Bruges ; rig. des ch. comptes, ch. 1425-26.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 123
of Burgundy, Philip, his future brother-in-law, at the
Castle of Wynendale, where a hunt had been prepared in
his honour; ^ and on January 31, the City of Bruges
held a tournament at Buerch, and a reception at the
Senate House followed by a ball, also for him.^ Evidently
Bruges was determined to fete the friend of their Duke.
In April, after Eastertide, the Prince departed to Ghent,
where the Duke again awaited him. He remained a year
or more in Flanders, in the company of his future brother-
in-law, seeing, observing and studying methods of Govern-
ment, embodying his observations in letters to his brother.
Prince Duarte, whc, as we know, was at that time govern-
ing his father's kingdom. Several of these letters from
Bruges are still extant, letters formulating a political
programme inspired by the generous ideas common to
this generation of the House of Aviz.
From Flanders, he went through Hungary to Venice,
in the spring of 1428, perhaps on account of business
relating to his Duchy in Treviso, bordering on the realms
of the Venetian Republic, certainly to gather information
about the trade of the Republic : for whilst there he
collected such maps, and information on maritime dis-
coveries, as he knew would help the ambitious plans of
his brother Henry.
The Republic was then at the height of its power. For
the previous ten centuries the Venetians had dominated
the Western world, and, by their proximity to Byzantium,
also H rained the wealth of the Eastern Empire ; whilst,
in addition, their site on the Mediterranean had enabled
them to defy both Arab and Turk. Thus these ten
centuries had been a history of constant progress. As
^ Arch, de VBtai, a Bruges. Justif. de comptes, n. 921.
^ " Depenses pour choses diverse : Le 30 Janvier, donne pour frais fait
chez Dolius van Thielt, ou les bourgomestres, echevins, tresoriers, notables
et autres officiers de la ville souperent lorsque le fils du roi de Portugal
assista au tournoi au Buerch : XXXIII sous V deniers gros, valent XX
livres, XIII sous. Item. Donne a Comeille Jordaen doyen des boueur
pour avoir arrange le fumier au Buerch, avec ses compagnons quand eu
lieu le tournoi en honeur du fils du roi de Portugal : XVIs. gr. valent IX
sous." — Comptes de lu ville de Bruges, 1425-26, n. 32, 480, etc.
124 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Queen of the Adriatic, Venice had disputed the domain
of Lombardy over Milan, swaying the Mediterranean with
her settlements scattered along the ancient colonies of
Magna Graeca.
Now, having attained to the zenith of her power, resting
on her interlacing canals, with her 10,000 gondolas, black
as ink, passing each other in their silent, gliding traffic,
below her fifty bridges, she presented to the traveller an
aspect as dazzling as it was singular. Tlic splendour
of her palaces, the reflection of her marbles, the illumination
of her stained-glass windows bewildered him. Her silent
waterways, without the rumble proper to other great
cities, seemed strange to the ear of the stranger. Her
market-places were a continual feast of colour. The transept
that leads from the Piazza di San Marco to the Rialto was
a fair where all kinds of precious textures were exhibited
for sale in interminable bazaars : jewellery, furniture,
perfumes and spices, brocades, ivories, and all the products
of the East and West, including illuminated manuscripts
and the famous cut-glass of Venice were bein<T displayed
on every hand. Her Arsenal and Treasury, one enclosed
within her band of fortified and turreted walls, the other
hidden within the Crypts of San Marco, containing the
Regalia of Cyprus and Crete, and its two carbuncles, as
large as a hen's-egg, were the two chief sights of this
singular city that had sprung from her wedlock ^ with the
Adriatic. All distant commerce then converged towards
Venice ; her ships commanded even the Turkish shores ;
and her merchants had penetrated even to the fabulous
East. Indeed, one of her sons, Marco Polo, as early as
1270, had got as far as China, and the written narrative
^ Tlio Republic of Venice was known as the " Bride of the Sea " on
account of the ceremony of wedding the Adriatic instituted in 1174 by
Pope Alexander III, wlio gave the Doge of the Republic a gold ring from
his own finger in token of tlio victory achieved by the Venetians at Istria
over Frederick Barbarossa, in defence of the Pope's quarrel. When his
Holiness gave the ring he desired tlie Doge to throw a similar one into
the sea every year on Ascension Day, in commemoration of the event.
At the ceremony the Doge threw the ring saying : " Wo wed thee, O sea,
in token of perpetual domination."
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 125
of his travels, travels so extraordinary that they seemed
almost fanciful, had stirred the imagination of the entire
European world to the depths.^
It was into this wonder city that Prince Peter entered
almost as a neighbouring sovereign, since he was Duke
of Treviso which in bygone days had belonged to the
Republic, supplying it with the timber to build its navies,
and connecting it by land with the inland powers of Central
Europe. The Prince was escorted by 300 horsemen, and
the Republic, having decided to receive him regally,
sent four ambassadors to meet him. The Doge, with the
city's nobility, awaited him in the State Galley of the
Republic, surrounded by a magnificent fleet of flag-
emblazoned gondolas and barges manned by soldiers.
Royally they entertained the Prince and his suite, over-
whelming them with gifts, and repeating their generosity
at the termination of the innumerable public festivities
celebrated in his honour by presenting him with hundreds
of splendid silks, velvets, and brocades, in that wealth of
colour and workmanship for which Venice had become
renowned throughout all Europe.
Leaving Venice, he travelled to Rome, laden with gifts,
the envoys of the Republic accompanying him as far as
Ferrara.2 But of all the presents that he took with him,
nothing was half so precious as the account of Marco
^ Marco Polo was bom in Venice in 1254. His father and his uncle,
having penetrated into China, had returned as the Emperor's Kubla's
envoy to the Pope. Finding that Clement IV had died, the father went
back af in envoy of Gregory X, accompanied, this time, by his son Marco,
who was then seventeen. They travelled to Ormus Island on the Persian
Gulf, and thence by way of Persia, and central Asia, across the 1200 miles
long desert of Gobi into China. There they foimd themselves in great
favour with the Great Khan, who sent young Marco on numerous distant
missions. Returning home Marco Polo was taken prisoner by the Genoese,
after a victory over the Venetians, and it was simply owing to the fact that,
during his imprisonment, he used to while the tedious hours away relating
the story of his adventures, and that one Rusticiano of Pisa, a fellow
prisoner, wrote them down, that his name has now become famous for all
time.
* " Aveva con lui cavalli 300 a quaU per la Signoria furono fatte le
spese e 25 gentil-huomini I'accompagnarono fine a Ferrara." — Marino
Sanudo, Vitce ducum venet., in Muratori, rer. Italic, script., XXII. 999.
126 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Polo's travels, with which the Republic presented him
in recognition of the freedom that her people had enjoyed
in Portugal/ and the maps of distant regions, precious
treasures which would fill his brother Henry with
satisfaction.
In Mav 1428, the Prince was in Rome, where Martino V
received him, granting him, as was customary, the Bull
that was habitually presented to the Kings of England,
France and Portugal, when they were crowned and
anointed.
From Rome, he went overland directly to Spain, meeting
at Penafiel near Valladolid the King of Navarre, whose
sister was to be his future sister-in-law. ^
Thus eventually he arrived at his o^vn country, after
ten years of distant and perpetual travel. It could have
been said, indeed, in those days, that he had seen the whole
world. And everywhere he went he brought honour to
his country, leaving behind him a track of pleasant
memories in all the Courts and countries that he visited.
Portucral was, in fact, enriched bv these travels of her
Prince ; for the agreement with the House of Burgundy
now linked the House of Aviz, so intimately connected
with that of Lancaster, with the two most renowned and
powerful families in all Europe. Returning, he had
brought with him a wealth of experience and information,
more widespread and more valuable than any one had
hitherto done — especially needful at that time, since he
* " And in the times that Prince Peter, of glorious memory, arrived in
Venice, and after the grand fetes and honours that were given in his
honour on account of the fropdom that they thomsolvea had hrul in our
country, as if to thank him, they offered him as a handsome gift the Book
of Marco Polo, which lie brought back with him as he wished to explore
the world." — Extracted from the Portuguese translation by Val. Fernando
of Marco Polo's book, 1502, in the City library. Lisbon.
' " Leaving Tordcsillas, he (the King of Navarre) wa.s accompanied
for one mile by the King of Castile on his way to Penafiel, and in this
town they met Prince Peter, Infante of Portugal, who was on his way
to Navarre and who was returning from the Courts of the Christian Princes,
and who, being festively received was presented with two •Sicilian horses." —
Garibay, Comp. hist, de laa Cron. y univ. hist, de iodoa los reynoe de EapaHa.
(Amberee, 1571). III. 437.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 127
found on his arrival his aged father in the second childhood
of old age, one of his brothers wholly enslaved by his
plans of discovery and conquest, and another, Prince
Duarte, bending under the weight of Government to a
point prejudicial even to his life. It was, indeed, high
time, therefore, that he returned to give a helping hand
in the internal administration of his country.
In the workings of these aristocratic monarchies, such
as existed in Europe during the dawn of the Renascence,
political marriages were the principal means of promoting
friendship between nations; and recognising this, the
Prince, on his return, became resolved to expel from his
life all further thoughts of adventure by marrying the
daughter of the Duke of Urgel, who had recently, in
1410-1412, disputed the rights of the father of the Queen
of Castile, and of the future Queen of Portugal, to the
crown ^ of Aragon. This marriage resulted from the
Prince's travels in Spain, and was intended to smooth
over mutual rivalries; but, unfortunately, from the
differences between the families of Urgel and of Castile
arose later the bitterness between Queen Leonora and
Prince Peter, causing the deplorable discord that followed.
In September 1428, Prince Duarte married. Six days
before this Prince Peter had arrived at Avellans, and in
Coimbra, m.eeting his brother, he had found him so en-
thralled by his new bride, that, listening to her " singing at
her monochord," he had forgotten to go hunting or indulge
in any of the other diversions peculiar to the time. With
Leonora had arrived the Archbishop of Santiago and
the Bishop of Cuenca, the Portuguese clergy being repre-
sented by the Archbishops of Lisbon and of Braga,
together with the Bishops of Coimbra and of Ceuta. The
r^flu'''^ took place at Santa Clara, where the bride
fulhlled the invariable mediaeval custom of fainting at the
end of the ceremony " on account of her dress, which was
very weighty, and the heat of the crowd of good people
that were therein assembled, and of the torches that were
large." They tried to carry her out, but could not lift
128 PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR
her ; they drenched her with Holy Water, and she opened
her eyes." ^ Such were the wedding auspices of the future
King, who was ever neglected by fortune !
After the Crown Prince's wedding. Prince Peter was
married in 1429; and in this same year Princess Isabel
married the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good, who had
acted as the Prince's host on his northern travels. For
this last marriage, there arrived at Lisbon, towards the
end of 1428, the Duke's ambassadors, ^ Baldwin de
Lanoy of Molemba (afterwards raised, in recognition of
his services, to the dignity of Duke of St. Albin), de
Rombais, and other noblemen. These accompanied the
Princess on her voyage, landed with her about Christ-
mas-time at Eclusa, and were present at the wedding
in Bruges on January 10. The rejoicings afterwards
were on a monumental scale : eight whole days of " Ker-
messe," enriched by the Order of the Golden Fleece.'
The Duke was the " Jason " who had captured from these
western confines of the earth this new prize of Phryxos
and of Helle, slaying the dragon, and obtaining the hand
of Isabel — his modern Medea. He looked lorward to a
life of happiness and satisfied ambition. Likewise Prince
Peter, having finished his travels, thought that he too
could settle down, moored in the safe harbour of domestic
contentment, after having acquired the '' Golden Fleece "
of knowledge at the hands of his worldly experience I
Man proposes . Little did either of them know what
Fate had in store for them !
' Tranalatod from a letter WTitten by Prineo Henry to his father, King
John, describing to him what had taken phice at this wedding.
^ Prince Duarte received magnificently the ambassadors of his future
brother-in-law. Among other festivities, he welcomed them with a
memorable supper, and " at this supper, the Prince gave many rich presents
and large.ss(5d to the flutists and minstrels, who had arrived on horse-
back, . . . and who performed melodiously on trumpets and other iiistru-
mcnts."— From the M.S. No. 11.215 in the Nat. Lib. of Paris.
' With the ambassador, Baldwin de Lanoy of Molembai, came the
Duke's servant, Johann van P>yck, the celebrated arti.st.— M.S. No. 11,215,
Nat. Lib. of Paris. Cf. also Racxyoski's Les arts en Portugal, 197.
CHAPTER V
A STATESMAN OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
Prince Peter was thirty-seven when he married and
determined to settle down. The knowledge gained in
his travels had stored his mind with much experience and
many memories. So, in the decade (1428-39) that lay
between his return to Portugal and the death of his brother
Duarte, taking himself and his position in the State with
a seriousness essentially English, he set himself to clarify
the knowledge he had acquired, studying to discover how
he might best apply that knowledge, guided by the clear
light of reason, for the benefit of the nation he would
have to govern in the not unlikely event of his brother's
death before the heir was of an age to undertake the
duties of his birth.
Having seen the surface of things, he now wished to
occupy himself with the hidden springs that formed their
motive powers ; and so he applied himself wholeheartedly
to the study of metaphysics, seeking the psychological
bases underlying men's thoughts and deeds, hoping thereby
to understand the ideas animating the common actions
of mankind.
In person he was tall, wiry, well built, and rather long
featured, possessing a long nose and a full beard. His
fair hair proclaimed his English blood, whilst his vague
contemplative blue eyes argued him possessed of the
dreamy Saxon temperament with all its accompanying
virtues and defects. He was slow of speech, self-centred,
and consequently rather neglectful of the opinions of
others, though this neglectfulness was masked by that
^ 129
130 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
polished urbanity of manner whicli is of the essential
training of a Prince. Yet, though quiet and contemplative,
he possessed the inherent obstinacy of mind peculiar to
those saturated with I heir own ideas, and when opposed
was subject to an explosive anger which completely swayed
him for the time, causing him to vent it in a manner
strangely at variance with the rules of philosophy he had
adopted as his guides in life. Nevertheless, he possessed
the precious qualities of his temperament. He lived for
his ideals amid the material pleasure-loving atmosphere
inherent in a Court, making few friends, estranging ordinary
minds by the rarified atmosphere in which his thoughts
moved, developing in consequence a contempt for the
kindly human weaknesses around him which deprived
him of the personal magnetism essential in the leader of
any successful reformation. With his mother's lineaments
he inherited also her lofty piety and ideals of personal
purity ; and so, as a corollary, his feelings towards the
Church were such that he would not permit the clergy to
kneel before him or kiss his hand. A Christian at heart,
" he frequently fasted, and throughout Lent habitually
slept, fully dressed, upon a heap of straw." ^
It is obvious that with such a character, though he
might be much respected, he would be little loved, his
friends though deeply attached would be few, and his
enemies many. Thus in many ways he was almost the
antithesis of his brother, Prince Henry, who, essentially a
man of action, and a burning enthusiast, wished to draw
all men's minds to his aid in the accomplishment of the
glorious dreams of conquest which his rapt vision saw
unfolding beyond the horizon of futurity; whilst he, on
the contrary, being of a subjective and philosophical turn
of mind, sought rather the springs of his ambitions, and
the guides for his actions, in closer connnunion with him-
self, using up his enthusiasm and energy in attempts to
decipher the riddle of the Universe.
> Ruy de Pina, Chron. de. Affonso V, CXXV. in the " Incd. da Academia,"
II. 432, 433.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 131
Thus, curiously enough, it came about that these two
diametrically opposed minds eventually found themselves
seeking the same goal, although by different routes : one
hoping to realise his dreams by the concrete discovery of
new lands, the other inspired to explore the world's more
abstract nature, travelling and making observations in
the undiscovered realms of the ideal, both seeking, as it
were, to penetrate the wall of the unknown.
We may, in truth, ask ourselves which of these two lines
of inquiry rewards the traveller, and the world, with
more material and stable results, and which of them brings
us nearer the mystery of the Universe !
In the ten years between his marriage and the death of
Prince Duarte, Prince Peter occupied himself in these
mental voyages, during which he visited the lands of
philosophy, and with all the eagerness of a Renascence
scholar explored the wealth of knowledge hidden in the
classics. It was during this period he translated Cicero's
Be officiis, and Vegetius' " On the Art of War." i Remem-
bering, moreover, the political experience he had gained
m his travels through Europe, and the principles he
had learnt by reading Gilles de Colonna's De Regimine
Pnncipwn, he also turned into Portuguese this famous
treatise dealing with the principles of monarchy which had
been written for the benefit of Philip of France, and had
been such a favourite of John of Portugal that he always
kept It beside him below his pillow. For the benefit of
his brother Henry he also translated Marco Polo's book,
which, as we have seen, had been presented to him by the
nobility of Venice.
These classical studies, and this reading of the authors
of his time, moulded his mind in a cast of philosophical
inquiry, and stimulated him to seek new adventures
navigating the obscure seas of critical and moral speculation,'
causing him to define his ideas and embroider his thoughts
m verse after the courtly custom of the times. We find
him, therefore, corresponding with John de Mena, the
^ Pina, Chron., XXV.
132 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Prince of Castilian poets, who would answer him also in
verse, of which the following is an example :
" Nunca fue despues ni ante
quyen vysse los atavios
& secretes de Lcuante,
BUS montcs, jnssoaa y rios,
suss calores y suss frios,
corao vos, senhor infante." *
1 " There was never aiter nor before
one who knows the silks
and secrets of Levant,
its hills, islands, and streams,
its heats, and its snows,
like you, noble prince."
Garcia de Rezendc in his Canciormrio Geral, "The Book of Song "^^^^
Kausler; Stuttgart, 1848, 3 vols.), gives three poems written by the i^nce
his letter to de Mena, and its answer (Vol. II p. 67-73). The Poem that
appears in this book headed " From the Infante D Pedro, «on of K ng
John of glorious memory, a depreciation of the World. ^Titten m the
Suan tongue, with a glossary," has been constantly but erroneously
'"Amad'o'r Z los Cs-in his Hist. crit. de la litt. Espanola, VII. 79, 80. says
that : this poem '" Depreciation of the World " was written f^o";^ 1^*^^^'
starting with the foUowing stanza, in which the poet, describing the m-
BtabUity of Court friendship. aUudes to the famihanty of Alvaro de Luna,
the Constable of Castile :
" Wc learn that they praise whate'er they find
In thee, whether it be good or evil :
Speak to the Master d'Escalona
And say whether he be faithful and loyal.
The " disgrace " of Alvaro de Luna. " The Master of Escalona." wm
from 1439-41 ; in 1449. when Prince Peter died, he was agam restored to
T^wer In 1441 King John II took the Prince of Aragon prisoner, and
Svaro left Escalona'to release him. It can be B^i^ ^hat th.s^8^^r.phe
dates from 1439-41; but, again, here Alvaro is called The Master ol
iS^lona.^a tltletha't he only obtained in 1445. after the battle o Olmedo
where th; Aragonese Prince Henry was kiUed I^.^^'^^f^. 439-^1
the date should be 1446. the poem refernng to the disgrace of 1439-41.
[The above criticism of OUveira Martins, ho^^^^^' l^^ours mvder the
erroneous impression that the Prince, himself was the author of this
poem. The author was m reality Prince Peter's son, Dom Pedro. The
STstake apparently originated in Garcia de R^^^^^e attrjbutong^^ Pnnce
Peter the authorship of the poem, not even aware of the meaning of the
following lines:
" See the Master, he lived in toil.
See beside him his early fall; "
D. Alvaro de Luna, the Master d'Escalona, died in 1453, four years after
Prince Peter's death. And if these proofs do not auflice, we hud the poem
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 133
These seeds of poesy, sown by the Prince in the imagina-
tion of his eldest son, brought forth their fruits, producing
the most perfect poem of the age — the censorial verses
in which the Constable Dom Pedro, the friend of the
Marquis of Santillana, poured out his grief at the immen-
sity of his misfortunes. There is no doubt, however, that
the Prince himself was the author of Horas da Confissao
{Hours in Confession), in which he immortalised the ideas
of his mystical mind. In another work of his, Virtuosa
beimfeitoria {Deeds of Virtue), we find the moral conclusions
of his philosophy;^ and in his letters to his brother, Prince
Duarte, a reflection of his practical statesmanship. We
may, perhaps, delay a moment over these, in order that
we may gauge more clearly the bent of mind which is
the special distinguishing characteristic of men of his
temperament.
With far-seeing eyes, writing from Bruges (1426) to
Prince Duarte, who asked his advice, he noted clearly the
strength, as well as the weakness of the Portuguese people,
who, to-day, possess the same characteristics unchanged
to have been edited in Saragossa in 1478, under the title " Verses composed
by the most illustrious Prince Peter of Portugal in which there are 1000
verses, with a glossary, on the depreciation of Life, and a censorial criticism
on the beauties of the World, showing their superficiality." In its text
we find a reference to PhiUp the Good of Burgundy, '" the victorious and
most famous lord, Duke Philip, 7ny uncle, an honour to Christendom "
(folic 8). Elsewhere he writes : " King John II of Castile, my uiicle "
(folio 5 and 10), and we find here a reference and account of Alvaro de
Luna's death. All this shows without doubt, that it was the Constable
Dom Pedro, son of Prince Peter, who was the author of this poem, and not
Prince Peter himself, as Garcia de Rezende would have us beheve by his
words : " son of King John of glorious memory." He should have written
" grandiofi " of King John.]
^ The Loyal Counsellor, by Prince Duarte, XXXVII., tells us that :
" The treatise is divided into six books. The first (20 chapters) defines
the title, and contains in itseK these chapters. . . ." The summary con-
tinues : " The third book tells us how virtuous actions should be petitioned.
The fourth how they should be received. The fifth expounds the meaning
of gratitude, and in what manner it should be made manifest. The sixth
and last book demonstrates the ways in which virtuous actions may
miscarry.'*
There is a copy of 534 pages of this work in the Library of the Academy
of Lisbon, and another in the Academy of History of Madrid. The treatise
is dedicated to Prince Duarte, and, therefore, must date from 1428-33.
134. THE GOLDEN AGE OF
as they did then, after four centuries wherein they have
crowded the splendid acliievements of twenty, as well as
sufi'ered the misfortunes which still burden them at the
present time. Living in prosperous Flanders, in the
classical land of " Kermesse," the Prince saw by contrast
the sobriety of his own people; but, on the other hand,
he noticed the vice of self-glorification that possessed
the Portuguese Court, and the folly of the custom of
ennobling each son to follow in his father's footsteps, and
thus ever increase the cloud of parasites, who in those
days flocked around the throne and filled the Court with
a mob of indolent and incapable hangers-on, ever hoping
by some turn of fortune to acquire position and place
without the merit deserving it. We find, here in the
fifteenth century, the germ of that deplorable state of
affairs in Portugal which arose when the unexpectedly
rapid expansion of her colonies outgrew the superfluous
population of the country, causing the enterprising and
healthy to emigrate, leaving the dregs behind to defend
the country and carry on its industries.
In Flanders, the Prince had noticed that the people
were mere tax-payers, possessing not a tithe ot the liberty
enjoyed by the Portuguese. Nevertheless he recommended
that an effort should be made to curb the almost royal
powers and check the extravagance of the nobility, whose
lawless greed was crushing the people between the mill-
stones of selfish interest and over- taxation. The custom
of the time compelled the people to support the Court
during its migrations from place to place, a burden which
was increased by the necessity of supplying also the services
of man and beast. This, he maintaincfl, was not as it
should be; nor, moreover, was it right that monasteries
and chapels should be requisitioned as inns and hostels,
sacrificing the revenues meant for religion and charity,
in order that a crowd of parasites should be comfortably
housed in their sanctuaries.
He pointed out that there were not sufficient horses in
the kingdom, and suggested that the privileges which
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 135
had been granted to those who could not supply the
proper quota of men and horses should be abolished as
an example to stimulate for the future.
It is evident from these extracts from his correspondence
that he had already formulated in his own mind those
ideas of organisation and reform which he afterwards
tried to carry out during his Regency. Such schemes,
however, were opposed on the one hand by the unbridled
power of the nobility, and on the other by the fervid
visions of discovery held by Prince Henry and his followers ;
both of which vested interests appealed more to the fear
as well as to the imagination of the nation than any
problematical visions of reform. For this reason, there-
fore, the future disastrous attempts to apply them during
the Regency were doomed to failure — a failure as complete
as all previous attempts had been.
The question at issue really revolved around the ex-
pediency of keeping Ceuta, and the general policy of
extending their possessions at the expense of Morocco.
Ceuta, Prince Peter maintained, was a veritable drain
on the country, a voracious consumer of troops, arms,
and money; and he added that in those lands where he
was travelling, England and Flanders, the trend of political
thought was no longer in favour of the lust for honours
and conquests, but dwelt rather on the " indiscretion of
supporting such ideas to the great loss and impoverishment
of the Fatherland."
Instead of casting their eyes towards adventures abroad,
they ought rather, therefore, to turn their attention to
the subject of home defence ; and here he dilated at length
on the importance of cavalry in warfare — an importance
which was even greater then than it is to-day, since fire-
arms were not yet in general use — pointing out, therefore,
the paramount importance of an adequate supply of
horses, and advising that certain privileges should be
granted to a community which in any part of the kingdom
possessed a stud of breeding mares.
Turning next to permanent defences, he condemned the
136 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
present fortifications as obsolete, and advised their recon-
struction, maintaining the thesis that, although with
these military preparations there would arise an excess
of unproductive public work, yet at the same time this
excess, by employing superfluous labour, would provide for
many unemployed. It was true, he admitted, that the
people groaned already under the burdens required of
them ; but the remedy for all these evils was the presence
of the King in the various districts at frequent intervals,
accompanied by men who understood the requirements
of the neighbourhoods, so that he could look into abuses
with a fully prepared mind, and at the same time stimulate
the loyalty of the masses by the evident care he was
bestowing on their interests.
In these schemes of national reorganisation, next to
the strengthening of the army, came the question of reforms
amongst the clergy — more important on account of the
moral character of their function, perhaps more urgent
also because of the gravity of certain abuses, that had
crept in amongst them. " You ought to take care " —
Prince Peter wrote to his brother — " to carrv out those
services that are chiefly Providence's ; and they arc those
that belong to the Church and to the clergy." The first
evil was the excessive number of clergy in minor Orders,
a hybrid class that corrupted the office of priesthood,
and increased parasitism. He advised that prelates should
be prohibited from granting these minor Orders, except
to those who were entering the Church in all faithfulness ;
and that, at least, they should not ordain any one unless
he possessed a knowledge of Latin. Further, in relation
to the regular clergy, it was necessary to make candidates
obey monastic laws, to maintain the discipline of eating
and sleeping together, and not alone, to re-establish the
rule of election to the various oflices of the Order, and
to form a code to advise the superiors of these Orders
respecting their duties. Referring to the Episcopal Laws,
the Prince advised that the Bishops of the Diocese should
not be transferred from place to place ; and that in nominat-
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 137
ing them they should do so with all discretion in order
to ensure their duties being performed without scandals.
It seemed that in these nominations they should always
follow the regulations of the chapter of the cathedrals,
in order to refer their supplications to the Pope. Every-
thing respecting the secular clergy ought to be dealt mth
in all discretion and prudence, without undue haste, and
in accordance "wdth the advice of the superior Orders.
To this clearness of reasoning the Prince added, with the
tact and discretion of his practical mind, that the functions
of the clergy ought to include more than that of spiritual
ministration. They had not, up to the present, had
the duties of educating the masses ; but now, the Prince,
wishing to commingle, at one and the same time, the
general and moral education of the people, urged that Sees
and monasteries should form the nuclei of Universities
(although in Lisbon, and in other European capitals,
there were already institutions for higher teaching), so
that, in time, the clergy might become the sole instruments
of secular education. He wished, taking Paris as his
model, the University to institute colleges granting bur-
saries and scholarships to the poorer students, so that
they might live in equality and intimate association with
their more fortunate comrades. These colleges were to be
clausures, with dormitories and common dining-rooms or
refectories, for monastic life helped to initiate a man into
academical discipline more readily than military training.
In these establishments, the chapters of the cathedrals
and the Orders of the various monasteries should found
also Faculties of Divinity, and supply a sufficiency of
candidates to form the clergy, thus recruiting a spiritual
army, as well as the army of scientists and magistrates.
This plan, which the Prince advocated on the model of
the University of Paris, the Jesuits afterwards carried out
in Portugal in the reign of John III.
In the Faculty of Law there was much room for improve-
ment. With a note of sarcasm, the Prince cited, a propos
of the crowd of judges and courtiers, the words of Isaiah :
138 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
" Multiplicasti gentem, sed non magnificasti laetitiam."
" Justice, Sire ! " he would write, "" is another virtue,
that it seems to me does not reign in the hearts of those
who have to judge in our country." If justice failed to
animate the judges, a second evil was the delays in legal
procedure, because " Justice has two parts : one to give
to each what belongs to him, another to give it to him
without delay." For all this it was necessary to call
into operation much painstaking energy; and above all
it was indispensable to make a legal code, tabulating and
sifting the ordinances that had been made from the
beginning of history, many of which had become obsolete,
others had been recalled, and all of them formed a thick
cloud of obscurity among which a bandit -crowd of magis-
trates and lawyers hunted the unenlightened public.
King John I had already dictated the workings of this
service; but the machinery that crushed individual
interest, at the beginning of its development, had also
the faults of delay, and years elapsed before Prince Peter,
during his regency, was able to bring his legal code into
more perfect operation.
Prince Peter, moreover, wished that the King should
have beside him a Council of State, a permanent institu-
tion, in which the component parts of all jiublic society
should be represented, to work in conjunction with the
Crown. The clergy, the nobility, and the people were,
thus, " to give council," and to see that nothing was done
against the interests of the masses, or against the rights
and privileges of the classes. There was, indeed, at the
time, the institution of the Cortes, which the King called
together whenever he deemed it necessary ; there was
also an Aulic Council, originating in the " Aula Regia "
of the Goths, and chiefly composed of the members of
the Royal Family ; but the conception of an actual Council
of State, representative of the forces and elements of the
public, originated apparently first in the mind of the
young Prince, who was the most faithful preacher of the
doctrines of the Renascence among his people. According
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 139
to this doctrine, the Government was an edifice of organisa-
tion, and the King the pinnacle of this edifice, and no
longer a personage whose wish was law. The throne
rose above the steps of the various classes of the com-
munity, and the King was, at the same time, the Defender
of the Faith and the Judge. " We are brought into this
world," Prince Peter wrote, " by the authority of the
Apostle, to commend the good, and to condemn the
bad." The monarchy, consecrated by religion, became
a fundamental institution, not through the right of in-
heritance, according to the ideas of the nobility, but by
the indorsement of social utility, according to the Roman
idea.
Anointed by Providence, called to the office of supreme
jurisdiction, the King, instead of becoming a Divinity,
ought to unite within himself all those qualities that are
indispensable in governing his people. He should be
cautious and reserved, since he had no lack of " impossible
requirements and petitions " from the covetous crowd
that surrounded him. Moreover, and here his counsel
applied particularly to Prince Duarte who was born to
hesitate and to doubt, he should be firm in his decisions
and actions, and diligent in the improvement of his
country, selecting the men experienced in virtue and
wisdom; he should be gracious and affable, without
familiarity, to every one, grateful for services rendered,
but not depriving one to reward another, nor giving so
much one day that the rest of the year had to be one long
fast, not heaping favours on some so that there was not
enough for others, but dividing benefits justly among all
so that they should last. He should be faithful, in word
and actions, and chiefly in all vital affairs ; strong to defend
valiantly his country from the foreigner as well as from
the native enemy. He should possess enough feeling to
sustain, and to help others to sustain, the principles of
justice ; he should be a Catholic and a firm believer.^
^ Extracted from Prince Peter's letter to his brother Prince Duarte,
pubhshed in Sylva's Memorias, I. 374-9.
UO THE GOLDEN AGE OF
When these words were written (1433) John I had
breathed his last, having died " without being well enough
disposed to perfect the work of his conscience " ; ^ for
during the last years of his reign he had been sorely tried
by his Government, weakened by the weight of his years,
by ill-health, and by grief over the death of his queen.
Nevertheless, in 1430, when Prince Peter, at the very time
that there was a rupture with Castile, communicated to
his father the work that he was undertaking, compiling his
treatise Virtuosa Beimjeitoria, the old King had answered
roughly : " It does not belong to the province of warfare
to be humanitarian," adding, " that a Prince should
not dedicate his life to clerical compositions, or to anything
like them"; 2 for, with the temperament of a veteran-at-
arms, he opposed any speculative tendencies on the part
of his sons. Prince Peter, therefore, for the time being,
left the completion of his treatise in the hands of
Friar John Verba, who compiled his work from ethical
propositions collected from Seneca and other authors.'
" Cease your clerking, and pay more heed to common
sense," the old warrior had said to his sons, bidding them
waken up to realities, stretch their arms and dispel the
somnolent effects of the impractical theorising they were so
fond of, counselling Prince Duarte, above all, to become
a man, in order that he might become a good King.
This birth of critical thought, however, this dawn of
positive observation, gathered from the ancients, these
seeds that germinated into so many discoveries, could
not thus be destroyed. Indeed, Prince Peter expounds
his theory of ethics, by comparing it to the art of the
bowman, who aims high in order to hit his target : " And
it will be suitable to do as the archer does with his frail
arrow, if he wishes to strike the object of his aim. For
to strike this object he must aim high, and when the arrow
is bowed it will descend and fall wherever the archer
' Extracted from Prince Peter's letter to his brother Prince Duarte,
pubh.shcd in Sylva's Memorias, T. 374-9.
* Viriuoaa Beimfeitoria.'^ • Ibi/t.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 141
wishes. ... So are we and our desires; we always fall
short of our noblest thoughts."
Thus he would write to his brother, telling him that we
should raise our hopes and aims to realise the loftiest of
our ambitions, wdthout losing confidence, or the sense that
dispels illusions in the vague realms of the abstract,
where ever}i:hing is distorted or exaggerated; and that we
ought to blend the noblest of our intentions, our clearest
thoughts, with the humblest of our understandings and
the weakest of our powers, if we wished, further to
strengthen and sustain our conscience, which belongs to
Providence, and if we desired to be of use to our equals,
who are as human and frail as ourselves.
In Prince Peter's cold practical mind, tinged Avith an
almost fanatical piety, the sense of duty was raised almost
to the position of a Deity; and those lacking in it he
loathed ^vith an unutterable loathing. Moreover, he de-
spised almost equally those whose main object in doing
good was to gain the fickle favour of the multitude, holding
that virtue should be its o^vn reward ; and so, later, when
the people of Lisbon wdshed to raise a statue to his honour,
he refused permission absolutely, although at the time he
was dedicating his life to the service of these very people
whom he thus treated -with such apparent contempt.
Similarly he gave his services ungrudgingly to his brother,
King Duarte. His actions, thus, were for their own merit,
without thought of reward, dictated solely by the voice of
his own conscience.
This first pioneer mind of the Renascence, uniting
practical and speculative ideas in his creed of morals,
seeing the hand of God in every happening, looked upon
the world with a curious blend of materialism mingled
\vith idealism. He was a " homo duplex," at one time
objective or practical, at another subjective or introspec-
tive ; and it was this most extraordinary dual personality
that ultimately doomed him, by reason of this complexity,
to the most cruel of Fates. His mind was too sensitive,
his heart too compassionate to influence.
142 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
When he was forty, after having visited the " seven
regions " of the physical, as well as of the intellectual world,
learning the extent as well as the life of the globe, studying
the body and the soul of man, Prince Peter, in the vigour
of manhood, made it his business, without other am-
bitions, to devote himself to guiding the more timid mind
of his King and brother, never anticipating, however, that
this weakness of spirit would weigh his brother down to
the grave in the brief space of six years, under the burden
of the Government.
Superior in intellect to both his brothers, he was thus
continually repressing the explosive energy of Prince
Henry, and, at the same time, supporting and sustaining
the vacillating mind of King Duarte. The King admired
his knowledge ; but Prince Henry, thinking him antagon-
istic, gradually grew estranged, ceased to talk to him of
his plans of conquests and discoveries, and withdrew
more and more into himself, pondering over Ceuta one
day, over Granada another, and for ever having the word
" Fez " engraved upon his mind.
Philosophy, speaking through the thoughtful mind of
Prince Peter, attempted in vain to show Prince Henry
the fallac}'^ of his adventures. Ceuta was a consumer of
men, arms, and money. He failed to persuade Prince
Henry that the only " virtuous actions " were in reality
to defend the country, preserve the peace, and use the
resources of the land for the benefit of the people who
were struggling slowly to rise in an interval of peace, and
over whom Providence had jilaced them to rule. This,
and this only, was the true light in which the situation
ought to be regarded.
Prince Peter, characteristically typical of this New Age
in which civilisation was now entering, thus displayed the
tendencies of his muid, with the freedom from tradition
which was to become more general in the individual and
which eventually brought about the reforms of the Renas-
cence, not without, however, bringing, in addition, the
bitter fruits of knowledge. Similarly, his brother Henry,
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 143
yielding to the vehement impulses of his mind, with a
fury of action that woke the world from its dreams and its
lethargy of mediaevalism, was typical of another aspect of
the coming revolution. And thus it came about that these
two brothers, so fundamentally different in character,
were in reality the two great pioneers who laid the founda-
tions of the Renascence in Portugal.
In spite, however, of the far-reaching results that
crowned Prince Henry's endeavours, Prince Peter's role,
so modest and so self-sacrificing, was by far the greater of
the two. The complexity of his character, the attempted
execution of his intentions, the solutions of the problems
which he enunciated, must be recognised by the historian
as the signs of the dawn of a Great Age, and as being
incomparably more instructive than the study of those
simple spontaneous actions and ambitions of the other,
although the latter gave his country, the Portuguese
people, and civilisation in general, the rewards of an epoch-
making advancement.
To fathom the thoughts, to discover the secrets, explore
and govern the mind of man is a better and more noble
achievement than to map out the ocean. The mind of
man must always be an unknown and vast domain, an
open continent rich in the most extraordinary of adven-
tures, in the most surprising of discoveries, in the most
astonishing and pleasing of conquests, and alas ! in the
most cruel of defeats. At the present day, the vast world
no longer hides from us the secrets of its continents ; but
the innermost soul of humanity still lies concealed, and
as little explored as ever it was ; it is still as undiscovered
as the physical world was in the days when it was believed
to end and fadeaway in slime and vapours, in the mysterious
" Seas of Obscurity."
Prince Peter, who according to his friend the poet was
acquainted with the whole physical world,
" Its hills, islands and streams,
its heats, and its snows."
sought his real adventures in exploring its moral counter-
144 PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR
part, unravelling its secrets, navigating its quicksands
and reefs. Tiring of mundane things, he wished rather
to explore this other world, which in its infinity seems to
some to lead to nothing but illimitable plains, to others
to fade away into " slime and vapours," or end with the
blinding glare of virtue, or, again, to be enshrouded in the
darkness of incoherent perversity !
Statesman and philosopher, ruler, moralist and poet —
as all those who feel for man, and see the psychological
and social unity of the race — Prince Peter, after his distant
travels and discoveries throughout his two worlds, sailed
out on the Ocean of Life to be wrecked eventually on the
quicksands of his doctrines. For such are the dangers of
navigating the " Seas of Obscurity " of the moral Avorld !
CHAPTER VI
THE LOYAL COUNSELLOR
Peaceful in death, the body of King John I rested
upon its funeral couch, beside which his sons silent as
statues kept vigil, excepting Prince Peter who was riding
post-haste from Coimbra, and the Count of Barcellos
away on his estates in the north. The}^ were all mature
men when their father died in 1433. The Count of
Barcellos was fifty-six, Prince Peter forty-one; and of the
others present, Prince Fernando, the youngest, was thirty,
Prince John was thirty-three. Prince Henry thirty-nine, and
Prince Duarte, who received the cro%vn from the brows now
cold and lifeless before him, was forty-two. Of all the
Royal Household, Prince Duarte gave vent to his sorrow
with the least restraint, wishing himself dead, craving to be
carried away in company of his dead father on the black
wings of Death, until, at length, Friar Gil Lobo, his con-
fessor, approached him respectfully and gently touched
his shoulder, whereupon the new King fixed him with
a dazed look.
" Wake up, Sire ! Wake up to your Royal Office ! " he
said reproachfully. But the new King, in his grief, could
only co\ er his face mth his hands, and weep like a child.
They shrouded the body, and placed it in its coffin,
covering it with a black velvet cloth, until at night, accom-
panied by the nobility of the country, and followed by
torchbearers, it was conveyed on a bier by the princes
themselves from the Palace to St. Vincent's Cathedral. ^
The great bells of the cathedral tolled slowly, solemnly
^ Pina, Chron, de D. Duarte, I. 75.
L 145
146 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
in the night; and through the vndc entrance the awed
spectators could see its aisles swathed in sombre draperies,
the catafalque ^v^th its burning candles, and the close-
packed multitude, who had come to pay their last tribute
to the mighty dead. Friar Rodrigo preached the funeral
oration, whilst twelve monks burned incense, standing
with bowed heads beside the pall, where they had placed
the bier. The following day, with all due solemnity,
followed by an enormous procession, the State hearse
conveyed the body on its last journey drawn by five
magnificent horses, one covered with white and crimson
trappings embroidered with the arms of St. George,
another with blue and scarlet trappings embroidered
with the Royal Arms, the third with the motto " Pour
bicn," the fourth with " FF," being the initials of his
Queen, while the fifth and last was wholly draped in
black. Behind them came members of the nobility,
carrying the various banners, the Royal Standard, the
dead King's guidon, his helmet, his escutcheon, his lance,
and an enormous black standard, the corners of which
swept the ground and seemed to draw after it the mourning
crowd that followed. At S. Domingos, the " Forum "
of the media3val City, the procession stopped to hear
the Chief Justice Mangancha's oration; and at the city
gate, a bodyguard of knights awaited the cortege to
accompany it on its last long journey through Adevellos,
Villa Franca, Alcoente, and Alcoba9a to Batalha — a
distance of about sixty miles — where all the Masters of
Aviz were buried. Even after death, this Master of Aviz
could perform miracles, if we are to believe the writings
of his times which tell us that : " During these ceremonies
of 14.33, the cathedral consumed six tapers, and twenty-
four torches, having, in all, 264 lbs. of wax, and after these
ceremonies they had 264i lbs. of wax ! " *
The late King had been failing in health for some con-
siderable time, being weary with the burden, not so much
* Arrh. of Batnlha, as compiled by Sylva in his Mem. de El-rei D. Joho
/., B. doc. 20; Vol. IV. p. 142-7 and Vol. I. p. 273-7.
«il
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 147
of his years, for he was only seventy-seven, as of his heart
attacks, which seized upon him oftener as he grew older.
One month before his death, he had gone to Alcochete in
a weak state of health, aware of his approaching death;
and becoming worse there, he had said to his sons : " It
is not fitting that I should make an end here in these villages
and wilds. Take me back to my Palace in Alca9ova, so
that I may die there seemingly as befits a King."
On his death-bed, however, he wished to say farewell
to his guardian saints, and commend himself to their
keeping. He was carried, therefore, to the cathedral, and
there, in State, he heard his last Mass, said at the altar of
St. Vincent, his favourite saint and patron for the terrible
approaching day in which he, himself, was to appear
before the judgment seat of God. In his enfeebled mori-
bund mind, he now felt the remorse of bygone days;
the chapel that he had ordered to be built was, then,
not yet completed ; and so to pay this debt and clear his
conscience, he offered also a bag of gold coins to defray
the expenses of completing the work when he arrived at
the offertory.
From here, he wished to go to the Chapel of Our Lady
da Escada, his protectress, as well as the protectress of
his capital ; for ever since the rough days of the last Revolu-
tion, the people had, upon each first of May, formed a
procession of thanksgiving to her altar for the victory.^
Having visited this chapel near S. Domingos, and returned
to the Palace, well pleased and at peace with his conscience,
trusting in the protection of his saints, he sent for his
confessor, so that he should be better prepared to die.
But, after the priest had been sent for, passing his hand
over his face and feeling his unshaved chin, the King
called for his barber " so that after death he should not
look hideous and slovenly." 2 Meanwhile, his confessor
arrived, but before he could be confessed his mind clouded
over, he became confused, delirious, and so " the sting
^ Friar Luiz de Sousa, Hist, de S. Domingos, III. 19.
Pina, Chron. de D. Duarte, I. 71 and 73.
148 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
of Death was increased in his childrens' hearts by the
mournful sight of seeing him die without being well enough
disposed completely to discharge his spiritual duties." ^
It was on August 15, 1433, his death took place, forty-
eight years to the day after his victory at Aljubarotta,
and eighteen after his equally successful expedition against
Ceuta. The sun was also eclipsed then, as on the day of
Philippa's death. ^
" Wake up, Sire ! Wake up to your Royal Office ! "
repeated Friar Gil Lobo to the new Monarch.
But the gloom of the day had entered the grief -stricken
soul of the new King. Passive and broken-hearted, he
tried to rouse himself. He appeared as one in a dream. A
shadow seemed also to have fallen on the nation. A vague
fear chilled all hearts. The air seemed full of malediction.
The clouds of superstition, born of apprehension, seemed
to gather and threaten. Therefore, it was not unexpected
that, when the King had confessed himself, taken com-
munion, and was awaiting his coronation, Mestre Guedelha,
the Jew, who was the Court Physician and Astrologer,
should kneel before him and beg him to delay bis corona-
tion until the afternoon :
" There is danger. Sire ! " he said. " The stars have
warned me ! Jupiter is retrogressing ; the sun is shadowed ;
and the skies foretell misfortunes."
" I know," replied the King, putting a friendly hand on
the soothsayer's shoulder, adding with a melancholy look :
" I know, Mestre Guedelha. I feel that you are faithful ;
and I have faith in your wisdom and in your science ; but,
I have greater faith in God, and know that He decrees
the fate of all things. . . ."
Bowing his head, he saw, as in a vision, the march of
his adverse fortune; but, nevertheless, he resigned himself
to his fate. Mediaeval Christianity had effectually created
from the ancient conception of the Fates an added super-
stition, more absolute because more readily understood;
and astrologers, Kabalists, and all kinds of soothsayers
' Pina, Chron. de D. DuarU, IV. 80. » Ibid., L 73.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 149
and fortune-tellers, reading the enigmatical characters
written on the Book of Nature, now ended their prog-
nostications with the phrase " Dens super omnia.^*
" Let it be so," murmured the Jew ; " what I asked was
not hard to grant. I was only moved to speak."
" No, no ! I will not listen. My faith and hope in God
must never waver," replied the King.
" You will reign but a few years, Sire ! " the astrologer
went on mournfully, inspired by the confidence he felt
in the truth of his prognostications. " A few years, and
those full of burdens and anxieties. . . ."
But the King would have none of it. He was ready
indeed, to welcome the end long before it came.
In the meanwhile, outside the Palace, the populace,
like children, ever ready to rejoice or melt into tears on
the slightest provocation, cheered their newly crowned
King.
" Sir ! " he said, turning to the Bishop, who stood beside
him, " I wish that, now, this ceremony should be com-
pleted by burning here, before me, some oakum as a sign
of the briefness and evanescence of worldly pomp and
glory."
He was realising his fate, almost a voluntary martyr,
a martyr who meekly bowed his head before the blade
that he already saw in the hands of Providence.
" Sire ! " retorted the Bishop, with authority, " the
memory of this request excuses now any further cere-
mony." '
The King smothered a sigh, and said no more.
He had now entered upon his reign of five years' suffering,
making an excellent but weak King, with a character that
scarcely rose above a scrupulous loyalty to duty. A slave
to his own beliefs, it was from his lips came the saying " A
King's word should never be broken " — a dictum alas,
that is sadly lacking in verity, since it is chiefly a King
who is most often compelled to contradict himself. This
scrupulosity, this semi-superstitious firmness, was clearly
1 Pina, Chron. de D. Duarte, III. 79.
150 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
seen in his appearance, in his pale, ascetic, clean-shaven
features, prematurely withered by wrinkles, and in his
lost and vague expression. In spite, however, of this,
and of the weak impression produced by his brown straight
hair brushed smoothly over his temples, King Duarte
did not lack a certain curious eharm that was painfully
effeminate and diffident, depending on the grace and
affability with which he received everybody, appearing as
if he apologised for the high office which Providence had
given him, and which he himself thought too lofty for
him to occupy.
They called him " Duarte the Eloquent," not because
he possessed the gift of persuasion with captivating and
soul-stirring words, but because he appreciated " the
grammar and logic of his language." ^ He was a crowned
author, with the weaknesses and virtues of this class of
men, with the inertia of will power that comes from the
fatal disposition to communicate in writing his thoughts
and wishes. Literature, in general, has this inherent
defect : it mistakes a cloud for Juno, and mere words for
actions. The mediocre scribbler has these faults even
more accentuated. He puts a high price on the ideas
that fill his mind, ideas little above those of the man in
the street ; but he is inferior to that same despised " man
in the street," because he — the latter — has not resorted
to the vice of expressing himself on paper. The Renas-
cence, which marks the period when modern thought began
to develop, produced, at the same time, numbers of these
" Eloquents," because mankind had just begun to emerge
from an Age of semi-barbarism, when activity of body
was of more importance than activity of mind, and the
new type of men who were beginning to arrive had not
yet developed a power of thinking indejiendently, but,
for the most part were content, with more or less servility,
to imitate the ideas and methods of the immortal ancient
writers.
With the vices and virtues of a writer, King Duarte,
» Pina, Chrmi. de I). Duarte, II. 7G-7.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 151
without belonging to their more mediocre class, could
not be said to be one of the master-minds. In other
circumstances he might have been ; but the fact that he
had been born a Prince at that particular moment when
the nation's energies pulsated violently, and in which the
example of his brothers bestirred him to saturate himself
with a knowledge that eventually proved too much for
his limited \atality, told against him. By increasing the
tension and strain on his weak constitution, it began by
making him a valitudinarian, and ended by killing him
outright, when the cruel tragedy he had failed to foresee
made him drain to the dregs the bitter cup that sorrow
held to his lips.
He was terrified of the stupendous energies and mighty
schemes of his brother. Prince Henry, struck dumb by
the vastness of his plans and the world-embracing magni-
tude of his designs. He sought protection against him,
therefore, in his brother, Prince Peter, whose safe gravity
was more in keeping with his o^vn literary temerity, since
another defect in men of this temperament is an un-
certainty of action that proceeds from expending all their
reserve courage in writing and talking, not in doing. Thus
it came about, that when, on the day of his accession, he
found himself acclaimed, and crowned, and had not his
brother Prince Peter to support him, he felt the lack of
self-confidence all the more acutely.
When Prince Peter learnt in Coimbra that his father
was failing he rode straight away towards Lisbon, until,
arriving at Leiria, he received the news that he had died.
He, tJierefore, broke his journey there, dressed himself
in black, and took advantage of the opportunity to write
to the new King a long letter full of political and moral
advice.^
At this time, many grave problems presented themselves.
But the most menacing of these were the following two :
the first dealt with internal policy, and concerned the
quarrelling nature and plundering disposition of the crowd
^ This letter is published in Sylva's Mem. de El-rei D. Joao I., I. 374-9.
152 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
of noblemen to whom the late King had made certain
grants in recognition of their services when they raised
him to the throne; the second, perhaps more serious, con-
cerned external politics, and had direct bearings on the
economy of the country, as it dealt with the advisability
of continuing the conquest of the Empire of Fez, and the
plans of discovery that had taken possession of Prince
Henry, King Duarte, with his characteristic weakness,
wished to have the views of evervbodv, and to read their
written opinions.
There was, moreover, the subsidiary question of attacking
Granada, an undertaking in which the King of Castile had
already invited Prince Henry to assist him. The Count
of Arrayolos, and the Count of Ourem, both sons of the
Count of Barccllos, and, therefore, the King's cousins, when
asked their opinion on this latter question, replied in
writing in the affirmative. They urged strongly that
Prince Henry should head an expedition against Granada ;
but, whilst one of them wrote that they should not expect
to acquire any new territory thereby, as this might lead
to complications with Castile, the other enlarged upon
the advantages of Prince Henry obtaining th : Kingdom
of Granada for himself, adding the Canary Islands, and
thus beginning a series of conquests that might eventually
lead to the acquisition of Castile also. As for the idea of
conquering Morocco, the Count of Arrayolos thought that
this should be abandoned. The Count of Ourem, on the
other hand, advised following up the recent conquest of
Ceuta by laying siege to Tangier, or Arzilla ; but he thought
that the King, in person, should command the expedition
and not Prince Henry, and that it might be done without
raising any taxes or contracting loans. The Count of
Arrayolos defended his scheme of attacking Granada by
saying that it would preserve the neutrality with the
King of Castile, as well as the Princes of Aragon and their
allies the Navarrese, maintaining that on this depended
all future success. The Bishop of Oporto, on the other
hand, advised the King to occupy himself more with
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 153
home affairs and attend to the unrest amongst the
nobility.^
Surrounded by such a diversity of opinion, the King
was at loss to know what to do. Should he follow his
father's and Prince Henry's advice : to " cease his clerk-
ing " — " Res non verba ! " Some decision must be made;
but unfortunately, King Duarte, though wise in words,
could not translate his words into actions ; and so, in
his doubt, he turned to the knowledge, prudence and
philosophy of Prince Peter, who was only too willing to
give advice to a brother in whom he did not fail to
observe this weakness of character.
Having learnt the news of his father's death at Leiria
and written immediately to his brother such counsel as
seemed necessary on the occasion, Prince Peter set out
again, slowly turning the situation over in his mind, and
continuing his journey until he reached Bellas. There he
met the King, and paid homage to him as well as to the
heir presumptive, D. Affonso — the first member of the
Royal Family to bear the title of " Prince " in Portugal —
who had been placed under his guardianship and that of
his brother Henry, as he was then only one year old.^
Probably King Duarte was already preparing some of
his many " Treatises," by means of which he consoled him-
self over his passive propensities. Probably he had
already anticipated with anxiety the storms that were
brewing in his relations with his two brothers, the jealous
envy that possessed the Count of Barcellos, the acknow-
ledged leader of the turbulent and avaricious nobility
^ Extracted from three letters in the Ajuda Library, Lisbon :
(a) From the Count of Arriolos, Torres Vedras, April, 22, 1433.
(6) From the Count of Ourera, Lisbon, June 4, 1433.
(c) From the Bishop of Oporto, Santarem, Dec. 5, 1433.
And from the following :
(d) Prince Peter's answer, published in Sylva's Mem., I. 374-9, above
cited ; and :
(e) The letter from the Count of Barcellos, writing against an expedition
to Africa, from GuimarSes, May 29, addressed to King John, a few months
before his death, and published ra Sousa's Hist. Gen., V.
2 Pina, Chron. de D. Duarte, IV. and V., 80-5, and Sousa's Hist Gen., 1.
418.
154 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
who were ready to divide the kinordom, and the fiery
ambitions which had captured by now Prince Henry's
enthusiastic imagination. In addition, he foresaw trouble
from Prince John's influence over his father-in-law, the
Count of Barcellos, whose daughter he had married ; and
could not help being distressed by the actions of Prince
Fernando, whom he had already reproached for quarrelling
with his father. Little wonder, then, that the new King
sought forgetfulness of all these things by burying him-
self in his writings, drawing up plans of action, instead of
acting, with all the seriousness, lack of humour, calmness,
and method which he inherited from his English mother.
He wrote instead of acting, because his mind, lacking
in depth and energy, nevertheless retained that mimicry
of action proper to people without determination. His
" Treatises " were, therefore, a compendium of all the
ideas of his period, and may be considered as a diary of
his life. One day he would summarise the principles of
Government, compiling them from what he had read in
De Regimine Principum, which was then the standard work
of the times on statesmanship; another day he would
write his dissertations on riding, re-editing what his father
had written in his treatise on horsemanship. After this,
the subject of domestic economy would engage his atten-
tion ; then sermons, mystic glossaries, mineralogical
studies, astronomical observations, biologies, etc., in which
he dispersed the clouds of mysticism that had remained
with these newly born sciences ; then ethical dissertations,
then notes on the State, political essays on any question
at issue, then rules on " demonology," the old terror that
had not yet been dispersed, and in those days was taking
a transcendental though tragic form, entering directly by
the gates of religion, in such a manner that the Church
became part of the State, defining the absolute rule of
Christian Princes.*
* The works of King Duartc, according to the bibliography prepared by
Viscount Santarem in the 1842 I*aris edition of The Loyal Counsellor, are
thf following :
(a) E^ay written when his brothers went to Tangier.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 155
In his last work the crowned author made a complete
summary of the knowledge of his Times about the almost
unknown sciences. This encyclopaedic knowledge was
characteristic of the undeveloped thought of the period,
when the various sciences had not yet been subjected to
objective criticism. Emerging from the cloister, and
doflfimg the monastic hood. Knowledge now began to
take liberties with Dogma and preach a new Doctrine of
Morals. It was destroying transcendental Orientalism,
substituting in its place a code of Humanity, almost wholly
drawn from the classical ideas that more faithfully resemble
modern thought, and that we find expounded in the works
of Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, and Plutarch.
Reading the works of King Duarte, we note immediately
a certain lack of originality in them, and thus become
acquainted with the main trait in his character. If we
compare his writings with the works on his book-shelves,
we find that the King had a complete library of the sciences
of his day, and that, though he may have understood them,
he was unable to add to them. As scrupulous as he was
literary, he was not content with merely reading : he wished
(b) Advice given to Prince Henry when he sailed against Tangier.
(c) Reasons for this War.
(d) Recollections on the birth of his sons.
(e) Astronomical observations on the Moon.
(/) Petitions to the Court while at Santarem.
\g) Concerning " the Good Captain," i. e. Alvaro Vaz, Count of
Avranches.
{h) Observations on coloured ores.
(») Papers on rewards given to a certain class of servitors.
(j) Treatise on good Government, concerning its justice, and offices.
{k) E say on Mercy.
(l) Sermon for Friar Fernando to preach at King John's funeral.
(m) Sermon for Mestre Francisco to preach concerning the Constable.
(n) A manual on fencing.
(o) An answer to Prince Fernando's complaints against his father.
(p) A glossary on the Lord's Prayer.
{q) How to cast out devils.
(r) What to learn from parents; patriotism and order.
(s) An explanation of distraction.
{t) Domestic life and its effect on the Government and on business.
(«) Handbook on the art of riding — republished by P. Roquette, with an
appendix, Paris, lsi2.
(v) Tfie Loyal Counsellor, a compendium of all his works.
156 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
to write out his lessons after having digested them in his
colourless mind.^
The following pages exhibit an impression formed on
reading The Loyal Counsellor, which, if it had been dated
throughout, would have served us as a complete diary of
his sympathetic and melancholic life. It plainly shows that
King Duartc was a monarch so full of conscientious virtue
that he was devoid of qualities, so scrupulous in considering
every point of view, and the niceties of procedure, that he
was incapable of governing his country, since he could
never unhesitatingly make up his mind to any bold
procedure. Men like him would be perfect if Fortune, or
the necessity for action, or the rectitude of their scruples,
did not impose upon them a task beyond their strength.
Thus oppressed, conscious of the overmastering Fate that
crushes them, knowing the impotence of their desires
however beautiful their visions may be, such men are ever
lacking in reactive strength, in protesting courage, and
so retire, in panic, into the hidden recesses of their own
souls for comfort, retaliating against adversity by doing
penance for the apparent crimes with which they over-
burden their consciences. Men of this type should not
obey their instincts. They should forget themselves.
They cannot get away from the scrupulous scrutiny of their
hypercritical selves ; but, in order to carry out their life-
work, should be endowed with more stable powers of
^ The books that King Duartc referred to were catalogued, for the first
time, by Sousa, in his Hist. Gen., Proof I. 544, where we find mentioned
among ancient literature, the writings of Ca?sar and of Cicero, translated
by Prince Peter, the Dialectica of Aristotle, the works of Seneca, and of
Valerius Maximus. Among the works on romance and chivalry we find
the story of Tristan, of Galahad, and of Count Lucanor. the Tror'n.t of
D. Denis and D. Alfonso, besides the treatise on horsemanship by King
John I. Of historical works, he had the Chronicles of both Spain and
Portugal. Of works on statesmanshiji and Government, he had the Ordina-
tions of Bartholo, the De regitnine principum of Gillos de Colonna. Among
pcientific works and geographical books, he had the works of Avicenna, of
Marco Polo— translated from the Venetian by his brother Prince Peter,
and the Quinta essentia. Finallv, on religion and ethics, we find the
Collntiones of St. John Casaianus, Virfnofta Beimfeiinria of Prince Peter, the
Meditations and Confessions of St. Augustine, and a quantity of books on
mystic and religious dogma.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 157
decision, even when their courage excels their other
quahties, for their scrupulous sense of right will always
make them see the point of view of others rather than
their o\vn. Such men, contending with the impossible
desires of their pious souls, fare badly in this blind and
cruel world. History teaches us that they, especially when
they have been placed on a throne, invariably suffer a
martyrdom that is as pitiful as it is useless. Ill-served
by Fortune are those Kings, who, like King Duarte, are
born to write ; for, in truth, they are hypnotised by their
own doctrines, and none are more surely victimised by
their faithfulness to blank parchment than they, since
through this medium they imagine themselves in com-
munication with the mysterious forces of Life. From the
earliest times the Christian has confessed himself to the
cold white tablets of his Temples. King Duarte poured
forth his soul to his blank parchments, and in this fashion
solaced his afflicted mind. Thus, although his labours
proved worthless to a World that pushed him to his death,
they, nevertheless, were a consolation to himself, and so
perhaps, were justified of their existence. Writing his
Loyal Counsellor in the shape of a formulary of prescrip-
tions for the "Melancholy Humours" that permeated
his constitution, he imagined that it sufficed to write
about virtue and spontaneous activity to make his ideas
materialise and take possession of him. In any case
such consoling illusions blunted his feelings, and mitigated
somewhat his afflictions, although they failed utterly to
make him otherwise than unfit for the office of King.
His melancholy opened to him the portals of the Temple
of Philosophy ; and roaming amid its shaded precincts, cur-
tained by the many hanging cob-webs of the Age, his specu-
lations became as entangled and unassorted as captive
insects. But of all the prescriptions for his " Melancholy
Humours," he found matrimony to be the most effective.^
^ " And, by the grace of Our Lord, I know that a good, wise, and gracious
woman, as my wife is, and well beloved, is a great remedy against sadness
and boredom." — The Loyal Counsellor, XXIII.
158 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
For this reason he dedicated The Loyal Counsellor to
his Queen and bride. It was a manual of loyalty. He
wrote it with his o-vvn hand, without the help of a secretary.
He asked his literary countrymen to read it " letter by
letter, and a little at each sitting so that those that read
it, or hear it read, shall be well disposed at the time,
to listen attentively." He felt, himself, that every page
was a garden of flowers in bloom. " It will please me,"
he wrote, " if the readers will be like the bee that in her
flight from twig to leaf will tarry longer on the flower,
so as to derive sustenance therefrom." We note, then,
that he did not write merely to please himself, after the
manner of poets. His themes were born independently
of ecstasy. His thoughts were those of his Age, as are
those of every true-born author. And, as he was King,
he naturally imagined that his exalted position would
elevate his thoughts and give him a superior style, as
well as loftier ideas. These illusions, brought on by social
position, and influenced by the self-esteem common to
authors, are not peculiar to monarchs, but appear to
originate in the fact that every one has faith in the superi-
ority of his own thoughts. King Duarte was, indeed,
modest, but his modesty was closely allied to vanity. He
did not doubt the value of his \vritings, because he approv-
ingly remarks : " It suffices, to my mind, that our Lord
knows my intentions, for my wishes to be fruitful." Thus
he convicts himself, for when a \\Titcr doubts he destroys,
as surely as he boasts when he publishes. Here, then, we
see the vanity of the author rather than the King. His
interest for us centres in the value he gave to his own
conceptions, " because intelligence is our best virtue."
Moreover, in those days, when science and study were still
the dowry of the nobility, it was not snobbishness that
made him write that his works "were chiefly to belong
to the nobility, who desire to live in virtue, because
others, met bin ks, will derive no pleasure in reading them
or in hearing them read," ^ for the majority of the people,
' The Loyal Counsellor, dedication to the Queen.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 159
including the most of the nobihty, sought no greater
mental pabulum in those days than could be derived from
the romances of chivalry, or the rhymes of minstrels,
to whom they could listen entranced for hours, happy
under the spell of the " gay science " of these spontaneous
imaginations. On the other hand, Moral and Philosophical
conceptions, beginning to break free from the ecclesiastical
atmosphere, casting off the shackles of Theology, were as
yet an exclusive appanage of a species of brotherhood
of the initiated, who were now seeking, it is true, to spread
their knowledge by writing it in the vulgar tongue instead
of leaving it buried in Latin; and the real importance,
therefore, of The Loyal Counsellor is that it was one of the
pioneer works of this kind in the Portuguese tongue. It
is, therefore, a landmark in the secularisation of Thought
born of the Renascence, and on that account is of
immense historical importance. The language of every-
day conversation was now invading the provinces of science
and literature. Naturally, therefore, in the realms of
Philosophy, it was but right that these products of superior
thought should cease being the sole property of the Clergy,
who still had their Latin Orisons, and should instead become
part of the common heritage of the People.
The Loyal Counsellor is a confused conglomeration of all
the moral and philosophical thoughts of the Age. No
book has ever more faithfully displaj^ed the mind of its
author; for it portrays King Duarte himself, with a soul
fundamentally ascetic, compounded indeed of virtue and
loyalty, but with a grip on reality so vague as to necessitate
the intervention of a manuscript to clarify his thoughts,
and lengthy dissertations on advice to strengthen his
indecisive Will. He thought that it was a King's duty
to write such things ; and the disaster of Tangier, remorse
over which cost him his life, proceeded directly from this
fault. With his constant vacillations, his lack of will
power, he was ever unable to rise to independent action.
Indeed, he spent the years of his kingship distributing
advice, no doubt of excellent quality, but lacking always
160 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
the strength of command behind it, and so always unheeded
by those to whom it was addressed.
The book opens with a disquisition on psychology. We
find, here, that the moral attributes of man are divided
under two heads : Understanding and Will Power. These
divisions are the forerunners of the introspective analyses
that go to form our modern ideas of psychology. He
further subdivides Understanding into seven components :
(1) Apprehension, " by means of which we perceive what
is demonstrated unto us "; (2) Retention, " by which we
memorise what we learn " ; (3) Judgment ; (4) Invention,
" by which we devise improvements on our past actions " ;
(5) Declaration, " through which we declare and teach
others "; (G) Execution; (7) Perseverance, "consisting of
firmness and constancy to our decisions." Understanding,
he tells us, works mainly through the Retentive faculty
or Memory, which is also divided into two parts, viz., ohe
belonging to the Spirit, the other to the Senses — the first
dealing " with things that are not experienced, and pain
that is not felt," the second with things as they are.^
His division of Will Power is less confusing. Stoicism,
and later on Christian Philosophy, had taken deep root
in the field of active intelligence, producing a stable harvest
of Thought that was soon regarded as essential for self-
preservation, and was believed to lead to a surer salvation.
King Duarte knew his Seneca — every student of his time
read him. He was also acquainted with, and often quoted,
the Fathers and Doctors of the Church; and from this
ecclesiastical knowledge, having studied the writings of
St. Gregory, he borrowed the idea of Man's three Souls :
the Vegetative, the Sensitive, and the Rational.
We find he divides Will Power into four components :
(1) the Carnal, (2) the Spiritual, (3) the Will of Weakness
and of Pleasure, and (4) the Perfect and Virtuous. We
arc told the Carnal Will desires vice, and relaxation from
both weariness and care, also protection from all danger
and fatigue. The Carnal and Spiritual components are
^ The Loyal Counsellor, I. and II.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 161
antagonistic to one another, and by their conflict within
us they create the third, that of Weakness and of Pleasure,
which latter two, since they want satisfying, without any
inhibition, place those individuals who are dominated by
them in a situation of Sin. The fourth and independent
one works often for things directly apart from pleasure,
acting under the commands of the Understanding.^
We are then informed how the moral man should pro-
ceed to overcome his desires. First, with the aid of the
fear of Hell-fire, and of the penalties decreed by the Law ;
secondly, by the hope of rewards in this life, as well as
in the Life to come ; thirdly, and lastly, by stimulatmg the
love for God and the desire for virtue.
These are his interpretations of the determining motives
that condition a virtuous life. He tells us that these
motives spring from the seeds of Fear, develop into the
flower of Hope, and finally produce the fruits of pious
Love. It is in its way a faithful analysis of the Evolution
of Morality; and King Duarte writes clearly when he
defines his three " Categories " : " They differ widely, for in
the first two (fear of Hell-fire and desire for rewards) are
those that begin to follow the more perfect state, and in
the third those that, being no longer influenced by fear or
pain, become, in turn, powerful factors in the elevation of
those who already hope for the rewards due to their
ser\aces. From these latter arises, therefore, the disposi-
tion of mind that produces good and loyal sons who hope
to inherit the belongings of the Father " — the Father
being God, and the whole World, both material and abstract,
appearing in this doctrine as One to those educated in
parental Love and the bonds that unite them to the
universal brotherhood.
Simplifying by his own ideas this analysis of Will Power,
King Duarte gives examples of the follo^^'ing four " In-
stances," which are typical of the philosophical reasoning
^ " The conquest of desire is a great achievement," he tells us. From
all this results his proverb of "' To cultivate Desire is to create Sin." — ■
The Loyal Counsellor, III.
M
162 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
of his time. The first " Instance " is similar to the " will
of a tree " (Vegetative). It seeks health, nourishment,
moisture, and sleep (rest). The second is like "that of
the animal world (Sensitive), and manifests itself by the
twelve passions : love, desire, delight, hatred, fatigue,
sorrow, kindness or tamcness, hope, audacity, rage,
despair, and fear. The third (Rational) " is shared only
by men and the angels " ; for in Man is reproduced the
interior Universe, where the Will counsels and commands
what belongs to the province of the virtues. The fourth
is the result of the conjunction of all the others to produce
Will Power, which, " as a Lady amongst all, commands
us to act in all things that we do with our Understanding."
As an example he instances the following : " The Will to
go hunting (second instance) is in conflict with the desire
to sleep or eat (first instance), common-sense intervenes
(third instance), forbidding satisfaction with no other Will
but that which urges one from one's bed to leave the
Lodge and hunt, and suggests, instead, the advisability
of doing something more important (fourth instance)."
The three instances in conflict resolve themselves, there-
fore, in the fourth, which is Will Power. Acting on such
will power may produce cither Virtue or Sin according to
the motive.^ The Will and Understanding, or in other
words, the character and the intelligence, constitute,
therefore, the moral Man, governed by a determination
that arises in conjunction with these two elements. From
these, then, are derived the Temperaments, generally
four in number. First, there are men with little under-
standing and knowledge, and consequently many perverse
desires. These are all evil doers, without any other good
in them than that they have been created by Providence; ^
for intelligence cannot be divorced from Virtue, nor Virtue
from intelligence. Then comes the man who has both
great intelligence and knowledge, but who has also evil
desires, although he has also a sense of Justice : such a
> Thf Loyal Counsellor, VI.
* Cf. " God mauio him. Let him pass for a man."
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 163
man may be worse off than the other, because in him
intelligence strengthens his determination; and " although
at some time he may accomplish great deeds, yet will he
not escape corrections and punishments." He is followed
by the man of little understanding and knowledge, but
who possesses just and noble desires. Of such are the good
and simple, whom Providence often rewards with more
mercy than they themselves expect or understand. Lastly
comes the man abounding in both intelligence and good
desires. 1
Rationalism such as this, with its simple juggling with
ideas (indulged in also even when dealing with the more
physical sciences), though satisfying to contemporary
teachers, was, of course, an almost empty warehouse, the
lock of which was the wish of the monarch, and the keys
thereof kept in the possession of the Clergy ; for the later
Idealism, which subsequently was recognised as the Vital
Force of the Universe, was then only beginning to define
itself in the mind of St. Thomas Aquinas, in spite of the
fact that Mediaeval Christianity was already quickening
Philosophy into a mysterious, burning, and living passion.
Thus we find that King Duarte scrupulously included in
his writings even the order of mass service and its duration,''
considering it as forming an essential part of the system
of Government.
Looking back it is easy in these days to see how the
secularisation of Thought, which became general in Europe
in the fifteenth century, was bound to come in conflict
with the Papal Theocracy, as it did in Portugal a century
later, producing a new form of Imperial Catholicism. Thus
stimuL^ted, monarchs considered themselves the Patriarchs
of their own People, and, therefore, rivals of the Papacy —
although not denying the Pope's authority as head of the
Church, and not " protesting " against the traditions of
that Church like their northern brethren. In King Duarte's
time, however, these ecclesiastical quarrels, often political
ill origin, had not yet crystallised into action, and there
1 The Loyal Counsellor, VIII. 2 /j^^,^ XCV. and XCVI.
164 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
were tlien no Protestants to " protest " against a Catholi-
ism which later became more absolute and suppressive,
largely from the necessit}^ of protecting its own existence
by constant struggles. A wish for enlightenment had not
yet become a sin. On the contrary, the Gospel could be
studied, like any other book, in peace, so as to be well
understood. " Ye must not read one hour," says The
Loyal Counsellor, " but a good deal less than ye are able.
Thus, if ye can read twelve pages, ye should read no more
than three." In other words, the Gospel should be read
slowly, and then thought over, so that " when there is
part ye cannot comprehend, ye should ponder not over
much ; for there is no mind that can understand all perfectly
in theology." Moreover, he adds, " of those things ye
cannot comprehend, do not question, for ye must certainly
know that there are many who know little." Again the
confession of common ignorance in theology is sanctioned
by the cold impartiality of intelligence, thus — " do not
form any intention or determination that all ye read
must be twisted in order to appear to agree mutually; "
and if there are doubts, ignore them, for " when your
intelligence doubts what ye read, ye should be pleased to
leave it in doubt." ^
Canons of blind obedience such as these were afterwards
adopted for educational purposes by the Jesuits in their
" QujEstiones de Deo praetereantur," in which they taught
their less intelligent novices to take up this attitude
towards theology. Thus, it came about that, at the time
of the Reformation, when doubt and scientific inquiry
were beginning to rise simultaneously, threatening as it
seemed to destroy the very foundations of the Church,
these counsels towards a mental halt, which King Duarte
advised in his piety, were invoked for a i)urpose he had
never intended, namely, to prohibit the individual inter-
pretation of the Scriptures. The old trust in the judgment
of the People consequently became destroyed, leaving in
its place an Absolute Catholicism that killed also the
» The Loyal Counsellor, XCIII.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 165
optimism, marking the Dawn of the Renascence, which
regarded the World and its workings as intrinsically per-
fect, to such a degree, indeed, as to give rise to the belief
in the existence of a principle of Eternal Justice that was
above even Religion itself ; for humanity had begun to
realise that though religions might change, Right and Wrong
would always remain constant, or as The Loyal Counsellor
hath it : "In the faith of Celestial Affairs, there are great
changes and varieties in general ; but, above all its laws,
all Sects and Heretics are united in one manner of belief :
Christians, Mohammedans and Gentiles, all agree in the
determination of Good and Evil." ^
This sense of an all -pervading Justice throughout the
World was a favourite theme of King Duarte's. He believed
it was instinctive ; and taught that we must not doubt what
these instincts of ours would have us believe ; for faith and
instinct are our best guides : " It seems to me a want of
judgment to doubt what the Holy Church would lead us
to believe because we understand it not ; for our bodies
which work so wondrously, who can understand them ? . . .
and the powers of Memory, Vision, Scent, Taste, and more
especially the Emotions, whose is the mind that can unravel
their mysteries with reason ? " ^ j^ other words, we can
no more understand what we " ourselves have in us "
than we can understand all the phenomena of life.
It is true we may study these phenomena as King Duarte
studied meteorology ^ and mineralogy ; but, even then we
shall find that, though the mysteries of Life contain other
things than those which the Church commands us to
belie\ e in, still the Universe contains many phenomena
that cannot be explained by our reasoning. The sphere
of the miraculous is enclosed within the limits of the
Orthodox ; the Universe is not all phantasmagorical, and
1 The Loyal Counsellor, XXXIV. ^ ij^id., XXXIX.
3 Sousa's Hist. Gen., Proof I. 540, reprinting King Duarte's Observations
on the Moon : " When the new moon appears crimson it foretells wind. If
its upper horn be indistinct it foretells rain. If it be resplendent, like water
rippled by the oar, it foretells an early storm at sea. If the centre be
paler, good weather at full moon may be expected."
166 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Reason can reign therefore only in the field that Faith leaves
for investigation, otherwise scientific inquiry will drive
Truth further away from the reach of our senses.
Astrology, the source of our superstitions, remained for
centuries as a refuge for the imagination, even when the
skies, that field wherein ancient mythology had flourished
so luxuriantly, had lost their primitive divine characters.
It had become, in the fifteenth century, a Creed without
Theology, a Religion without Gods, a terror without piety
— the dry remains left over from an ancient worship, now
abandoned.
The author of The Loyal Counsellor still believed in the
influence of the stars ; for Mediaeval Christianity, calling
Faith into action only in what appertained to the Spiritual
Man, failed to formulate any Philosophy of Nature ; and
so, at the dawn of the Renascence, that is, when Humanity
awoke from the phantastical dreams of the Middle Ages,
Man, in surprise, began to look about him, and to inquire
into the " Secrets of Nature," Avithout Orthodoxy being
able to give him any more information than King Duarte
in his interpretation of the Scriptures.
" About this influence of the Planets," observes King
Duarte, " there be some who maintain that ships, horses,
arms, birds, and dogs, are influenced ; why, therefore, they
ask, should not Man be similarly influenced ? To such I
answer that certainly these things must have some influence
on our birth, conditioning at the time our Fortunes, although
there seems to be no obvious manifestation of this ; but,
as I hold that a man is a more perfect woi k of Creation than
the Constellations, for he commands everything, therefore
I believe that if a man have knowledge he may overcome
this influence through the mediation of Faith. For how
much more can one accomplish who leans on the Lord,
since of him it is written that all things shall be his ? " *
Faith, in the case of King Duarte, thus fought the fight
which rational Thought afterwards took over against the
evil influences of spells, spirits, devils, witches, whose
1 The Loyal Counsellor, XXXIX.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 167
baleful influence Imagination, then and even later, believed
to permeate the mysteries of Nature.
Thus was the World conceived in the Loyal Counsellor,
and in the virtuous mind of King Duarte its author.
From the pages of his book we can form a rounded picture
of the man ; we see him rise placid and weak, comforting
himself with his own counsels in times of adversity, writing
his doctrines scrupulously and with the minuteness of men
of his type. He well knew, so he tells us, in his excellent
Latin, what constitutes a " good captain." ^ He knew
" that there are as many loyal and stout hearts in Portugal,
as there are among us English (his mother was English)
valiant men-at-arms." ^ His knowledge when he came
to write it down seemed almost encyclopsedic, but he
could not apply it. All his energy seemed to be consumed
in composition. There was none left for action. He
transformed his own confessor into a secretary to write
down the creations of his mind,^ in which the lack of
virility was replaced by his bureaucratic tendencies.
As he could only think on paper, he even wrote out
rules for translating his own Latin.* For this punctilious-
ness he was nicknamed " The Eloquent." He had not
that spark of genius in his character that inspired Prince
Henry, nor that profound intelligence that distinguished
Prince Peter. He was born loyal and an adviser, virtuous,
energetic, punctilious — and yet lacking what constitutes
true manliness — namely. Will Power. Cursed with the
vice of indecision, he worried himself into the grave trying
to come to a conclusion. Painfully conscientious of his
inefiiciency in everything he did, knowing his own faults,
but without the strength to overcome them, afflicted ^vdth
the defects of his virtues, entangled in his scruples,
^ " These things constitute a good captain :
" Labor in negotiis, fortitudo in pericuUs, industria in agendo, celeritas
in conficiendo, consilium in providendo." — Sousa's Hist. Oen., I. 555.
2 The Loyal Counsellor, XXXIX.
3 The Loyal Counsellor, XC. tells us that Friar Gil Lobo wrote the
apologue of the two boats in Chapter XC, by the King's command.
* " Methods for translating any tongue into our own tongue." — Sousa's
Hist. Gen., Proof I. 542.
168 PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR
crushed by unavailing remorses, he was for ever seek-
ing refuge within a consciousness as virtuous as it was
incapable of commanding resourcefulness of action.
He had not the courage of his convictions, neither had
he that abnegation that constitutes the martyr, those
passive heroes who conquer the World by demonstrating
the stupidity of Fate. Nevertheless he possessed the
charm of gentle virtue, born of frankness, a quality that
is as seductive as it is evanescent. If Prince Fernando,
the Martyr, earned his Palm, if Prince Henry, the Hero,
earned his Laurels, King Duarte, the Conscientious, surely
earned his Lily, the symbol of modesty and chastity.
Portugal and the World at large hold in reverence the
memory of Prince Henry for having been a hero, of Prince
Fernando for having been a martyr; but that of King
Duarte, whose virtue had no inferior merit, has been for-
gotten. Between these brothers, the unfortunate King,
ill -served by Fate, suffered equally from the sacrifice of
one and the inhumanity of the other, because, by reason
of his gentle virtue, he was not able to control the fiery
energy of Prince Henry, or forbid the expedition that
caused the fate of Prince Fernando. And, in truth, the
outcome of gentleness and of virtue is always this; for
the good are essentially weak, and in the stern realities
of Life weakness is the greatest defect of all. Perhaps
this is the reason why we admire the good in our o\vn minds,
but in our actions treat them as negligible. Nevertheless,
the more we realise the apparent merits of the strong and
valiant and therefore successful, the more we should
appreciate the worth of those humble virtues which
distinguish men like King Duarte.
CHAPTER VII
TANGIER
Immediately after his father's death, Prince Henry
precipitated himself, Hke a falcon, upon King Duarte,
demanding a second expedition to Africa. Obsessed by
this idea, he proposed changing his motto " Talent de bien
faire " to the word " IDA," which signifies " expedition,"
the letters of which were also the initials of his own name :
" Iff ante Doni Anrrique." ^
General opinion was, however, against such a venture.
Indeed, only a few weeks before King John's death, the
Count of Barcellos, knowing Prince Henry's mania, had
written from Guimaraes a long letter to his father dwelling
on the unfavourable political results that must inevitably
follow from any such proposed expedition, showing him,
seriatim, in arguments dictated by reason and common-
sense, why he, at least, was opposed to any such schemes.
But Prince Henry was not the only one to be dealt with.
The truth was that around the King, in opposition to
Prince Peter the Philosopher and the Count of Barcellos,
who was away from Court preoccupied with the welfare
of his extensive estates in the north, there were his other
brothers, then in the flower of their youth, full of energy
and resourcefulness, princes whose fame had already been
noised abroad throughout Europe, so much so that the
Palaeologue of Byzantium, the Pope, the Kings of Castile
and of England, each and all had invited them to visit their
courts, offering them wealth and positions of eminence.
It was only human, then, that these young men should,
^ Pina, Chron. de D. Duarte, XIV
169
170 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
with difficulty, after this, be restrained at Court doing
nothing, feehng naturally that it would be more honourable
to employ their energies abroad in acquiring fame, instead
of wasting them in idleness at home. Prince Peter was a
father and a philosopher, content with his family and his
studies. Prince Henry, on the other hand, was single and
had no family, living the chaste life of a cloistered monk,
wrapped up in fiery dreams of a great World dominance.
Of the two younger, Prince John had married his niece,
the daughter of the Count of Barcellos, and was more or
less a pawn in the hands of others in the game ; but Prince
Fernando, following Prince Henry's example, remained
single, and, excited by the same militant asceticism that
animated his brother, was itching for action with all the
impetuosity of his three and thirty years.
\\Ticn John de Siqueira, who had acted as Regent during
the expedition to Ceuta, and later succeeded the Master
of Aviz in the command of the Order of St. Bennett, died.
King Duarte gave the Mastership of this Order to his
youngest brother, because by his father's death he had
inherited only Atouguia and Salvaterra near Santarem,
since Portugal was too small to grant extensive lands to so
many princes. Nevertheless, Prince Fernando, although
knowing this, comparing his lot with that of his brothers,
was filled with discontent; and so one day, at Almeirim,
he declared to the King that he wished to go abroad to
France or Italy, in search of further fortune. The King
begged him meekly to give up the idea, to have patience,
and to remember the poverty of the kingdom, and how his
father had divided the greater part of it among those who
had helped him to gain its independence. King John, he
continued, had been content himself with the liege of
Santiago, which was less valuable than that of Aviz;
whilst the Crown itself had not brought him. King Duarte,
more than the Palace of Bellas : for all the other lands, that
had once belonged to the reigning sovereign, would eventu-
ally be inherited by Prince John, as he had married the
Count of Barcellos' daughter.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 171
To all of this Prince Fernando answered that it was not
greed that prompted him to complain, but the fact that
his older brothers had won their spurs on the battlefield
of Ceuta, while he, who was older now than they had been
at that time, was still a nonentity, and found himself
wearied to death by the excess of leisure he possessed.^
The King, at a loss to know what to do, and perhaps
foreseeing the approach of his own misfortunes, turned to
Prince Henry for aid, beseeching him, instead of exciting
his younger brother by such ideas, to help to moderate
his ambitions. He begged Prince Henry to consider the
poverty of the people, to listen to general opinion, and to
have some pity for his tribulation. The unfortunate King
might have expected as much mercy from a marble statue.
He could not have applied for help to a worse quarter ; for
Prince Henry, unmoved, answered dryly that his petitions
were in vain, and that their father's intentions had been
more generous. He had wished to extend the kingdom
beyond the Seas, so that each should acquire sufficient
lands to satisfv the most ambitious of them, and at the
same time be able to train their vassals to wars and con-
quests, so that they should not deteriorate either in valour
or chivalry. King John had wished and done his best to
convert his kingdom into a tournament field, into the
citadel of a future extensive Empire. Now times were
changed ; timorous councils prevailed ; yet in the kingdom
there were at least two, himself and his brother Fernando,
who were still anxious to show their mettle and were
without the impediment of a family. It seemed only right,
thereiore, that they should be allowed to go with their own
vassals, as was the right, and privilege, and duty of Chris-
tian Knights, to fight the Infidel in Africa.
King Duarte, almost checkmated by the heat of his
brother's arguments, repeated his objections, and drew
attention to the difficulty of keeping Ceuta.
" For the love of God," he said, " do not excite, but
rather calm Prince Fernando." ^
^ Pina, Chron. de D. Dtiarte, X. ^ Ibid., XI.
172 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
But Prince Henry had curbed his passions too long. In
his father's lifetime he had been constrained to keep his
ambitions to himself from respect for the old King's wishes
and increasing infirmities ; and so, during the last years of
his reign, he had lived contentedly in hope. But now, at
the beginnmg of a new reign, when his brother, with whose
weakness and want of enthusiasm he could not sympathise,
offered the same feeble excuses, only fit to be ignored,
things were different.
" The kingdom is small and poor, is it ? " he argued.
" Well, then let us make it richer and larger ! "
Thus it came about that the now fixed idea of carrying
out this expedition caused his hard, ambitious nature to
become more and more aggressive. He soon saw, however,
that a violent line of attack against his brother's weakness
was not advisable — for the weak are often obstinate; so
against this obstinacy he now decided to use cunning.
He knew full well what influence Prince Peter, who was
strongly opposed to these ideas, had over the King ; but he
also knew that Queen Leonora, faithfully loved by her
husband, detested this brother-in-law of hers with a
feminine hatred because he had married the daughter
of the Count of Urgel, the pretender to the Crown of
Barcelona, and, therefore, the lifelong enemy of her family.*
Prince Henry, therefore, calculated that the King would
grant anything she asked for, especially when it concerned
the kingdom over which she now found herself ruling as
his consort. He also calculated that, with a little tact,
he could convince the Queen, and make her .jump at the
opportunity of defeating Prince Peter; and, with this
object in view, to get into her good graces, he made her
son, the younger Prince Fernando, who was then scarcely
three years old, his heir. All these things he schemed and
plotted, bearing in mind the King's weakness, the Queen's
hatred of her brother-in-law, and her great love for her son.
Eventually, he hatched his plot so well that the result
was the realisation of his hopes ; for Queen Leonora,
* Pina, Chron. de D. Affonao V, II.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 173
entering whole-heartedly into the spirit of the conspiracy,
so contrived to influence the King, who had no suspicions
of the means that were being employed to win over the
unfortunate " Loyal Counsellor," so unloyally counselled,
that he finally consented, although, in spite of all their
well-laid schemes, he resisted for two whole years.
It happened that, unexpectedly, at the beginning of 1436,
Pope Eugin IV ordered a Crusade, asked for previously —
perhaps also at Prince Henry's instigation — to be carried
out as soon as he was ready to march against the Infidel ;
and Prince Henry, seizing upon this half -forgotten request,
and in order to see if the Queen's manceuvi'es had had
their desired effects, again approached the King, only to
find that he still raised the old objection that there was no
money, reminding him that, as late as 1428, Princess
Isabel's marriage had cost the State 200,000 crowns, ^ and
this without counting expenses incurred by the festivities
and travels, asking him to think also of the debts that had
arisen from the reception of the ambassadors who had
come for Princess Isabel from Philip the Good, the cost of
his own wedding, and of Prince Peter's in the same year,
and the money spent on the late King's funeral, with its
long procession to Batalha.
" There has been enough expense already," he ended ;
" we cannot meet any more."
" But yet," retorted Prince Henry, " you did not feel
so economically inclined when you offered to help Castile
in their wars against Granada, or when you asked His
Holiness for a Holy War ! Moreover, personally I will not
marry — so there will be no more foolish extravagance in
that direction ! What I yearn for is not a wife, but the
command of ' Africa portentosa,' as the Romans called it,
the Golden Gates that lead to a wide-world Empire. If
you are prepared to waste money abroad over ambassadors
1 The old crown, double its present value, appears to have varied con-
siderably in the fifteenth century. In 1436, the law fixed its value at
about 5s. 2d., in 1473 it was almost double this. In 1438, 200,000 crowns
was about £51,700.
171 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
and festivities, why not spend it at home, where we can
get something for our money ? Tangier is simply asking
us to capture it. Ceuta is costing us for its upkeep simply
because it lies isolated, surrounded by nothing but Moors,
whereas if Tetuan, Alcazer, Arzilla, and Tangier were ours,
this difficulty would evaporate, and we should have a
second Fatherland, a second Portugal ! Let us capture
Tangier, and make the Kingdom of Fez our own ! "
The ardent eloquence of Prince Henry fell upon deaf
ears ; but, far from being disheartened or defeated, he left
the King to his own thoughts, and prepared himself for
an interview with his sister-in-law, the Queen. Thus
King Duarte, finding no one to listen to him, was finally
compelled to make up his mind and yield. This consent
was eventually wrung from him by his wife, who awaited
a favourable moment of weak docility.
All was haste now, the plan of the Expedition was soon
drawn up. The army that Prince Henry needed was
14,000 men — 3,000 infantry, 500 mounted cross-bowmen,
and 10,000 other troops. As there was no money in
the Treasury, the Cortes met at Evora in the middle of
April to raise it, " not without much grumbling and dis-
satisfaction on the part of the public, whos* cries and
lamentations wounded the King." ^
King Duarte, in his weak consideration for his subjects,
was, in fact, like Cervantes' Knight-errant, dragged into
the windmill of his brother's ambitions ; and Henry, now
his consent was gained, did not scruple to flatter him with
praise, when any conscientious doubts threatened these
plans, so that the King, carried away by the rapid whirl-
wind of events, found himself helpless to do anything.
His Queen's caresses made him forget the general course of
events ; and, moreover, he was now preoccupied antici-
pating his death as foretold by the Court Astrologer.
Tears, therefore, would often come to his eyes, and his
spirits would ebb ; or else he would force himself into high
spirits, as he did during the meeting of the Council at
» Pina, Chron. de D. Duarte, XIV.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 175
Almeirim. A foreboding sorrow was undermining him.
Buffeted between two conclusions, both impotent and
undecisive, sharp pangs of remorse pricked his agitated
mind for having, in a moment of weakness, and perhaps
for the first time in his hfe, taken an unusually definite
course — a course for which he knew his weakness and his
love for his false Queen were alone responsible.
In this torture of mind, his earnest wish was to recall
the promise he had made, not because he had decided
against the expedition, but rather because he was becoming
more and more terror-stricken at each apparent immovable
obstacle which he had overlooked, and which now kept
urging him to revise his verdict with all his old character-
istic doubtfulness of mind. In August, therefore, he met
his brothers in Council at Leiria, to see if they could
mitigate the tortures of this dilemma. Tangier appeared
to him a hideous nightmare.
At this meeting Prince John was the first to give his
views, for it was customary at these sessions for the
youngest and least important member to open the discus-
sion, and he happened to be the youngest there. His words
were to the point, and he lucidly discussed the two salient
features of the situation : the Justice and the Honour
demanded of them, and the pros and cons in connection
with the expedition.
He pointed out that the Crusade was a duty : " For a
thousandfold more than that we should send to a Cardinal
to do some small act of mercy, we should grant this one
to the Pope with better grace. In all reason and justice,
the invasion of Morocco must not be delayed."
" Evcn if it turns out as successful as the one against
Ceuta," interrupted the King, " after its advantages and
disadvantages have been well discussed, its good and its
evil, its winnings and its losses, the result will profit us
and our Kingdom as little."
" What ! " retorted Prince John, " would you lose here
so that you may gain there ? Do you forget what happened
to Alexander and Rome ? If common-sense condemns this
176 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
War, something stronger commands it — and that some-
thing is Honour ! Is His Holiness to be obeyed or dis-
obeyed ? I leave you all to decide ! "
The thread of this discourse shows the spirit of the young
Prince, for, when one reasons with sound judgment, one
does not fall blindly into the error of obeying " honour."
" Honour," that is enthusiasm, is not obtained by mere
decision, but essentially by the use of every faculty, as
was the case with Prince Henry. Prince John was a
prudent youth, discreet, loyal and firm, as time will show.
He, therefore, resembled Prince Peter more, and also his
father-in-law and step-brother, the Count of Barcellos.
It was the latter who next joined the discussion, with a
certain authority given him by his years — he was nearly
sixty — and the rude vocabulary of a man educated in a
different school, without the flourish of eloquence of the
lettered aristocracy.
" Your flowery words," he said, " are only apparent
truths. It is in common-sense that the ' flower ' of reason
is to be found ; and common-sense, truth and honour — nay,
ever)i:hing, condemns this War ! "
Prince Peter was the next to speak; and his words,
brief, to the point, and without any excessive " floweriness,'*
were listened to in silence ; for all felt the wisdom that lay
behind them, and knew that the loyalty and deep affection
he had for his brother and King, would oblige him to give
vent to his true feelings without reserve.
" To fight the Moor," he said, " is a glorious enterprise,
but only when it does not commit us to disaster. It is true
we have no money, which is essentially the chief considera-
tion in this business. Like a ' thief in the house,' I know
its scarcity. And the King could not get any money from
the public without feeling guilty in his conscience. He
must not do this ! As a King and as a Christian he must
not weaken the exchange."
"But supposing," he continued, "he takes Tangier,
Alca/cr and Arzilla : What will he do next? Will he
populate them from a kingdom already almost depopu-
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 177
lated ? This seems to me absurd as well as unwise ; for
if he attempts it, it will be as stupid as exchanging a good
overcoat for a bad hat, since we should surely lose Portugal
and not gain Africa. The conquest of Granada is, to my
mind, more commendable. It would soon be filled with
Christians ; but in Morocco we should lack in subjects
without lacking in land, and, therefore, though we would
court certain danger, we should assuredly gain no certain
profit. To besiege Tangier is a thing to avoid. It is an
enormous risk. The Moors of Tripoli, of Barbary, even
of Mecca, would certainly come to their comrades' help ;
and instead of being the besiegers we should find ourselves
the besieged. The conquest of Africa is difficult enough,
even for all the Kings of the Peninsula together. There-
fore, Sire ! I conclude that neither now, nor in the future,
is it wise to recommence this War in Africa." ^
In absolute silence the thoughtful Council dispersed,
and the King, with graver doubts, more undecided, more
melancholic, more panic-stricken than ever, departed,
wondering what he could do in this crisis, how he could
resist Prince Henry and the Queen. If there was one
person whom they were compelled to obey, he thought, it
would assuredly be the Pope. He therefore ordered the
Count of Ourem to write to Rome.^ Unfortunately for
the King, Prince Henry got wind of it, and at once set
himself to counter this stroke, realising that an adverse
opinion was capable of upsetting all his plans, and that an
immediate decision was, now, more urgent than ever. He
therefore approached the Queen without delay, urging her
to save the situation, promising that whatever he possessed
he would give to her beloved son of three, whom he found
smiling and lisping beside her, clapping his hands, utterly
unconscious that his mother was expecting the arrival of
his new sister, who would see the light of that very day.^
1 Pina, Chron. de D. Duarte, XIV., XIX. 2 7^,^^^ XX.
^ Prince Henry was already almost fabulously rich, as the result of the
discoveries that had been made. He owned the rents of the islands of
Madeira, Porto Santo, Deserta, and Guinea, as well as of the lands belonging
to the Order of Christ.
N
178 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
He found her at Torres Vedras, where all the Court had
recently gone. On September 18, Princess Catharina
was born, and with her arrival started the events that
doomed the King to his death. During the crisis of her
indisposition, the Queen was not allowed to forget her
promise to Prince Henry, nor her hatred for Prince Peter.
Prince Henry knew full well that a woman is caprice in
human form, and he, therefore, had a short interview with
her before he left her with King Duarte.
It was in that fatal moment that the King, stooping
over her bed, in a whisper gave his promise, his heart torn
by the thought that he had committed an error, and over-
come by the weakness that prevented him being strong
enough to resist his wife's supplications during that sublime
moment, between life and death, when a woman appears
a victim to her sacred duty to the race.
Thus the promise was given without waiting for the
Pope's advice ; and, more than this, the King ordered that
all preparations should be made without delay. It was,
therefore, arranged that the Count of Arrayolos, the Count
of Barccllos' son, should look after the arming of the fleet
in Oporto, while the King himself, in person, oversaw
similar preparations at Lisbon.
The Pope's answer, which arrived from Rome already
too late to have any bearing on the question, was another
thunderbolt that struck the broken-hearted King.
The Pope wrote saying that, for guidance, the King
should refer to the books of Canons of the Holy See, and
that he should turn to his ministers for advice. He would
give the King, however, his opinion : If the question con-
cerned the Infidel occupying territory that was originally
Christian, and thus endangering the Christian Religion,
turning sanctuaries into mosques and perpetuating other
abominations, there was no doubt that it was his duty to
make war. But if, on the contrary, the question dealt
with territory that had never been Christian, he should
act otherwise, whether the Infidel was doing harm or not;
for the World and its abundance belonged to God alone;
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 179
and it was He who makes the sun rise for both Christian
and Infidel. Nevertheless, if they were " Idolaters,"
sinning against the laws of Nature, then they should be
punished, for Nature commands them to worship only one
God. In any case, a war should only be made in all piety,
and ^vith all due consideration, care being taken not to
expose Christian soldiers to dangers or suffering without
sufficient cause; for if, through audacious or ill-advised
impulses, there should result calamity, the King would
be sinning grievously. If the War were just, the King could
carry it out honourably at the expense and suffering of the
Nation ; but if it were a War that was purely adventurous,
then it would be unjust to levy taxes for the purpose.^
We can easily guess what a piercing thrust this advice
was to the pious King. The days of militant Crusades,
and pious enthusiastic fanaticism had now set in Rome,
to be replaced by other ideas, which the people of the
Peninsula were later to absorb, and against the violation
of which they were to protest in their own way. The ideas
now dictated by the Pope were the outcome of a new spirit
which taught that God had made the sun to rise in order
to benefit both the Heathen and Christian, a new Theology,
that distinguished between the Moor and the Idolater,
that propounded a Natural Law of worshipping only one
God, and, at the same time, suggested a parallelism between
Christ and Mahomet, a philosophic Doctrine that preached
nothing but Peace, and defined War as an exclusive means
of defence in evident necessity. With all due respect
to the Pope, King Duarte took this advice for what it
was worth — he still remained in doubt. As for Prince
Henry, when he himself read out this pontifical message
— for he would not even allow his brother to read it
himself — he ground his teeth in anger at His Holiness'
weakness.
Whatever the advice, the die was cast, and Tangier was
to be attacked. And so to dissipate his forebodings and
raise his hopes, the King occupied himself %vriting about
^ Piua, Chron. de D. Duarte, XX.
180 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
the situation and his interviews with his advisers, am-
bi^ously recording; the motives that he wished to make
himself beUeve had influenced him in his decision, and
laying down the plans of the campaifrn with a touchhig
belief in the ability of Prince Henry to carry it to a success-
ful issue.
His motives were numerous, and he tabulated them
methodically, even trying to hide from himself his charac-
teristic indecision, the Queen's influence over him, and his
weakness during his daughter's birth. His main plea was
that the War was a necessity to exercise the army, a neglect
of which exercise led to the degeneration of peoples and,
often, to the loss of kingdoms, whereas the stimulus of war
" took the people away from themselves, and from a Life
without virtue." Moreover, he ^^Tote that it would en-
courage a pious feeling amongst the nobility to know that
they were doing good with Crusades, voyages and adven-
tures, and that it seemed to him that it was more noble to
work and to incur expense " in anything that was of
service to God and himself, than in anything that was of
service to the foreigner." Other Christian princes, too,
were crusading, and if the nation did not hdp them, it
seemed only right that they should fight some other un-
believers independently. Finally, after some other varied
reasons, he gave his last : " because I consider that we
govern Ceuta, this white man's prison, this consumer of
money, with so much loss and danger, and all because of
the persecution of those who wish to avenge Our Lord God,
[therefore I think we ought to go to war] to subject the
Infidels of that kingdom to obedience to the Holy Mother
Church, obtaining thus more territory to increase our
honour and wealth, so that the said expense will be com-
pensated for in all or in part, as I understand, pleasing
Our Lord, whose will be done, through His great mercy,
if Tangier and Alcazer be captured." *
The King obviously wished to convince himself, so that
he might clear from his perturbed soul the clouds of doubt
^ Papers of King Duarte in Sousa'a Hist. Oen., Proof I. 538.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 181
placed there by Prince Peter's advice, by the Pope's
admonition, and by the Count of Barcellos' warnings, as
well as the presentiments of his own sensitive mind. So,
in order to persuade himself of this, he Avrote it all down,
making himself believe that the energy spent on enumer-
ating his reasons would introduce some soothing strength
of decision into his wavering spirit, and make him forget
himself. He did not wish to go in person to Ceuta, as
his father had done before him, and as his son was to do
after him at Alcazer ; but he yearned to supervise bureau-
cratically the plan of campaign, formulating learned
probabilities, and recommending his own -written ideas,
often repeated in their punctuated execution, to Prince
Henry.
He advised that, as soon as they reached Ceuta, they
should divide the fleet into three parts. One part was to
be sent to Tangier, another to Arzilla, and a third to
Alcazer. Thus he thought Prince Henry would prevent
the Moors concentrating all their forces at Tangier, " so
that these may be held elsewhere and prevented from help-
ing the others there." Prince Henry was advised to march
against Tangier with a force of 500 horse ; then to besiege
it " with two columns that should reach from coast to
coast " ; and if the men available were not sufficient, with
one column having constant communication with the fleet.
He was to make, at the most, three attacks ; and if the third
did not effect the fall of Tangier, he was to retire to Ceuta
and winter there, until the month of March : " and, then
I will go with all my army." ^ King Duarte, further
cautioned him that if he did not do this he would surely
find himself crushed by the combined forces from Tripoli,
Barbary, and all the tribes as far as Mecca, as Prince Peter,
who had travelled throughout the spacious Orient, had
warned him.
The panic of the King was as obvious as his advice was
cautious ; and the insistence with which he advised Prince
Henry, together with the length of these dissertations,
^ Pina, Chron. de D. Duarte, XXI.
182 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
shows the doubts he entertained concerning his brother's
caution. In truth, Prince Henry paid Httle attention to
the voice of Prudence; lor, full of blind confidence, he
remembered that Ceuta had been a mere skirmish, and was
inclined to consider Tangier would be the same. Therefore
he looked upon all his brother's counsels as so much
infantile chatter, the outcome of a hesitating mind; and,
conscious of his own strength of character and lack of fear,
felt benevolently sorry for the King, whose cackling he
suffered accordingly with as much patience as might be.
King Duarte, however, would not leave him in peace. He
was constantly at him with advice such as this : " I
command you to make it your business to protect the
virtue of Chastity, because you know full well how much
Our Lord is pleased with this same virtue; and I would
have you notice how the English pursue this object, since,
although, in time of peace, they arc so much occupied with
their women, having them ever about them, yet, in time
of war, to protect them more zealously, they will not suffer
that they be allowed near the battlefields." ^
To this and hundreds such similar counsels Prince Henry
listened in silence, shrugging his shoulders in sympathy
for a seemingly deranged mind, until the date of his
departure arrived, and he was free to act untrammelled by
his brother's following shadow.
On August 23, 1437, the fleet sailed from Lisbon, with
all the troops that had been recruited : 2,000 cavalry,
1,000 crossbowmcn, and 3,000 archers, making in all a
total of 6,000 men, instead of the 14,000 that the Prince
had asked for. But this scarcity did not affect Prince
Henry's plans, his self-confidence blinding him completely
to the enormous risks he rnn. The people " found this
expedition such an undertaking that they felt more dis-
posed to lose their sjwils than to endanger their lives. "^
In vain the King adjourned trials in the High Courts until
' King Duartc's papers, " Instr. de Tangier " in Sousa's Hist Oen.,
Proof I. r.:5:j.
« Pina, Chron. de D. Dmrle, XXII.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 183
after the War; in vain, he bribed criminals with free
pardon : ^
Every device failed, men and money failed, the latter
because neither the Treasury, nor the Crown estates, nor
the loans borrowed, not even the sums that were taken by
the Government, and that had been raised for the purpose
of charity, realised enough. Even the vessels that the
Government contracted for were not built; and those
recalled from Flanders and Germany failed to return to
home waters on account of the war that Germany was
waging against the French, after the restoration of the
Monarchy in Paris. To cap everything, Castile would not
allow the Portuguese trading vessels to leave the shores
of Biscay, and so part of the Ai'my had to march overland
to Gibraltar before embarking for Ceuta.
The religious ceremonies in connection with the depar-
ture of the fleet resembled more those of a funeral than of
an expedition, when, in the chapel of Our Lady of Bethlem,
the friars confessed and communicated the sailors. ^
Presentiments of some catastrophe were universally felt ;
but this only increased Prince Henry's blind enthusiasm.
^ The text of the Law was the following :
(1) That plaintiffs who wish to enlist can leave their cases in the hands
of their Procurators and Judges, who shall work for the interests of the
plaintiffs.
(2) All executions of sentences of death and quartering are to be ad-
journed until two months after the return of the Armada, provided that
the crimiaal has committed his crime prior to January 1436, and provided
that the criminal wiU join the Armada.
(3) Similarly, minor crimes wiU be pardoned to those enlisting before
the last day of April. And those sentenced to death and quartering will
be pardoned after their return from the War; excepting treacherous
assassj'is, woman garrotters, forgers, heretics, persons guilty of sacrilege,
highwaymen, robbers, and incendiaries, who wiU not have safe conduct
through districts wherein they have committed crimes, but only in the
district of embarcation.
(4) AH lawsuits are to be prorogued until two months after the return
of the Armada.
(5) The King beseeches prelates to absolve the excommunicated " be-
cause it w ill be a thing of danger and of corruption to others, if they join
the Armada."
2 Barros, " Dec." I., IV. 12, " Item : ordered in the Church of Santa
Maria de Bethlem, situated in Restello in the outskirts of the City of
Lisbon." — Test, do inf. D. Henriqice.
184 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
His soul was tempered like steel, and his eyes shone in his
weather-beaten, bronzed countenance, when, at last, he
boarded his ship, eager to face all odds, confident in his
star, followed by Prince Fernando, then in the strength of
his three and thirty years.
On the other hand, Prince Fernando, w^ho had been
praying for and eagerly looking forward to this expedition,
in favour of which he had persistently tried to influence his
dead father, now began to share the public presentiments
about it ; and so on the eve of departure, Santiago's Day,
he took his last leave of the Chapels of Our Lady da
Escada, and S. Domingos, in which latter he was confessed
and had Holy Communion,^ so that he might start recon-
ciled and prepared for his death. He also made his last
Testament, distributing his possessions, which were few
indeed, among the various churches where he had performed
his devotions, indicating his pious Avishes thus : — " If I
die in this Armada, on board of which I am sailing . . .
it is my will that they give me torches and obsequies
as if I were a simple nobleman and no more . . . and if,
perchance, my brother, Prince Henry, wishes to make
other obsequies in my honour ... I ask him. in mercy,
that he will only order High Mass to be sung for the
salvation of my Soul, or to spend the money in the ransom-
ing of captives, or in alms to some worthy people who may
pray to God on my behalf." ^ Little indeed, when he made
this Will, did the ill-fated Prince anticipate that his funeral
obsequies would be conducted not by his brother and with
Christian ceremonies, but by the King of Fez, exposing
his dead and mutilated body to the derision of a gloating
mob of Infidels.
The voyage was accomplished in little more than four
days. On August 27 they arrived at Ceuta, where they
found the Governor, Dom Pedro de Menezes, Count of
* Friar Luiz do Souaa's Hist, de S. Domhigos, III. 19.
2 Extracted from Princo Fcrnando's Will and Testament made before
he sailed in 1437, and copied in Sousa's Hist. Oen., Proof I. 501.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 185
Vianna, on his deathbed, stricken by the fatal illness
■which carried him off in a few days,^ after having for
twenty years resisted with his isolated garrison constant
Moorish attacks. The natives around the city were terror-
stricken ; and the news of a Christian fleet approaching their
shores resounded throughout all Maghreb. ^ The anxiety
within Ceuta itself was, however, almost as great when
they saw how small was the force vnth which it was
proposed to attack Tangier; and the unanimous opinion
given by a special Council of War assembled was that it
should be delayed till reinforcements arrived. Neverthe-
less, Prince Henry, angered and adamant, tragically
exclaimed :
" I knoAV that the forces are small ; but it is the command
of God ! Even if they were smaller, we should have to
open the attack ! " ^
Then, rising with these words, determined to face what-
ever Fate had in store for him, he left the meeting, followed
by the eyes of all assembled.
Whenever such fanaticism takes possession of a man, it
converts him, for the time, into an hypnotic power that
dominates the wills of those around him, making him
appear a hero in their eyes, subordinating their intelligence,
so that reason and critical judgment give way to a blind
automatism, impelling them to obey commands as if they
were infallible. Such was the power Prince Henry pos-
sessed over these men. His will appeared to be that of
Destiny. The more doubtful the outcome seemed, the
more he hardened his heart against abandoning it. The
members of the Council were silenced. They followed him
like sheep with the submissive apathy of men awaiting their
fate. It was the will of God !
This portion of Africa juts out into the Straits, forming
a promontory, on the middle of which is Alcazer, in front
^ Azurara, Chron. do conde D. Pedro, XL.
2 Pina, Chron. de D. Duarte, XXI.
- Ibid., XXII.
186 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
of Tarifa.i Towards the right, beyond Cape Lion, and
already resting on Mediterranean waters, Hes Ceuta;
whilst on the left, still on the Straits, bounded by Cape
Espartel, is Tangier. Westward, the Atlantic coast
descends along Arzilla ^ to Azamor. Westward the coast
curves in sharply ; and on this bay is Tctuan. The moun-
tains of Ximeira, or the " Monos " (Monkey) Mountains,
the backbone of this African promontory, runs obliquely
from Tangier to Ceuta, ending here abruptly, frowning
over the sea and fading away beyond the lower slopes of
the fields of Andjera. There were two roads from Ceuta
to Tangier ; one wound along the summits of the mountain
ridges parallel to the coast of the Straits, the other de-
scended to the Mediterranean, and lead to Tetuan, cutting
obliquely towards Tangier, leaving the wild, mountainous
part westwards and entering the valleys of Andjera. The
first was the shorter, but the second was the safer.
The Prince immediately launched out 1,000 men, under
the command of Joao Pcrreira, to acquaint themselves
with the former road. They had not proceeded far before
they encountered skirmishing parties of Moors ; and
advancing towards Cape Lion, they were driven back on
account of the precipitous ground. This first engagement
unfortunately delayed them a few days, and it was not
until September 8 that Prince Henry was able to leave
Ceuta, proceeding along the coast and making straight for
Tetuan. Prince Fernando, who was ill, went by sea with
the fleet, which, without splitting into three, as King
Duarte had advised, sailed from Ceuta to Tangier. On
the 10th, a Tuesday, Prince Henry occupied Tetuan, which
had been evacuated by the Moors. He entered the city and
* " From Ceuta to Ca^r Ma^muda (Alcazer), the formidable fortress
bordering on the shores, where they constructed vessels and boats that
wore destined to sail beyond Spain, there is a distance of twelve miles.
This castle rises over the part of the coast nearest Spain." — Edrisi, Dtsc.,
etc., translation by Dozy and (Jocje, p. 201.
* " From Tangier to Arzilla there is only one short day's journey. Arzilla
is a very small city, of which little remains. It is also known as Aciia,
anrl is surrounded hv fortified walls and situated on the Straits of Gibraltar
(d"az-Zoc4e)."— yftiof., p. 202.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 187
destroyed its gates. ^ The next day the Portuguese column
made for the heights of Cape Lion ; and on Friday, the 13th
— an unlucky day and an unlucky number — they occupied
the old town of Tangier,^ pitching their camp along the
neighbouring shore. Prince Henry's long-desired moment
was approaching. He was in a fever to begin. That
same Friday evening, therefore, remembering the day of
the capture of Ceuta, and under the impression that the
Moors would do the same as they had done then and be
put to flight, he ordered his troops to commence attacking
at once. But when the assaulting forces unfurled their
banners, a gust of wind carried away the Prince's flag,
splintering the lance to pieces ; and, seeing this, the ardour
of his inexperienced followers was chilled ; they murmured
that it was an e\i\ omen ; all sting in consequence was
taken out of the attack; and the fleet-footed southern
night fell heavily upon their apprehensive imaginations.
It was obvious a quick attack was useless ; and so the
whole of the following week, from this unlucky date and
day, Friday the 13th, to another unlucky day, Friday the
20th, was spent in landing arms and provisions, and con-
structing siege-works. They soon found that the situation
was different from that of Ceuta. The Moor, behind his own
shelter, was also preparing himself for a brave stand ; and,
between those rocky battlements and the fleet rocking
gently in the tranquil sea close at hand, the Prince's camp
began to appear like a shipwreck. Soldiers and sailors
^ "From Ceuta to the fortress of Tetuan ("Tettawin") going south-
west, there is only a short day's journey. This fortress is situated on the
centre of an elevation, five mUes from the Mediterranean. It is occupied
by a tribe of Berbers called Madjacsa (Medjeke^a)." — Edrisi, Desc, etc.,
translation by Dozy and Goeje, p. 203.
^ " From Ca9r Magumda (Alcazer) to Tangier is a journey of twenty
miles along the western road. This last city is very ancient, and domi-
nates all the surrounding district. Constructed over an elevation that
commands the sea, its houses are scattered on the centre of the slope that
descends to the shore. It is a beautiful city. Its inhabitants are
industrious merchants. They also build ships, and the port is much
frequented. The plateau, which is near Tangier, is very fertile and is
inhabited by the Berber tribes called ' Canhadja.' From Tangier, the
Atlantic Ocean forms an elbow, that turning towards the meridian reaches
the Land of Tochommoch, the capital of which was in other days a large
city."— Ibid., p. 201.
188 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
were beginning to ask themselves why their ambitious
leader had not followed their King's advice. He had not
divided his fleet into three parts, because it was certainly
too small. In this, his judgment was sound. He had tried
a rapid assault which, with good fortune, might have been
successful. It had failed, however, and could not be
repeated without other reinforcements, as the King had
advised. They did not blame him for the failure of the
assault — it might have been successful ; but now they
began to wonder and doubt, seeing that the delay would
permit the enemy to concentrate reinforcements upon
Tangier, and render their task more difficult still. At this
moment the Prince, too, was beginning to see the painful
truth through the fading visions of his blinding enthusiasm.
He was fuiding out that this was not Ceuta.
On the 27th, also a Friday, the second attack was made.
They had to retire with 500 wounded, leaving twenty of
their comrades lifeless on the field. More than this, their
stores were getting scantier — provisions having to be
brought from Ceuta.
On Saturday they saw the spears of the first reinforce-
ments glistening on the summit of the mountains in the
dazzling troj)ical sun. On Sunday they noted clouds of
dust raised iDy a few turbaned horsemen, who had ridden
out to acquaint themselves with the position of the camp.
On Monday, both mountain and valley were thick with
Moors, who had arrived from Arzilla and Alcazer, to gather
round the green flag of the Pro})het and help the defenders
of Tangier. They numbered 40,000 horsemen and 30,000
infantry. In truth, the 5,000 Christian invaders were
becoming besieged; prophesies were being fulfilled;
common-sense was becoming the victor. Prince Henry
wept with rage. He wept for his long years of hope, for
the eighteen years of inactivity he had spent during his
father's old age, the eighteen long years in which he had
nursed the ambitions that were now scattered with the
dust of one brief day over the scorching sands of tropical
Africa !
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 189
On Tuesday, October 1, the small Christian army made
an heroic advance; but the Infidels, to draw them from
their base, kept retiring, avoiding the clash of steel only to
reappear at a further distance in overwhelming numbers,
looking like a huge black wave that threatened to swamp
the Portuguese column. On Wednesday, the scene was
changed. The Moors from the city now made a sortie,
while those from both mountain and valley helped them
to attack the camp. Both, however, were repelled; but
the extremity in which the invaders were placed now be-
came evident. Disaster stared them in the face. There was
now no other hope than that of the ships, sAvaying in the
roadstead as if impatient to weigh anchor and unfurl their
sails. And yet Prince Henry, with clenched teeth, would
not admit his failure even to himself. Another daj^ was
spent in doubt ; but on the following, again a Friday, he
again essayed a forward movement, having in the mean-
time ordered a high tower of wooden scaffolding to be
erected beside the camp, from the top of which his cross-
bowmen shot at the enemy throughout the day. On
Saturday the turbaned host, with a deafening shout of fury,
precipitated itself upon the ladders of this scaffolding.
Prince Henry, on horseback, clad in a black suit of chain-
armour, as black as his own destiny, as his own despairing
soul, led his men in person against this overwhelming
assault.
The scene was now beginning to foreshadow inevitable
disaster. Amid the din of battle sounds of trumpets
rent the air, mortars thundered their charges, belching
forth clouds of smoke, rivers of arrows poured forth from
the beleag-uered garrison attempting to stay the fiery
Moslem onset. Occasionally, blazing balls of tow, soaked
in pitch, accompanied these clouds of arrows, while the
wooden ladders swayed, or, burning to cinders, snapped
with the weight of the assailants, who nevertheless pressed
steadily on, driving the Portuguese back till even Prince
Henry himself, seeing that the day was lost, was compelled
to order a retreat behind the entrenchments.
190 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Even yet, however, he would not acknowledge himself
defeated. The obstinacy of his Punic temperament
dominated him. As the scaffolding and ladders were
burnt he ordered more to be fetched from the fleet, refusing
to re-cmbark his men while it was yet possible, disregarding
the King's advice, paying no attention to Prince Peter's
opinions, obstinately holding his ground until he discovered
he was completely surrounded by the enemy — the kings
of Fez, of Belez, of Lazaraque, of Morocco and of Fafilete.
It seemed as though every Moor in Maghreb had come to
fight for the Prophet, to defend Tangier, to avenge Ceuta,
and to exterminate the Christians. We are told by con-
temporary writers that they numbered 70,000 horsemen,
and 700,000 tribesmen. Prince Henry was now confronted
with inevitable disaster. It was the 9th of October ; they
had begun the siege on the 13th of September, a siege that
had lasted twenty-seven days ; and the end was rapidly
approaching. The sailors retreated in haste to their ships,
and the soldiers entrenched, like sheep behind the shelter
of their pen, watched in sullen silence the Moors of Tangier
crossing the sandy plain to attack the camp, and all the
surrounding country pouring forth an innumerable accom-
panying army, whose long, winding columns of glittering
lances undulated and glistened like fields of wheat rippling
in the summer breeze. That day Prince Henry lost his
charger ; the Portuguese were driven back ; and night fell
over the doomed garrison cramped behind its OAvn defences.
All hojic had now fled from the Christian host. The space
between the camp and the shore, across the beach, which
was still free in parts, was the scene, in the dead of night,
of many a cowardly act, many an heroic sacrifice. WTiole
companies fled in boats, rowing feverishly for their lives
towards the fleet ; others, on the contrary, came from the
ships, left their boats, and joined themselves on the beach
to their doomed comrades, refusing to desert them in their
dire extremity, swearing that they would die with them.
Next morning the camp was completely surrounded ;
retreat to the ships cut off ; and it was found there was only
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 191
enough provisions for two days. Thus they had to resist
starvation as well as the enemy's spears ; and for this
reason many, in their despair, clamoured for a bold dash
to liberate them from such torture, preferring to die
fighting like men, rather than endure any longer the
agonies of hunger and thirst. Seeing the huge band of
Moors that had encircled the camp, cutting them off from
the sea, they gave up all hopes of ever reaching their ships
— the ships whose proximity only added to their helpless-
ness ; and so they watched with fatalistic eyes whilst the
band began to tighten closer and closer, as though to
strangle them. On Thursday, October 10, at break of day,
Mass was held. The Prince, kneeling, earnestly prayed
to God and His Holy Saints to work some miracle. Was
he not fighting in their cause ? Was it not right, then, that
they should come to his aid ? Why, then, had he been
forsaken ? His tortured mind rebelled against the cold
injustice of this seeming desertion, when he remembered
the piety of his intentions, the strength of his faith so
cruelly harrowed. He implored High Heaven to listen
to his supplications, to rescue them from the Fate that was
now inevitable without aid. He demanded almost as a
right that God should come to the succour and support of
what was so evidently His own cause against the over-
whelming power of Mohammed. But God did not hear.
The Saints had forgotten. Renewed hostilities put a stop
to his prayers. Like some gigantic tidal wave an influx
of Moors broke over the rude fortifications of the encamp-
ment, as if to engulf it ; yet, like a foam-swept island rock,
it stood firm, fixed, unconquerable ; and the wild waves
of Islam receded again and yet again.
Through the long, pitiless day they held their own ;
and then at nightfall, the sadly diminished garrison
attempted to make a sudden dash for liberty. But they
had a traitor in the camp ; a priest sold their secret ; and
everywhere they found a watchful enemy determined to
hem them in. The following day a truce was made; but
on Saturday, tiie 12th, at 7 a.m., hostilities recommenced.
192 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
There was now no fuel left in the camp, and no other meat
than horseflesh, which thc}^ devoured almost raw, after
attemptinfj to cook it by burning the straw stuffing of their
saddles. Worse still, there was no water either; and they
tried to quench their thirst by sucking the salted mud
of the beach. Saturday night saw yet another attempt
to reach their only hope, the fleet, which, in the fever of
thirst and hunger, they saw magnified, near and yet far
away, like some huge mocking mirage. A quiet of ex-
haustion had fallen even on their assailants. After the
clash of steel came an awful silence, the silence of impending
doom. The spectre of Death was in the inky sky, hovering
with open talons and vulture wings over the condemned ;
and now creeping into the breasts of all, with this dread
pause, came fear, the fear that even amongst the bravest
men will sweep with panic speed over any army.
Hunger, thirst, the agony of waiting inactive, peering
vainly into the night, not knowing when or where the
stroke might fall, the mocking sight of the ships that
meant safety, so near and yet so useless, all combined to
put the last overwhelming strain on the demoralised
army.
They had to surrender.
The terms imposed by the Moors were humiliatingly
heavy. They were granted their lives, allowed to go to
their ships in safety, but without their arms. For this
they agreed to give up Ceuta, and, as earnest of their good
faith. Prince Fernando was left a hostage in the enemy's
hands. They agreed to give up all Moorish captives, to
make a treaty of peace for 100 years, and to renounce all
plans of conquering Barbary.
Such were the terms Prince Henry accepted ; but in his
later actions we sec his Punic temperament. He did not
hesitate to yield when he saw that he had made a mistake;
but, at the same time, he never had any intention of
surrendering Ceuta, in spite of the fact that the INIoors
held his brother as hostage for his good faith, and Prince
Fcrnando's ransom was to be this very surrender. To
^».,
Pi liilt 'W
Q
o
Q
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 193
ensure his safety during captivity the Portuguese were
given the son of (^lalaben^ala, " Sheik " of Tangier, and
formerly Governor of Ceuta, whilst to the Moors were
surrendered D. Pedro de Athayade, John Gomes de
Avellar, Ayres, and Gomes da Cunha, who were put into
captivity with the Prince. Nevertheless, in justice to
Prince Henry, it must be stated that the hostages knew
of his intentions, knew that Ceuta would never be surren-
dered, and went deliberately to their fate, conscious that
they would be sacrificed. Prince Henry, indeed, offered,
himself, to take his brother's place; but neither Prince
Fernando, nor the Council would allow this ; and History
tells us that he did not hold out long against their views.i
The lives of those whom the World counts " great " are
examples either of vahant action or sublime abnegation.
To court death in battle for the mere sake of action is not
true greatness; but to meet it calmly in a great cause
teaches an immortal lesson. And so, contrasting these
two brothers, we may ask ourselves which of them was
the nobler : the one who met his prolonged torture and
slow death almost joyfully, or the one who lived on in hopes
of revenge, the one who perished in sacrifice, or the one
who accepted that sacrifice solely for the sake of his
ambition. Our sympathy, as well as our admiration, must
irresistibly yield to Prince Fernando "The Martyr";
for if life does not consist in action only, Heroism cannot
be Its loftiest termination, and its end must always be more
noble, respected, and admired when it leads to such greatness
as converts a man into the fuel that is consumed by the living
flame of the ethereal soul of the martyr in him.
The greatness of Christianity depends upon what has
always exalted it. We may state that this greatness is
due to Its tendency to look upon Life as something to be
used for higher purposes, sanctifying heroic martyrs
perfectmg the apotheoses of those who, in charity and love,'
cultivate the rarer flower of existence.
On the other hand, in Iron, in Bronze, in Fire, and in
^ Pina, Chron. de D. Duarte, XX.., XXXIII.
o
194 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Blood, the PhcEiiician mind, ardent and hard, always
conceived Life as a torture, and fashioned Heroism as a
blind pursuit of an elusive Destiny, unmercifully crushing
everything that tried to oppose or arrest its progress,
shunning only obstacles that were essentially unconquer-
able.
This was the mind of Prince Henry. On Thursday
October 17, after terms had been arranged, he ordered his
men to board their ships. But some of the Moors did not
respect the terms of the treaty ; many were beyond control ;
and so considerable skirmishing took place that the
" Sheiks " were unable to repress. At length, however,
on the Saturday, most of the Portuguese reached the shore
and, in confusion, took to the boats, pursued by ill-aimed
showers of spears with which certain fanatical Moslems
from the shore assisted the rapidity of their departure, and
followed by deafening shouts of " Algazarra " — the war-cry
of the Moors. The Prince made for Ceuta, whilst the
remains of the fleet sailed to Lisbon, Prince Fernando and
his companions in captivity being taken to Tangier to
begin the expiatory suffering brought on by their country's
hero.
After the fleet left Lisbon, King Duarte had remained
in the capital, uneasy and anxious for news, while Prince
John went to the Algarve to gather an army and pro-
visions to succour his brothers, in case the graver fears
were realised. In Lisbon, dreading disaster, Prince Peter
hurriedly began to collect a fleet ; but plague broke out ;
all plans became dislocated; and the King had to seek
refuge at Santarem. It was there he received the first
news of the siege, on the very day in which his troops had
effected their disastrous retreat from Tangier; and there
he brooded over the distressful confirmation of his fears,
wondering why his brother had not carried out his instruc-
tions. Overcome by his own fatal shortsightedness, he
wept and accused himself of the responsibility, {)ainfully
deeming himself the author of the catastrophe.^ All the
• The Loyal Counsellor, III.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 195
remorse was his. He saw in himself the chief sinner. He
could not even console himself wdth reflections on the
fortunes of war, like Prince Henry. He knew beforehand.
He had sinned because he was weak. Therefore he felt
the stigma all the more. In vain Prince Peter, with his
generous heart and magnanimous humanity, tried to
console him ; in vain he sought to make light of his scruples,
to dry his tears with his affection, to dissipate his exag-
gerated terrors, seeking to introduce into his soul the joys
of new hopes. The King's desolation was complete. He
summoned every one around him. He dreaded to find
himself alone. He called his physicians, as he believed
himself dying. He even summoned his father's faithful
old servant, the ecred Mem de Seabra, who had nursed
him in his arms and carried him in his golden youth, in
the joyous days, for ever lost, the days of his childhood.
The old servant came post-haste from his cloister in
Setubal, where he had secluded himself for the rest of his
remaining years, in remorseful penitence, as dictated by
the Brotherhood of the Serra de Ossa.^
Prince Peter had just returned to Lisbon, to complete
the preparations of the relieving fleet, when the miserable
remains of Prince Henry's expedition entered the Tagus,
and the enormity of the catastrophe became knowm.
They told how Prince Fernando had been lost ; and they
began, now, to ask what fate had befallen Prince Henry.
The public mind wavered between a fear that some cruel
fate had also befallen him, and anger because he alone was
to blame for this disgrace and suffering; for the crews,
landing in rags, without their weapons, dazed with the
hardships they had endured, instinctively exaggerated
their misfortunes, to elicit public sympathy and excuse
their defeat at the hands of the all-powerful Moor.
Among this broken crowd, however, was a certain knight,
the worthy chevalier and companion of Prince Peter, one
^ Pina, Chron de D. Duarte. (The Serra de Ossa is a range of mountains
in the province of Alemtejo. On its highest summit we find, to-day, the ruins
of the old monastery.)
196 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
who had, in the wars with France, earned the distinction
of the Order of the Garter. It was none other than the
renowned Sir Alvaro Vaz de Almada, Count D'Avranche —
a singular character who saw all things M'ith a humorous
eye, and talked about them with the bold extravagance of
a wit capable of laughter in the face of the most cruel of
tragedies. Sir Alvaro, having landed, dressed himself in
festive garb, and ordered his men to do likewise. He
shaved and perfumed himself, and, with a joyful face and
a smile on his lips, not to belie his festive attire, betook
himself to Carnide,^ where the Court was at the time, to
pay his respects to the King and Prince Peter. Sir Alvaro
even expressed the wish that all belfrys should peal out
their most festive chimes, informing those around him that
Tangier was forgotten history, and doing it, too, with such
a grave air of conviction, that long faces smiled again, and
even hopes were raised that Prince Fernando would not
remain long with the Moor in captivity,^
His words were balm to the mind of the tortured King;
but unfortunately they were nothing more than the
generous outpourings suggested by a kindly though
extravagant imagination ; and the news that kept arriving,
showed that the Moors were fully determined to hold the
Prince as long as Ccuta remained other than theirs. Pi-ince
John had, by now, started from the Algarve with a relief
force; but stormy, unfavourable gales detained him; and
when he arrived at Arzilla it was found that his brother
was already in captivity. He, therefore, opened negotia-
tions with the Sheik of Arzilla and Tangier, ^alabcn9ala,
whose son, as already mentioned, the Portuguese held in
hostage, with the hope of an exchange. But the King of
Fez, hearing of this, and apparently fearing some move,
took the Prince away with him; ^ and so this, as well as
• On Nov. 9, at Caniifle, tho King signer! the " safety " to those
criminals who had been in Tangier with his brothers and had accompanied
them. This " safety " lasted until February of the following year
(1438).
* Pina, Chron. de D. Duarte, XXXVI.
=> Ibid., XXXVI.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 197
Prince Henry's attempts in Ceuta to release him, proved
equally useless. Thus things came to an impasse ; and
Prince Henry, seeing no way of effecting an exchange,
sent the Moorish prisoners to the Algarve, determined to
hold on to Ceuta, refusing to return home in spite of
innumerable letters and messages from King Duarte
commanding him to do so.^
From Arzilla, the King of Fez took Prince Fernando to
his Court at Fez. The road to Fez ^ descending from
Tangier almost parallel to the coast, meets the road from
Arzilla, and follows on to Alcacerquibir,^ where it crosses
the riv^er Luccus, that reaches the sea at El-Araich (La-
rache).^ From here the caravan route, climbing the hills
of El-Charbie, runs obliquely inland through Basra and
Vezzan, making for Fez, over the hill of Uad Sebu. Prince
Fernando, therefore, was making the same journey in his
captivity that, in later years, in as tragic circumstances,
the unfortunate King Sebastian was to make after his
defeat at Alcacerquibir — the final stroke that destroyed
the Portuguese power in Morocco. Prince Fernando, born
co-heir to the great expansive colonising ambition that
possessed Prince Henry's Punic Soul, was, thus, also the
precursor of the torture of King Sebastian, for so it was
predestined by Fate. These two kingly figures acted the
Prologue and the Epilogue in this portion of the History
of Portugal, the opening and the closing scenes in which
their respective martyrdoms completed the cycle of exploits
1 Pina, Chron. de D. Duarte, XXXVIII-IX.
2 " Eight days are spent on the road from Ceuta to Fez, passing Zadd-
jan." — Edrisi, Desc, translated by Dozy and Goeje, p. 204.
3 " From Tochommoch, we come to Ca^r Abdi 'L-Carim (Ca^r-el-Kebir)
or Alcacerquibir, a small town near the coast, two days from Tangier,
and boardering on the river Loccos (Luccus). Here we find bazaars in
proportion to the importance of the town, and other signs of prosperity." —
Ibid., p. 202.
* " Between Arzila (Arzilla) and Al-Cagr (Alcacerquibir), we meet the
estuary of the Safdad (R. Luccus), a river large enough to harbour vessels;
its waters are sweet, and the inhabitants of Tochommoch use them. It
is formed by the junction of two affluents, one of which rises in the land of
the Danhadja, on the d'Al-Ba^ra Mountains, and the other in the land
of the Kitama."— /6u/., p. 202,
198 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
wherein the Portuguese people demonstrated the greatness
they inherited from their Phoenician forefathers.
Riding an ill-fed mongrel, with a rotten saddle, the pom-
mel of which was falling to pieces, and a bridle tied with
bits of esparto, Prince Fernando — a Christian Prince, — was
mockingly made by the Moors to enact the part of Christ
when riding through the streets of Jerusalem. He was
forced to make his way through the desert, followed, on
foot, by his nine companions, accompanied by a crowd of
jeering, mocking Moors. His companions were his Chap-
lain and Confessor, his Physician, his valet, and his two
cooks. As they passed each Moorish village, the people
would receive them with shouts of derision, yelling insults
after them, spitting at them, and following them with
showers of stones. In this fashion they were taken as
far as Fez, where they were met by an equally fanatical
multitude, thirsting for their blood with the fury of savage
cannibals, and only kept at bay with difficulty by the
guards sent to defend them.
King Duarte, in the meantime, crushed by the cruel
weight of this catastrophe, adjourned the Cortes that was
sitting in Lciria, until the following January (1438),*
finding they came to no conclusion. Opinions were sharply
divided between fear for the death of the Prince and the
shame of losing Ccuta. Chivalry spoke, as usual, through
Prince Peter, who advised the surrender of Ceuta and the
giving up of any idea of expanding the Empire. Many of
the noblemen, however, headed by the Count of Arrayolos,
were strongly opposed to any such surrender, especially
as they knew Prince Fernando himself was against it.
Various other opinions were also given. Dom Fernando,
Archbishop of Braga, pointed out that Ceuta was a Chris-
tian possession, and that, therefore, it could not be given
up with all the consecrated Churches that it already
possessed, to the Infidel Moor, without the Pope's consent.
Others sought to hide their indecision by supporting this
vein of argument, and advised that the Prince's freedom
» Pina, Chron. dc D. Dmrle, XXXVIII.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 199
should be bought with gold, or by exchanging captives,
and only when everything else failed should they think of
surrendering Ceuta, after consulting the Heads of the
Christian Church. The King thus heard all over again
merely a repetition of what his Cortes had said ; and so
the problem remained as unsolved as ever. The instincts
of brotherly Love, however, prompted him to give up
Ceuta. To him the thought of sacrificing his o^vn brother
was as painful as death itself ; but the surrender of Ceuta
was impossible against the wishes of his Cortes. In this
cruel dilemma he took the advice of the more undecided,
and delayed action by consulting the Pope and writing
numerous letters to other Christian kings, who all replied
condoling with him, but nevertheless, advising that he
should not give up Ceuta. ^
In the meantime Prince Henry was not to be found
anywhere — letters, prayers, supplications, and commands,
were all useless in bringing him home. Five whole months,
up to February 1438, he kept away somewhere in Africa,
hoping to rescue the brother whom he had sacrificed, until
convinced at last of the fruitlessness of further effort, he
returned to bury himself in his wilderness at Sagres, there
to hide his tears of rage and despair, not having enough
courage to show his face at Court. For once in his life he
showed the white feather. He was afraid to confront the
placid severity of his brother. Prince Peter, and to meet the
pitiable complaints of the King he had betrayed.
Nevertheless the latter, at length, also sought his advice
in the matter of Prince Fernando and Ceuta, after having
ob1"ained the opinion of nearly every one in the land, and
insisted on his coming to meet him in Evora, where the
Court was at the time. It was not, however, until June
that Prince Henry could make up his mind to leave Sagres.
He came to Portel, eighteen miles south of Evora, and from
there he wrote to his brother, asking him in mercy to
excuse him from Court, telling him that he could not
possibly come any further. King Duarte, therefore, went
1 Pina, Chron. de D. Dmrte, XXXIX.-XLI.
200 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
to Portcl. We know exactly what took place between the
two brothers. We know that Prince Henry — carrying the
burden of his guilt and in deep mourning — no sooner had
advised the King to surrender Ceuta, than he also urged
him to follow this up with another expedition, insisting
that it was only necessary to have 6,000 horsemen, 6,000
crossbowmen, and 12,000 infantry to avenge the recent
disaster of Tangier, and conquer all Africa. Stirred by
his own eloquence, the Prince forgot his shame and his
mourning, and again was the obedient slave of his charac-
teristic enthusiasm, putting aside all obstacles, neglecting
every difficulty with the power of illusion so common in
men commonly called " visionaries," who often look back
upon the past and consider it more shadowy than their
hopes for the future.
King Duarte's supplications were all in vain. The two
brothers separated ; and each went his way in sorrow : one
to Evora, the other to Sagres. Possibly the King was
beginning to doubt his brother's sanity, when he realised
that all these plans were as lacking in common-sense as they
had ever been. To him this talk of a second expedition,
this risk of another catastrophe, after the recent debacle,
was nothing but the ravings of a deranged mind, especially
since it had already resulted in Prince Fernando being in
fetters. To him his consent meant the signing of his own
death warrant. A veil of blood passed before his eyes when
he closed them to shut out the inhuman madness of Prince
Henry. He had hoped to find him penitent. Instead he
discovered he was as much a slave to his ideas as ever.
The unfortunate King had not the strength to bear the
burden of it longer. When he returned to Evora it was seen
that his countenance was one of deeper despair than ever,
that he appeared more shaken, more apprehensive.^
He remained in Evora apparently less than a month
after this interview, for we know that in August he was in
Thomar, in the Palace da Ribeira, where, after much
suffering, he died broken-hearted. His doctors give us
» Pina, Chron. de D. DuarU, XLIl.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 201
the following cause for the " fever " that proved fatal in
two days, attributing it to " an unequalled sorrow and
continued distress, developed as a result of the misfortunes
following the siege of Tangier." Thus died King Duarte,
in his forty-seventh year, on the 9th of September, having
reigned five troublous years and twenty-five days. His
conscientious scruples killed him, aided by the remorse
he felt for having yielded to the caprice of his wife — the
wife who had been the direct cause of all these calamities,
and who now, in floods of tears, asked Prince Peter to open
the King's last Will and Testament. This having been
done, they found that he requested that all his money
and every possible means should be used, and exhausted
if necessary, to release Prince Fernando, and that, if this
were not successful, they should surrender Ceuta.^ In
his weakness he was only capable of posthumous strength !
He died a victim of the clash of wishes that had surged
around his vacillating mind. He was buried with the
piece of the Holy Cross his mother had given him on her
death-bed, and which he had always carried with him. The
widowed Queen, however, wished to keep this relic herself;
and, therefore, his tomb was opened, and the unfortunate
King, even after death, was deprived of his only blessing. ^
In spite of all this his brother. Prince Fernando, who
was enduring his tortures in the dungeons of the Palace
of Fez, survived him for five years, though, after he
had written unavailingly from Arzilla to his brothers, to
ransom him,^ like a true Christian, he had prayed to his
Eternal Father to mitigate, if possible, his suffering, and
rem-^ve soon from his lips the bitter cup of martyrdom.
King Duarte was dead ; and now the complications of
the Regency, which will be related further on, followed ;
but meanwhile Prince Peter did all he could to carry out
his brother's last wishes. After everything else had failed,
in 1441 Dom Fernando de Castro, at the head of a fleet,
sailed from Lisbon to effect the surrender of Ceuta to the
1 Pina, Chron. de D. Duarte, XLIII.-IV.
* Azurara, Chron. th D. Joao I, III. 40. ^ Pina, Ibid., XLII.
202 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Moors, and to bring back the captives ; but the fleet was
attacked by Genoese pirates, the admiral was killed and
his vessel sunk, while the rest of the ships had to return
to Tavira. It seemed as though all the Fates were against
the release of the unfortunate prisoners. Dom Alvaro,
the admiral's son, however, took command of the re-
maining vessels, and actually arrived at Ceuta ; but the
King of Fez, either in mistrust, or preferring to keep his
prisoners, asked for the surrender of the city before he
released his prisoners, swearing by Mahomet that he
would liberate Prince Fernando after Ceuta had been given
back. Dom Alvaro, therefore, returned to Lisbon con-
vinced, or feigning himself convinced, that the King of P'cz
no longer yearned for his city.^ Whatever the truth may
have been, Ceuta still remained Portuguese.
After the Prince's hopes of freedom began to wane, his
fate became, day by day, more cruel. During the first
months of his imprisonment, in spite of the weight of his
iron fetters, his life was made more or less bearable by the
company of his fellow-countrymen in captivity; but after
these few months they were separated, and the Prince was
taken to the stables of the Palace, where he was compelled
to groom the Sultan's horses and work in his orchards like
a common slave. His hands became hard with labour,
and his feet sore and often bleeding with the weight of his
irons. To deprive him of everything, he was stripped of
all his clothes save his shirt, being robbed of the two hun-
dred gold pieces he had sewn inside the lining of his doublet.
Enslaved, alone, perpetually beaten, his sufferings were
not yet complete. There yet remained to deprive him of
the light of day, of the sun, and of the stars that twinkled
in the inky dome of the tropical night — the same stars
that were gladdening the hearts of his fellow-countrymen
in freedom at home, in the beloved country that he was
never to see again.
All this they also took from him, leaving him only the
hopes of a redeeming death, casting him into a dark and
» Pina, Chron. de AJfonso V, LIV.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 203
filthy cell, wherein he could scarcely turn or lie. More
tried than Job, he lived fifteen months, perpetually kneel-
ing, perpetually calling on his Maker to end his sufferings.
What an extraordinarily eloquent prayer his must have
been ! His knees were hardened, his skin dry like parch-
ment tightly stretched over his bones, and in many places
broken. He soon became like a li^dng skeleton that,
perpetually cramped, had become deformed, presenting,
at the same time, a horrible and repugnant appearance;
but the more miserable and fatigued his body grew the
more ethereal became his Soul, soaring in the freedom of
the absolute liberty of his holy heroism !
One day, after more than five years of captivity, he felt
his fetters suddenly free him from the World. Even his
jailers, seeing him thus, were moved to pity. The day
before they had noticed that he was dying ; and that after-
noon he swooned and fell on his back, with an expression
of peace on his features — ^as if he were embracing a death
that, in this case at least, had lost its sting. He closed
his eyes, and tears of gratitude stained his sunken cheeks
as he thanked Providence for granting him his prayer.
His Physician and his Confessor were summoned ; and they
asked him if he slept ; but the Prince was indifferent to
their questions. The two men exchanged a questioning
glance, wondering whether he slept or whether he was
already dead.
" I hear you ! " he murmured, conscious, at last, of their
anxiety.
In the presence of these two friends he expired on the
5th of July 1443, and then :
" He did not feel the driver's whip,
Nor the burning heat of day ;
For death had illuminated the Land of Sleep,
And his lifeless bodj'' lay
A worn-out fetter, that the Soul
Had broken and thrown away."
Longfellow, The Slave's Dream.
Even the Moors looked upon him as a Saint, or rather, said
that he would have been one had he been a Mohammedan,
204 PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR
inferring this sanctity from his chastity, his virtue, and
the miracle of his having Hved so long cramped in his cell.
They even condemned his country for allowing him to die
the neglected death of a martyr.
They removed his dead body, and called his fellow
prisoners, who, when they beheld his miserable remains,
threw themselves prostrate on the ground and tore their
beards in the depths of their sorrow. After his jailers
had unfettered him, they washed the body, and were
about to bury it when the Sultan ordered him to be evisce-
rated, and hanged in front of the city walls, exposed to
the derision of the turbaned multitude — for was he not a
Christian, and a Portuguese Prince ?
Afterwards his body was encased in a lead coffin and
buried in the city walls. Later the people credited his
tomb with miraculous influence, believing him to have been
a Saint. ^ Five of his fellow-prisoners died with him; but
among those ransomed was Friar John Alvares, his Con-
fessor, who afterwards wrote the history of his martyrdom,
from which we have taken the preceding pages. ^
The story of this famous tragedy was published through-
out Europe by Calderon (1600-81) in his diama. The
Constant Prince, wherein is told of King Duarte's futile
attempts to ransom him, of Prince Fernando's resignation
to his fate, and of the callous ambitions of Prince Henry,
who, when asked, in the last act, by the Moor why he does
not surrender Ceuta, answers :
" Because it belongs to God, and not to me ! "
Thirty years after, King Affonso V having captured
Arzilla, the martyr's bones were brought back to rest in
his native country.'
^ Pina, Chron. de D. Affonm V, LXXXIII.
^ " Chronicles of the saintly and virtuous Prince Fernando, son of
John I, who died in the Land of the Moors." — By Friar Jofto Alvaros,
edited by Jeronymo Lopes. Lisbon, 1527.
^ Chron. de Zanlfliet : " Porro ad suos : quidquid, inquit, promiseritis
f)aganJ8, nunquam iilam nobilem Septam ad manus inBdelium, colentium
egem Mahometi, reverti perinittatis. Ego pro vobis obscs manebo in
vinculis paratus potius sustincru uiille mortis genera, quatu eflestucationi
Septa consentire."
CHAPTER VIII
THE SLAVE MARKETS OF LAGOS
Crushed by the catastrophe of Tangier, persecuted by
the shade of the King who had succumbed as the result
of his ambitions, and by the ghost of the brother tortured
to death by the Moor of Fez, Prince Henry, burdened with
the hatred of the whole population, was yet so sustained
by the flame of his own Faith, that he found sufficient
courage speedily to react against the magnitude of his
misfortunes. Another man, similarly burdened, would
have sunk under the weight of it, and, as his famous pupil
Magellan later on remarked, " would have hidden himself,
with seven yards of sackcloth and a rosary of oak-apples,
to die in the wilds of the Serra de Ossa," which even in
the fifteenth century was already a deserted wilderness.
Prince Henry was, however, above this. He possessed a
character such as later on was reincarnated in his nephew
Charles the Bold, who, more favoured than himself, was
able to overcome his hostile fortunes, possessing a capacity
for prayer, penitence and piety, which in his uncle took
the form of an unsurpassable energy.
He did not seek a hiding-place at Sagres to weep over
his misfortunes. On the contrary, he deliberately secluded
himself in this wilderness because he was determined to
right himself in the eyes of an accusing World, and prove
to it the value of his theories. The whole World and its
opinions were nothing to him, neither the censure of the
wise and prudent, nor the accusations of the emotional,
nor the mockery of the vulgar mob.^ His ambitious ideas,
^ " Besides the mob, the nobility would speak of the Prince in mockery,
holding that such elaborate and expensive preparations, which preoccupied
him in the summarising of his iiiforraation and discoveries, neglecting
even the care of his own estates, was all work and expense without profit." —
Azurara, Conquest of Guinea, XVIII.
206
206 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
like Juno, had a double aspect. One, the conquest of
Morocco, was now discredited. The other, still in favour,
was the discovery of a sea-way around Africa to the
Orient. With this latter preoccupation, meditating over
the problems involved, he daily lived more and more
within himself, shut up in Sagres, where he completed his
plans, and from whence he finally launched forth to realise
the fruits of his adventure. Five reasons, according to a
contemporary writer, impelled him : to know the Unkno^vn,
to crush the power of the Moor, to propagate the Christian
Faith, to communicate with the Ethiopian Christians of
Prester John, to find allies among them ; and above these
five reasons, there was a sixth : " which seems to be the
root from which others spring — that is, his sign, his con-
stellation, the inclination of celestial orbs." ^ Philosophers
of those days still studied Astrology. The Villa do
Infante was being built and was rising stone by stone.*
His ideas were gradually taking shape. He felt, within
himself, the birth of new energies ; and the gloom of his
sorrow was gradually lifting, like the morning mists when
they scatter before the first rays of the rising sun.
The adventures of his mariners, during the two previous
years, must now be recorded. In 1433, Gil Eannes had
sailed from Lagos and returned from the Canary Islands,
without being able to double Cape Bojador, the object for
which he had been sent out. On the following year,
howevTr, Prince Henry having reproached him for crediting
" certain legends useful to frighten children with," he
* " Because his rising sign was Aries, in the House of Mars, exalted by
the Sun, and he himself was in the eleventh House, accompanied by the
Sun, therefore, the said Mars was in Aquarius, which is the House of
Saturn, the House of Hope, signifying that the Prince would occupy
himself with brave discoveries and conquests, and especially with the
unravelling of secrets which are not for the eyes of others. . . . And being
accompanied by the Sun, in the House of .Juj)iter. it signifies that all his
trade and conquests will be successful, and will jdease his Lord and King." —
Azurara, Conquest o/Ouinea, VIL
* " After Tangier the Prince was habitually in the Kingdom of the
Algarvo on account of his town, the building of which he was super-
intending, as well as the gathering of prizes which they brought to hira
at Lagos."— /6tV/., XVI I L
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 207
determined to try again,^ sailed forth the second time,
doubled the Cape, landed and found the coast deserted.
But he brought back as a sign " certain herbs that we call
" Roses of St. Maria ; " and when he sailed again, this time
his vessel was accompanied by Affonso Baldaya with his
varinel. Passing the Cape, for the second time, they
anchored at Angra dos Ruivos, landed and found signs
of human footprints and of camels .^ In 1436, Baldaya
sailed out again, and reached as far south as Angra dos
Cavallos, where he landed, repelling the natives and return-
ing to the Algarve with fibre nets made by the savages as
trophies.^ This was all that had been accomplished up to
the disastrous date of Tangier ; and we can readily see why
the public scoffed and objected to this propaganda. The
results were so small compared with the efforts made.
Stimulated by his unpopularity, compelled to abandon the
scheme of conquering Morocco, the Prince now threw
himself whole-heartedly into the study of navigation. It
is stated by some that it was at this time Jayme of Majorca
came to lend his help to the Nautical School or Academy
of Sagres ; others, however, tell us that it was after the
capture of Ceuta he came. Cadamosto fixes the date of
the voyage of Diniz Fernandes, who sailed along the coast
as far as the estuary of Quedec, or Ouedec, Sanaga or
Senegal, in the year 1439-40.* In the following year,
Antao Gongalves and Nuno Tristao, sailing as far as Porto
do Cavalleiro, returned with the first captives.^
This voyage was really the first to bring back positive
results from the exploration of the coasts of Africa. It
proved, beyond doubt, that the World did not terminate
^ Cape Bojador was for centuries the utmost limit of European ad-
venture. It was supposed to represent the end of the World. Beyond
were the Seas of Obscurity peopled by strange monsters, living in boiUng
oceans subject to awful tempests; and any one passing the Cape was
choosing certain death.
2 Azurara, Conquista de Guine, VIII. and IX.
^ Ibid., X., and Barros Decada, I. 1, 5.
* Naveg. de Cadamosto, II. Cf. Goes, Chron. do Pr. D. Joao, and Barros
Decada, I. ], 3.
^ Azurara, Conquista de Guine, XIV.
208 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
in a sen of slinic, and that those other lands were not
uninhabited. It suggested, therefore, that there were
riehes as well as people in those mysterious regions which
belonged to none except perhaps the Pope, who, as head
of all Christendom, Emperor of all Kings and Princes, and
representative of God, claimed all that belonged to God
on the Earth.
After the successful voyage of Diniz Fernandes, Prince
Henry as Grand Master of the Order of Christ, sent Fcrnao
Lopes de Azevedo, Chevalier of the Order, on an embassy
to the Pope,^ petitioning that all the territory discovered
should belong to the Portuguese Crown, and all their
ecclesiastical moneys should go to the Order of Christ.^
These discoveries, connected with the expeditions to
Africa, were, in reality, a new form of conquest, being in
a measure a continuation of the Crusades, in which the
Pope exercised a kind of feudal rule above the Christian
Sovereigns outside the inherited States of the old Roman
Empire. The Pope had already issued Bulls in connection
with Ceuta and Tangier ; and, therefore, the Prince's pre-
tensions, though new, sprang from ancient tradition. After
Eugcnius IV had agreed with Prince Henry's propositions,
and Sixtus IV^ (1471-84) had confirmed these first Papal
Bulls at the request of Affonso V and of John II, we arrive
at Alexander VI's famous Order of 1493, in which he
divided by a meridian, 370 leagues from Cape Verde, all
the unexplored Globe between Castile and Portugal : an
Order that, as it did not benefit France, Holland, or
' Barros, Decada, I. 1. 4 : where we find it stat-ed that the Pope waa
Martin V, but this is incorrect, for Martin reigned only from 1417-31.
In 1440-41, the date in question, the Pope was Eugonius IV (1431-47).
Sousa, in his Hist. Gen., Proof I. p. 442, tells us that the Bull issued by
Eugenius IV in 1445 contirmcd those grants that had been made to King
Duarte and King AfTonso in favour of Prince Henry, as well a« the Grand
Mastership of the Order of Christ. In the same volume (Vol. I. i)p. 444-5)
we also not« the grant of the jurLsdiction of the various islands (1449 and
1454) by King Alfonso to Prince Henry, and in p. 446 that this was con-
firmed by Nicliolas V (1447-55), and again by C'alixtus III (1455-8).
Further, the Bull dated Januarys, 1450, and issued by Nicholas V, ceded
to King AfIon.so the sovereignty of all lands discovered by Prince Henry.
' Barros. Dwado, I. 1.7, and Azurara, Comjuisla dr (,'uini, XV.
r
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 209
England, was ignored by thcni in their later appearance
as explorers in this new World,
When Antao Gk)n9alves returned again from Africa,
after visiting the gulf that had already been named the
Rio d'Ouro because there he had found gold-dust, he
brought \nth him also a number of negro slaves, and as
a great curiosity, a quantity of ostrich eggs " which ap-
peared one day at the Prince's table ... as fresh, and
as savoury as if they had been of domestic birds." ^ These
tangible objects, especially the gold and the slaves, put an
effectual stop to all further ridicule of Prince Henry's
expeditions. " Constrained by necessity, they confessed
their former foolishness, deeming themselves ignorant of
things that they had before refused to consider seriously,
and manifestly saying that the Prince could be no other
than a second Alexander. From thence onward, there-
fore, their enthusiasm grew more and more, seeing, as they
did, the houses of others full of slaves, and their estates on
the increase." ^
It is obvious, looking back, that from this moment, the
constitution of the national character became fundamen-
tally changed. The introduction of gold ^ and the influx
of slave-labour started the work of disintegration. Such
are the penalties of success, the punishments of avarice.
All the old fighting instincts that had led to this transitory
Glory were speedily destined to be almost obliterated, or
at any rate altered, by this new national character — a fatal
change which Prince Henry, all unknowing, bending over
^ Azurara, Conquista de Guine, XVI.
- Azurara, Conquista de Guine, XVllI. and Barros, Decada, I. 1, 8,
where Ave find : " For as a result of the recent Wars against Castile, as
well as the expeditions to Ceuta and Tangier and elsewhere, there was
such a lack of people, that the Country could scarcely support itself."
3 Caspar Fructuoso in his Saudades da terra tells us the following of
Prince Henry's tomb —
" Prince Henry's tomb Ls gilded with letters almost obliterated now ;
and it is said that this gilding was because it was through his means that
the mine from which Portugal derived and derives so much gold was dis-
covered '* (p. 9, Azevedo's edition). "The discovery of this mine was
after the Prince's death, but not the finding of gold-dust, which was
discovered in his lifetime, along the shores near Arguin."
P
210 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
his maps to forget the torture of Tangier, started when
he introduced to his Country and People the fatal taint of
Ethiopian blood.
Since the capture of Ceuta, less than a quarter of a
century before, Lagos had gradually developed into a
centre of active trade with the opposite coast. The people
of the Algarv^e had always supplied the country with men
and ships in these wars with the Moors ; ^ and in no part of
the kingdom, therefore, were the Prince's praises more
loudly sung, now that they saw the positive results of his
expeditions and the plunder of the Rio d'Ouro. It seemed
their special privilege then to stimulate the new impulses
towards exploration, so that the country might derive the
greatest possible benefit from their workings. It was
obvious to the people that these new thoughts that had
given them such great successes ought to possess new
institutions for their development. For, while the public
spirit had been content to conquer countries by mediaeval
methods, and the formulas of the ancient grants still in
force in the islands of the Atlantic had sufiiced to con-
solidate the workings of Faith and Chivalry; yet now, if
they wished to establish a more stable Empire, it was
obvious that this undeveloped spirit must be improved
upon, since, in itself, it was only capable of disturbing the
Imperial equilibrium, sacking the African coasts, beginning
the slave-trade, and plundering the deserts for gold.
History would thus merely repeat itself; and the vessels
and varinels from Lagos would be sailing, as in remoter
ages the galleys of the Carthaginians had sailed, south
along the Atlantic shores of Africa to bring back slaves,
and north, to return with lead ore from Cassiterides.
Guilds of merchant adventurers, therefore, were formed
at Lagos; and as these maritime excursions resulted in the
extension of the rule of this City, holding the Sceptre of
Navigation, so did Portugal, later, acquire, by these
excursions along the African coast dominion over that
* Azurara, Conquiata de Ouini, XLIX.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 211
enigmatical World " Africa portentosas " as the Romans
named it.
Starting, without doubt, from the combined excursions
of fishermen, these navigating and commercial guilds,
formed at Lagos, proved themselves such intrepid instru-
ments for exploring the precarious dangers of unknown
regions that other countries soon followed their example.
The Dutch were the fii'st to seize upon the idea. It
changed their nation into a federation of Oriental shipping
companies, altering their entire history. But it was in
England that the most profound alteration took place — for
there is no doubt that it is to her guilds of merchant
venturers that the great colonial Empire which she holds
to-day is due. S;ich were the unexpected consequences
of this first colonising company established at Lagos by
the Prince to acquire the plunder of the Rio d'Ouro.
Sovereignty over these regions having been conferred
on Portugal by the Pope, the Portuguese King granted
to Prince Henry the fifth part of all the products brought
to the Kingdom by the explorers from these newly dis-
covered lands, and no one was allowed, therefore, to ap-
proach with an armed vessel, without special permission
from the Pi-ince. The Sea was looked upon as his own
dominion, it was his " Mare clausum." The founders of
the company in Lagos were Langarote, the " almoxarife "
or receiver of customs to the Crown, and an old squire of
the Prince, Gil Eannes, the ancient salt who had doubled
Cape Bojador, Estevam Affonso, a nobleman who died in
the Canaries, Rodrigo Alvares, Joao Bernaldes, and Joao
Dias. Each of these six commanded his own vessel, fullv
armed for battle. It was a new portent in history. Before,
„fiuch vessels had been merely glorified fishing-boats.
/ For the first time also, in history, these explorers of
Lagos regularly practised a traffic in slaves. Sailing
southwards along the coast as far as Cape Blanco, the
theatre of their exploits became that coast -line having as
its southern extremity " Cabo do Resgate " (The Cape of
Plunder), and the Bay of St. John, and as its northern,
212 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Aiguiii with its two islands, Naar and Tidra, or Tider
Island. Along this coast -line, the explorers fell upon the
unfortunate natives. After landing, seeing that the Moors
retreated with their women and children, "the mariners
called on Santiago and St. George for Portugal, and fell
upon them with as much slaughter as they could." Un-
fortunate mothers strove to shield their children. Their
husbands, in turn, strove to shield them, each trying to
protect the other. Some rushed into the Sea and were
drowTicd; others, with the animal instincts of sheep, sought
to hide themselves within their huts, or concealed their
children under sea-wrack and sand. " And at last, Our
Lord God, who always rewards the upright, wishing that
day to recompense them (the Portuguese) for all the labour
that they had given in His service, and to reward them
and pay them for their expenses, suffered them to capture
men, women, and youths to the number of 165, besides
those that were slain." ^ This happened in the Island of
Naar, and was repeated at the capture of Tider Island,
so that they returned to Lagos with a total of 235 captives,
the fifth part of whom were to belong to Prince Henry.*
The landing at Lagos of these slaves was a new event in
Portuguese history — an event that takes one's imagination
back to those remote times. Historically, the slave-trade
is looked upon mainly as the offspring of War, chiefly
because its other origins have been condenmed by the
philosophic thought of the Middle Ages, as well as the
Christian teaching of more modern times; and for these
reasons, therefore, the Portuguese of the fifteenth century
chose to regard their booty as captured enemies, to excuse
their own barbarity. Recognising, however, the fact that
one's fellowmen may legally be reduced to this miserable
status, the exploitation of the slave-trade yielded, for the
time being, a rapid solution to the depopulation which had
been such a source of alarm in the Kingdom, stimulating
intensely also at the same time the economical })rosperity
of the new colonies. Thus to the enterprise of navigation
* Azurara, Conquida de Giiine, XIX. ' Ibid., XIX., XX.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 213
now became added that of a new trade — the sale of slaves,
another of the series of new social phenomena spontaneously
created by the energies of this one man, in whose mind
was reincarnated the commercial ability of a Hanno, com-
bined with the military capacities of a Hannibal.
On the beach at Lagos, Prince Henry, on horseback
presided over the landing and division of his plunder ; and
the surrounding fields became crowded with people who
had come to witness this strange spectacle, as the wind,
carrying the cries of distress of the unfortunate captives,
collected them with eager curious eves. The slaves were
landed from the boats; and, once ashore, they huddled to-
gether in dazed attitudes of apprehension, like herds of
cattle at market. " Among them there were some more
white than others, handsome and of promising aspect.
Others were less white — almost brown. Others again
were as black as ebony and as hideous as Ethiopians
both in face and body, contrasting strangely with those
that guarded them and looking as if they had come from
another world." ^ They were almost Arabs, for only the
north of Africa had been explored, and there the whiter
races, already crossed with the Nubian, produced the
negroid type of Senegambia, which further south melts
gradually into the full Black that characterises Guinea.
" Some were overburdened with grief, and their faces
were wet with tears ; others cried loudly in their affliction,
gazing towards the skies, shouting as if imploring Nature
to come to their aid ; others covered their faces with their
hands, and threw themselves prostrate on the ground ;
while others again voiced their tribulation in weird chants. "^
Drawn up on the beach, Prince Henry rode by their ranks
as if to review them. To him the sight acted as a balm
that soothed away all memory of Tangier for ever. If
he had been defeated by man, he now felt himself the
conqueror of Nature; for his herd of human bipeds did
not appear to him other than savage animals. Their
colour seemed to him to belie the thought that they had
^ Azurara, Conquista de Guine, XXV. - Ibid.
(
214 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
been created in the image of God. Their souls seemed to
his eyes as black as their skins. To him they were as the
cattle on the hills ; and he was as unmoved by their grief
as the shepherd watching his sheep bleating enough to
move a heart of stone. But since his heart was of bronze,
the Prince went on ordering the selection of his herd of
negroes, " He began to portion them with the idea of
equalising the commerical value of each lot ; and when
he thought it expedient to separate fathers and sons,
wives and husbands, brothers and sisters, he respected no
family ties or bonds of friendship : they were grouped
merely according to the laws of his discretion." ^ He even
exchanged captives from one lot for those of another, so
as not to discontent the o^^Tlers of the lots, doing it with
a callous cruelty that often victimised the unfortunates,
and seldom consoled them for other losses. And thus it
would often happen that subdued grief would suddenly
assume the proportions of an explosive chorus of despair,
when they saw that " the father was taken to Lagos, the
mother was dragged to Lisbon, and the sons to other
parts." 2
The historian tells us with characteristic mediaeval
piety : " The forty-six captives that were the fifth part
allotted to the Prince he chose quickly. We see what was
the reward that the Prince deserved at the hands of Our
Lord for having thus given them the chance of Salvation,
and not only them but many others whom he afterwards
acquired." ^
There was no hypocrisy in this. It was the genuine
spirit of the Age. Proselytising zeal burnt fiercely then,
and both Portuguese and, later, Spanish pioneers made
an invariable rule of baptising their prisoners and victims,
firmly convinced that thereby they were saving them from
eternal damnation. So, while they took away their Earthly
goods, even their freedom, they were naively satisfied in
their own minds that they had put them in the way of
' Azurara, Conquista de Guink, XXV.
» Ibid., XXVI. 3 Ibid., XXVI.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 215
laying up for themselves treasures in Heaven — and surely,
when they realised this, as they must later, they would
be eternally grateful.
CAt any rate, this new trade, incomparably more remu-
nerative than any other, soon stimulated the avarice of the
people of the Algarve to recklessness. Any one who could
get command of a ship, it was thought, would make a
fortune. One such person was Gon5alo de Cintra. He
was sent with his ship in 1445 to explore, discovered the
bay that is now named after him, hastily went ashore
hoping to seize some prisoners in an ebbing tide, got
stranded, were surrounded by the natives, and he and
seven of his men paid the penalty with their lives. ^ These
were the first Europeans killed in this new land. That
same j'^ear, Antao Gonyalves, Gomes Pires, and Diogo
Affonso sailed out to the Rio d'Ouro as a punitive party.
Later Nuno TristSo, and finally Diniz Dias followed,
getting as far south as Cape Verde. It is evident that
the fervour for discovery coupled with the hope of gain
had been steadily growing since 1440, the date of Antao
(ion^alves' first voyage. With this period too, in which
the thirst for exploring the African coast gained momentum,
came the realisation of Prince Henry's ambitions. Every
one believed in him now. No one scoffed at his dreams
as impracticable. He devoted himself still more to his far-
reaching schemes of conquest, treating as negligible the
struggle between Prince Peter and the Count of Barcellos
over the Regency, brought on by King Duarte's death,
until the result of the tragic battle at Alfarrobeira sealed
his brother's fate. No doubt the struggles between the
Count of Barcellos' ambitious avarice, and Prince Peter's
orderly and just attempts at Government, must have seemed
to Prince Henry as things unworthy of his consideration.
His small country was insignificant beside the vnde expanse
that awaited his pioneer ships. From his country he
wanted only vessels, men, and money to carry out his
expeditions ; and these he could best obtain from a shy
^ Azurara, Conquista de Guine, XXVII.
216 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
boy-king who was ruled by his avaricious noblemen, men
whose influence would be of no avail against his own
ambitious personality. Prince Peter was the stumbling-
block. He felt he could carry out his plans more easily
if the discreet and wise Regent were not in power.
We can see, therefore, why he left him to his tragic
fate.
Arising out of these new enterprises, rather unexpectedly,
but quite naturally, there rapidly sprang into existence
a new aristocracy — that of the merchant venturers, who
quickly outshone in wealth the older nobility, and soon
began to get absorbed amongst them by intermarriage.
One of the first of these was Lan^irote, a squire of the
Infante's household, brought up at Lagos. It was he
who organised and carried out the successful slave-raid
described in the preceding pages, and on account of this
success he had been knighted on his return. The Prince
held him in high favour, the merchants of Lagos looked
upon him as their natural leader, and his position was
made absolutely secure by his marriage with the daughter
of Soeiro da Costa, alcaide of Lagos, a great nobleman
who had fought in his fiery youth all over Europe, in
Italy, France, Spain, and at Ceuta with King John. He
was accordingly the most important personage in the
Algarve, with his years and battles, and great honours
resting upon him; and therefore, in his daughter's marriage,
the traditions of his great family became united, as it were
to that of the nobility of navigation and commerce,
represented by Lan9arote the restless adventurer, linking
up the old feudal nobility with the new.
In was in 1447 that the first great Armada, intended to
avenge the death of De Cintra as well as to continue the
work of exploring, was formed, with Lanearote at the
head of the syndicate that also hoped to make profit out
of it. Everybody in Lagos seemed to belong to this
syndicate : Soeiro da Costa, Alvaro de Freitas, commen-
dador of Aljczur, of the Order of Santiago, Gomes Pires,
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 217
Rodrigueannes de Travassos of Prince Peter's household,
and many others. Their request to Prince Henry for
permission to adventure was made through Lan9arote
himself, supported by the judges, alcaides and officials of
the town.i Lagos had already evolved the tactics that
were later adopted in London and Amsterdam, when the
English and the Dutch, following their example, armed
their fleets to acquire new colonies.
The Lagos fleet, sailing on the 10th of August, was the
largest that up to then had ever been collected for such
a purpose. It consisted of fourteen caravels, which were
to be joined at Tider Island by twelve others that had
been equipped in Lisbon and in the Island of Madeira.
Diniz Dias and Nnno TristSo, who in 1443 had been the
first to double Cape Blanco and to discover Arguin, the
centre from which Senegal and Gambia were explored,
commanded their own caravels. Alvaro Gonial ves de
Athayde commanded another. John Gongalves Zarco,
the discoverer of Madeira, commanded a fourth. There
were in all twenty-six vessels. The Prince gave Lan9arote
the Crusader's flag, under which all those who met their
death " were absolved of all sin and fault by the authority
of the Holy Father " ^ — Christian piety in this way imitating
its more primitive cousin Islam.
Protected by Cape Branco, Arguin was a convenient
centre from which the neighbouring extensive shores could
be explored. It served as a depot such as the Genoese
and Venetians, in bygone days, had founded along the
remote eastern confines of the jMediterranean ; and the
Portuguese now consolidated their claims to all land in
Africa discovered prior to 1448 by fortifying it.^ Thus to
the original character of these enterprises, to the maritime
commerce carried on by these companies, and to the
traffic in slaves, became added the system of marking
out exclusive claims by fortifications. Gradually the
^ Azurara, Conquista de Quine, XLIX., LI. ^ Ibid., LV.
* Naveg. de Cadomosto, in the national collection, Lisbon, X.
218 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
methods of colonisation were becoming more and more
complete.
The main feature that jumps to the eye as the result
of these preliminary enterprises, and the birth of these
institutions or companies of navigation that followed, is
the system of monopoly in colonial commerce that was
introduced. Having first made Arguin the seat of adminis-
tration. Prince Henry next made it the centre of all his
African trade ; no one, except his men, was allowed to
enter the Bay of Arguin to trade with the natives ; the
merchants, under the shelter of these fortified head-
quarters, were thus able to trade securely in cloth, textures,
silver, carpets, and above all slaves ; ^ and the fiist contract
made in Arguin weIB naturally given to Lan9arote, the
organiser of this company of traders of Lagos.
After Prince Henry's death, the right of granting these
coveted concessions passed to the Crown; and in 1469
Affonso V bestowed them on Fernao Gomes, for a period
of five years, with the obligation of exploring 500 leagues
of coast southward. The rent was 200,000 reis (about
£40) per annum; he had to sell all ivory at 500 reals (£14)
})er quintal (100 lbs.) through the Crown, which had
contracted for its sale to Martin Annes Boaviagcm.
Further, each year the King was entitled to the musk of
one civet-cat.2
The contract of 1460 excluded the Islands of Cape Verde,
for they belonged to Prince Fernando (to whom Prince
Henry had left them in his Will), and the plunder of Arguin
itself, since it belonged to Prince John (also left to him
by Prince Henry). But Fernao Gomes succeeded in
^ " The events that followed were not conditioned by so much labour
and stri-ngth of forces as in the past, for after that \'ear and onward, all
trade was obtained by tiio exchange of imported goods, instead of by
strength and right of power." — Azurara, Con/juista de GuItiA, LXV.
2 The musk of the civet-cat (vivcrra), named " zabad " by the Arabs,
and " Zibette " by the Indians, from which the French derive their word
" civette," was one of the most luxurious perfumes. The animal possesses
a gland that secretes a fatty, odorotis. sebaceous substance, which when
freshly extract(!d is white in colour but darkens with keeping. Cf. Pietro
Delia Valle, \'iaijgi, I. 375.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 219
obtaining the annuity of 100,000 reals,i for it was the fact
of his having discovered gold in the site " we now call
Mina " (Mine), when exploring the coast as far as St.
Catharine's Point, that helped to stimulate the thirst for
exploration so much.'^ Most of the African Continent was
now visibly looming out of the darkness of the Atlantic;
and, succeeding this first Epoch in the annals of navigation,
the discovery of the Gulf of Guinea, with its islands and
coast running southwards to reach the end of this vast
Continent, almost completed the task. The new nobility
was further strengthened by the triumphs of FernSo Gomes,
who after fighting under Affonso V in Alcazer and Tangier,
where he received his martial education, was made a
nobleman. He took as his title the name of "Mina,"^
and " an escutcheon with a field of silver, bearing the
heads of three negroes, each with a gold nose-ring, ear-
rings, and neckband." This new nobility gloried in its
trade, without scruple. It was looked upon as something
much more adventurous and meritorious than mere hum-
drum barter, for these slave-drivers deemed themselves
as worthy of respect as the noblemen of the preceding
century who had captured Portugal by merely slaughtering
Moors.
Yet jealousy, excited throughout the Kingdom by the
riches gathered by this trade with Africa, was becoming
more and more widespread and menacing towards these
sjave -masters ; for there was
" Nought to be seen, but visionary monks
To council strolling, and embroiling creeds,
Banditti Saints, disturbing distant lands."
James Thomson, lAbertij, IV. 84.
Thus we fuid that at the Cortes of 1473, in Coimbra,
^ Barros, Decada, 1, 2. The rent of the commercial monopoly of
Africa, during the second half of the fifteenth century, attained a con-
siderable sum : 300,000 reals — 6^d. was the value of the real in Affonso V's
reign. The quintal — 100 lbs. — of ivory was accordingly worth about £196.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century Cape Verde and Mina were
enriching the treasury by £60,000 per annum.
^ Barros, ibid. ^ Barros, ibid.
220 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
one year before the expiration of Fcrnao Gomes' contract,
the people clamoured loudly, asking; that the trade of
Guinea should he drawn in lots, so that every one might
benefit by it. Moreover, in the matter of the export of
molasses, they demanded free-trade in sugar with Madeira,^
and asked that slaves from Guinea should not be taken
out of the country without consent of the Cortes. ^
Portugal was being transformed indeed into a new
Carthage ; and no force was now capable of diverting it
from its epoch-making colonising policy.
During the decline of his life, Prince Henry enjoyed a
happy old age. He went with his nephew to Alcazer, and
assisted in the capture of Tangier. His cup overflowed
with contentment, for many of his dreams had been
accomplished even in his lifetime, especially after the
installation of his headquarters at Arguin, and the float-
ing of his transmarine companies. Adventurers arrived
from abroad to offer him their services, for his fame was
now world-wide ; and these he accepted gladly, his own
countrymen and the foreigner being equally useful to him
in his enterprises.
It was when he was already seventy years of age, and
was l)eginning to feel that he had had his day, that, on
August 8, 1454, there anchored at St. Vincent a galley
' The history of the sugar contract with the Island of Madeira is noted
in Azevedo's edition of Sandades da terra :
It began with the agreement of December 1452, drawn up and signed
at Albufeira, between Prince Henry and Diogo de Peive, a nobleman of
hiR household, and deals with the construction of " M'ator-machincs "
that could yield " dispatch to all the cane-fields," the third part of which
was to belong to the Prince " without paying anything," p. 665. At the
same time, the first charter of the island stipulated that one-half of all the
sugar-cane that was not converted into sugar should belong to the Prince.
These " presses " thus came into general use, and a duty, of StO kilos, of
sugar per month, was demanded from farmers who manufactured their
sugar independently of these " jjresses " or mills. The industry apparently
was able to bear this heavy burden; i)ut when Prince F(Tnando, who
inherited the duties of these islands after I'rince Henry's death, demanded,
in 1461, a tax of one-third part of all the sugar manufactured in both
" j)nHs " and " water-machine," the farmers complained, and left off
manufactunig sugar.
* Santareni, Mem. para a hist, doe Cortes, II. 2, 39.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 221
of Marco Zeno's, the Venetian, bringing Alvisi Cadamosto,
a nobleman of Venice whose voyages in his service were
afterwards to become world-famous. When he inquired
eagerly if he might be permitted to trade under his flag,
Prince Henry sent him his secretary Antonio Gon9alves
and the Venetian consul, Patricio di Conti, with samples
of products from Africa. The terms offered were that if
a caravel were armed at the explorer's expense, on its
return the Prince should claim one quarter of the proceeds ;
but if the Prince armed it at his expense he should claim
one half. The Venetian accepted this second proposal,
and Prince Henry accordingly ordered a caravel of ninety
tons to be armed, and appointed Vicente Dias to act as
captain. They sailed on March 22, 1455, arriving three
days later at Porto Santo.^ In this first voyage they went
as far as the rivers Senegal and Gambia, discovering on
their return voyage the Islands of Cape Verde. The
Senegal had already been reached by Lancarote, eight
years before this, when he believed that he was entering
some part of the Nile, or the Niger, which was supposed
to be the western portion of the true Nile by both natives
and earlier geographers. ^ From the Senegal, Lan9arote
had coasted as far as Cape Verde, while Joao Gonyalves
Zarco, dragging his anchor, had drifted as far as Goree.^
Finally, ten or twelve years after Cadamosto's voyage,
and nine years after the Prince's death, Pedro de Cintra
and Soeiro da Costa, two navigators belonging to Lan-
^arote's syndicate and the last two of the contractors of
this mixed commercial and discovering propaganda,
charted the coast as far as Sierra Leone, in accordance
with the agreement stipulating that 500 leagues
extra should be explored. It was, therefore, the same
1 Naveg. de Cadamosto, in the collection of the Academy II. Major's
Life of Prince Henry gives this date as 1455, while Goes in his Chron. do
Pr. D. Joao, VIII. gives us 1445.
2 The Nile was supposed to rise in the Mountains of the Moon in the
centre of Africa. One-half flowed north and east, through Egypt to the
Mediterranean, the other west and south (the Niger) to the Atlantic.
3 Azurara, Conquista de Giiine, LVI., LVIII., LXXV.
** ^ ^
THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Sociro da Costa, who hy doubling Cape Palnias succeeded
in getting beyond the huge elbow of the African Continent.
It was he also who named the river that runs near Cape
Three Points after himself, and gave the explorers access
to IMina — the mine that enriched Fernao Gomes' family.^
Such were the successive waves in the expansion of the
Portuguese possessions in Africa, that made such a revolu-
tion in the annals of geography.^
\Vliilst all this exploring was going on in Africa, however,
the western ocean had not been neglected, and the Azores
were seen for the first time, surging out of the Atlantic,
in l-iSS. after Madeira had been discovered and populated.
The finding of the islands was gradual. First of all, Prince
Henry ordered Gon9alo Cabral to set out westward to try
to authenticate the islands shown on the Florentine chart
of 1351. In this voyage only the Formiga Islands were
1 Barros, Decada, I. 2, 3.
' The following is not an epitome of all the Navigators' voyages, but
merely a suminary of their progress :
I. Uninhabited Regions:
26° 6'n. Cape Bojador .
24° 50' iXjigra dos Ruivos
24° 30' Angra dos Cavallos
23° 45' Riod'Ouro .
23° 9' Porto do Cavalleiro
II. Region of the Arabs :
20° 48' N. Cape Blanco
Arguin .
Tider Island
1434, Gil Eannes.
1435, ,, & Baldaya,
1436, Baldaya.
1436, Antao CJonfalves.
1440, „ „ & Nunc
Tristao.
»»
Arguin Bay
1442, NimoTristao.
1445, Laugarote, with
1st Co. of LAgOS.
tho
III. Region of Negroids :
16° 10'n. Estuary of the Senegal .
13° .30' Estuary of the Gambia .
14° 48' Cape Verde
„ „ Islands .
Estuary of the Casamansa
Estuary of the Rio Grande
(Sierra Loone
12° 30'
11° 50'
8^30'
1447, I>anvarote and his 2nd Co.
1455, Cadamosto in his 1st voyage.
1454, Diniz Dias.
1456, Cadamosto in his 2nd voyage.
1455, Cadamosto in his 1st voyage.
1461. Pedro de Ciutra.
1465, „ „ „ & Soeiruda
Cosia.
V. Region of Negroes:
4" C N. Cape Palmas
River Soeiro da Costa
Three Point Cape
San Jorge da Mina
]
1469, Soeiro da Costa.
1469, Fernfto Gomes.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 223
discovered; but in the following year, on his return, he
found in addition Santa Maria, from which he could see
yet another island, which Prince Peter the Regent ordered
to be populated, naming it " San Miguel " "on account
of the singular devotion that he always entertained for
this Saint." ^
Later, in 1446, the Prince began to turn his attention
towards the Canary Islands, the fifth part of which was
granted to him by the Regent " authorising him the fifth
part of all that was to be seen therein." Circumstances,
however, did not permit this arrangement to turn out as
successfully as some of the others. The Canary Islands
were not destined to become the nation's property by this
grant of the Regent, whose unfortunate rule (1439-46)
coincided with the period in which these companies of
Lagos were floated for the purpose of plundering Arguin,
and exploiting the slave-trade.
Nothing can more forcibly demonstrate the detachment
of mind possessed by those dominated by one all-absorbing
idea than the behaviour of Prince Henry at this period.
He had already allowed one brother to be sacrificed to
his ambition. Incidentally, he had thus helped to kill
another. Now, all the while the country was in the throes
of civil conflict, when Prince Peter was doing his utmost
to thwart the rapacity of a bandit nobility, he stood aside,
detached, uninterested, caring nothing, wrapped up in his
dreams, enslaved by his thirst for fresh discoveries — care-
less of all else.
* Azurara, Conquista de Guine, LXXXIII. In 1507, S. IMiguel was
leased for 160,000 lbs. of sugar : Arch. nac. Ldv. das Ilhas, 126.
Vid? also Arch, dos Azores, 151, which contains various documentary
papers relating to the Government and property of these islands — (1) the
Regal Charter of July 2, 1439, dealing with the population of the Azores ;
(2) of April 5, 1443, exempting the inhabitants from one-tenth of the cost
of export; (3) of April 20, 1447, establishing the same exemption for
S. Miguel; (4) of March 10, 1449, dealing with the population of the
seven islands; (5) of January 20, 1453, granting Corvo Island to the Duke
of Braganza; (6) of September 2, 1460, wherein Prince Henry grants
Jesus Christo and Graciosa to his heir Prince Fernando; and (7) of
December 3, 1460, transferring the grant of the islands of Madeira and
Azores by the death of Prince Henry to Prince Fernando.
224 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
At the very time when things had come to a ehmax,
and his brother was forced by fate to pivc up his life at
Alfarrobeira (1449), he was busy planning fresh expeditions.
Even then Soeiro da Costa and his son-in-law Lan^arote
were searchintr the seas with a fleet of twenty-six caravels.
He appeared to be unconscious of everything around him
that did not seem to him to bear upon his great obsession.
But he cannot have been quite unconscious. As soon as
his brother had been slain, he suddenly woke up. As soon
as the Duke of Braganza managed to usur}) the throne
under the pseudonym of Affonso \\ he saw the value of
the new changes likely to accrue to his ambitions.
His knowledge of the power of a strong hand behind
the throne acquired in the days of his father's dotage, and
in his brother Duarte's feeble term of Government, came
back to him. He emerged from his hermitage in Sagres
and revived his plans for the invasion of Morocco.
Now there was no one to oppose him. The King was a
mere infant. The Cortes was composed mainly of thieves
in disguise, occupied only with their own petty quarrels
and ambitions. He felt that, at last, his day had come.
At this time the awful news resounded tluoughout
Europe that Constantinople had fallen into the hands
of Mahomet II (1453); and in terror-stricken Italy, the
Pope, seeing himself threatened, along with all Christendom,
thereupon feverishly ordered all Christian monarchs to
start another Crusade.^
This was Prince Henry's opportunity. He was still
thinking of Ceuta, the city that had given him the bitterest
moments of his life; and in spite of his seventy years and
his white hairs, still wiry in body and as tenacious in mind
as ever, he asked permission to set out to defend this
threatened bulwark of Portugal. This, however, his
nephew would not permit. ^
Nevertheless, twenty-one years after Tangier, and five
after the fall of Byzantium, Prince Henry took his nephew
' Pina, Chron. de Affonso V, CXXVIII.
* Azurara, Conquista de Ouini, V.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 225
to Alcacerguiber (1458). Following the fearful catastrophe
of Constantinople, when the Turks were devouring Greece
and threatening Hungary, the Pope kept appealing to all
Christian monarchs, and in 1457 he sent an ambassador
to Portugal with the Bull for a Crusade. The young King
was thus fired with religious piety, and offered to set out
with 12,000 men, ordering at the same time the new
Crusading coinage to be issued from his mint.i But the
brotherhood of Christian monarchs only wished to fight
the Turks ; and he could get no aid in his proposed attempt
on Morocco outside his own kingdom. Nevertheless, his
own enthusiastic courage, educated as he had been in the
long crisis of the Regency, and the stimulus of the young
generation that surrounded him and urged him on, proved
sufficient. They lound themselves capable of working the
miracle of quickly starting an expedition, and of falling
as suddenly on the Moor. In the autumn of 1458, on the
dawn of October 3, there arrived at Sagres the fleet that
three days before had sailed from Lisbon; and Prince
Henry, bowed down by the weight of seventy-five years,
boarded his ship to take command of the fleet that cap-
tured Alcazer,2 a success that was the prologue to others
at Tangier and Arzilla (1471), victories that gave him the
cognomen of " Africano " for all time.
Thus before he died, Prince Henry had the happiness
of seeing both his great ambitions apparently on the point
of realisation, and feeling his conscience freed from the
guilt of the evils he had \^TOught at the command of the
restless spirit of adventure in his earlier days. He had
actually dragged the dark continent of Africa up from
the bed of the Ocean; and it was already evident he had
started a new line of inquiry promising in the near future
to yield a rich harvest of results — a new sea-way to India.
He had the supreme satisfaction of feeling that his successes
at Alcazer and Arzilla had wiped out the memory of the
1 Aragao, Descr. Geral, I. 230, citing Pina's Chron. de D. Ajfonso V.
2 Pina, Chron. de D. Ajfonso F,CXXXVIII., where we find that Prince
Henry captured Alcazer on October 16, 1458.
Q
226 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
disaster he had experienced at Tangier. He saw in his
mind's eye Morocco eventually converted into a new
Portugal across the Sea; and though he was mistaken
on this last point, the fact that he lived his remaining
days nourishing this dream, never to be realised, must
certainly have sweetened his old age immeasurably.
Neither the discovery of India, nor his new Empire beyond
the Ocean, were capable of giving him command of all
Africa, for the vague military strategy of his times omitted
to consider the north-eastern portion of this continent ;
and Portugal was not as successful in carrying out the
second part of his programme as she was in the first,
because as a country she was too small and did not possess
the necessary men and resources to complete the task.
Thus, Prince Peter's keener political foresight was con-
firmed by the subsequent history of his country, and
perhaps also by the subsequent history of Europe. It
was one thing to subject the Ocean and establish fortifi-
cations along the shores of countries inhabited by more
or less divided and ineffective populations — this was what
a mere handful of Portuguese tried to accomplish in the
East. It was quite another thing to establi-th a stable
Empire in these regions, to populate them with vigorous
thrifty people, and to bless them with a living proselytising
Faith that would check the Turk, whose taking of Con-
stantinople had shaken the foundations of all Christendom.
To suppress the Arab or Moor, to usurp their dominions,
the Portuguese required a larger and more thickly popii-
lated fatherland. To dominate and exterminate this black
wave was an impossibility. To attempt to capture the Ori-
ental markets proved as futile as remaining on board the
invading fleet ; for the markets of Africa for ever remained
as an immovable craft, anchored in and constantly buffeted
by the tempestuous seas of Islam. The loss of trade and
isolation that fell to the lot of Ceuta after it passed into
Christian hands, a fate that was afterwards shared by
Alcazcr, Tangier, Arzilla and Azamor, demonstrated this
effectually. They simply became expensive burdens, until
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 227
at last John III wisely abandoned them, following the
almost forgotten advice of Prince Peter.
History thus brought its revenge. The Prince had been
known to say that not even the Kings of Spain would
suffice to conquer and subject the Mussulmen of Africa;
and this, in fact, eventually was proved when Portugal
had given up the idea of ruling the Arab, and Spain did
try. Her united power was able to accomplish even less
than her small neighbour; for the two sieges of Oran by
Cardinal Jimenes (1509-10) proved as fruitless as the
ill-fated attack on Argel by Carlos V (1541). Only in
modern history, after the steady fall of the Mohammedan
power, has France, with all her enormous resources,
succeeded, after much expense and bloodshed, in estab-
lishing a stable centre of colonisation at Argel, which is
still perpetually attacked by the Arab, although waning
in power, integrity and vitality. Morocco remained
Mohammedan ; and if the same thing happened then that
was later to happen at Argel, it was for the same reasons
— the lack of things essential and unobtainable even in
this Golden Age of the Portuguese people.
It was, indeed, fortunate that Prince Henry died in
1460 at Sagres,^ firm in the belief that Morocco was destined
to belong to his country. His life work was over. The
cause to which he had devoted his whole soul was flowering
to success. It seemed as if by his own efforts he had been
able to force the hand of Fate. He felt like a conqueror;
and he died before the results of his world-colonising
policy began to be criticised. His two brothers, Duarte
and Fernando had fallen at the hands of destiny; and we
shall see how Prince Peter was sacrificed at the altar of
reason. He, on the other hand, expired in the full flush
of success. Such was the end of the House of Aviz; and
such was the Autumn of its genealogical tree. Its leaves
fell brown and withered upon the Earth that rots all
things, leaving only a memory — a great memory it is true,
but still a memory, of high-soaring kingly dreams.
1 Pina, Chron. de D. Ajfonso V, CXLIV.
228 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
The World's appreciation of Prince Henry is confined
chiefly to his character as a man of action. His creative
instinct initiated a new form of Imperial expansion, based
on the old classical ideas of conquest. A modern Alexander,
he originated and inspired the historical epoch of naviga-
tion, dowering Portugal, the forerunner, with the benefits
of his discoveries. In addition he gave a practical turn
to the transcendental idea that the Church of Rome
possessed a mystic sovereignty over the whole world, by
petitioning it for the rights of ownership over the newly
discovered territories he had found, and by utilising in
his ventures the Bull of Crusaders, which had been pro-
mulgated really to enact the religious and chivalrous
ventures of more ancient times.^ His acquisitions being
sanctioned by these proclamations, and by the ancient
rights of conquest, he made the Order of Christ, of which
he was the Grand Master, an instrument for his commercial
and colonising enterprise, applying the rents of his new
lands for the building and equipment of his vessels.
He thus turned crusading into a profession, and the
Order of Christ into a company of navigators. The
ancient military and monastic institutions, the old ideas
of warfare and of Religion, were quickly transformed in
their essence, ^^'ithout any alteration in their aspect.^ The
^ This claim of the Pope, arrogating to himself the right of apportioning
new lands as he might think fit, was afterwards vehemently repudiated by
the Protestant nations, particularly England and Holland, and was a
fruitful source of irritation to Elizabethan mariners.
* The Grants made by the Pope were transferred by the Prince to the
Order of Christ : vide the Grant of June 7, 1454, in which Alfonso V passed
on the jurisdiction of Gazalla, Guinea, Nubia and Etliiopia; also that of
December 26, 1458, drawn up by the Prince while at Sagres, stating that
the Order of Christ should receive the twentieth part, instead of the tenth
part of all the imports from Guinea, whether slaves, gold, or ivory, and
the rest was to go to the nobility. Cf. also that dated September 18, 1460,
transferring the Island of Madeira to the same Order : Sousa's Hist. Gen.,
Proof 1. 454. Further, from 1485, after the death of the Prince, there
is the decree issued by Estevam Gomes, Curate, serving as Archbishop at
Lisbon, confirming these grants to the Order of Christ, as per the Bulls
issued by Sixto IV, by Xicolau V, and by CalLxtas III, above cited, ibid., 55.
Prince Henry, in 1451, made his nephew Prince Fernando his heir, thus
keeping his oath to his sister-in-law (cf. the document in Sousa's Hist.
Gen., 562), and by the grant of 1460 he also transferred Madeira to the
Crown, wliile King Affonso V passed this on to Prince Fernando, ibid., 562.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 229
monk found himself doing duty as pilot ; the knight became
a merchant ; and Portugal rapidly took the appearance of
a modern Carthage. Later, in the hands of the Inquisitor,
the chosen deity became Moloch, the fire-breathing dragon
that consumed his victims ; and a rural, warlike and pious
nation, turned into a company of wealthy merchants,
became stimulated to fiendish acts by the cruelty of a
fanaticism which was obsessed by the delusion that it was
thus carrying out the will of God, The Merciful, The Com-
passionate.
Undoubtedly the moral tone degenerated, because the
spirit of Gain, developed under the combined stimulus of
Religion and adventure, produced men of a less noble
type than those the source of whose activity was that of
a proselytising war, when courageous action, pious abnega-
tion, and sacrifice went hand in hand.
With truth-loving accuracy, the writer of the times
confesses that " events following the earlier adventures
were not endowed with so much sacrificing labour or
fortitude, because deeds were conditioned by trade and
agreements, and not so much by valour and strength of
arms." But since the younger generation was born -wdth
the Renascence, in a new age of Humanity, it was neces-
sarily commercial ; and so its materialistic instincts rapidly
usurped the former rule of transcendental thought and
feeling. What characterises not only the Prince as a man,
but Portugal as a People, is the hybrid alliance between
these two extremes, an acme of Faith and an equally
tenacious lust for gold. It is this that gave the nation
during its Golden Days a semi-Punic character, and
developed in its apostles a Religion as bloody and de-
structive as the ancient rites of the Phoenicians, in spite
of the mystic piety given to the very same Religion
by Xavier.i It was this that ultimately ruined her
colonial Empire, when Portugal found herself competing
with other nations — nations that were inspired only by
^ Cf. Portuguese Discoveries and Dependencies, by A. J. D'Orsey, London,
1893, p. 116.
230 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
a desire for trade, and had no proselytising zeal at
all.i
The Punic character, acquired by the traffic of these
navigators, stimulated the fertility of the Prince's mind
from a business point of view, and led him to devise new,
or revive old, methods by which these colonies could be
exploited. Thus the companies of commercial Navigators
were evolved, and the slave-trade, and the Greek and
Phoenician svstem of colonial defence and growth resusci-
tated. Most of these methods of acquiring wealth were con-
sciously or unconsciously resurrections of History, because
formerly round the Mediterranean and along the Spanish
coasts, in remoter centuries, there had been some form of
slave-trade, farms and mines had been worked by slaves,
and companies of navigators and of commerce had sailed
from fortified centres. In these things, therefore, there
was little that was new, although most of them long before
this had disappeared ; nevertheless, it must be conceded
that in more than one item, more particularly in the case
of the uninhabited Atlantic islands, the fertile imagination
of the Prince did propound something quite fresh, something
which was an entirely new thought.
The problem in question was that of populating the
new-found countries ; and in his idea of emigration was
its apparent solution. His, therefore, was the initiative
that served as a type to other nations, who later entered
on the same colonial husbandry. As they copied the
example of his primitive colonial and defensive centres,
and his markets of slaves, so they also followed his example
of populating their colonies. The Azores and Madeira
* Portuguese Discoveries and Dependencies, p. 30 : " Da Gama en-
countered, on October 3, a large vessel belonging to the Sultan of Egypt,
crowded with pilgrims returning from Mecca. The Arabs, seeing resiat-
anco hopeless, offtTcd an enormous ransom, which the admiral accepted,
and yet ordered the vessel to be Bred. The poor WTetches succeeded in
extinguishing the flames, but the merciless da Gama orrlorod his men to
rekindle them. An eye-witness relates that the women held up their
children towards da Gama, and that in this scene of horror, ' rint6rieur
du b&timcnt ofiFrait une representation visible de I'enfer.' . . . Thia
terrible episode in the second voyage of Vasco da Gama shows the spirit
with which h<» wa« animated in his voyage to Malabar."
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 231
islands are examples of this to-day. They flourish, off-
spring of the Fatherland founded in the Ocean, free from
the complications produced by attempting at the same
time to provide for the welfare of a previous native
population.
Thus, from Prince Henry's creative mind, too hard,
too merciless, too disdainful to be altogether human,
came all our modern ideas of colonisation — ^a Minerva
giving birth to a Jupiter ! And if to Portugal belongs
two centuries of greatness, it is mainly due to him — his
country's Hercules. He quickened the dormant energies
of the whole Nation ; he became the interpreter of its
destiny ; and he succeeded in doing this mainly by the
force of his hard, tenacious, yet heroic character. To
realise this conquest, this success, he was compelled to
break, not his own heaat, because his mind had no use
for sentiment, but the happiness, the peace, and even the
very lives of his three brothers, who died, more or less
sacrificed to his ambition, one overburdened with grief,
another in torturing captivity, and the third slain in the
confusion of a civil war which he did nothing to avert.
Alone, in moments of weariness, it is possible he may have
regretted some, or all, of these events ; but, knowing his
character as we do, seeing it in the perspective of history,
we must feel that, had the circumstances recurred, he
would have acted similarly, again and yet again.
CHAPTER IX
THE REGENCY
We must now turn back a page in the Book of History
to consider the events that followed immediately upon
King Duarte's death, in order that we may be able to grasp
more fully the significance of subsequent happenings.
Prince Peter only was with the mourning Queen when
his brother died. Prince Henry was, as usual, in Sagres,
Prince John was again ill with " fever " at Alcacer do Sal,
and the Count of Barcellos was away on his northern
estates.
Opening the King's Will, it was found that Prince Peter
had been appointed Regent. But, as in life so in death,
the wishes of this unfortunate monarch were disregarded ;
and, when the Council assembled, they decided to exclude
the three eldest Princes, Peter, Henry, and John, from
the Government : " So that the Queen might not find
herself obliged to leave the Government in their hands,
and be moved by greater forces."
This foolish sentiment, no doubt prompted secretly by
the Queen, led speedily to disaster, touching as it did the
pride of the Count of Barcellos, who was thus tacitly
ignored, though he was the oldest of the late King's
immediate relatives.
He had journeyed southward with all haste, hoping to
gain what he considered his rightful share of influence and
power; for having lived all his days nursing the bitterness
of his common birth, now, with the experience of his sixty
years, and his fabulous wealth, he thought he saw at last
the opportunity of wiping out for ever this inferiority.
232
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 233
For years, he had been carefully reminded of how his
step-brothers had distinguished themselves at Ceuta, how
they had, in consequence, been created Dukes at Tavira,
and how, in King Duarte's reign, they had enjoyed as
much power as the King himself. Lands, money, and
vassals he had in plenty, for he had inherited enough from
the Constable, his father-in-law; but yet, he lacked that
position of undisputed eminence, that rank of nobility,
which his doubtful parentage deprived him of. He, also,
wished to be a Prince, to voice his wishes beside the
Throne; and for this reason, he hurried to Court, in all
haste, tired and mud-stained, after his forced journey.
From the South, and unfortunately equally preoccupied
with other ambitions, arrived Prince Henry.
King Duarte's death was gathering the actors for the
Drama that was soon to be enacted.
The prologue of this Drama, it will be remembered, has
already told us of Queen Leonora's antipathy for Prince
Peter, how it originated in his marriage to the Count of
Urgel's daughter, how later it was rendered more active
by Prince Henry's move, when he influenced her to per-
suade the late King to oppose Prince Peter and to under-
take the disastrous expedition against Tangier, how it
rose to a climax when the rumour got about that it was
due entirely to her influence that her husband fell into
the error that eventually led to such destruction and
sacrifice. Nor did Prince Peter's increasing popularity,
when she was thus daily becoming more unpopular, amend
matters. It would seem that Queen Leonora was one of
those small-minded women who are ruled by their likes
and dislikes, and, accordingly, are at the mercy of their
emotions. Soon, therefore, passive dislike grew into active
hatred, for the Prince, on the one hand, was beginning to
discern the limits of her capabilities, and the Queen, on the
other, kept unavoidably wounding his pride by reminding
him of the simple fact that she was the new King's mother.
At first, however, during the early days of her grief, she
put herself unreservedly into the hands of her two brothers-
234 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
in-law, Prince Peter and Prince Henry, beseeching them
to stay near for her immediate help, leaving all the main
business to the Cortes which was to meet at Torres Novas.
To crown the infant was obviously the most urgent matter.
This Prince Peter did, after instructing Mestre Guedelha,
the Court Physician and Astrologer, to arrange the ceremony
according to the influence of the stars, fixing upon the
most promising hour so as to avoid the incidents that had,
it will be remembered, cast such a gloom over both King
and subjects at the last Coronation. And this he did,
although he himself had little faith in such omens, feeling
that it was the better course to pursue, because he would
thus consider the superstitions of the public.
It was a seemingly insignificant incident, and yet it
showed the mistakes he was liable to fall into as a result
of his unapproachable superiority. As a philosopher, he
was determined to steer the vessel of State with a loyal
steady hand ; but, on the other hand, his impulsive mind
— pessimistic, but nevertheless obedient to the dictates
of reason — proved inadequate to circumstances. Every one
knew he had no belief in such omens, and, had he flatly
refused to consider them, would have understood. His
taking cognizance of them, therefore, made people sus-
picious of over subtlety and possible bad faith on his part
towards the infant King.
It is difficult for the average man to appreciate this
state of mind, a mind in which loyalty, absolutely genuine
in its intentions, is far from appearing genuine in its
actions, because, though such a person has no aim but
that which is the right one, yet he is continually mis-
understood, since, instead of explaining his intentions
frankly, he keeps his hopes and fears to himself, and thus
his motives ever appear dark and sinister. In this dual
personality we see both the Philosopher and the Politician,
and such wc know must necessarily court trouble, for
the bulk of the pocple, in their crude simplicity, usually
misinterpret the apparent contradictions of such men,
being unable to follow any thought above the simple
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 235
average of life. Thus it was that, later, the Count of
Barcellos and his son the Count of Ourem were able to
poison the King's and the Nation's mind against Prince
Peter, and this to such a point that he was driven from
power, labelled a traitor, and, it was whispered, even a
murderer.
However, we must not anticipate matters.
Possessed with the thought that the Prince wished to
usurp the Crown from the infant King, seeing in this
ambition not only a danger to her dearest one's position,
but also to his life, the Queen was therefore dumbfounded
when Prince Peter asked her to name as heir apparent
the new King's brother, Prince Fernando, an infant of yet
more tender years. Fully persuaded that he wished him-
self to be King, or at least an everlasting Regent, she was
so startled by this proposal that with feminine subtlety,
more acutely active no doubt because her posthumous
daughter, Donna Joanna, had not yet been born, she
immediately countered by suggesting a marriage between
the King and Prince Peter's daughter Isabel, thus hoping
to minimise the Prince's supposed designs on her son's
life; and it was not until after this had been settled that
she chose her son Prince Fernando as heir apparent to the
Crown. ^
It was about this juncture that the Count of Barcellos
arrived, calculating that with the Queen's known antipathy
towards Prince Peter he might readily further his own
ambitions. He was quite alive to the fact that the rights
of monarchy had originally risen from the more absolute
1 Fna, Chron. de D. Affonso V, II.-VI.
In 'he nine years of her married life, Leonora gave birth to eight
chUdreu, three of whom were still-bom: Prince John (1429) the eldest.
Princess Maria (1432), and Prince Duarte (1435). King Duarte was thus
survived by five childien : Princess Fihppa (1430), who died at the age
of nine, King ASonso V (1432-81); Prince Fernando, adopted by his
uncle, who left him the Dukedom of Vizeu (1433-70); Princess Leonora,
who married the Emperor of Germany (1434-67) ; and Princess Catharina
(1436-63). Then there was Princess Joanna (1439-75), the posthumous
daughter, who afterwards became Queen of Castile. Besides these legiti-
mate children. King Duarte left a son, Dom John Manuel, who became
Bishop of Guarda, and died in 1476.
236 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Roman ideas, and that family unions had now come to
play a most important part in the polity of a nation.
Guileful and crafty, as a man usually is who has had to
curb his jealousy for seventy years, he, therefore, entered
the Court in all apparent good-will, and sympathetically
suggested that the King should marry his own grand-
daughter, the other Princess Isabel, Prince John's daughter.
This would obviously give him great power at Court, his
familv would rise to the Throne, and Prince Peter's dav
would be over. But her suspicions of Prince Peter and
her fear for her son's life proved too strong for this. The
young monarch was, therefore, later on married to the
Regent's daughter, and the first move of the Count of
Barcellos thus met with an effectual check.
Leaving the Court secretly, therefore, he next went to
visit Dom Pedro, Archbishop of Lisbon, Prince Peter's
traditional enemy, and one in great favour with the Queen.
In him he found a willing confidant ; and, as a result, nearly
all the nobilit)^, under the leadership of one Vasco Fernandes
Coutinho — afterwards Count of Marialva, became secretly
leagued together against the Regent. On the day before
the meeting of the Cortes, therefore, these conspirators
assembled quietly in a church at Torres Novas ; and all
of them, dissatisfied with the favours that the Regent had
granted them, took an oath to stand together against
Prince Peter. The oath was in document form, but
unfortunately the document has been lost. We can,
however, guess what its objects were. It aimed at over-
throwing Prince Peter, because it was known that he was
just in action, intent on working for the good of the
people, and bent on curbing the excessive power of the
nobility. In truth, the aristocracy had, for some time
past, been falling from their high estate; the country was
being reduced to a state of quietude by a regular organised
military force, intended primarily for defence, but acting
also as a most efficient curb on their hereditary lawless-
ness ; and they, therefore, desired eagerly to get back to
their ancient chaos and disorder. The greatest obstacle
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 237
to their cause was obviously a Monarchy that considered
the interests of the pubUc, and those of the pubHc alone —
not the nobility, not the merchant classes, not the peasants,
but the public as a whole. Society had changed. During
the Middle Ages, the motive spirit had been one of selfish
interest ; but now, in this morning of the Renascence,
Civilisation had raised its ideal cupola, segment by seg-
ment, forming a composite edifice of unity, strength, and
harmony, under the guidance of the Sovereign. In the
Princes' minds, the State had become an architectural
structure, a living creation, animated by the breath of
social utility. This conception, sketched by John I, had
by now taken a definite shape under Prince Peter's
guidance. The Drama, that now begins, opens with a
Revolution in the dawn of the Renascence in Portugal.
It shows us how the Count of Barcellos, taking the role of
" le Due de Guise," adopting the latter's motto " A chacun
son tour," became the leader of a rebel aristrocacy, and
how there were others ready to welcome and to support
his revolutionary sentiments.
We know that the assembly of conspirators wished the
Queen to be Regent. To enable them to realise their
ambitions, the last thing they desired was Prince Peter's
vdse rule over them. Moreover, they frankly admitted
that they preferred the Queen, because being a " foreigner
and a woman, she will leave us the use and fruits of the
Kingdom." Certain of winning the Count's applause, they
hoped to gain also the support of Prince Henry. But it is
unlikely that they did so; for the Prince, as we know,
attached little importance to the internal administration
of the country, in spite of the fact that at his mother's
deathbed he had vowed to look after the welfare of the
nation and to maintain the chivalrous traditions of the
aristocracy. In any case his indifference was in their
favour.
The situation was already sufficiently serious ; but the
climax came when the Queen was informed of the plot,
no doubt directly or indirectly through the Count of
238 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Barcellos or the Archbishop, and seized with sudden
ambitions, earnestly took upon herself the role of leader
of the party.i Prince Henry must have been above this
conspiracy, for, impatient and perhaps exasperated at the
loss of time incurred by these intrigues, he did everything
possible to bring about a reconciliation, using all his
influence over the Queen to induce her to agree to give
Prince Peter the title of " Defender of the Kingdom,"
and leave him the supervision of the Courts of Justice,
while she, herself, looked after the Government and the
education of her children. Moreover, he opposed the
suggestion of the Count of Barcellos concerning the King's
marriage ; and, further, we learn, disagreed with those who
strove to convince the Queen that she should not yield any
part of the Government either to him or to Prince Peter ^ —
all of which points to his innocence of conspiracy. Mean-
while the unfortunate Queen, possessing no will of her own,
soon found herself compelled to follow the wishes of the
majority.
It was in this atmosphere, then, that the Cortes assem-
bled; and it is not surprising, therefore, to note the mis-
fortunes that followed — for pomp and reality ever yield
different fruits. Worn-out warriors, grey-haired Bishops,
and grave Public Procurators unrolled their parchments,
cleared their throats, and made their conventional speeches,
summarising the situation, without getting nearer to any
practical result. Some impartially wished either the
Queen or Prince Peter to act as Regent; others, again,
advised that they should divide the Government between
them; while a third voted solidly for the exclusive Regency
of the Queen. We know who these were ! Yet, again,
the Public Procurators clamoured for Prince Peter.
As there was no predominant mind to lead them, the
result that usually follows such debates occurred. Nothing
was decided. Prince Henry, impatient to return to Sagres
to carry out work that was of more importance to him
than these political squabbles, })roposcd an amendment,
* Pina, Chron. de D. Affonso V, VIII.-X. « Ibid., XII.-XIII.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 239
the main points of which were that the Queen should
attend to the education of her sons and to the adminis-
tration of the Crown estates and offices, that the admin-
istration of the Courts of Justice should be handed over
to the Count of Arrayolos, that Prince Peter should be
proclaimed "Defender of the Kingdom" (without, be it
marked, any means to defend it), and that the Cortes should
sit permanently, meeting once a year. It was evident
that this amendment, as is frequently the case, " amended "
nothing ; and we can only explain its weakness by remem-
bering the little importance Prince Henry ever attached
to the practical Government of his country, and his im-
patience to return to Sagres ; for had he wished to have
done otherwise, a man of his strength of character could
hardly have failed to get his own way.
" Let it be as my brother wishes " — was Prince Peter's
reply, when he heard the amendment.
It was an answer compatible with the character of the
speaker. If he had not been so critical, he would have
been more self-confident. Had he not possessed so complex
a mind, had he been simpler, he would have answered :
" It is a destructive error that will bring no good."
But philosophy and self-criticism have the vice, as well
as the virtue, of checking our impulses ; and some lofty
minds, by a process of over-subtle reasoning, will often
overlook or reject as fatal many a recognised solution of a
problem such as would instantly commend itself to less
complex minds. If he had been ambitious. Prince Peter
would perhaps have even welcomed civil war. Had he
been thinking of himself and of his plans, and not of the
public and of his country, he would have pushed himself
more forward, been more keen in action, worked for his
ends with a more discerning eye. But since he was
neither ambitious for himself nor for his schemes, he ran
straight into the very disasters he T\dshed to avoid. Having
passed this amendment, the document was duly signed
before notaries ; and, to lend more solemnity to the occasion,
this was done in church upon the altar. But the oath
240 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
and signatures were accompanied by such reserved and
cautious phraseology that it was evident those swearing
intended breaking their word as soon as the opportunity
arose ; for fetichism, superstition and falsification were
still the seasonings in vogue at such gatherings, and most
of them wished to lie without perjury. The Archbishop
of Lisbon — more honour to him — was the only one among
them M'ho firmly refused to sign the document, chiefly
because he was obstinately opposed to Prince Peter.^
The Cortes dissolved, and Prince Henry returned to
Sagres.
The die was cast. Nothing but trouble awaited the new
reign, in spite of the precautions of the Royal Astrologer.
• «••••
The Count of Barcellos, like the conventional villain, in
delighted anticipation, rubbed his tremulous aged hands,
with the childish Joy of an old man already counting up
his winnings. He smiled contemptuously at the simple
straightforwardness of the " Defender of the Kingdom."
He gloated over Prince Henry's wild schemes ; for as long
as the latter was thus preoccupied he had little to fear
from him. Both these sons of the English Princess, each
in his own particular way, must have seemed to him
creatures of a singular eccentricity. His own ambitions
were diametrically opposed to theirs ; the baser instincts
of the Nation, and the plundering habits of the aristocracy
— ^the two elements that went to mould his character —
made him yearn for nothing nobler than power and wealth.
After having curbed his ambitions for so many years, he
now allowed his feelings full play. At last his day had
come; for he knew he could easily influence the weak
Aragoncsc widow of that extraordinary creature, the late
King Duartc, who had whiled away his days and his
unfortunate reign in composing dissertations.
Following on his success at the Cortes in setting aside
King Duartc's wishes for the Regency, and brooding over
his plans, he thought he saw a favourable opportunity for
» Pina, Chron. de D. AJJomo V, XIV., XV.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 241
again attempting to bring about a family alliance between
the King and his own granddaughter. He wanted a
King possessed of more autocratic ideas than those which
had been introduced from England with Philippa, and had
no sympathy for these doctrines of the people's rights
that had almost demented his father, and inculcated ideas
into his step-brothers' minds such as threatened to curb
the bandit habits he so dearly loved. He realised that he
must stop the infant King's marriage to Prince Peter's
daughter, for then, the country would be ruled by a
father-in-law, whom he regarded as a rhapsodist, dominated
by absurd ideas of Justice and chimerical dreams of public
welfare. His own idea of Justice was the sword, and his
notion of public welfare the people's faithful submission
to the sceptre of the ruler. The enthusiastic awakening
of the Nation, under the new liberal thought, had almost
destroyed his hopes ; but now there seemed at last a
chance of crushing any more such aspirations. Therefore,
he approached the Queen, bent on instilling distrust into
her mind about her son's wedding, hinting that Prince
Peter did not wish to abide by the late King's Will. Queen
Leonora was frightened. She wanted to act and yet she
dared not, for there was still some sort of respect left for
documentary injunctions, and disobeying the word of the
dead meant nothing less than invoking the curse of every
shade in both Olympus and Tartarus. And so she hesi-
tated. She hated and mistrusted Prince Peter. She felt
herself ill at ease before his discerning gaze; and yet,
haunted by the fear of disobeying her husband's last
wish, she could not fall in with the Count of Barcellos'
ideas.
" I leave it all to you. You arrange it yourself ! " — she
said finally at the end of the interview ; and the Count,
swollen with a feeling of his own importance, thereupon
approached Prince Peter, and repeated his suggestions as
to the marriage. We can imagine the attitude of the
*' Defender of the Kingdom." With princely contempt,
with a bitter satirical smile, Prince Peter answered that
242 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
he could blame somebody but that he would not. Then,
opening a casket, he took out the written amendment
that had been signed at the recent meeting of the Cortes,
tore it to shreds, and calmly handed him the pieces.^
Certainly he was no diplomat. The true politician
ignores, or pretends to ignore, the immediate, and adopts
an attitude of dissimulation often to the point of losing his
dignity. Love of Philosophy is a mistake when dealing
with politics. Prince Peter, with his knowledge of the
World and Mankind, was not equal to the occasion. The
Count of Barcellos was ; but, fortunately, he had not the
necessary imagination for the role. His confused ambitions
were only capable of groping blindly. He did not aspire
to the Sceptre. This thought had no place in his mind ;
its seeds, undeveloped as yet, were only to germinate in
his descendants. Putting the torn pieces of the document
into his pocket, he left infuriated, conscious of having
taken a false step, and yet surprised at his step-brother's
simplicity. For this, and for this alone he had made his
long journey.
But, again, opposition met him where he least expected
to find it. The Court had moved to the capital, and shortly
afterwards Prince John, now convalescent from his " fever,"
arrived upon the scene. He was thirty-nine, and the young-
est of the Princes remaining now that Prince Fernando was
in captivity in Fez. The Count of Barcellos, old enough
to be his father, and actually his father-in-law, did not
dream of opposition from this quarter. He was all the
more surprised then, when Prince John, who entertained
a filial respect for his brother, and had absolute trust in
his discretion, openly told the Queen that the resolution
of the meeting of Torres Novas was a mistake, and that
Prince Peter should act alone as Regent, otherwise things
would go from bad to worse. Already grave fault was
being found with the Government; for Queen Leonora, on
account of the proximity of her daughter's birth, was
unable to discharge the duties she had undertaken. Dis-
1 Pina, Chron. de D. Affoiiso V, XVL
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 243
content was rife; and the citizens of the Capital, hearing
Prince John's opinions, openly grumbled, demanding that
the Queen should give up her impossible task, and allow
Prince Peter to govern alone.^
In August, 1439 — almost a year after King Duarte's
death. Princess Joanna, who afterwards married King
Henry VI of Castile, was born. But not even after the
birth of the Princess did matters amend themselves.
The public clamoured for Prince Peter to intervene im-
mediately; but he, being devoid of ambition, and some-
what contemptuous of the pleasures of power that others
strove for so vehemently, was becoming more and more
inclined rather to give up even the little he had in the
Government than to seek more, wishing instead to betake
himself to the peace and quiet of his estates.
Our worthy friend Sir Alvaro, who saw the tragic
humour of Prince Peter's philosophy, agreed with him.
" Your Highness should either retire from office," he
advised, with a smile, " or else take things more seriously,
and assume all the Government yourself. Your scruples
are compromising, and will benefit no one."
With the indecision that had characterised his brother
the late King, Prince Peter next consulted Prince John,
for Prince Henry, again a stranger to Court, was in his
dream-retreat at Sagres.
" For my part," Prince John answered, "if it were
not for the fact that I have two brothers like yourself and
Henry, I would take the Regency myself ; and if they did
not give it to me, I should perish in the attempt ! We
will I'ot question the Queen's virtues — they probably are
numerous — but we cannot allow ourselves to be ruled by
a woman, and much less by one who is a foreigner. It
would be a disgrace and an outrage ! "
It will be noticed that he was against his owti daughter
ever sitting on the throne as consort, for, in truth, the
generous blood of Aviz flowed in his veins ; and so he
opposed the scheme that might lead to the Count of
1 Pina, Chron. de D. Affonso V, XVII., XIX.
244 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Barcellos ruling through a helpless puppet King, intensely
to the astonishment of the Count, who, on his part, would
not believe this son-in-law of his could be so stupid where
his own personal interests were concerned.
Prince Peter had good reasons to fear a revolution : his
philosophy was able at least to warn him of this.
" Civil war is certain," continued Prince John, with
conviction, " because those who advise the Queen do so,
not for love of their country, but from love of themselves.
Their chief aim is to bolster up the power of the nobles
at the expense of the people and the Royal Inheritance."
Dwelling on this, he reminded Prince Peter how King
Duarte's wise legislation had curbed those vampires who
had been ever ready to suck the Nation's strength, eager
to destroy the sense of freedom that had been growing
since the War of Independence with Castile. They were
still dangerous from within. But now, in addition, there
was another danger, from without. This was the power
of the Princes of Aragon, Queen Leonora's brothers, who
having climbed to the Castilian throne beside their other
sister, still ever restless, ever in search of adventure, would
now doubtless try to insinuate themselves into the troubles
of Portugal as well. He, therefore, went on to urge him
to take heart of grace, exercise a wise precaution, and keep
the Government stable in his own hands, saying that this
was the only means of avoiding war, and that if he did
not care to take the responsibility alone, he ought to recall
and consult with his brother Henry from Sagres. Finally,
he drew a more hopeful picture for the future, })roj)hcsying
a peaceful Government at the next session of the Cortes,
if only his brother would take a firmer grip on the affairs
of State. Thus he persuaded Prince Peter to agree to
wait for the Cortes, convincing him that it would be
wrong to resign the Government, and suggesting that
perhaps the Queen herself would propose some more
acceptable arrangement,^ for often the most arduous and
intricate problems are thus unexpectedly solved.
1 Pina, Chron. de D. Affonso V, XXI., XXII.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 245
But the Queen was at Sacavem, entangled in a web of
intrigue; and while Lisbon was rejoicing, because Prince
Peter was to continue his rule, she, for the same reason,
was vengefully expelling from Court all those ladies-in-
waiting who sympathised with Prince Peter. With this
fresh manifestation of temper, she reopened hostilities,
committing, at the same time, an error that led her head-
long into disaster and resulted in her complete estrangement
from public favour. It happened in this wise : returning
to Lisbon, she gave the Governor, Nuno Martins da Silva,
the right of collecting the trade taxes which the merchants
of the City were obliged to pay every seven years. This
roused the citizens, who, collecting rapidly, surrounded
and besieged the Government buildings during the meet-
ing when the t^s^o procurators, Bartholomew Gomes and
Alvaro Affonso, were presenting the Carta Regia. The
mob, finding that the Queen had read and signed this
Carta Regia without consulting the Regent, rushed into
the room, seized Alvaro Affonso and threw him out of
the window. The unfortunate man escaped with his life
by falling on an adjacent roof, and Bartholomew Gomes
owed his to his own Herculean strength.^
All the while the mob were thus demonstrating their
hostility towards the Queen, they kept cheering for
Prince Peter. In vain the Count of Ai'rayolos, to whom
the Cortes of Torres Novas had entrusted the administra-
tion of Justice, hurried to Lisbon to pacify them. The
rioting only became worse on his arrival. Those who
were for the Queen secretly fanned the conflagration in
the belief that Arrayolos had come to punish the ring-
leaders. It was prophesied that rivers would run with
blood. A general massacre was threatened as the only
means of settling the entanglement. Fugitives began to
leave the City. The public lost all respect for the clergy,
even when upholding the Government. Friar Vasco da
Alagoa, while preaching in S. Domingos, was dragged
from the pulpit and mobbed out of his church. The
1 Pina, Chron de D. Affonso V, XXIV.
246 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Count of Arrayolos, who had come to quell the insurrection,
had to .seek shelter from a crowd that threatened to tear
him limb from limb.^ Lisbon, in fact, was out in full
rebellion.
Such was the situation when Prince Peter arrived at
the Capital from Camaratc, and succeeded after consider-
able difficulty in restoring order. The Cortes told him
bluntly that the cause of the upheaval was that there
were too many Regents ; and that either he should reign
alone, or else the Queen should do so by herself.
Nevertheless the Queen, in spite of the advices of Prince
Peter and the Count of Arrayolos, insisted that her noble-
men should attend the next session, each followed by their
vassals and bodyguard ^ — the foolish lady evidently wishing
the Assembly to take the form of an open battle.
As far as Prince Peter was concerned, events had taken
such a turn that he found himself compelled to set aside
his feeling of detachment, turning from the pose of a
philosopher to that of a man of action. Feeling the need
of counsel he longed, therefore, to have beside him his
brother. Prince John, whose simple straightforward mind
was able to see more clearly in a crisis than his own over-
subtle intellect. But Prince John lay at Alcoehete, again
the victim of his " fever," and Prince Peter, therefore,
went there to consult him.
At the invalid's bedside he found his nephew, the
Count of Ourem. Prince John's advice was the same.
Again he recommended him to proclaim himself sole
Regent, saying that then he should have nothing to fear,
that thus he could meet all his enemies — the Aragonese
princes, or any one else who might come to defend the
Queen. Ourem, his nephew, nodded ajiprovingly, saying
that he and many others were ready to help him to defend
the kingdom.
It was excellent advice, but Prince Peter, with the
procrastinating weakness of a diplomatist, hesitated.
" We will wait for the Cortes," he said. " It is dan-
> Pina, Chron. de D. Affonso V, XXV. * 75^^.^ XXVII.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 247
gerous to precipitate matters. The Cortes will decide for
us in due time ! "
And in this he remained firm, although Prince John
objected that by following such a course he ran the risk
of not taking advantage of the proper moment when
public feeling was favourable.
"Let it be as God wishes," replied the Regent; "I
will not act without the Cortes. The Queen writes to her
noblemen, ordering them all to attend with their troops,
whilst I, as Defender of the Kingdom, must similarly warn
my districts to hold themselves in readiness for any
emergency." ^
All this took less than one month, and September had
just arrived when the Prince, before going to his house
at Coimbra to prepare himself in solitude for the impending
crisis, decided to present himself at Sacavem on the way.
The little King of seven ran up to his uncle and allowed
him to kiss his hand ; but the Queen-mother received him
coldly, and treated his courteous advances with scornful
suspicion, so much so that on his departure he was goaded
to exclaim :
" What I have done I have done for the best. The only
reward I have received has been hatred and malevolence.
So far you have found me as you wished : from henceforth
take me as you find me ! " ^
And with these words he left her, pleased with himself
for having for once spoken out his true thoughts. Never-
theless, it was a grave tactical error, for if he wished for
the Queen's friendly co-operation, he had now lost it for
ever, fatally wounding her pride; and if Civil War was
threatening before, it was certain now. The man to
command coming events must have discretion as well as
fortitude.
On the other hand, the Count of Barcellos, with the
cunning of an old fox, was a better politician. It is true
his illusive hopes seemed to be receding, and, to his
incredulous eyes, his own sons appeared obedient and loyal
1 Pina, Chron. de D. Affonso V, XXVIII. ^ Ibid., XXX.
248 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
to Prince Peter; yet none the less he was beginning to
find the sokition of his problem ; and so he eraftily remained
in the background, allowing himself time to find cover,
cautious of taking any false step that might seriously
compromise him.
Meanwhile, Prince Peter had returned to Lisbon on his
way to Coimbra, and for the first time began to exercise
his power as Defender of the Kingdom. With this title,
his father, before him, had established the country's in-
dependence, and finding the throne vacant, made himself
King. The memory of the Revolution of 1383 must have
been fresh in the mind of this son of John I. Again
Lisbon was calling — calling him, as it had called his father
— not now as then to seize the Crown, since philosophy
made him immune to such ambitions, but rather to avert
the disasters that were threatening that Crown, through
the nobility's covetous anarchy and the Queen's jealous
folly. Indeed, recognising its origin from the ancient
Roman tribune, he was scrupulously conscious that the
Office of Defender of the Kingdom was one with sacred
duties ; and, moreover, reason told him that these duties
were the attributes of sovereignty, and that the King
should be the true Defender of the people against the
power of the aristocracy.
With these thoughts, and with a firm hand, he wrote
his warning proclamations to the various districts, com-
manding them to be prepared for further orders ;i and
having dispatched them, so that they all should be delivered
on the same day at their destinations, he set out to Coimbra.
Meanwhile, at Lisbon, an excited multitude gathered all
through the day at the Cathedral doors to read the copies
intended for the City ; and at night they still kept coming
with torches and lanthorns because the day was not long
enough. With widespread alarm, at the dangers hinted
at, and yet with extreme confidence that with their help
he could avert them, the populace acclaimed the Prince
as their Defender, blaming the Queen, who they believed
» Pina, Chron. de D. AJfomo\V, XXXIX.
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PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 249
would welcome foreign intervention and the help of the
Aragonese Princes to crush them. Hurrahs, shouts of
joy, and cheers resounded as each line of Prince Peter's
message was read out to a public that felt itself secure
under the protection of this one Prince whom they all
loved.
All the towns in the Kingdom answered that they would
hold themselves in readiness, and Oporto that the Prince,
and he alone, " was to be Regent." ^
Trembling with fear, the Queen sought refuge and
escaped to Alemquer, — for, while the Defender remained
at Coimbra waiting for his Cortes to assemble, Lisbon
had declared itself in rebellion. It had given itself up to
Sir Alvaro Vaz de Almada, Prince Peter's " fidus Achates,"
who had made himself Lord -lieutenant and General of
the City, taking the oath to abide by the wishes of the
citizens as he solemnl}^ accepted the City's banner. Under
his friend's rule the City w^as all for Prince Peter : in S.
Domingos, in the ancient " forum " of the Mediaeval city,
the various representatives assembled and decided that
only Prince Peter was to act as their Regent and Defender,
promising to support him at the meeting of the Cortes and
" to die for him should the necessity arise."
However, even in the City itself things did not run
altogether smoothly for the Regent, for opposing him
was his old enemy, the Archbishop Dom Pedro, the only
person, it will be remembered, who had refused to swear
allegiance to the new Government and sign the resolution
at Torres Novas, a quarrelsome person and one so deep in
debt that no honest prudent Government, however willing,
could relieve him. He started converting his Cathedral
into an arsenal, fortifying it against the City authorities,
in spite of all warnings, until such mobs of citizens assem-
bled to support the authorities that he was compelled to
sacrifice staff and sword to save himself, and take flight
to Castile, remembering the fate that had befallen his
predecessor (on the day that Count Andeiro was beheaded)
1 Pina, Ckron. de D. Affonso V, XXXIX .
250 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
too well to run a similar risk himself. As soon, however,
as he arrived at Castile, he felt himself at a safe enough
distance to write a threatening letter to the Munieipality,
saying that he would raise an army and mareh against
the City. The authorities answered by depriving him of
his Episcopal rents in the City, giving half of these to his
successor, and the other half to his creditors ! ^ The humour
and political subtlety of this came from no other than
Sir Alvaro — for it was after this answer had been given
that Prince John returned from Alcochete and took
command of the City himself. ^
Meanwhile, the Queen answered Prince Peter's manifesto
with yet another of her own, commanding the people to
adhere to the resolution of Torres Novas, and proclaiming
herself Regent. But these notices were all torn down
and destroyed, and at Lisbon the Writer to the Chancery
barely escaped with his life, as he posted them on the
Cathedral doors .3 At the same time, the Queen did her
best to prejudice Prince John, now in charge of the City,
against the Regent. Recalling him to Alemquer, she tried
to win him over from his brother, bribing him with the
offer of the Regency for himself, and the Crown for his
daughter, trying, in fact, in her despair, to tempt him
with everything she possessed.
But Prince John was immovable.
"This can never be God's wish," he answered firmly;
" nor can He desire that among the sons of John I, who
have all been brought up in such peaceful concord and
love, there should now be sown the seeds of discord. If
I agreed to your proposals, I should live in worldly shame,
and in fear of God, not so much for accepting the Regency,
but merely at the thought of doing so when I have two
such brothers as Prince Peter and Prince Henry, older
and more fitted for the duty than I can ever hope to be.
' Royal Charter of Dec. 8, 1439. in the Annals of the Municipality of
Lisbon.
« Pina, Chron. de D. Affonso V, XXXI.-XXXTV. and XL.
» Ibid., XXXV.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 251
The King's wedding to my o^vn daughter, if things were
otherwise, would certainly be the greatest honour and the
greatest blessing that I could desire. But as things are,
I would rather see her in public disgrace, than wedded
thus at the expense of my brother's honour and wishes,
for then I would have to go against the last request of
King Duarte, whom may Heaven hold in peace." ^
Thus prompted by the spirit of chivalry and honour,
the Prince spoke out his answer, leaving the Queen in-
capable of further argument. She could not understand
how such loyalty and brotherly affection could overcome
personal ambition and paternal love. But, in her obstinacy,
she would not admit herself defeated. So she changed
her tactics. She next recalled Prince Henry. She wrote
to him, perhaps misadvised by those who shared her
ambitions, convinced that it was better to rouse this
dreamer by putting fear and surprise into his soul, and
informed him that the worst had come to pass, that Prince
Peter wished to keep all power in his oAvn hands, and that
he was plotting for their mutual destruction.
WTien Prince Henry — who was at Sagres — read this
letter, he could not resist smiling as he looked at the
messenger; but, nevertheless, he made a hasty journey
to Coimbra, to find out for himself the real state of matters.
" See, brother ! " he laughed, as alighting from his horse
he met Prince Peter; " see how great my fear is ! I am
here, hale and hearty."
After greeting him, he went on to tell of the Queen's
message.
" I am not surprised," answered Prince Peter, with
deep-rooted melancholy, " such times, and such designs
are ever yielding a rich harvest of unexpected fruits ! " ^
And he went on to relate what had happened in his
absence, unfolding the story as he led the other through
the Palace courtyards, into the Duchess of Coimbra's
presence, where he found the whole family assembled
to welcome him. Here also he found the Count of Bar-
1 Pina, Chron de D. Ajfonso V, XLIX. ^ /^j^,^ XLIII.
252 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
cellos, a little uneasy as one who finds himself in the
backr^round. Tlie three brothers orrectcd each other, and
then retired to discuss the situation. Finally it was
decided that Barcellos, being more friendly with the Queen
than any of them, should endeavour to persuade her to
attend the Cortes, which was to meet at Lisbon in a
month's time.
The Count, therefore, took horse for Alemquer, where
he met his son, the Count of Arrayolos, just returned from
the capital. There was no doubt the storm was gathering;
and Prince Peter seemed more in public favour than ever.
Alemquer had been transformed into a veritable fortress,
surrounded by sentinels and outposts, whose constant
watchfulness betrayed the apprehension of the authorities.
The Count, frowning and biting his lip, delivered his
message to the Queen, explaining that the peace of the
nation, and Prince Fernando's freedom (the unfortunate
martyr was almost forgotten during this comedy) demanded
an immediate meeting of the Cortes, and that the Princes
wished her to attend the meeting. The Queen, in her
vanity, seeing a probable capitulation in this request,
answered that she would go if the Municipal and Urban
authorities repealed the acts passed during Prmee Peter's
Regency; and with this answer the old Count returned to
Coimbra, quite convinced that the Queen's last day had
come. For this reason, when the two brothers separated,
one for Sagres, the other for Guimaracs, Barcellos, who
owned the whole Minho district and most of that of Traz-
os-Montes, with an eagerness that was proportional to
his desire to neutralise the false steps he had taken, did
everything he could to convince the Queen's party of the
mistake that she would fall into by attending the meeting
of the Cortes.* Apparently the Count had delivered his
message very much against his will ; and now he tried to
undo what he had done. He pointed out that nothing
could be gained by her presence there, that she could
leave others to settle their own squabbles, and that then
» Pina, Chron. de D. Affonm V, XLIV.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 253
she and her party could join the winning side. The Count,
no doubt, at this time must have been finding himself
very much alone. Prince Peter, surrounded by his family,
was absorbed in study and his books, while in the peaceful
oblivion of the tomb, King Duarte rested in his eternal
sleep. At Sagres, Prince Henry armed his fleets to conquer
Africa and thought of nothing else. In his cell, at Fez,
Prince Fernando groaned under the whip of the Moor;
and in Lisbon, Prince John was holding the city for his
brother against all comers.
To lead a Revolution is a mere figure of speech, for
Revolutions are never led : their chieftains are always
serfs. The Revolution was taking shape at Lisbon. To
await the Cortes, as Prince Peter wished, was to run a grave
risk. Oporto precipitated matters somewhat by declaring,
once and for all, its final wishes in the matter. The
Commission of S. Domingos soon followed this example.
They felt that something had to be done during this
momentous crisis. Moreover, Prince John's remarks
made them see that a prompt decision was imperative ; and
it looked as if Prince Peter was now determined to cross the
Rubicon. In Lopo Fernandes, a great friend of Prince John,
they had one " to whom the people looked for support."
To their assistance also came Diogo Affonso Mangancha
" who was learned, brave and restless." The latter was
a fine swordsman and an astute scholar, one who saw
his own fortunes bound up in this Revolution. He,
therefore, concentrated all his energies in the cause. Even
in King Duarte's reign he had already the reputation of a
learned judge; and he was also very popular, for it was
known that he had bequeathed all he had to a noble
purpose — ^the founding of the University of Coimbra.*
In his Will, dated January 4, 1448, we find the following
regulations for the college : " In it shall be received ten
pauper scholars and four servitors without alms, or beasts,
^ The Loyal Counsellor, LVIII. : This Judge Mangancha founded his
country's most famous University. In his lifetime, he started its first
college in his own house, iostituting a Ubrary in which, as was customary
in those days, the books were fastened with chains to the walls.
254 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
receiving instead two " tavolas " per diem, without other
rations, or bedding, or other articles of maintenance
without survey, or else receiving one " tavola " and night
rations . . . that there shall be ten apartments, and in
these shall be built ten wooden bedsteads, and studies . . .
and here shall be received : firstly, ten scholars already
tutored, and these ten must be over sixteen years of age ;
secondly, if they be in the Faculty of Divinity, they shall
be admitted although not tutored ... of these ten, one
shall act as Rector of the college . . . and each new scholar
of this or other Faculty may stay ten years, and those
that enter already tutored may remain only seven years,
and those learned in Logic, five years and m) more. . . .
Tlie College shall not admit rich noblemen, coxcombs,
drunkards, rovers, stammerers, nor any addicted to vice,
nor any crooked-nosed, nor fat-faced person, nor any
with the complexion of rosemary, even though they be
virtuous." ^ Such was the Will, and such the character
of this new champion of the people, who openly siding
with Prince Peter and the citizens of Lisbon, defying the
authorities made public his opinions with all the rhetoric
of a trained advocate. His views were popular, and he
was listened to eagerly. The laws of Portugal, he main-
tained, were derived from the ancient codes of the Sicilian
Franks, which from the very beginning had excluded
women from the throne. Therefore, he told his willing
hearers, the Queen had no right to rule; and accordingly,
he urged them to submit to the governance of none other
then Prince Peter. It was a popular view, backed by the
seeming logic of the law, and so the citizens came in
crowds to support and cheer him.
The Queen, the Princes, and the various muncipalities
were informed of this. It looked as if the cause of the
Regent was rising in the full flood of fortune. Lisbon
as the capital opened the way by accepting the new
movement. Oporto followed her example; and Prince
1 We find this extraordinary document copied verbatim in J. P. Ribeiro's
Dim. Chron., IL 260.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 255
Peter, stimulated by the fervour of his friends, agreed to
undertake the task of looking after the country's welfare.
But Prince Henry, on the other hand, was not so carried
away. He looked upon these happenings as revolutionary,
for we must remember the actual meaning of these events
was that the resolution of the Cortes of Torres Novas
had now been absolutely repudiated. Therefore, he
remained coldly neutral; and the populace, who were
unable to distinguish things in the same light as the
educated nobility, soon began to grumble against him,
so much so that Prince John had to intervene, putting
fear into them by threatening that he would communicate
with Sagres.
When the Count of Barcellos, at Guimaraes, learnt of
the new move, he was overcome \vith senile anger, realising
that his step-brother was now almost certain of power.
It is true he had ad\ised the Queen not to attend the
Cortes. But he had done so against his will. His object
was to keep the various interests suspicious of one another.
He neither wished Queen Leonora nor Prince Peter to
have anything to do with the Government. Only disorder
and disagreement could benefit his cause, and he realised
this. A strong Government would obviously be antagon-
istic to his plans, and it was clear that, in the hands of
Prince Peter, the Aragonese widow would be no easy
victim to his own cunning. Pina ^ tells us that " accord-
ing to the public and indi\'idual wisdom that followed, the
Count's disappointment was in keepmg \^ith his own
interests."
Everywhere, and especially in Lisbon, things were going
against him. Reports of his political attitude had reached
the capital, where Prince John was provisionally Governor,
and Sir Alvaro in command of the troops. The Queen,
sheltered in her castle and protected by its garrison, tried
to resist the provisional Government ; but Sir Alvaro laid
siege to it, and more by threats than by actual violence,
compelled it to surrender.
1 Chron. de D. Ajf<mso V, XXXV., XXXIX. and XLI.
256 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Tliese hap])cnings in the capital obliged Prince Peter
to leave Coimbra. He marched to the capital, accompanied
by an escort of 4000 men. It was given out that he was
making for Alcmquer to accompany the infant King there;
for he had taken the main road that leads from Coimbra,
through Redinha and Lciria to Batalha and Alcoba9a.
The Queen hearing of this, and feeling uneasy, sent a
messenger to intercept him at Afazeirao. The messenger
encountered the Prince and his troops on this main road,
where he was told that they were not bound for Alcmquer.
Eventually the escort arrived at the gates of Lisbon,
outside which the Prince pitched his camp. It was the
beginning of the winter of 1439. The citizens came out in
crowds to meet him, beseeching him to be their Regent;
but they were told to wait for the Cortes' decision.
Some little time after, accompanied by his brothers.
Prince Henry and Prince John, he entered the city to
attend the meeting of the Assembly, which consisted of
the representatives of the three districts of the Kingdom.
At this meeting the Queen opposed everything, refusing
to give up the Regency, to leave Alemquer, or even to
allow the young King to enter his own capital. Prince
Henrv was able eventuallv, however, to convince her that
the young monarch should be present at the next meeting
of the Cortes. But this was not in keeping with the
Count of Barcellos' plans. He objected strongly — indeed
with such vehemence, that his cause was prejudiced
thereby ; and so his later attempt to reinstate his friend
the Archbishop of Lisbon also proved futile,^ a defeat
that served but to increase his hatred for Prince Peter.
Next, one of the procurators from Oporto took it upon
himself to propose that the Queen and the infant King
should be separated, because, he said, " educated by a
woman he will grow effeminate, and will be brought up
to hate the Regent — and perhaps us as well."
" We cannot support you in this," interrupted Prince
Peter, seeing that the Assembly were on the point of
» Pina, Chron. de D. Affonso V, XLV.-XLIX.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 257
agreeing with the procurator. " If the King were to die,
every one would then say that it was I who had killed
him. The responsibility is too great for me ! "
But, on the Cortes insisting on discussing the point, he
called upon his two brothers to express their opinion, only
to fhid that they, somewhat to his surprise, agreed with
the Assembly, holding that the King should remain in the
Regent's charge. To get out of the difhculty, therefore,
he proposed that he should accompany the boy-king and
the Queen-mother on a progress throughout the Kingdom.
But here another difficulty arose. The Queen would not
agree to this, thinking that it would look humiliating to
travel thus, attached as it were to the Prince's Court.
The Regent's star was obviously in the ascendant; and
it was clear the Queen would have to yield to the inevitable.
It was then that an exceedingly clever move occurred to
her. She acted on it instantly, giving up not only the
King to Prince Peter, but also all her other children, four
in number, the youngest of whom was only a few months
old. Leaving her entire family thus with Prince Peter,
she departed theatrically alone, unaccompanied to Cintra,
reckoning that by appearing forcibly bereft, she would
provoke civil war, and induce her own brothers, once they
had settled their affairs at home, quickly to come to her
defence. No sooner, however, had she reached Cintra than
she set out again in a fever of hysterical excitement for
Alemquer, feeling that there she was nearer the frontier,
and closer, therefore, to the help she anticipated from
Aragon — all Prince Peter's advice, arguments, and suppli-
cations proving in vam, although, with the idea of calming
her, ht liad brought the King and his Court to Santarem,
so that they could be near her, across the Tagus.
At Almeirim, all was almost open conspiracy ; and here the
Count of Barcellos was in his element. He tried to induce
the Queen to betake herself to Crato, reminding her that
the Prior of the Hospitallers could be depended upon, and
that his castle was strong enough to withstand any attack
that might come before her brothers from Aragon arrived
258 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
to avenge her. He went so far, indeed, as to give colour
to the rumours tliat he was privy to certain agreements
between the Queen and the Aragonese Princes to invade
the country — rumours which caused Prince John, the
Count of Ourem, Prince Henry, and eventually the Regent
himself, to upbraid him for his folly. Contemporaries
explain the Count of Ourem's partiality for Prince Peter,
by assuming that " it was a better and safer policy for
the father to belong to one party and the son to the other."
By this time, the Queen was in a fever of doubt, in-
decision, and fear, not knowing how to act, so much so
that for safety she sent her jewellery and money to her
sister. It was impossible to distinguish friend from foe;
every one was suspicious of every one else ; and the Prior
of Crato, in this atmosphere of uncertainty, sent his own
son, first to Santarem, to pay homage to the Regent, then
to Almeirim, to wait on Leonora during her vacillating
journeys.
The crisis was reached one cold October night (1440),
when the Queen, with a small band of attendants, looking
like a family of wandering gypsies, fled from Almeirim
across the broad plains south of the Tagus, to Crato.
Almeirim had noisily espoused her cause; and when the
news of this flight spread throughout the town every one
was panic-stricken, the people, in alarm, leaving their
beds and shouting :
" Run for your lives ! Run ! Prince Peter is coming
to imprison us all ! "
The fear was as widespread as it was ridiculous. Half-
dressed, collecting their goods as best they could, the
frightened populace hurried across the moors, like a flock
of frightened sheep. In their panic, many were firmly
convinced that their only safety now was in Castile. The
wife and son of an old and lame warrior, the Squire of
Cascaes, pulled the decrepit old man out of bed, dragging
him along the floor in their anxiety, urging him in the name
of all the saints to bestir himself and save himself.
" Let me die in my own country ! " he protested feebly;
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 259
" in the country of my birth. I never have been, nor
ever shall be a traitor. Do not expel rae, when I am
guiltless ! My body will find no other soil for its burial
than here ! " i
They carried him forcibly, his feeble resistance and
protests adding a humorous though pathetic note to
the grotesque disorder that lasted throughout the night ;
and when the morning pierced the black veil of night,
the to\vn was mute and deserted throughout, save here
and there, where some dishevelled, half -clothed, lost
creature was left as a sign that a feverish multitude had
hurriedly left the Court of the Queen, who by now was
fortifying herself in her stronghold at Crato.
Their terror, in a way, was justified, for hostilities with
Castile were threatening. Coming of age, King John II
of Castile had placed the Government in the hands of his
favourite, Don Alvaro de Luna, he who had already
befriended Prince Peter when the latter visited Valladolid
on his way to the East. This Don Alvaro, who had been
brought up from early childhood in the Castilian Court,
where he fii'st went as a page in 1408, was the envy of
all the men, and the idol of all the women. He and
Prince Peter constantly corresponded. Musician, poet,
and writer, his verses to his lady-loves in his work Virtuous
and Beauteous Damoiselles, referring to them as the
" Crowned Glories of Creation," are known to all students.
It was to this celebrated personage that John II, when
he ascended the throne, surrendered the reins of Govern-
ment entirely.2 The gentlemen of the Court looked upon
the bard with jaundiced eyes, seeing him exalted to the
title ca Count de San Esteban, given six cities and seventy
castles. They showed their jealousy by opposing, in
^ Pina, Chron. de D. Affonso V, L.-LXV.
- Vide Ticknor, History of Span. Lit, edit, by Gayangos, I. 208. The
anonymous chronicles of Alvaro de Luna, printed for the first time in Milan,
1546, is a celebrated Castilian classic. Amador de los Rios in his Hist. Grit.
Litt. Esp., VI. 224-9, attributes the work to Don Alvaro himself. For an
analysis of Don Alvaro's works and mention of Virtuous and Beauteous
Damoiselles, vide ibid., 63-5, and 271-7.
260 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
every way the ambitions of the King's cousins — the
Princes of Ai*agon, who in 1418, by one of chcm marrying
Queen Leonora of Portugal's sister, became thus related.
Their widowed mother then took up her abode at the
Castilian Court, beside her daughter-in-law, with her two
other sons, who in search of fortune allied themselves at first
with the popular Don Alvaro, and eventually succeeded in
insinuating themselves above the other noblemen, beside
the weak King, From that moment Castile became
divided into two camps, ever wrangling with one another
for the King's favours ; and thus the Ai'agonese Princes,
belonging to Don Alvaro's party, and occupied with their
own ambitions, had little opportunity of giving much
support to the Portuguese Queen against Prmce Peter,
the friend of their most powerful ally, Don Alvaro.
All this was no concern of Portugal; but as soon as the
Queen escaped from Cintra to Almeirim, Prince Peter
saw that it was necessary to prevent the Ai'agonese Princes
coming to her assistance; and so, with the help of his
brothers, and the Count of Barcellos, who now kept a foot
in both camps for safety, he ranged himself on the side
of Don Alvaro; and to make doubly sure, at the same
time, befriended also the Master of Alcantara, the Pre-
tender Don Guitierres, sending him auxiliaries against the
Aragonese Princes, who were practically holding the King
of Castile as their prisoner.^ In this way, any active
Castilian intervention was baulked, for while Don Alvaro
was King John's trusted favourite, the Ai'agonese Princes
would have plenty to occupy them at home. All they could
do to hclj) Queen Leonora, therefore, was to send an
Ambassador in the autumn of 1440, claiming the Regency
for their sister ; but even this di])lomatic move was check-
mated by the King of Castile, who, with Luna's consent,
sent a secret message to Prince Peter, giving him permission
to ignore the Ambassador, so that he was sent back eventu-
ally merely with the usual empty courtesies, after Queen
Leonora had gone to Crato.-
» Pina, Chron de D. AffoneoV, LV. and LVl. - Ibid., LXiii. and LXVi.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 261
The Regency was by now a settled affair. Prince Peter
was head of the Government ; he had the King in his
charge ; and any enactments promulgated by this child
of eight were of necessity those suggested by his uncle.
From the heights of a throne, where circumstances had
compelled him to rise, Prince Peter was able to see the
lie of the surrounding political landscape, for from such
an elevation one can see far over the horizon of futurity.
And the conclusion he came to was the old conclusion
of Solomon, for pessimism sat on the throne beside him.
Two characteristic examples of this temperament of his
may here be recalled. Once when, accompanied by
Prince Henry, he was entering the gate of S. Bento that
leads across the River Mondego, they both stopped their
horses to gaze at the city's coat -of -arms over the entrance.
It represented the figure of a crowned woman standing
upon a calyx; on one of the woman's breasts was a lion
rampant, and on the other the figure of a serpent.
Prince Henry laughed grimly, pointing to the coat-of-
arms.
" We may well compare," he said, " this figure with
your own life, brother ; for truly your breast is burdened,
on the one side by the lion of Castile, and on the other by
the serpent of our country's ills."
" You speak well," the other answered, frowning; " but
I see also therein an evil omen. The calyx signilieth
blood, and this doubtless will be my final reward." ^
On another occasion, the people of Lisbon -wished to
erect a statue to him, in recognition of the relief he had
brougtit them by abolishing the mediaeval custom which
compelled them to lodge the Court when it was in Lisbon,
and also all ambassadors from foreign countries, supplying
them with food, bedding, and similar necessaries. ^ The
extravagant demands of the courtiers, and the frequent
arrival of these ambassadors before the days when
permanent legations were established, had made this
service extremely heav}^; and the people were, therefore,
1 Pina, Chron. de D. Affonso F, LII. 2 Viterbo, Elucid V.
262 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
very grateful when, in 1439, Prince Peter abolished this
custom and reserved the Palace of " Os Estaos " lor the
reception of these ambassadors.^
When, however, he was told of the public's wishes, he
forbade it.
" If my image were placed there," he said, his features
heavy with thought and pain, " the day would, neverthe-
less, come when in recompense for any good that I may
have done, and for any more that, by the grace of God,
I may yet do, your sons would pull it do^v^l, or mutilate it
with stones. For this reason, therefore, I do not wish it.
God will give me His own reward, in His own time. I do
not expect anything from your hands other than that I
have told you of; unless, peradventure, ye do something
yet more evil towards me."
Shakespeare, the magic-mind, who has portrayed for
us the men of the Renascence, depicts in his Hamlet a
character not unlike Prince Peter. It was characteristic
of the Portuguese Hamlet to see in the calyx of the city
of Coimbra his ovm Fate symbolically anticipated. It
is beyond doubt that he was not ambitious, for he had
plenty of opportunities to satiate such a desire. Instead
he was a pessimist, a philosopher who sat upon a throne ;
and his pessimism gave him a longer foreknowledge, a
more prophetic mind than that possessed by his famous
brother, Prince Henry, who could not, would not, believe
that his own ambitions would meet with the same Fate,
the same destruction, and almost the same oblivion, that
Philosophy taught the other to anticipate.
After the Queen's escape there was a foretaste of civil
war. Prince Peter sent manifestoes to the Urban authori-
ties throughout the Kingdom, manifestos that were read
1 " Os Estaos " was an edifice in the Rocio at Lisbon in 1484. It was
repaired in the time of the Inriuisition, and was reconstnicted after the
Great Earthquake of 1775. In 1820 the Inquisition having ceased, it
became the Regent's Palace; in 1826 it served aa a municipal building;
in 1833 it was the Exclioquer; and finally it was burnt down in 18.36. At
the present day, ite site is occupied by the Theatre of D. Maria 11.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 263
out after Mass on All Saint's Day. To these the Queen
replied with others of her own; and they, in turn, brought
about more hostile preparations. Prince Henry was
dispatched off to Beira, Prince John to the district between
the Guadiana and the Tagus. A special envoy was
hurriedly sent to Oporto ; and orders were sent to Alemtejo
forbidding them to supply the castle with more provisions
than were necessary for the Queen and twenty other
persons.
The Castle of Crato was one of those ancient strong-
holds that had been erected in the middle of a wilderness,
now desolate after centuries of perpetual warfare. Fire
and sword had ^^TOught much destruction in the district ;
the plains had been barren for years; and the garrison,
therefore, semi-isolated, could only get their stores from
afar. The Prince's orders accordingly amounted to a
siege; so that already, before any troops had marched
against them, they were threatened with starvation
from within. The wretched Queen, therefore, besought
Prince John to come to her aid; but to her appeal he
merely answered by asking her to quit her stronghold.
When, however, it was known that she was seeking help
from Castile, it was felt that something more had to be
done ; and so, on December 17, the Prince's troops entered
Belver, and an edict was issued forthwith recalling all
the Prior's vassals, imposing the penalty of death on such
as failed to obey.
The actual siege now commenced ; and fear and hunger
soon held sway within. Grave prognostications were
whispered. The minds of the besieged, frightened by
their guilt, saw nothing but impending disaster. The air
was full of omens ; and it was with eager, anxious eyes,
therefore, that, one day, the garrison watched an eagle
flying round the battlements. As they gazed, they saw
it circle the walls three times and then suddenly pounce
upon a stork's-nest built on the tower of the Priory,
carrying away the mother-stork and her two young ones in
its talons. To their mediaeval minds this was a deadly
264 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
portent ; and in their nervous fear, they connected it with
their o^vTl fate. The eagle was the Prince, the stork and
her two Httle ones the Queen and her children. Yet
another omen pointed against them. Tlie besiegers' first
shot struck an escutcheon, showing the castle's arms, and
without breaking it made it fall from the hands of two
stone angels that held it, so that only when it reached the
ground did it fall to j)ieces. The second shot killed a man ;
and the third crushed his body which had, by now, been
placed in a cofTin. The besiegers were tightening their
circle. In the immediate vicinity there was some resist-
ance; but in other parts of the Kingdom the Queen's
forces were strangely inactive. At length, however,
a meagre array of less than a thousand Castilian troops,
bribed with the money and jewels that the Queen had sent
them, arrived ; and now, having no alternative, the Regent,
together with Prince John and the Counts of Ourem and
of Arrayolos, marched towards the scene of trouble. It
was towards the end of December when they entered Aviz,
and by this time the Queen was convinced that further
resistance was useless ; neither Barcellos, nor her Aragonese
allies, nor her party of councillors from Torres Novas were
coming to her aid ; and so she abandoned the castle, and
escorted by the Prior, the Squire of Cascaes, and others,
crossed the frontier, leaving the garrison with its 800
Castilian auxiliaries to surrender.^ Thus ended the first
stage of the war.
Although the Count of Barcellos had not actually
joined the Queen's party, and his sons belonged to that
of the Regent, still his loyalty was not above suspicion.
It was felt that he might be preparing some counterstroke
in his retreat up in the north; and so Prince Peter and
Prince Henry journeyed in company to Traz-os-Montcs
in February 1441, to see if they could either definitely
attach him to their side, or force him to declare himself
an open enemy. The Count, however, apparently expect-
ing some such move on their part, had already crossed the
' Pina, Chron. de D. Affonso V, LXVI. and LXXIV.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 265
Douro, taking horse for Misao Frio, and was now in the
rugged highlands of the north, a land of wild and barren
mountains formed of craggy schists crowned by the granite
of some past prehistoric eruption. These regions were
inhabited by communities that had been isolated by nature
from lowland civilisation for so long that they were
almost independent of any authority, having been left
over as it were from the convulsions of the Wars of the
Middle Ages. Nominally the clans professed allegiance
to some powerful nobleman or lord; but they were so
tenacious of their freedom that they always insisted on
choosing their own protector. Latterly this had been
the Count of Barcellos ; but he was now beginning to be
unpopular because, for some time past, he had been
attempting to restrict their freedom, to benefit his o\^^l
interests.^
It was in these fastnesses that he now concealed himself,
fearing that his step-brothers had come to punish him;
and as a precaution against surprise he had ordered the
ferries to be destroyed behind him. It was a futile move,
as the Princes immediately had a pontoon thrown across
the river, and followed after him. It was obvious they
intended to force a meeting; and so the Count of Ourem,
his son, who was in their company, asked permission to
go ahead and talk matters over with his father. Appar-
ently he was successful in bringing him to reason, for he
presently returned with the Count, who greeted the two
Princes as if nothing had happened. The meeting, to a
casual observer, seemed all that could be desired; but
the inijermost feelings of these three brothers could only
be guessed at. The Archbishop of Braga, Dom Fernando,
a depraved, malicious black-coat, seeing this meeting,
exclaimed, unofficially inspired : " Ecce quam jocundum
habitare fratres in unum." Prince Peter, whose pene-
trating eye saw beyond these superficialities of affection,
listened impassively to the verbose contradictions that came
^ Fomellos, Mem. Hist. econ. do concelho de Misao Frio. Cf. J. P.
Ribeiro, Reflex. Hist, p. 1, n. 19.
266 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
from Barccllos, heard his protests, received his promises
of obedience, and accepted his assurances of friendship
and love. Barcellos now fervently affirmed that he would
leave the Queen to her own devices. He even promised
to take upon himself the task of bringing her back penitent.
He agreed that the King should marry the Regent's
daughter, making only one stipulation, that the exiled
Archbishop of Lisbon should be reinstated. Prince Peter
consented to this; and the brothers separated with their
quarrel apparently patched up. The Regent went to his
capital, Prince Henry to Vizeu on his way to Sagres, and
the Count to Guimaraes.^
Slowly the difficulties of the Regency were disappearing.
The Cortes next met at Torres Vedras, to arrange the King's
marriage, which took place at Obidos on Ascension Day,
14'41,2 Only one difficulty seemed immovable — Queen
Leonora was still in Castile worrying her brothers to come
and avenge her. The Count of Barcellos sent a messenger,
who was unfortunate enough to arrive there at an awkward
moment. The year before, the Queen of Castile had suc-
ceeded in arranging a marriage between her son, the Prince
of Asturias, and his cousin, Princess Branca of Navarre,
whose father was the lifelong enemy of Don Alvaro de
Luna. This union Don Alvaro had failed to stop,^ for
he had to contend with his King's weakness, as w€;ll as
with his own waning influence; and the Aragonese Princes
having almost supplanted him were daily becoming more
and more powerful. They had besieged Medina del Campo ;
they had again acquired more favours from the King; and
they had routed dc Luna's and the Master of Alcantara's
forces. Queen Leonora was with her brothers, now power-
ful and influential at IMedina, when the Count's messenger
arrived. She apparently knew Barcellos only too well,
and naturally enough j:)referred to rely on her brothers'
help alone. She, therefore, refused to receive the messenger.
Across the frontier the same tactics were being employed :
• Pina. Chron. de. D. Afjonso T. I. XXV. ^ Ibid., LXXV.
* Ch. Roniey, Hist. d'Esp., IX. 17.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 267
the Regent refused to see the Castilian ambassadors, and
called the Cortes at Evora. A rupture appeared imminent.
The situation was critical, for whatever happened War
seemed certain ; and the Cortes, therefore, decided to prepare
for it, entering enthusiastically into the preparations for
raising a loan and getting ready the necessary armaments.
Seeing this unanimity, however, the Castilians, on the other
hand, were correspondingly impressed ; and so they decided,
in spite of Queen Leonora's and her brothers' supplications,
that peace should be maintained with Portugal. ^
Quiet thus crowned the year 1441, and the following
year was passing in the same happy way, when in October,
Prince John died at Alcacer do Sal, a victim to his per-
nicious " fever." Prince Peter thus lost in this brother his
most faithful adviser. He was the second of King John's
sons, now, beyond the grave, and was scarcely forty-two,
in fact in the prime of life, when he died. His country
lost in him one of its most able minds, and the Regent a
brother who was his right hand in the Government. The
Regent's sorrow was, therefore, proportional to his loss.
He was at Coimbra when he received the news; and it
affected him so deeply that he had to take to his chamber
to conceal his grief.
It would seem^ as if Fortune in this world was made up
of sorrows and joys, for like a pair of balance-scales, when
one side rises, the other necessarily falls, an equilibrium
that, no doubt, suggested the symbol of Justice with its
even distribution of worldly goods. So when the Regent
was mourning over his loss, the Count of Barcellos was
rejoicin^j. His scale, lightened of disappointment, was on
the rise. He, like his brothers, would come into a Duke-
dom. He was now the third remaining son of John I, and
the wealthiest of the three, because his estates belonged
to himself and not to the Crown. The star of his family
was in the ascendant. In 1442, Dom Duarte, Duke of
Braganza, died without leaving an heir ; and as the Cortes
was meeting at Evora, both father and son, Barcellos and
1 Pina, Chron. de D. Affonso V, LXXVII.-LXXX.
268 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Ourem. unknown to one another, hurried thither to claim
the title of the deceased, who was not even buried at the
time. Ourem arrived first, however, and immediately
claimed the honour and the castles and estates that went
with it from the Recent. Barcellos arrived next, and made
the same request, only to be told by the Recent that what
he asked for had already been granted to his son. It was
a bitter disappointment to the old man ; for though he saw
his family and himself thus rising in the scales of power,
he wished none the less that the honour should have been
his, and his disappointment made him desire, therefore,
all the more vehemently the downfall of the Regent.*
In the following year, 1443, Prince Fernando succumbed
to his tortures in Fez, making, now, the third son of John I
that had died. The next year. Prince John's son also died;
so that within a comparatively short time the two Master-
ships, those of Santiago and of A^'^z, together Avith the title
of Constable, became vacant. The Regent refused to make
the Count of Ourem Constable, and gave the title to his
own son. The Count of Ourem claimed it because he was
Nun'alvares' grandson. The Regent opposed this claim
on the grounds that the honour was not hereditary, and
pointed out that on his father's death, which could not be
very distant, he, Ourem, would be Duke of Braganza and
thrice Count, and that he ought to remember this and
have patience considering the small size and the poverty of
the Kingdom.2 Enraged, the Count of Ourem departed,
vowing revenge. It was olivious that he had inherited
the ambitious appetite of his father; and Prince Peter,
looking on these events, was becoming aware that his
apprehensions were likely to become realities.
In Castile, Queen Leonora was also lamenting her
misfortunes, for her hopes were sinking after Don Alvaro's
victory at Olmedo (1445), which freed the Castilian King
from the influence of the Aragoncse princes. She, there-
^ Eventually, however, tlip matter was compromised: Barcellos took
the title of Duke, and Ourem tlin estates.
Pina, Chron. de I). Affonso V, LXXXII., LXXXIV.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 269
fore, was compelled to go to Toledo, living there in poverty,
supported only by the miserable dole she received from
Portugal. Later on, however, things seemed to brighten
for her, and negotiations were opened between her and the
Count of Arrayolos. And then the unexpected happened.
On February 19, 1445, she died, apparently poisoned.
It was rumoured that Don Alvaro, the Aragonese princes'
enemy, had poisoned her. It may or it may not have
been true ; but the fact remains that within fifteen days,
equally unexpected, the Queen of Castile died also.^ And
it was stated that the Princes being conquered, Don Alvaro
had thus rid himself of their sisters as well, and made him-
self thereby the sole power behind the throne. Immediately
after, the Regent of Portugal sent him new reinforcements,
under the command of his own son, the new Constable,
who, then sixteen years of age, had been under arms for
the first time at Olmedo.^
Looking back now, it seems an extraordinary move on
the part of the Regent. Evidently he was determined
to exterminate the Aragonese princes, one of whom. Prince
Henry, eventually fell on the battlefield, and the other,
defeated, was compelled to seek a hiding-place in the
PjTcnees.
Politically, however, it was an exceedingly unfortunate
move for Prince Peter, his reputation thereby receiving
a severe blow, for his action in Castile practically made him
Don Alvaro's accomplice in crime. The publicity of this,
moreover, became more widespread by his arranging with
Don Alvaro a marriage between Prince John's daughter
and the \vidower King of Castile. Prince Peter thought
1 Ch. Roraey, Hist d'Esp., IX. 17.
- Prince Peter's son, Peter, was bom in 1429. It was during this
expedition to Castile that he became acquainted with Don Inigo Lopes de
Mendonza, fighting beside him at Olmedo, where Mendonza earned the
title of Marquis of Santillana. On his return to Portugal, the Constable,
who had inherited his father's taste for Uterature, asked the Marquis for
a collection of his Canciones y dezires — " Songs and Sayings " — which
the other gave him together with the celebrated letter which is one of
the chief Uterarj^ documents of his day. Cf. Amador de los Rios, Hist.
Grit., VII. 80.
270 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
that by this action he was paying a debt to the memory
of his beloved brother. Don Alvaro believed, on the other
hand, that in this Portuguese Queen he was securing a
docile accomplice to the carrying out of his own plans. He
was greatly mistaken, however. The King, far from pre-
occupying himself with his new bride, and thus overlooking
other happenings, became aware of the fact that this
favourite of his was taking too many liberties ;i and Queen
Isabel, obeying the instincts of her race, prejudiced her
husband against Don Alvaro, to such a point that the once
powerful Constable of Castile was imprisoned in 1453, and
beheaded in the following year at Valladolid— truly a
typical turn of the wheel of Fortune ! ^
It was m 1447 that this marriage of his niece, the Princess
Isabel, took place ; and in the same year, his own daughter
Isabel married the young King Affonso V, who was now
fifteen. The two Isabels, therefore, had each risen almost
simultaneously to a throne — one to that of Portugal, the
other to that of Castile. It was in July, that, after the
marriage, the young King at length received the reins
of office, and Prince Peter was able to leave Coimbra and
return to his family and his beloved books. His enemies,
no doubt, rejoiced, but the Prince was satisfied to have
avoided anarchy from within and war from without.
Conscious of the purity of his motives, of the sincerity
of his actions for the benefit of the people he had been called
to rule over, he was, nevertheless, crushed under the feeling
that much that he had attempted had been unsuccessful.
Clear and logical in his own mind, he tried to govern by
the laws of reason, failing to see that men's minds are
influenced not by logic but by prejudice, not by clear
thinking but by emotion. Had he had more of the milk
of Human Kindness he might have accomplished by
persuasion, by arousing fealty, by winning popularity,
I E. Oaribay, Comp. Hist, de las cron. y univ. Hist, de todos hs reynca de
£7«7)ar,a(Ambcres ir)71), 11. 1133. , , o- n:,rriL
•i Ch. Romoy, Hist. d'Esp., IX. 17. Amador do los Rios, Hist. CnU,
etc., VI. 185.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 271
much that he wished to see done for the benefit of the
nation.
He was respected, feared, but, save for a few intimates,
never loved as his father John of Aviz had been loved.
Consequently, he was continually being misunderstood.
His cold and distant manner made enemies of many who
might have been his friends. As a popular ruler he was a
comparative failure. In his innermost soul, he was a
disappointed man.
When he retired, he had many enemies ; and, now that his
power was gone, they rose in swarms against him, poisoning
the minds of the people and even of his son-in-law, and
nephew, the King towards him, accusing him of complicity
in the crimes of the Constable of Castile, of being privy to
the poisoning of the two Queens. Later on, after the events
of 1444, which will be recounted later, they suggested that
he was plotting against the King.
He was called ambitious by those whose souls were so
full of the lust for power, and the greed for gain, that they
could not understand how any one situated as he was
could fail to feel the same.
His end should have been that of a philosopher, calm
and untroubled. It came as he predicted — a cornucopia
emptying itself in a sea of blood.
CHAPTER X
ALFARROBEIRA
By January 1446, the reign of the Regent was legally
over. The king was then fourteen years of age, and it was
considered tliat he was now old enough to govern by him-
self. The Regent and his party were di.strustlul of the out-
come, for it was known that the young King's character was
still lacking in energy, in spite ol the tumultuous violence
that had marked his tender youth. But, on the other hand,
the aristocracy, who had been so sternly repressed by the
Regent, openly rejoiced, and awaited his coming of age
with an impatient eagerness, hungering to pounce, falcon-
like, on the perquisites of his kingdom so long withheld from
their hungry maws.
Nevertheless, for a time, these conspirator were balked.
The Regent called the Cortes at Lisbon, ostensibly in order
that the King might take the reins of Government. The
session was opened by a speech from the Chief Justice
Mangancha, who, at the end of the ceremony, knelt smiling
before the young monarch and presented him with the
rod of Justice.
The smile of the Chief Justice meant, however, that he
knew it had been arranged that at the end of three days
Affonso V would declare himself too young to take up
the responsibilities of his office. And this was what eventu-
ally happened. The King did resign temporarily, after
affirming that he had been legally married to his cousin,
the Princess Isabel, a statement intended to quash effectu-
ally the rumour that the wedding at Obidos had been
irregular.
272
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 273
It was a Machiavellian move, typical of Magancha;
but the stratagem, as is often the case, recoiled on the head
of its originator, for there arose such a storm of opposition
from all the interested parties, that the young King,
frightened into contradicting himself, presently repudi-
ated both his statements, and promised, in the same breath,
to assume the Government and remarry the Princess.
The second marriage ceremony, accordingly, took place
early in 1447; and immediately afterwards the Regent
handed over the reins of Government, and the King was
left to his own devices, to do his best or his worst for his
country and his people.
This was the time that the enemies of the Regent had
been impatiently awaiting. The Count of Barcellos was
at Chaves when this happened. Though seventy years
of age, he was still active; and with the agility caused by
this rejuvenescence of his hopes, he jumped on his horse,
gathered his vassals together, and, as quick as lightning,
galloped through Marao, and Tamego, until he reached
Guimaraes. From here he made for Ponte de Lima, and
thence to Oporto, depriving the ex-Regent's men, on his
way through the Minho district, of all the offices the young
King had given them, expelling them as traitors, besieging
the castles of all those that might still have some partiality
for the ex-Regent in the province. It was evident he
thought the Kingdom already belonged to him, and he
felt that he could do as he liked.
While this was going on in the North, the Cortes was still
sitting at Santarem. Here Prince Peter remained beside
the Kin-, leaving the Count of Ourem encamped at Torres
Novas in command of the army.
Now there was in the King's entourage a certain secretary
named Barredo, a man trained in all the subtleties of the
Italian school. Secretly he was in the pay of the Regent's
enemies, and he now set about gaining the confidence of
the young King. This he succeeded in doing ; and so, having
progressed thus far, his next step was easy. Gradually,
durmg the daily dispatch of business, he began slowly and
274 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
deliberately to poison the King's mind asainst W"<^e Peter
cunningly ntorlarding the treatment «-.th fulsome flattery
Zd protestations of affeetion. in order the more easily
to disguise the villainy of the medicament.
When at length, then, he thought that the soil ws
sufficiently prepared, he began to cast doubts on the
stren<Hh of the King's patriotism, m that he allowed him-
self to be made the tool of such a mentor urging him to
bestir himself, protesting his own unfl.nch.ng loyalty '»
his cause, and apparently allowing it to be d-Sge<i "U*
of him that he knew there was a plot on toot to depose
the King in order that Prince Peter and his sons might seize
'■'^Finllirhc suggested there was yet time to thwart this
nefariou^ scLme? it the King would only trust to his r^
?rTends; and to do this effectually he proposed that he
sZld secretly hurry off to his army, waiting and loyal
under the Count of Ourem, at Torres Novas
AJl this tissue of lies the young King foolishly swallowed;
and acting immediately under the proffered advice
hctuglt an imaginary refuge under the care of the Count
of Ourem. The Count, with a boiling hatred of Prince
Peter tainted him with allowing himself to be ru^ed by the
ex-Regent. He reminded the boy that, though he was
King, the actual ruler was the Prince at Santarcm He
pointed out to him that he was no longer a child and told
him snecringly that, if he wished to be deemed a man,
heXTd lofk after the safety of his own Crown, not depute
'' TOs"suggestion of weakness irritated the King beyond
control. He felt young, inexperienced, and yet impetu-
ously anxious to prove himself a man. Nevertheless, the
Xetion and fllial'respect he had always had for the Regent
who had ever seemed his friend made hin. pause At the
age of liltcen gratitude is capable of speaking with a loud
1
voice
"'mat am I to do ? I cannot believe it I " said the boy,
not knowing what to think, whom to trust.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 275
*' You may well doubt," replied the Count. " But now
that you are free from your uncle's tyranny, you should
expel him from Court."
" I cannot remain in doubt," generously protested the
boy. " I will go and claim my Crown from him in person."
Ourem agreed, advising him to take ^vith him his noble-
men and vassals, armed and ready to meet resistance.
But when he returned. Prince Peter, aware of the
situation, as soon as he and his troops entered Santarem,
went to meet him; and to the boy's awkward but im-
perious demand he replied at once :
" Willingly do I surrender all authority. For ten long
years I have neglected what is mine in your interests.
Let me now, therefore, go in peace to my estates to look
after them."
It was thus that he met these accusations, almost
admitting himself in the wrong; and thus did he nonplus
the King. It is the inevitable result when two com-
batants fight with unequal weapons, one of them using his
own and turning the other's against him as well. The
boy-king, pleased with the day's work, bade his uncle an
effusive farewell, and left him ; but immediately afterwards
he felt heavy at heart, because he had the vague feeling
that he had committed an ungracious act. And hearing
that the Prince had taken the road to Coimbra, escorted
by his troops on account of the Count of Ourem's hostility,
relief and remorse wrestled within his inexperienced breast'.
It was the end of July, when Prince Peter, finding himself
in Thomar, seeing that he had not actually been attacked
as yet, dismissed his escort, and proceeded alone with his
sons 1 to his estates, where we left him in the preceding
chapter.
His resignation and his seclusion brought much joy to
all the discontented, the avaricious, and those who hoped
to make a good haul from out the troubled political waters.
Those experienced in helping themselves during the dis-
orders of a change of Government all therefore now began
^ Pina, Chron. de D. Affonso V, LXXXIX.
276 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
casting their nets of intrigue into the disturbed waters of
the nation. Slanderers were free to speak; villainy held
the field; and ingratitude was yielding its fruits, ine
Regent was openly called a monster : he was spoken of as
beina unjust, ambitious, as having poisoned King Duarte,
so as" to succeed him, Prince John because he was jealous
of him. and Queen Leonora, poor lady, after having obliged
her to quit the country. The uncertain mind of the mob,
veering completely round, now openly condemned the
Re-ent for having been, as they thought, the author of
thete almost forgotten crimes. Stimulated by this ficti-
tious wave of sympathy, they even deemed they also were
among his victims— cheating themselves into the belief
that they had been faithful followers of Queen Leonora,
whom now openly lamented, they wished to avenge.
Moreover, there was a rich harvest to reap. The belongings
of the Regent's followers would suffice for them. They
would confiscate half the country, and plunder the other
half! Vw victis! And they would be the victors!
To such as these the Count of Ourem, and the Archbishop
of Lisbon, who was again in power and favour at Court,
were ready to promise anything.
The wave of popular sentiment thus started rose rapidiy,
threatening seriously to prejudice Prince Peter It was
now openlv suggested that such crimes as his should not
escape punishment. Some even demanded his head, ^o
loud became the rumblings that they penetrated even to
Sagres, although, in 1447, Prince Henry was absorbed with
his expeditions and companies at Lagos, and with the
second syndicate of Lan^arote. Nevertheless, he tore
himself away from his beloved schemes and came to
Santarem to defend his brother-" but not with that
fortitude that his brother deserved, nor that the Wor d
would expect : " ^ for he was ever dreaming of Africa--oniy
this vast continent occupied his mind— and he felt that
now of all times, nothing must be allowed seriously to
interfere with his enterprises, since they were promising
' Pina, Chron. de D. Affonso V, XC.
I
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 277
so much. Indeed, with his nephew at length on the throne
and the nobiUty more than preoccupied with themselves,
he felt freer to follow his own plans ; and now he was be-
ginning again to see himself in Morocco, taking his revenge
for Tangier, and imagining perhaps Lan9arote's caravels
doubling the Cape to discover Prester John and his Indian
Empire.
At this time Sir Alvaro, Count d'Avranches and late
Lord-lieutenant of Lisbon, returned from Ceuta, and
presented himself at Court. Here, he speedily made him-
self popular with the young Kjing. His character, however,
had not changed in the least; for he delighted in saying
outright any unpalatable or sarcastic truths that came to
his mind, speaking freely of Prince Peter's innocence, of his
friendship for him, and of his hatred for the Count of
Ourem. He was absolutely fearless, careless of whom or
to whom he spoke the truth, and ever ready to prove his
words at the point of the sword. The King, who was only
a boy and instinctively chivalrous, recognised from the
depths of his heart the gratitude he should have had for
his uncle, and warmed towards the Count d'Avranches, who
shielded Prince Peter against the virulence of those wishing
to expel him from Court. Nevertheless, those that wished
well towards the Count advised him to be cautious,
counselling him to curb his tongue so as not to lose
favour with the King.
But to all such counsels he answered :
" My friends, for what I have done for my country I
deserve castles and cities rather than dungeons and fetters.
I cannc^, therefore, show the white feather. I pray you
believe, however, that I can look after myself. I put my
trust in Providence ; and I would rather my friends should
visit my sepulchre than my prison cell. Therefore have
no pity or fear for me."
With such words he left the Court. On the following
day he attended the Council, attired, if possible, more
carefully than ever, but taking also, as a precaution, his
best blade with him. In the Council itself he spoke without
278 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
fear, berating those who slandered Prince Peter and
demanded his head. Prince Henry, hearing him, ap-
plauded ; and the young King, carried away by his elo-
quence, was apparently won over to the Regent's side, to
the evident disgust of the others.^ Thus, for the last time,
Chivalry, personified by Sir Alvaro Vaz, gained a victory.
A little later he went in Prince Henry's suite to Coimbra
to see Prince Peter, round whom many of his old party
had gathered. There, however, they found that their
success had been but momentary : for, when they got there,
news had already arrived of the measures that the King
had been induced to take at Santarem, whioh was then
subject to the Count of Ourem. It was forbidden for any
nobleman there to go near the Prince ; edicts were issued to
the effect that all Queen Leonora's servants, who had been
deprived of their lands during the Regency, should come
and reclaim them ; and, last of all, it was announced that
the ex-Regent had been expelled from Court, and prohibited
from leaving his estates. There was thus a complete
rupture, a complete reaction against Prince Peter, his life
even having been declared forfeit should he disobey this
last edict. Prince Henry, seeing things thus at a standstill,
after having come all this way to quell, as he thought, more
active hostilities, was completely taken aback. Now was
the time he should have asserted himself; but instead he
went back south to Soure, apparently oblivious of all
danger, possessed only of a burning eagerness to know how
it had fared with Lan^arote, careless of all else.^
Meanwhile Ourem found the King, influenced by
Barrcdo, an easy victim to his arguments, and readily
convinced him of his uncle's felony, urging the necessity of
making an end of him. His first stroke was to approach
his father, Barcellos, and to get him, at the King's com-
mand, to go to Prince Peter, in the hopes that a quarrel
would ensue, and thus give them some plausible excuse
against the Regent. Prince Peter, however, disappointed
' Pina. Chran. de D. Afformo V, XCL « Ibid., XCIIL
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 279
them. In his pessimism he refused to quarrel, and disdain-
fully refused to see the Count of Barcellos. Unable, then,
to carry out this plan, they next devised another. They
deprived Sir Alvaro of the castle of Lisbon, which he had
held since 1439 ; and also took the office of Constable from
Prince Peter's son, which, now for the second time, was
claimed by Ourem. This latter move, however, was too
rapid ; and the King, apparently uneasy, would not go so
far against his own family. He compromised, therefore,
by making his cousin, Prince Fernando, Constable; and
to make up for this, allowed himself to be influenced so far
as to order Prince Peter to give up the troops he had re-
tained in his service since the expedition against Castile in
1445. This demand, however, the Prince refused, on the
ground that he needed them for his own personal defence,
stating, nevertheless, that he was willing to give their
value in money. ^
The conflict was ripening. There seemed no way of
unravelling these misunderstandings, or of bringing peace
to the country. There would have been had the nobility
been more patriotic and less selfish, more concerned for
the country's good than their own aggrandisement and
lust for personal revenge. It was these latter factors that
were destined to drive Prince Peter to his doom. The
Count of Arrayolos, to see if he could smooth matters,
left Ceuta, where he had been for a year. He argued with
his father and his brother. He tried to induce Prince
Peter to return to Court .^ The Prince's answer was a
letter from Coimbra that gives us a true insight into his
character. We therefore give some extracts from it :
" I will not recapitulate to you," he wrote, " the begin-
ning of my rule, and how it progressed, because with all
this you are well acquainted yourself, and it is unnecessary
to recall it. I will remind you, however, that during
my tenure of office many were ill -content : not a few
because they were jealous, the rest because they could not
circumvent justice. . . . They began by complaining to
1 Pina, Chrcm. de D. Affm^o V, XCIII. and XCIV. ^ j^id,^ XCV.
280 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
the King, making him behevc that I wished for a perpetual
Regency. The truth is that certainly there were some
who thus mahciously busied themselves ; and, knowing it,
I often used to say, while I was Regent, as I did once in
your presence at Evora, that I would willingly abdicate
when the King asked for it ; but that I would not do so
at that time while so many were planning and plotting to
get rid of me for their own interests, and not for those of
the State. It was this declaration my enemies took up,
affirming that I had said that I would never surrender the
Government, misconstruing my words to suit their own
purpose, striving thus to make My Lord the King believe
what they wished.
" So long did those who hated me continue this, that at
length they succeeded in persuading My Lord the King
to take the Government into his own hands ; and it was
finally agreed between us, that, on the month of October
which has just passed and which was then yet to come,
he should occupy the Palace with his wife, after which I
should hand over the Government to him with all the
solemnity proper to the occasion. My enemies objected
to this sequence, however, maintaining that the Govern-
ment should be given up in any fashion desired by the
King, their reason being that they wished for a rupture,
and hoped that the Regency would be given up before the
wedding, so that they would have th(r better chance of
preventing it altogether.
" Immediately I did resign, as if at a signal, the Count
of Barcellos, my brother and your father became active.
Escorted by his noblemen, as if on some historic progress,
he left Chaves for Oporto, having already awaiting him
there an army in hiding, expelling unscrupulously, on his
arrival, those who were favourable to me, and treating
them as miscreants. Continuing his progress, he ordered
the same to be done at Guimaracs. nnd Ponte de Lima,
destroying, in the latter place, the house of Leonel da Lima,
for being my faithful servant — as if that had been treachery.
.Vnd while he expelled these he called them traitors,
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 281
sacking their villages and castles without reason as if they
were enemies."
The letter goes on to describe how the King and the Count
of Ourem met one another, and how Prince Peter after-
wards secluded himself on his o^vn estates. It transcribes
the King's letter wherein he approved of all the Prince's
actions while Regent.
" Seeing that the said acts (of aggression on the part of
Barcellos) were the beginning of evil," it continued " I
warned my adherents of the day of my departure, so that
they could accompany me ; and in this guise and with this
reward I departed from the Court of my Lord the King
until, arriving at Thomar, I dismissed my escort. Immedi-
ately afterwards, while proceeding on my journey almost
alone, I received a letter informing me that your father,
the Count of Barcellos, was passing with armed men
through my lands, and that he commanded me, on a certain
day, to meet him at Avellans. To this I replied by warnin<^
some of my men to come to me, because I wished to arrest
his journey, meeting force with force. And then, the same
day, I received another dispatch denying the first, so that
I wrote at once to those that I had summoned, telling them
not to come. But some received the summons mthout
receiving the orders to remain."
He writes on, saying that while at Coimbra his enemies
libelled him in all ways to the King, " making him lose all
respect for me and mine, so that he had no other alternative
than to deprive my men of the offices that they held at
Court and in his Kingdom. My servants were, therefore,
dismissed from Court, and others of mine deprived of
Government offices throughout the Kingdom. But this
was not all ! They now began openly to malign me, asking
It any one knew who had brewed me the potions that killed
King Duarte, Prince John my brother, and Queen Leonora,
each one whispering after the damned imagination of his
own foul nature."
Witnesses were bribed, he states, his judges were his
enemies, and, at the same time, all his acts during the
282 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Regency were misrepresented. Crimes were invented
against him, his friends forbidden to visit him, and he
himself interdicted from appearmg at Court. His disgrace
was, in fact, complete.
" After this they sent me a kind of agreement between
myself and the Duke your father, an agreement which
my Lord the King signed and sealed, and which was
brought to me by the Duke, who sought my displeasure.
" Believe me truly, this document was not drawn up
with any good intention . . . but only because they
wished to quarrel with me.
" In concocting it, my enemies found ready help in the
persons of Dom Fernando and Dom Ruy Galoao, constant
slanderers of mine ; and as I knew this, I wrote My Lord
the King praying him of his mercy never to send me any
more such men, since, even though I were to do all the
World's virtue, it would be interpreted as the opposite."
Continuing the narrative, he tells in his letter how the
agreement having been handed to him he signed it, but
at the same time ordered his villages and castles to prepare
themselves for war.
" To disgrace me," he adds, " they even deprived the
Count d'Avranches of the castle of Lisbon " ; and then he
continues to tell how the Count of Ourem attempted to
again claim the office of Constable, which had belonged to
Prince Peter's son.
" Much honoured Lord and Count," he then resumes,
*' what chiefly condenms these actions, is that they desire
to have here in Portugal the ' Practice of Castile '—each
one for himself — and the country, as you know, cannot
support this; for if this ' Practice ' were to take effect, as
it is already beginning so to do, I believe that soon the
King's service, as well as his Kingdom, will be of little
worth." 1
But the Count of Arrayolos' attempts at a reconciliation,
after he had received this letter, were all in vain; and
• Extracted from a copy in Souea's Hist. Oen., Vol. V., p. 120-39. Thia
letter xa dated December 30, 1448.
I
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 283
apparently he soon abandoned any hopes of peace he may
at any time have entertained, either because he was con-
vinced that they were futile, or because the bearers of
news brought alarming accounts of the safety of Ceuta,
compelling his hurried departure, as the Chronicles tell us.^
At any rate, he returned to Africa, leaving this ocean of
intrigue, that was to drown Prince Peter, in full ebullition.
Possibly he did not foresee the long years of anarchy that
were coming. Certainly he cannot for a moment have
dreamt that this storm would only terminate with the
catastrophe of 1483 — a catastrophe that led his own son
to the scaffold of Evora. Indeed, it was not until King
John II became the follower of Prince Peter's anti-feudal
policy, as well as oi Prince Henry's transmarine ambi-
tions, that the heroic visions of the sons of John I once
more held the field. He (John II) was the " Perfect
Prince," who avenged Alfarrobeira (1449), destroying the
tyranny revived during Affonso V's reign, when each man
fought for his own hand and all sense of patriotism was
temporarily dead.
In this long letter, in which the Prince tells us of his
innocence, we also notice his resignation to the toils of
Fate in which he found himself involved.
By now Oporto, which was the first city to proclaim
him, had allowed itself to be influenced by the Duke of
Braganza, mobbing the Regent's friends as though they
were traitors. Lisbon, we shall see, which had so enthusi-
astically proclaimed him, later left and denied him. He
was right, after all, when he refused to have his statue
erected in front of " Os Estaos." At that time he possessed
sufficient courage to be cynically contemptuous of popu-
larity. Now, subdued by Fate, not in courage but in
character, his philosophical detachment disappeared; and
\ his hand shook as he penned his complaints to the Count
of Arrayolos. Disappointment rose superior to philosophy ;
and we see in him a doomed man, lost, not by the domina-
ting strength of his opponents, for often the conquered
1 Pina, Chron. de D. Affonso F, XCV.
I
284 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
are the victors, but by the weakness that allowed the
clamour of his enemies to fill his ears and stun his
faculties.
In the meantime, dispatches kept arriving in Coimbra
saying that the Duke of Braganza was crossing the river
Mondego with an army and was descending the road that
runs southward of the Estrella Mountains. The King
had recalled him to Court, and the Count of Ourem had
advised him to come with his troops. Having to cross
Prince Peter's territory, it was certain the two armies
would meet.
Supporting the Prince was Sir Alvaro. He missed,
however, his brother Henry, the last of King John's sons
that counted, felt that he wanted his advice, and so asked
him to leave Thomar, where he was superintending the
building of the Convent of Christ, and come to his assist-
ance.i Prince Henry, however, answered evasively,
proffering advice, recommending him to use discretion
and prudence, saying that he would discuss matters with
him when they met, but never stirring to come to him.
Burdened with anxiety, under the weight of his isolation —
the heaviest form of suffering — Prince Peter now applied
eagerly to his friend and companion Sir Alvaro ; and here
he naturally received the very opposite advice — a quick,
adventurous advance, the hazard of battle, war, and a
happy ending.
They sent, therefore, a messenger to parley with the
Duke of Braganza, who was now a{>proaching Coja, de-
scending the Alva Valley. April 1449 had just com-
menced, and Prince Peter was daily expecting the arrival
of his brother. Prince Henry, hoping that he might possibly
amend the situation. Between this forlorn hope and the
Count d'Avranches' drastic advice, his mind was dis-
> The Mastership of the Order of Christ was transferred from Algarve
to Thomar, many years before King John had given it to Prince Henry,
It was, therefore. Prince Henry who erected th..s building at Thomar.
Of. Eacrij). de Ordem dc Christo, MS. by Pedro Alvarcs Secco, in the Nat.
Lib., Lisbon. Of. Rackzynski, Les arts en Portugal, 346.
1»
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 285
tracted, his faith in justice had left him, his initiative
became smothered in the gloom of doubt. The messenger
returned with the following words from Braganza : " The
Duke and the Prince have ever been fast friends. The
Prince should then comply with the King's orders. Let
him take the public road, and he might rest assured that
no one would harm him."
" If the Duke does not change his proposition," replied
Prince Peter, in irritation, " tell him that I will hinder his
passage, I am not so stupid or so badly advised as to be
lured by such dissimulation."
The messenger took this reply, and preparations for
hostilities were in feverish progress, when another messen-
ger came — this time from Santarem — from the King,
recalling — at Ourem's suggestion — Prince Peter to the
Crown's service. This unexpected move enraged Prince
Peter, who, having curbed his temper for so long, now
suddenly gave vent to his feelings. The temper of phleg-
matic minds, in such circumstances, is closely akin to
madness ; and if we are to credit, as many refused to do at
the time, the veracity of the messenger who returned back
to the King, Prince Peter, beside himself, is said curtly to
have refused, answering that he was no vassal of the
Portuguese King, but a subject of the Castilian King. It
was an answer that delighted the Count of Ourem ; and,
pleased with the course of events, he now fanned the
conflagration, proceeding to publish broadcast the many
reports that were gradually to be the end of Prince Peter.
Meanwhile the Bishop of Ceuta arrived at Penella, where
Prince Peter had assembled his troops, with a message
asking him to allow the Duke and his troops to pass, as it
was the King's command.
" I will let him," frowned Prince Peter, " but he must
not pass with the sound of battle."
The Bishop returned; Prince Henry had already left
Coimbra on his way to Santarem ; and Prince Peter could
not understand his brother's attitude in the circumstances,
remembering Prince John's words when the Queen
286 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
wanted him to be Regent and wished to marry his daughter
to her son :
" This can never be God's wish, nor can He desire that
among the sons of John I, who have all been brought up
in such peaceful concord and love, there should now be
sown the seeds of discord."
He forgot that to Prince Henry the internal affairs of
the country were of trivial importance. He forgot that
Prince John had not had the cares of colonising Guinea,
nor his mind wrapped in plans dealing with an invasion
of the Moorish Empire. To Prince Peter his maritime
brother was an enigma. Born and educated by the same
mother, he now realised that Prince Henry was unaware
that he was undergoing mental torture, his life was one
long night, his mind shrouded in perpetual gloom. It
seemed to him as if the very fields and trees moved against
him, the doubtful shadows of his ideas danced before him
so. He was like a man struggling in the grasp of an
unending nightmare.
And then suddenly his exasperation abated, and he
became steeped in an atmosphere of apathetic inertia,
without knowing what end to expect. So he sat watching
with dull eyes the horses of his nephew's messengers
galloping towards him, arriving from Santarem, ordering
him to return to Coimbra, forbidding him to leave Coimbra
without permission, ordering him to allow the Duke to
pass.
" Let him come ! But he must come in peace ! " he
replied, opening his eyes, as one waking from the torpor of
some evil dream, agitated and excited, without being able
to associate his movements or ideas, now thinking of
resistance, now of submission.
Instead of going to Coimbra, as the King had com-
manded, he made straight for Louza. For the first time,
he failed to reason out his movements. The Duke of
Braganza remained at Coja, Prince Peter advanced from
Louza to Villarinho, half a league to the north-east,
ascending by the tree-clad altitudes of the valley of Coura,
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 287
and climbing the precipitous peak of Mount A9or, the
summit of the Estrella Mountains. At Coja, over Mount
Alva, which slopes down gathering the trains of these
elevations towards the basin of the river Mondego, the
Duke had halted his troops, taking advantage of this
naturally fortified site. Now, between the positions of
the two armies, on either side of the river, there was merely
a distance of five leagues as the crow flies, but more than
this across the craggy ground and grim clefts by which
this mountain range slopes up to its highest peaks. At
the Villarinho side, where Prince Peter was, the Duke's
progress was arrested, on the right, by the great watershed
of the Mondego, and, on the left, by the gigantic cliffs of
the mountains. A collision was thus certain, unless the
Duke retired, going up the Mondego valley, taking the
same way by which he was now advancing.
Prince Peter, on his charger, leading his squadrons,
addressed his men. Tall, thin, saturnine, recent vicissi-
tudes had left their mark on him, accentuating his fifty-
seven years, whitening his temples and his full beard.
His blue eyes, usually dreamy, were now fired as by an
inward light. His expression was fixed, as though in
somnambulism. His voice, addressing his men, had a
spectral, hollow tone, and what he told them seemed like
a death-bed confession. Affirming his loyalty to the King,
he founded on this the basis of his disobedience. He
reminded them of his ten years of Government, during
which he had honestly defended the Crown and country
from the greed of the aristocracy and foreign intervention.
The King, he reminded them, was an infant and badly
advised. The fury of his own enemies had arisen from
his failure to satisfy their greed, and from him not allowing
the King to grant what they wished — namely, the whole
Kingdom. He had left the Regency as he had entered it.
Chivalry, which was incarnated in this son of John I, was
speaking on the eve of his death. His was a generous,
heroic aspect of life, placing the p>rinciples of personal
honour above the interests and necessities of the World.
288 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
The majority of the people were turning these doctrines
into a religion that was founded on material jurisdiction;
but the superior minds, either in sentiment like Nun'al-
vares, or in philosophy like Prince Peter himself, were
establishing this religion of duty on an intimate acquaint-
ance with the revelations of their higher thoughts.
Prince Peter's men listened in deathlike silence. Their
gravity and silence were eloquent tributes to his views.
Each unit felt himself marked off for a similar fate, little
knowing, perhaps, that in the history of their country
the moment had arrived that meant a collision between
the old Barbaric World of the Middle Ages, and Chivalry
its offspring, the ideal flower that blooms to fade. Reality
will not allow the poetical intentions of the human mind
to rise above its organic instincts and sentiments. To
crush the turbulence of the mediaeval character, it was
necessary to have something more powerful than Chivalry;
to convert the iron hand of tyranny into an adequate and
practical system of Life something more than mere legends
of traditions were needed. And this something was the
Spirit of the Renascence.
Before his companies, with Sir Alvaro at his side. Prince
Peter advanced about a distance of one league, because
on the opposite side the Duke of Braganza had descended
to Varzea — about three leagues. In the Coura Valley,
Prince Peter in the hollow, the Duke on the height, were
less than one league from one another. The Duke, with
the burden of his seventy-two years, asked, in doubt,
whether his men wished to fight or retreat.
" A retreat would be disastrous," volunteered Alvaro
Pirts dc Tavera ; " if they are our enemies we must fight."
On the other side. Sir Alvaro, who had been scouting in
advance, returned eager for battle.
" Let us go for them !" he cried. "They must either
retire or be annihilated ! "
" No ! " answered Prince Peter, obeying the little caution
he yet possessed. " Our best plan is to remain on the defen-
sive. Please God, they may retire without fighting."
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 289
In truth, the Duke of Braganza was uncertain of his
men. Many of them were already murmuring. Sympathy
alone is incapable of victory, but it offers this consolation :
it makes the victors look upon the conquered with Platonic,
though unconfessed, respect. And at times, as was going
to happen now, sympathy may be strong enough to triumph.
The Duke soon realised that his men's feelings were not
with him. Many secretly were for Prince Peter; almost
all believed that they were merely marching against friends.
Others were frightened; and this weakness is common
when guilt is about.
Since their march to Varzea, the Duke had found himself
in a dilemma. He could not retire, because the peasants
had destroyed the ferries across the Alva, which was now
in full flood after the spring had melted the mountain
snows. He could not even open the attack, because his
troops held a weak position. Consequently he found him-
self at the mercy of the man whom he had set out to destroy.
For this reason, in spite of his age, and in spite of his hatred
for Prince Peter, he abandoned his men to save himself.
With a handful of followers, he retreated at night, follow-
ing the mountain passes, guided by wandering shepherds
along the snow-covered altitudes, where the cold was intense
and the atmosphere of the rarest. Leaving the snow-capped
summits on his left, he finally reached Covilha ; but his
hardships were such that he felt their after-effects for the
subsequent years of his life.
When his men found themselves thus abandoned they
scattered, losing themselves in the mountains in their
constant fear that Prince Peter was at their heels. All
of them were making for Covilha, which belonged to Prince
Henry. But their horses became snow-bound, and they
found themselves compelled to abandon their baggage.
At Albergaria, on the extreme heights, some even succumbed
to the cold. Prince Peter's men wished to follow this
retreat, but the Prince would not. Sir Alvaro particularly
counselled him to follow the Duke and take him prisoner,
saying " He who spares his enemy will die at his hand ; "
u
290 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
but, even after this wise remark, he would not. The truth
is that all acts of deliberation are sheer madness when they
exceed the level medium of the occasion.
Prince Peter, confident in his faith, firmly believed that
right would triumph. After this mistake in allowing
the Duke to escape, he therefore disbanded his troops and
again shut himself in his Palace at Coimbra with his
family and his books. Meanwhile, the Duke of Braganza
had collected the rest of his scattered army at Covilha,
and presently appeared at Santarem at Court, proclaiming
himself the conqueror of the rebel Prince, who had refused
to obey the King's commands. In this he was supported
by the evidence of the Count of Ourem, and by the story
as told by his men. Not even Prince Henry was now
capable of defending Prince Peter against these obvious
accusations.
The aristocracy, now encouraged, were able to give vent
to their hatred of Prince Peter. They clamoured round the
throne for vengeance and for what they called " justice,"
their eyes fixed all the while on the spoils they now hoped
to be allowed to divide amongst themselves. Things
presently began to take a rapid course. The Duke's
retreat had occurred just before Palm Sunday. On Good
Friday, the King publicly proclaimed Prince Peter as a
disloyal traitor, and ordered his own men to be ready for
war. Thus in this Holy Week of 1449 there was another
Passion— that of the innocent Prince— who dismissed
the King's messenger curtly, telling him to go back to his
master and revise his message.
The King, who was only seventeen, intensely angered,
immediately prepared himself for battle, distributing at
the same time the lands and offices that had belonged
to Piince Peter amongst those who asked for them.i
And these arrived in queues !
Up to now the ex-Regent's son. Prince Peter, had not
yet been deprived of the office of Constable which his father
had given him willi the grandmastership of Aviz. The
1 Pina. Chron. dc D. Affonso V, CVI.-CVII.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 291
lands between the Tagus and the Guadiana were still his,
including Elvas and Marvao, and it was rumoured that
through these the Castilians of Don Alvaro de Luna and
the troops of the Master of Alcantara were coming to help
Prmce Peter. So loud were these rumours, that the King
sent out the Count of Odemira with a force against the
younger Prince Peter, who was obliged to retreat to Castile.i
But even this move failed to bring about more active
hostilities; and its failure further exasperated Prince
Peter's enemies, who now descended so low as to use the
young Queen as a decoy to draw her father. It was
Queen Isabel who by letter told him that the Council had
passed the choice of three sentences on him— death, im-
prisonment for life, or expulsion from the Kingdom- and
further, that the King had left Santarem on May 5, with
an army.
Prince Peter having read this letter, feeling already, as
the Chronicles inform us, " that Death was knocking at
the door of his life," crushed it in his hand nervously,
and thought for a few moments in silence. Then he
inquired courteously from the messenger after the King's
and his daughter's health, sat down at table, ate his dinner
quietly, and then, unable to control himself longer, broke
do^^Ti completely even in the presence of the messenger.
" My choice is death ... no son of John I will remain
un buried . . . "he declared brokenly, " to wander in my
old age in foreign countries, or be imprisoned at fifty-
seven ! ... to allow the fetters of Injustice to wound
me ! "
Afterwards he asked the advice of those round him.
His own view was that he ought to confront the King on
the 5th, the day that he was to leave for Santarem. There
he would tell him the truth, thus crushing his enemies
not with the strength of arms but mth the force of evidence.
He wished to make the King see his innocence while he
himself was blinded with anxiety.
Quietly his companions left him, keeping their counsel
1 Pina, Chron. de D. Affonso V, CVIII.
292 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
for the following day, as the Prince wished, feeling that
whatever course they suggested would be momentous in
its consequences. Discussion ran far into the night.
Some held that one was not justified in seeking death,
that it was enough to meet it when the time came. They
maintained that they ought to fortify themselves at
Coimbra, Penella, and Montemor, and as a last resource,
at Buarcos, where they would have the sea as another
means of escape in the event of a siege. Others opposhig
this held that time might come to their aid; for the King
was but a youth who would learn with experience and
change his mind. Others again declared that it would
be a dishonour for Knights of the Garter to wait merely
for a siege; the best course to these seemed to be that
the Prince should fortify himself in his castles and retreat
across the River Douro, where he could get reinforcements
with which he could cross over to Beira and march towards
the Guadiana, where the lands of his son, the Constable,
lay. This alone should be enough to make his enemies
think before attacking them.
Sir Alvaro, however, had a different opinion to the others.
He thought it better to die great and honoured, than to
live in obscurity and misery. He advised that troops
should be gathered to go to Santarem in force and compel
the King to listen to his uncle's defence, so as to end these
falsifications and misunderstandings once and for all.
And, if the King were unwilling, then nought was left but
to meet death nobly, and in a manner worthy of valiant
gentlemen. Prince Peter fully agreed with Sir Alvaro.*
Two opposite minds thus came to the same conclusion
by different routes. Chivalry dominated the actions of
one, reason of the other; and both of them were thus
led into error. Chivalry meant to Sir Alvaro absolute
obedience and complete sacrifice, even unto death, to the
practical necessities represented by feudal life and the
brotherhood of warriors. To Prince Peter, it was an
analogous obedience and sacrifice to the laws of Idealism,
' Pina, Chron. de D. Affonso V. CIX.-CXI.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 293
represented by absolute loyalty, by absolute faithfulness
to the principles of his religion of the noble intellect of
man. Each of them, one guided by determination, the
other by reason, arrived thus at the same opinion in the
crisis ; and both were ready to grasp at one common act
of madness.
Prince Peter, who prided himself on his political sense
and critical judgment, lost both in this crisis. Sir Alvaro,
whose humour had lightened his most dangerous steps, now
failed to suggest anything but the desperate chance of a
forlorn hope. Thus standing alone these two men swore
to die fighting back to back.
" Sir Alvaro ! " said Prince Peter, " dost know that
I am already weary of Life, and that I would willingly
leave it and all its sorrows and suffering? The hand of
Destiny has been against me; and I am determined to
make an end of it or perish in the attempt. Tell me, old
friend, if on the day that I am fated to depart this Life,
thou, who by my side wast deemed worthy of the Holy
Order of the Garter, and who hast accompanied me
throughout my worldly wanderings, wilt willingly accom-
pany me at the last ? " ^
" Truly, my Lord, I will," answered Sir Alvaro ; " I am
willing to accompany you in Death even as I have in Life ;
and, if God ordains that your Soul is to depart from this
World, He will not deny mine to follow ; and if in Heaven
one Soul be allowed to serve another, mine will always
serve yours."
The following morning, therefore, they prepared them-
selves for all eventualities. They took Communion,
swearing to perish together if need be, telling the priest
who officiated that they wished to offend no one with
this oath, but only to defend Justice and Honour with
all reason. Prince Peter knelt confessing and asking
^ The Prince, on April 22, 1427, was created a Knight of the Garter
(an Order to which Sir Alvaro already belonged), and Duke of Exeter,
which title was then vacant by the death of Thomas Beaufort. Major
Life of Prince Henry.
294 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
forgiveness for his sins; * Sir Alvaro stood silently beside
him, suppressing his emotion ; while at the altar, the
priest monotonously read his orisons and finally gave
them his blessing.
Leaving them thus, let us turn for a moment to the
Court at Santarem. The Queen, stunned by the tumult
of these warlike preparations, frightened by the voiees
that clamoured for her father's head, pained and remorse-
ful for having written to him a cruel letter, threw herself
at her husband's feet, weeping and imploring him to have
mercy on Prince Peter. She reminded him that after all
he was her father, besought him to recollect that his exe-
cution would be a disgrace to her own, to his own children,
and implored him to open his eyes to the real truth and
not believe the malicious tongues of traitors.
" How can he expect mercy," returned the King, " if
he remains disobedient ? I recalled his troops, and he
Avould not give them up. I commanded him to allow His
Grace the Duke to pass, but he would not. Yet for your
sake and for you alone, if he comes and asks my forgive-
ness I will grant it."
She got up, and immediately wrote to her father; but by
that time it was too late to alter his decision, and instinc-
tively she knew it. Prince Peter had decided to fight it
out, declaring obstinately that he could not ask forgive-
ness for a wrong he had never done, and refusing to confess
himself to a king after having made his peace with Heaven !
" I would sooner have Death with all its terrors, than Life
with all this shame ! " he ended.
He was right. Because if Idealism is practical madness,
it is dignity that determines the boundary line between
the rational World and the World of necessity, marking
clearly the limits where reality joins the conceptions of
thought. To die for a point of honour is al)surd, to die in the
exigencies of honour is a happy ending to a dull existence.
Prince Peter, buffeted in these tempestuous oceans, was
being drifted by a gale of madness. It is true that in a
' Pina, Chron. de D. Affonso V, CXII.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 295
moment of weakness he wrote to his daughter asking for
pardon. But he would seem to have done so merely to
appear as if he were following the advice of his supporters,
for obeying his conscience he added : " This, Madam, I do
more to please your Majesty than because reason prompts
me so to do." Such words naturally offended the King,
making the situation, if possible, even worse than before.
As a consequence he now totally refused to pardon him,
listening more willingly to the poisonous accusations his
courtiers had to make, and barkening to their insinuations
that he was allowing himself to be influenced by a woman —
for their one anxiety now was the Queen and the love the
King had for her. They dreaded her influence, and for
this reason began to plot how they might separate them,
advising the King to leave the Palace and go hunting,
telling him that his age and his wife were making anything
but a man of him. His physicians remarked that he
would always remain a woman; and moralists enlarged
upon this, saying that his marriage was illegal and amounted
to mere concubinage.
In spite of all these plots, however, the King remained
immoved. His advisers thereupon changed their tactics,
and invented a story of unfaithfulness on the part of his
consort, the supposed lover being one Alvaro de Castro, the
King's Lord-of-the-Chamber. This plot, however, was too
thin ; de Castro was proved innocent ; and, to conpensate for
the imprisonment he had suffered, he had to be created
Count of Monsanto.i
Nevertheless, in spite of this failure, the King was still
encompassed in a network of lies, and every endeavour
to bring about peace proved fruitless — indeed any one who
had the temerity to attempt it suffered, as was the case
with the Prior of Aveiro, whom on that account they
deprived of his lands .2
When the 5th of May dawned, after a night which the
^ Alvaro de Castro was he who married the daughter of John das Regras.
the Chancellor, and was later created Marquis of Cascaes.
2 Pina, Chron. de D. Affonso V, CXIL-CXV.
296 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
city had spent in festivity, Prince Peter left Coimbra. He
was accompanied by his sons, 1000 horsemen, 4000 in-
fantrymen, together with his transports of mules, oxen
and wagons. Just before he set out, he addressed his
men, telling them that, " he, a loyal subject was going
to demand justice from his Lord the King." Making
every possible excuse for him, it was a singular move.
His army bore the legend " Loyalty " on the one side of
its standards, and " Justice and Vengeance " on the other.
It was, indeed, an original way of proclaiming loyalty,
marching out in the guise of a rebel, asking for justice one
moment and shouting vengeance the next.
Seeing this mad disguise, his enemies at Santarem were
delighted. Had he remained at Coimbra as his advisers
counselled even then all might have been well, because
if the worse came to the worst, he was strong enough
there to withstand a siege. When it was made known,
however, that he was on his way along open fields, marching
into the very jaws of the wolf, his enemies' joy knew no
bounds, for it was now the easiest possible thing to make the
King believe that the Prince was marching prepared for war.
Yet, truly, the Prince was marching in all good faith,
for he still had hopes that his nephew would ultimately
see the truth, and listen to his defence. But hope, loyalty,
and anticipation of death, the love of life, together with
princely anger and disdain for his enemies were all con-
fusing a mind already incapable of conceiving lucid ideas.
On the 5th, his army spent the night at Ega. The
next day, without entering Leiria, they halted at Batalha,
where the monks had to quell the hostility of the populace.
Prince Peter attended Mass in the Monastery, and having
prepared his Soul, he visited the tombs of his parents.^
' " They arc two great monuments, so close together that they seem
but one. The marble, very white and flawless, is carved in relief all round
with blackthorn branches and berries. The interspaces show the French
legend: Ml me plnit, "pour bien." ' Over the tombs are two reposing
figures — one of the King, who is in full armour save for his visor, the other,
on the right, of the Queen. The pillars of this tomb face the principal
entrance of the Cathedral."— Friar Luiz de Sousa, Hist, de S. Domingos,
Vols. IV. p. 15, and I. 625-62G.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 297
From Batalha, they made for Alcoba9a, where they
were also welcomed by the monks. The King had by
now sent out scouts. From Alcoba9a, Prince Peter went
straight to Rio Maior, leaving the main road to Lisbon.
To discuss the route they should take he held a council
of war at Rio Maior. Here the Prince found that his men
were practically unanimous for a return to Coimbra,
deeming their honour now saved, and that it was unneces-
sary therefore to proceed. The arguments used were
that none would dare to attack them. They could not
send a messenger to Santarem, nor could they trust such
a mere boy as the King. To advance further, moreover,
would be sheer rebellion; and besides, it would in any case
be an error to pitcli their camp in the olive groves on the
outskirts of Santarem, for in the event of an attack they
would have their retreat cut off. Finally to march to
the capital would also be a mistake that might have a cruel
result, for the capital was no longer partial to Prince Peter.
Ob\'iously, then, the only course was to retire to Coimbra.
It is evident that his advisers thought Ufe was still
sweet. But the Prince was of a different opinion.
" I already feel," he replied, " that it is inexpedient to
tarry here, and unnecessary to advance towards Santarem
for the reasons you have named, and because it would
seem as if we were at war with the King. Nevertheless,
I cannot retreat. We will, therefore, march to the capital.
If I am not attacked we will return through Loures, Torres,
Torres Vedras and Obidos, to Coimbra, where we will
await whatever adventure may come, — perhaps Prince
Henry's or my daughter's intervention."
It frequently happens that a man contemplating suicide
in his despair, at the very moment that he takes the firm
step, has a vague hope that something will stay his hand.
Some such struggle was now happening in Prince Peter's
mind. He vaguely hoped for a miracle, for his nephew
to meet him suddenly, repentant and willing to receive
him, for Lisbon to acclaim him as of yore, for Prince Henry
to help him — in his extremity he hoped for the impossible.
298 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
And so he remained three days inactive at Rio Maior.
But the King did not meet him in repentance, neither did
he receive a message from Prince Henry, nor from his
daughter the Queen. Nothing happened. Nothing hut
peace, silence, and inactivity, as if Death had already
taken possession of all. And now the despair of phleg-
matic characters, as powerful as the flames of hatred in
the more passionate, made him more and more distraught.
Instead of going eastward, straight to Santarem, on
the 16th, he cut obliquely northwards, making for
Alcoentre, on his way to Lisbon, where the news of his
approach caused a riot and bloodshed, two of his servants
being seized on suspicion and immediately afterwards
executed and quartered.
His small column was soon followed by the King's
horsemen, scouts who had been sent out from Santarem.
They hung about the column, showering abuse on him
and his men. They called him hypocrite, highwayman,
traitor and tyrant, and this seemed to put new mettle
into his soldiers.
"Calm yourselves!" Prince Peter advised his men;
" do not let your feelings get the better of you. Those
same mouths that are now abusing me have often kissed
mv hand in gratitude ! "
But even in the speaker, waves of angry indignation
were rising — rising as if to choke him. A slight
skirmish took place at the extreme end of his column, and
this brought the Prince a few prisoners, amongst whom
was an old servant of his brother Prince Henry's household.
" You ungrateful villain ! You traitor I " roared Prince
Peter, infuriated at the sight of him. " You liar and
coward ! It is enough to work evil with your hands,
without using your tongue ! "
He approached the man and with one blow struck him
down. The soldiers fell upon him like a hungry pack of
wolves, and made short work of him.
The sight of blood seemed to rouse a sudden fury in
the Prince. He was no longer a phlegmatic Saxon, he
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 299
was now maddened into any cruelty; and in his uncon-
trollable fury, he ordered the other ^vTetched prisoners
to be hanged and quartered.
It was an impolitic act. The greater part of his
infantry, either in sympathy for their murdered com-
patriots — enemies though they were, or more likely
because they saw nothing but death confronting them,
deserted the Prince and fled to the mountains. Only
his cavalry remained solid, held as it were by their homage
and loyalty to him. They were ready to meet their own
death, as well as to cause that of their brethren. Such
are the horrors of civil war ! The greatest difficulty is to
possess a heart hard<^ned enough !
It was now rumoured that the King had set out from
Santarem, with 70,000 men, so great was the apprehension
of the Prince's enemies. In reality he was marching
slowly along the shores of the Tagus, in order to give the
Prince time to approach the hostile capital ; for the nearer
Lisbon they met the better it would be for the royal
forces, since Prince Peter would then be hemmed in
between two fires. In the meanwhile, Prince Peter was
marching towards Alcoentre, always southward. The
direction of the two armies was therefore converging.
At length Prince Peter arrived at Castanheira, and there
he encamped. But all the time his forces were decreasing,
many men deserting, often abandoning even their baggage
to make more speed. Finding himself running the risk
of at length having no one beside him, save perhaps Sir
Alvaro, who followed him like his own shadow, he again
put his troops on the march, announcing that he was
going to Lisbon. But after marching one and a half
leagues, along the River of Alfarrobeira on its Alverca
side, he halted again, for indeed he no longer had any
thought of entering the capital, knowing that his own
fate, and that of his followers was sealed. All that now
remained to him was the hope that Prince Henry would
arrive in time to help him.
It was on Tuesday, May 20, that the King and his
800 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
army appeared in sight, and Sir Alvaro was sent out to
reconnoitre. Even he had lost hope by now; and when
he saw the army assembled against him, he knew their
last chance was gone.
At Alverca, the Tagus broadens out into a wide shallow
basin stretching southwards along the flooded plains of
rushes, salt-marshes, and partially submerged fields,
where herds of wild black bulls graze. Little cover is
here afforded by the small willows and other shrubs,
which faintly curtain the blue horizon. On the other
side of those plains, a more varied view meets the eye,
bounded on the north by a line of rounded elevations —
not rising sufficiently to deserve the name of hills — whose
slopes of reddish clay are relieved by dark green patches
of bramble bushes, forming spinneys of brushwood fringing
the yellower plain. On these mounts, thus softly rising
out of a plain whose soil is crusted and hardened by both
tide and sun, white-washed villages stand out, nestling
in the warm green foliage of pomegranates and fig-trees,
varied by the melancholic steel-grey of the all -pervasive
olive. Along the vales, holm-oaks, and aloes their thorny
metallic leaves triumphantly crowned by scarlet tufts,
soften the landscape in the tamer light that simmers down
from the glorious azure sky and from the purple mountains
far away.
The River of Alfarrobeira descends from the north,
winding along the plain under cover of two rows of elms
and poplars that almost hide it as it approaches the barer
marshes of the Tagus. It was here, near the river, that
Prince Peter had pitched his camp. By now he was
surrounded by royal forces, and these, hoping to win a
bloodless victory, attempted by repeated blasts of
trumpets, and by threatening shouts, to detach the
remainder of the Prince's meagre army from their alle-
giance. The reverse, however, occurred. Some of the
royal troops deserted and took their stand beside the Prince.
In this state of indecision, some of the King's cross-
bowmen took to the water, and under cover of the trees
J
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 301
poured a shower of arrows into the camp. There were
soon casualities on both sides, the camp returning the
attack. Prince Peter then ordered the bombards that
he had with him to be fired, directing them to aim high.
But his artillery lodged a shot near the King's tent, and
immediately the Royalists answered with a precipitate
charge, quickly scattering the rest of the Prince's infantry.
It was obvious the end was near at hand, and the Prince,
seeing the moment that his mind had yearned for and his
instincts rebelled against, dismounted. He was lightly
armoured : he wore a coat of mail, and over this a velvet
jacket. Up to the last he had hoped for the intervention
of Prince Henry. Little did he know that Prince Henry
was there beside the King, and that it was his fate to die
deserted by his favourite brother ! ^
Tall, thin, pale, moving already like a spectre, Prince
Peter stood holding his enemies at bay with the point of
his sword. Near by, his sons, furtively watched him with
the indecision of their tender years . . . when an arrow,
either by chance or in good aim buried itself in his breast .2
1 " Prince Henry was beside King Affonso V, his nephew, at the Battle
of Alfarrobeira, where Prince Peter was slain, and his troops routed. Here
also perished beside him the Count d'Avranches (Sir Alvaro), and if my
understanding is enough, I can truly say that no human loyalty or
fortitude can surpass or equal his." — Azurara, Conq. de Guine, V.
- It is said that bets were made among the Royal troops as to who
should slay the Prince. Pina, Chron. de D. Affonso V, CXXI.
" Et le due [Prince Peter, Duke of Coimbra], quand il sentit venir le
roy, se cloyt et tit un champ clos de fossez et d'artillerie, et mit ses gens
en bonne ordonnance : et a ce que m'ont plusieurs nobles hommes portu-
galois (qui furent presents) certifi6, le due ne le faissait en autre intention
sinon cuidant faire partir de son camp aucuns des plus notables, pour aller
au roy en grande humiUt6, pour soy recommander en sa bonne grace, et
89avorr les causes pourquoy il estoit mesl6 avec sa royal magest6, soy
escuser par humbles voyes, et lui ramente voyr les services qu'il entendait
avoir faicts au roy en ses jeunes jours et a I'utilite du royaume en con-
cluant qu'il lui offrait son service. Mais il advint que les arbalestriers
du roy de Portugal approcherent du camp en grands nombres et ce com-
men9a une escarmouche par meschans gens, d'un cost^ et autre, tellement
que d'un trait d'arbaleste, le due de Coimbre au miHeu de ses gens fut atteint
en la poi trine, dont il mourut en celle mesme heure, et n'ay point sceu
q'un seul homme de nom fust bless6, ou atteint de celle escarmouche fors
le due seulement. . . . Ainsi fust le due de Coimbre occis." — The Chronicles
of Burgimdy, Lea Mem. des Mess. Olivier de la Marche, 291.
302 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
Throwing up his arms, he fell back limply. It was a
fatal wound. The Bishop of Coimbra seeing him fall, and
knowing he was in extremis, hurried to his side, and there
in the thick of the fight absolved him, receiving his last
sigh in his arms. Turning quietly on his side. Prince Peter,
Duke of Coimbra, Duke of Exeter, Knight of the Garter,
expired quietly and simply as he had lived !
Meanwhile, Sir Alvaro, on horseback, galloped here,
there and everywhere, doing terrible slaughter, deter-
mined to sell his life as dearly as possible.
" Sir Count, what shall we do ? " shouted one of his
attendants ; " the Prince lies dead ! "
"Silence, Sirrah!" roared the Count; "whisper not
this to a single soul ! "
Spurring his horse from the battlefield, he hastened
back to his tent, and there, dismounting, asked for bread
and wine. Then putting on his best armour, he set out
on foot along the lines, now broken on all sides. Recog-
nising him, the enemy fell upon him. But he resisted
them stoutly. First he struck out with his lance, which
was soon broken. Then, though streaming in blood, he
used his sword to valiant purpose, not all >wing them to
approach while he stood there surrounded by the dead
and dying victims of his fury.
At last, finding he could fight no more, he gasped :
" Oh, body of mine ! I feel that you can do no more ;
and you my spirit, why should you tarry here ? "
Falling to the ground, he shouted in a voice of thunder :
*' Fight on, comrades ! And you, you villains, do your
worst 1 "
In an instant he was cut to pieces. One who had been
his friend, now hacked off his head and took it to the King
in hopes of reward.
Prince Peter's body remained on the battlefield for
three days, before it was taken on a skiff to the church of
Alverca.
Of King John's sons, there were now only two living :
one was Prince Henry, who died as we have seen in 14G0,
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 303
in his ejTie at Sagres, happy in the assurance that he was
quitting this Hfe in immortal fame, forgetting the brothers
whom he had sacrificed on the altar of his schemes ; the
other was Dom Affonso, Count of Barcellos and Duke of
Braganza, who died in 1461, ^ bending under the weight
of his four and eighty years. ^ He died fabulously rich,
all-powerful, in the full satisfaction of his great ambitions.
He and Prince Henry were, in fact, the conquerors of Life;
the others died conquered. Prince John, whilst almost a
youth, succumbed to the " fever " which overcame this
rare example of character, cutting short a noble life.
Prince Fernando also perished in his youth, a true martyr
to his country's cause. King Duarte died broken-hearted
at the loss of his beloved brother, repenting in bitter tears
the mistakes that his hypochondriacal character accused
him of. Lastly, Prince Peter's death closes the lugubrious
History of these lives — a story that for centuries has
prompted the Tragic Muse to whisper numbers into the
ear of many a nation's bard.
We mortals must wonder which is more laudable : to
conquer or to die conquered ? We ask ourselves the
question : whether in this imperfect and incomplete World
of ours — incomplete in all that is ideal in it — Goodness,
Virtue, Nobleness, and our fluttering flight towards the
Perfect, represented to our appreciative senses by the old
Greek Icarian legends, are not, in truth, things that must
wear the lasting monuments of grief — the Cross of past
tragedies ? Compounded of Irony, Reality seems to
persecute those who seek to divine its laws, seems to
punish those who would rend the veil that Nature keeps
before the vengeful goddess of Mystery. Contradictory
in the essence of its very being, the World crushes all
those who attempt to conquer it and try to wrench from it
its secrets. To live in peaceful happiness, it is necessary
^ The same year his son, the marquis of Valen9a, Count of Ourem, died.
He was the unmarried heir to the House of Braganza, which was, there-
fore, inherited by his brother the Count of Arrayolos. Cf. Sousa, Hist.
Gen. X 515.
2 Pina, Chron. de D. Affonso V, CXLV.
304 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
to ignore the calls of this thirst for knowledge. Well,
indeed, has the Old Testament handed down to us the
story of the Expulsion of our first parents from Paradise.
In sueh a kaleidoscope of doubtful illusions, life
runs swiftly and smoothly for those who do not attempt
to penetrate the mysteries of its undercurrents ; but it
violently resents the ambitious, and finally consumes them
in the fires that are fed by their idols. Temperament
is the law that determines the sentence that Destiny
decrees for Man ; and, for this reason, happiness will never
be other than a subjective experience, depending, above
all, on the mental structure of the individual himself.
Happiness reconciles some to the greatest calamities of
the exterior World; to others their misfortunes do not
even vanish with the richest gifts of Fate.
Of the unfortunate martyrs that are influenced by this
thirst after the Ideal, some walk through Life stumbling
without dispersing their doubts, others follow their visions,
blinded and attracted by the mirages that, either over
the extensive oceans, or over the vast deserts of Life,
strike the quickened imaginations of the explorers. In
the battle of Life, the World has its oceans and its wastes,
its waters and its sands, both of which are misleading,
placing the traveller at the mercy of its tempestuous
passions.
Already, to-day, wc, the inheritors of this Western
Civilisation, have arrived at an Age that allows us to see
more clearly the World's recesses ; but, alas 1 only to
appreciate how our happiness and moral liberty have
sprung from the sacrifice of others, as they pursued their
illusions !
And if History is a lesson on social development, so
can we, in our analyses of characters and of the moral
instincts that comprise them, find a whole volume on
social psychology. A well-studied character is a whole
j)lanet explored. And if such cliaractcrs are like those of
the sons of John I, eminently strong and all divergingly
different, then our study becomes almost a system on
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 305
human nature. Further, if they help to form, as these
do, the foundations of the Renascence, such a study
will give us a glimpse of the determining Force of our
civilisation — the Force that is even more miraculous
than the phenomena that many worship still as their
all-powerful gods !
CHAPTER XI
THE DECREE OF DESTINY
Little remains now, except to add, in the form of
epilogue, a summary of subsequent events. We have
seen what befell Prince Peter. Even after his death,
misfortune still dogged his family. On the day following
the battle of Alfarrobeira, as soon as the news of the
disaster became known, his widow fled from Coimbra,
with her two daughters. Dona Brites and Dona Philippa.
Of his sons, Prince Peter, the eldest, who was scarcely
twenty, was at the time in exile in Castile; and Prince
John and Prince Jayme, boys of fifteen and sixteen
respectively, taken prisoners were "awaiting the cutlass." ^
Thus Queen Isabel, from her throne was left lamenting
her father's murder and her own complete separation from
her family.
The plunder of the Prince's estates took place imme-
diately. The Duke of Braganza seized GuimarSes, and
would have taken Oporto had not its citizens vehemently
objected.^
The Count of Ourcm took Valcn9a do Minho and its
title.^ Vasco Fcrnandes Coutinho, president of the
league of 1439, became Count of Marialva."* And so on.
Gifts were there for the asking. But the most eloquent
proofs of the greedy injustice of such wholesale spoliation
is that, though the Battle of Alfarrobeira was fought in
May, it was not until December 10 that a Carta Regia
was published, dated from Almeirim, declaring that the
» Pina, Chron. de D. AJJonao V, CXXVI. ^ /fc,-^.^ CXXIX.
3 Ibid., CXXXII. * Ibid., VIII.
306
il
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 307
Prince and those who fought for him had been traitors
and rebels, and, therefore, were deprived of all honours
and estates.
This document coincided with the arrival of the am-
bassador sent by the Duke of Burgundy to inquire and
report upon the Prince's death ; for the news of the disaster
had resounded throughout all Europe, in every capital
and Court where the Prince was known and loved ; and the
Pope himself, Nicolas V, had been stirred by the calamity
to issue a Bull in favour of Prince Peter.
The Duke of Burgundy's ambassador, the Dean of Vergy,^
afterwards Bishop and Cardinal of Arras, was received
by Affonso V, at Evora, on December G.
It was evident that the Duke was deeply incensed both
at the manner of the Prince's death and the subsequent
calamities and spoliation to which his memory and his
dependents had been subjected.
The ambassador, therefore, opened his formal indict-
ment of the Portuguese Court in the Duke's name, in
flowery mediaeval fashion, with yet a marked under-
current of reproach apparent in it, demanding that the
aspersions cast upon his name and honour should be
disavowed, and that to his rightful descendants should
be restored the lands, titles and honours which were justly
theirs. He added, pointedly, that he had instructions
from the Duke of Burgundy to carry away \vith him the
body of his beloved brother-in-law, if the Portuguese
King persisted in refusing him the right that was due to
him of burial in consecrated ground; and finished his set
oration \/y dwelling on the dead Prince's piety, his classical
pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and the high Christian
Chivalry that marked his every action — all this in the
ponderously ornate mediaeval Latin of the time.
The yoimg King listened in embarrassed silence. He
probably saw now for the fu-st time the light in which the
cultured Courts of Europe viewed the actions he had
sanctioned in his semi-barbaric followers, and was pro-
1 Pina, Chron. de D. Affonso V, CXXIX.
308 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
portionally ashamed. At any rate, he answered nothing,
merely handing a written reply to the ambassador, which
was nothing more than a formal excuse for what had
occurred ; and. the audience ended, the ambassador had
perforce to retire, his object unaccomplished.
A few days later, however, he demanded and received
a second audience : for in the meantime the King, urged
on by his greedy advisers, fearful of losing their spoils,
had been induced to publish the Carta Regia already
mentioned, in which he sanctioned the calumnies on his
uncle. The ambassador, therefore, when he came again
the second time, spoke in quite a different tone, opening
his mind freely and straightforwardly, condemning the
King's advisers as murderers, declaring that he must
refuse to dispatch the roj-^al answer to his master Philip
the Good, rebuking Affonso V for his lack of conscience
in condemning — nay, even justifying, what he now de-
scribed as treacherous parricide, reminding him that
Prince Peter had acted towards him as a second father,
and accusing him of more than cowardice in thus staying
the hand of Justice. After such plain speaking, he took
his leave; but on January 12, he sought niid was granted
a final audience, in which he defended Prince Peter from
the standpoint of his feudal rights.
Four days later, he departed, his mission a comparative
failure, as was only to be expected, since the deeds done
could not now be undone, and the spoils so greedily
gathered not disgorged without completely condemning
and punishing the whole victorious party. Nevertheless,
it did bear some fruit, because they felt themselves com-
pelled in very shame to mitigate somewhat their atrocities;
and Prince Jayme, his brother Prince John, and his sister
Princess Beatrice, therefore, were permitted to accompany
the ambassador to Burgundy,^ there to place themselves
under the protection of their uncle Philip the Good.
All the while the ambassador was at the Court, the
Queen aided him zealously in his forlorn attempt to |
1 Pina, Chron. de D. Affonso V, CXXIX. '
I
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 309
rehabilitate the memory of her father and the fortunes of
his family; but her aid unfortunately was of little avail,
as what love the King had for her had been skilfully
undermined by the enemies of her house.
When, however, she provided an heir to the throne in
the person of Prince John, afterwards John II of famous
memory, the fortunes of her house again began to improve.
It was impossible to maintain the slur of unconsecrated
burial on the grandfather of the heir presumptive; and
Prince Peter's remains were, therefore, carried solemnly
to their last resting-place at Batalha, where he now sleeps
under the motto " Desire," the ambiguous expression of
the character that was the direct cause of his almost
suicidal exit from this world.
Had the Queen lived, the ameliorating effect of her
increasing influence would now probably have resus-
citated the fortunes of her family ; but, like a plant that
blooms once and then dies, she departed this life towards
the end of 1455, leaving her infant son behind her, the
son who was so amply to avenge on the aristocracy of
Portugal and the House of Braganza the wrongs his
grandfather's memory and estates had suffered at their
hands.
After the birth of this her son her influence had so
markedly increased that, when she died so unexpectedly,
there was more than a suspicion that she had been
poisoned. Indeed, after the tragedy of Alfarrobeira, she
had expected nothing less ; and the chronicles tell us that
she had now lost all affection for her husband .^
She knew, besides, that the victorious traitors had
done their best to separate her from the King, advising
him to take another wife ; but this, to Affonso's credit, he
would not do, writing her a consoling letter from Lisbon,
when she was in fear and agony at Santarem.^
But with her little son beside her, she felt that all was
changed ; the honour of her family was in his clinging little
hands; and when she was taken ill, she knew that she
1 Pina, Chron. de D. Ajfonso V, CXXVI. 2 Ihid., CXXVIII.
310 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
could now leave the world with a mind easier than she
had had for years. It was the beginning of the winter.
The Court was at Evora at the time. She died as the
chronicles relate of " a flooding of blood that was sus-
])icious of poisoning." ^ And with her death the returning
influence of Prince Peter's family again declined.
Nevertheless, the King was beginning to develop by
this time that intense devotion to the pomp and circum-
stances of Chivalry, the glories of the jousting fields, the
lust of adventurous crusades against the Moslem which
now remains the outstanding feature of his reign; it was
impossible for him to harbour jealousy and suspicion for
long; and so, in 1453, he recalled his uncle's eldest son,
Prince Peter, the Poet-Constable, from exile in Castile,
and restored him to favour and the Grandmastership of
the Order of St. Bennett of Aviz.^
Apparently the Prince remained a favourite at Court,
and entered fully into the knightly exercises that were
then so popular there. Perhaps, indeed, it was through
absorbing this atmosphere too well that he was tempted
to his death. It happened in this wise :
There was trouble over the succession in Aragon.
Prince Charles, the heir, had been poisoned by his step-
mother, in order that her own son Don Fernando, the
future husband of Isabel of Castile, might succeed.
Alarmed at this, the Catalans placed themselves under
the protection of France, and afterwards under Henry V
of Castile, both of whom, however, were bought off by
Don Fernando. Searching round for some one to appeal
to, therefore, they then remembered that Prince Peter, as
the son of the eldest daughter of the Count of Urgel, had
certain legitimate claims to the throne. To him, then, they
appealed, in 1467. He was thirty-seven years of age at
the time, and the j)rospect of a throne tempted him. He
was not, however, destined to succeed ; for, with the fiendish
malignity of the time, he too was secretly poisoned, and
^ Goofl, Chron. de Princip. D. Jrxio, V.
" Sousa, Hist. Gen., II. 84-8.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 311
thus the second of Prince Peter's children perished at the
hands of his enemies.^
Princess PhiHppa, who was twelve years old at the date
of her father's death, had a better fate. She secluded
herself for hfe in the cloister at Odivellos, although she
never took the veil ; and there she gave herself up to
Religion, spending her days in her cell writing and trans-
lating rehgious works : The Stations and Meditations of the
Passion is from her pen, as is also a translation from the
French Bible, the Solitary Life of St, Lawrence, and
various other spiritual works intended for the use of
her niece Princess Joanna. In her continued the love for
literature inherited from Prince Peter; and of all his
children, she alone, in the protection of the cloister, met
with a natural death in 1493, at the age of forty-four.^
The remaining children of Prince Peter, whose fates
must briefly be mentioned, are those who took refuge in
the Court of the Duke of Burgundy.
Princess Brites married Adolphus de Cieves, Lord of
Ravenstejai. Contemporary chronicles speak of her as
" apparently living upon Earth as a woman. Her birth-
place was nevertheless Heaven." Her extraordinary
humility made her walk through life as if her virtues
were crimes. Below her dress of silk brocade she wore
haircloth; and she habitually slept upon straw. So
virtuous and saintly was she, that even her death was
considered a miracle. It is written that two stars were
seen in the sky the night she died, and that both were
eclipsed as she expired. However, the truth is that she
was poisoned by a certain John Constain.
Prince Jayme and Prince John, also in their uncle's
care, went as children to Bruges, where the Duke acted
as their father, fixing a pension on them,^ since they had
^ Zurita, Ann. de Aragon, XVIII. 147.
2 Sousa, Hist. Gen., II. 81, 8-4. (Friar Francisco Brandao : " Counsels
and opinions of the Lady Donna Philippa, daughter of Prince Peter, re-
garding intercessions and wars of Castile, with brief notices concerning the
princess, dedicated to King John IV, Lisbon, 1643.")
3 OUvier de la Marche, Mem., Book I., xx., xxiv., xxv. and xxviii.
312 THE GOLDEN AGE OF
been deprived of all. They were accompanied by a few
of their father's adherents, who like themselves, were
ruined.
Prince John chose the life of a soldier; and in 1452, we
hear of him fighting at the siege of Ghent, in the cos-
mopolitan Burgundian army of Scotch, Portuguese,
Spaniards, and Italians.^
As a reward for his services, the Duke knighted his
nephew, enrolling him, in May 1456, in the Order of the
Golden Fleece, in the Chapter that belonged to that Order
at Haya. His excellent qualities and modesty were the
charm of all the Court. He deemed himself, indeed,
fortunate in his honours; and himself said that they were
worth more to him than a Crown.^ He was twenty years
of age, life seemed very promising, and it looked as if he
had broken the curse that surrounded his family.
Being, however, a Prince without a patrimony, it was
necessary to find him an heiress who would still be of
equal birth ; and this his uncle, the Duke, found for him in
the person of Charlotte de Lusignans, daughter of John II
of Cyprus.
It is true Cyprus meant in those days he end of the
World, far away from everything he had been accustomed
to hold dear. Nevertheless it appealed strongly to his
adventurous nature, for was it not the great bulwark of
1 " Lo 27 raai, 1452, se partirent les luitions des nmrchands de la ville
de Bruges, les qucUes y allaient du sceu et volonte de ceux de Cand, po\ir
trouver paix entre le due de Bourgogne et les Gantois: icellcs nations
etoient, Eapaigne, Arragon, Portugal, Escoce, Venissiens, Florentins,
Miilamois, Genevois, et Lucois." — Chastellain, Chron. (Bruxelles, 1803, II.
280). " Les nations de Bruges sont les marchands tenant tables de mar-
chandise pour tout le monde." — Jacques Duclerc, II. 43. Cf. ChafltcUain,
II. 305 and 369.
'^ " Entre ces cinq chevaliers nouvcaux 61us, moult fut belle chose, ce
disoit-on, des manidrcs et paroles de ce Prince Messire Jchan de Coymbre
alors quant il re^ut I'ordre en chapitre et qu'on lui requist le serment,
car tout si noble et de royal sangue qu'il estoit, sy se reputoit-il un des
moins dignes du monde d'estre vcnu k celuy honeur, encore si jrunc qu'il
estoit et qui riens n'avoit vu ne valu. Done, s'il eust et^ des mcilliers du
monde ce disoit, sy se tenoit-il asscz k pare d'estre venu la, et disait que
autant se tenoit k riche alors et plus joycux que d'avoir couronne en teste."
— ChasteUain, ibid. (Bruxelles, 1864), III. 95.
» PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 313
Christianity, on the confines of the sea of Moslem infi-
delity ? Distance was the price he had to pay for power ;
and he faced the adventure with eager heart, buoyed up
with the promise of support from his uncle, dreaming that
perhaps he might thereby lay the foundations of a great
Empire for himself.
I We read of his charm in the Chronicles that tell us of
the tender parting from his uncle, his brother-in-law
Adolphus de Cleves, his twin nephews of Toulongeon, and
his friends.
Bravely he faced the fact that his destination was " the
end of the Earth, among a people naturally perverse."
Happily perhaps for him, he did not guess that he was to
be a victim of this perversity.
His title as consort was Prince of Antioch ; and, finding
his wife's Kingdom in a state of anarchy, true son of his
father, he set about reducing it to order. Like his father
he raised many enemies against himself ; and to complete
the parallel, these enemies triumphed : in less than two
years after his arrival at Cyprus he was dead, poisoned
with five of his most trusted companions. ^ The Mauso-
leum that covers his remains in the convent of S.
Domingos, was raised to his memory by his widow, who
afterwards married the Duke of Savoy .^ The Kingdom
of Cyprus, which he had tried to govern, did not long
survive him. It became involved in hostilities between
Venice, Egypt, and Turkey, lost its independence in 1489,
^ Henry Giblet, Hist, de re Lusignans, Venice, 1655. " Ceslui noble
chevalier <\q I'ordre de la Toison d'or fut empoisonne d'aucuns gouvemeurs
du royaume de Cypre, lesquel, prenans dueil en sa maniere de gouvemer
qui estoit vertueuse et utile au dit royaume, conspirerent centre lui et
lui brasserent la poison de sa mort que dommage fut le plus grand des
crestiens. Car de mes yeux jus qu'a celuy jour n' avoir vu homme onques
plus enclin a haute disposition, ne a haute vertu, et pour tant fortune
envieuse d'un tel bien futur au monde envenima les coeurs d'aucuns
mauvais pour lui avancier la mort . . . Furent empoisonn6s aussy cinq
gentils hommes avecques le Prince d'Antioche, messire Jehan de Coimbre,
que tous moururent avec luy, en grant pleur et regret de la fille du roy que
depuis se remaria au due de Savoye." — Chastellain, ibid., Vol. III.
LXXVI. 386.
2 lUn, da, Terra Sancta, Pantaleao d'Aveiro, XIV. ; 41, V. edit., 1596,
31i THE GOLDEN AGE OF
when Catharina Cornaro ceded all rights to Venice, and
fell eventually into the hands of the Turks in 1570.*
His death makes the fourth of Prince Peter's children
killed by poison : Prince Peter in Barcelona, Prince John
in Cyprus, Princess Brites in Bruges, and Queen Isabel
in Evora. Only Princess Philippa died a natural death in
her cell at Onivcllos; and only Queen Isabel left a suc-
cessor to avenge this ill-fated family.
Prince Jayme's fate alone remains to be told. Dedi-
cating himself to the service of the Church, he went from
Bruges to Rome, where his uncle's influence served him
in good stead, for shortly after his arrival a vacancy
occurred in the See of Arras, and he was appointed Bishop
by the Pope in 1453. From Arras he was translated to
Lisbon as Archbishop. In 1456 he went to Rome in the
service of Burgundy; and whilst there Callixtus III made
him Bishop of Paphos, in Cyprus, where his brother should
have been King. He became a Cardinal at the age of
twenty -two; and it was said that in spite of his youth the
honour was already late, considering his worth. ^
His was an extraordinarily brilliant career, for, while
little more than a boy, he had reached aln.ost the highest
eminence possible in the Church — in fact, nothing but the
Vatican itself remained. Like his brother, Prince John,
he thus seemed destined for a career of exceptional great-
ness and good fortune.
And then came the change. Dignitaries of the Church
in those days frequently respected the vow of celibacy
and chastity more in the breach than the observance.
What happened to the Prince-Cardinal is not known. What
unhappy love affair poisoned his happiness will never be
discovered. All that is known is that, at the age of
twenty-five, he died in Florence, because, it is said, " he
did not wish to contaminate his chastity." Thus perished
the last of the sons of Prince Peter, the Philosopher.
» Adrien de But, fhrnn. (Bnixelles), 1870, 394.
^ " . . . ut quamvis juvenis adhuc tardius tamen opinione omnium ad
earn dignitatem aacenderit." — iEneae Sylvii Hisl. de Europa, LVIII. 461.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 315
His ermine bore the legend " Malo mori quam foedari," ^
" Death before defilement." It may be taken, indeed, as
the motto of the whole of this unfortunate family, the most
noble branch of the House of Aviz — as noble in character as
in intellect. Their common misfortunes — misfortunes that
seemed as it were inherited — have dowered them in the
eyes of the World with the martyr's crown — the highest
consecration this world can give.
It has also been said that such protracted and cruel
misfortunes were the " necessary preparations " for the
greatness Portugal was about to enter upon — that but for
them there would have been no John II, Born in these
hours of supreme affliction, receiving in his mother's womb
the impressions of these tragedies, his character was
moulded by the still fresh memories of Prince Henry's
lofty ambitions, by the newly expounded teachings of
King Duarte's colonising doctrines ; his strength was
developed under the shadow of the tragedy of Alfarro-
beira, where the aristocracy triumphed over the body of
Prince Peter ; and his skill in arms perfected by the spirit of
knight-errantry, stimulated during the reign of his father
Affonso V.
As soon as he ascended to the throne. King John II at
once began to restore the material progress interrupted in
his father's reign. With sword and dagger he avenged his
grandfather's murder, crushing the aristocracy's anarchistic
ideas. With the aid of Science, and his intrepid servants,
he followed in Prince Henry's footsteps, \vresting at
length from Nature the secret of the open seaway to the
East. Personifying the concrete idea of absolute monarchy,
he took as his motto the words, " For the Law, for the
Nation, for the World, and for Justice ! "
In him Portugal saw her apotheosis, and the House of
Aviz its culmination.
^ Oallia Christ., III. 344; Onuphre, Epit. Pontif, Rom., Venice, 1557;
318-25. Cf. Sousa, Hist. Gen., II. 91, 101.
APPENDIX
" The Autoscript of Prince Peter, who travelled through the
seven parts of the Earth, ^v^itten by Gomes de Santo Estevam,
who Avent in his company," was first published in 1544. It
was subsequently re-edited in 1698, 1739, 1767, and 1882.
We have arranged the following synopsis from the last-mentioned
edition, giving the headings of the paragraphs into which it is
divided : , , / ^i
1. How the Infante Dom Pedro of Portugal started from tlie
village of Barcellos to visit the Seven Parts of the Earth.
He starts with twelve companions, in memory of the twelve
Apostles, and arrives at the Court to receive the blessing of his
father, the King, who gives him twelve thousand pieces of
gold. , . , . ,
He goes to Valladolid. The King of Castile gives him twenty
thousand pieces of gold and " the tongue of Ramires."
2. How the Prince arrives at the City of Venice, and embarks
there.
We go to Venice overland, and there embark for CjT^rus,
visiting the Court at Nicosia, and the Queen whose husband
was in the hands of the Turks.
3. How we leave Cyprus to pay homage to the Great Turk in
the City of Mandua.
We go to Turkey, to Mandua, and from hence to Patras,
whore we sec the Siiltan. We pay two pieces of gold as tribute,
and depart for Constantinople, then threatened by the Knights
of Rhodes. From Constantinople, we cross the desert through
the Land of the Greeks and Macedonians, sighting Jerusalem,
and arriving at an Hermitage, where we sec portrayed the
bodies of both Kings and Princes. The Hermit tolls us that
we must not proceed westward as this leads to Norway, wliore
the days are merely of four hours. We take dromedaries and
journey through the desert.
4. How 7ve arrive at Babylonia, and make reverence to the
Great Babi/lon.
We go to Babylonia and see the Sultan's son, to whom we
communicate our intentions of going to Prester John.
316
<
APPENDIX Sir
5. How we depart from Babylonia to visit the Holy Land.
We go through the Province of Centiirius. Regarding
Macrocephaha. We cross the Land of " the Alarves," and,
arriving at the Jordan, pass Nazareth.
6. How the Prince enters the Holy City of Jerusalem.
We visit the Sanctuaries and Mount Tabor.
7. How we leave Jerusalem to journey to the Mouritains of
Armenia, zvhereon rests Noah's Ark.
Description of the mountains. We see Noah's Ark resting
on the mountains.
8. How the Prince pays homage to the King of Armenia, and
visits the house of Saint Maria Egypciaca.
We \'isit the King of Armenia and the sepulchre of Saint
Maria over the Jordan.
9. How we go to where dwells the Grand Sultan of Egypt in
Babylonia.
We visit Eg3'pt, and deal ^vith the Sidtan who came from
Villa Nueva de la Serena, and was once a captive from
Granada given to the King of Fez. We assist at the suppli-
cation of a Moor, tied across a high-raised pole, for haxing
assaulted a pilgrim. We now turn to Penora, Sabranza,
Grand Cairo, Assuan, and Fantalion or Torna and Pasiban ( ?),
where the River Prison is seen " coursing from the ' Terrestial
Paradise.' "
10. How the Prince pays homage to " The great Morate," and
then travels to where dwells " The Supreme Tamerlan."
We pass Cappadocia, where we received the bounty of " The
Great Morate," and, crossing the Desert of Ninive, arrive at the
City of " Samasa," where we are received by the " Great
Tamerlan." We grovel thrice on the groimd before him.
Description of the Court and of the Religious ceremonies
there. Across a desert we arrive at the City of Tarfo, fourteen,
leagues from Sodom and Gomorrha. Description.
11. How we reach Arabia, and proceed to the Mountains of
Gelboe, where Saul perished.
12. How we arrive at Mount Sinai. Description of the
Sanctuauj and of Saint Catharine's body.
13. How we go to the " Land of the Great Rohan," and see the
" House of Mecca."
Roban sends us in charge of two Moors to Gudilfe, the
Lord of the house of Mecca and King of Jerusalem, who keeps
us prisoners for ten weeks. Liberated we see the sepulchre of
Mafoma " suspended in mid-air between six loadstones, which
are similar in size and of the brilliancy of gold; and as each
has an equal attractive motive it is the case that this sepulchre
is sustained in mid-air, the which these miserable fanatics
consider a great marvel."
818 APPENDIX
14. IIow we go to the Land of the Amazons of the City of
Sonterra. Customs of the Amazon Pigmies.
15. Uoxv we arrive at a Province of Jews that are subject to
Pr ester John.
" In this province the Jews do not cut their beards, for
they have lost their Promised Land."
16. IIow the Infante, Dom Pedro, passes through the land of
Giants, and goes to the India of Prester John.
^Ve go to the Province of Giants, through which we proceed
to India, stopping at the city of " Car9ola " in the province
aforesaid. We are informed here that we shall find Prester John
in the city of "Carleo." We go to the city of " Alves," and
there we find him. Description of the city, wherein we remain
fourteen weeks. We see the body of St. Thomas.
17. IIow Prester John is elected. Ritual of the Election.
" Here is a land where the son is the sepulclue of the father,
and the father is the sepulchre of the son, for they cat each
other. We leave. We cross the City of Edieia and visit the
' Terrestrial Paradise.' We see the four rivers : the Tigris
full of olive and cyprus trees; the Euphrates full of palms;
the Gion full of human beings; the Pison full of parrots that
build their nests on the waters."
We arrive at the Province of the Pigmies, " who are very
small men, as small as infants of five; and they have great
wars with the birds." We return to the Court of Prester
John.
18. The letter ivritten by Prester John of I uiia to the King
of Castile.
" Prester John of India, King of many realms, etc., wishes
it to be known that we believe in God the Father, Son and
Holy Ghost, Three Persons in One True God. To all those
whom it may concern, know what there is in our realms. We
inform you that we have sixty kings as our vassals, and the
poor we maintain with their rents. Ye must know that our
realms consist of three parts : India Major, Abexins, and
India Minor, where the Apostle Saint Thomas is buried. Know
that elephants are born in this land, camels, lions, and unicorns,
the which have great strength, and are capable of lifting even
a calf for their young ones to eat. These animals and many
varieties of serpents infest the deserts; and the camels and
dromedaries, when they arc young, we subject and tame to
plough the fields, and to carry. We have a people in one
Province who possess only one eye; and other people who
possess two in front and two behind, and when these die, they
are eaten by their relatives. They are called Gostes and
Mangostes, and live in the shelter of very lofty mountains.
They say that they will not sally forth until the Anti-Christ
M
APPENDIX 319
comes, and then they will sally forth in great fury. They are
so numerous that not even the whole world can conquer them ;
but, no doubt, God who commands in Heaven will destroy
them with Hell-fire for their cruelties. In another Province,
there dwell a people who have round feet. These do not
pillage, nor are they good farmers. And there is another
generation, whose men and women are no bigger than children
of five. These have no work until the harvest season; for
then there comes a band of birds, and at that time their King
sallies out to war and kills many birds. Near by there are
others who are human from the navel upwards and horse
from the navel down. These live on raw flesh, and die on the
desert hke wild beasts. We ordered some of these to be fetched
to adorn our Court. We have also in these parts a hundred
castles, very strong, and in each 4,000 men-at-arms, who
guard the palaces and frontiers from that cruel nation of Got
and Magot, who, if they l^ft their mountains would undoubtedly
destroy the whole world. When we bathe, we make them carry
in front of us a Cross, because we wish to remember the Cross
of Jesus Christ, and we also take ahead a gold casket full of
earth.
" And know that none of our people, who have the Apostle
Thomas ^vith them, bear false witness, because we should be
miracidously punished — just as in other parts we should be
damned for the sins of disloyalty — for God asks us to love our
neighbour in good faith, not to bear false witness, or commit
adultery, for which sins the punishment is death. Each year
we visit the sepulchres of the Holy Prophets, and go to Baby-
lonia on castles built upon elephants (on account of the many
serpents, dragons and bears, that infest the desert), to visit
the sepulchre of the Prophet David.
" We have also subject to us the Pro\ince of Giants, who
pay us tribute ; and these men are as tall as lances, and if they
were as bellicose as they are tall, they would conquer the
world. But Our Lord has cursed them, and they wish for
aught but work; and this is so because they wished to erect
the Towc" of Babel, saying that they would storm Heaven.
Of these we have a few at our Court so that the strangers may
see them.
" Our palaces are of the manner figured by the Apostle
Saint Thomas for King Gudilfe; the doors are of Cedar of
Lebanon and the windows are fashioned in crystal. In front
of our palaces there are others where our youths dwell. In
the apartments wherein we sleep we burn a balsam-lamp,
because of its pleasing smell ; and our couches are encastellated
in sapphires thus made for the sake of chastity. In our house
there are usually in attendance twelve kings, twelve archbishops,
320 APPENDIX
twelve bishops, twelve patriarchs, and as many abbots in onr
chapel as there be days in the year. Each one of these says
Mass on his day ; and as soon as he has said IMass he goes to
his Monastery,' for reasons of honesty and humility. Know
that on Ciiristmas-Day, Easter Sunday, and Ascension-Day,
we have great feasts, and we preach to the people ; and there
are other solemnities that last nigh all day; and at night we
are so famished that we eat of all and every eartlily viands.
" These miracles and marvels, and many others, doth God
make among us, through the happy advent of Saint Thomas.
" I write of these things, so that all in other lands may
know what happens in these parts of India."
It seems that most of this narrative has been falsified by
the Castilian Editor, from whose version the later Portuguese
text has been derived. Bearing in mind the credulity and the
phantastic spirit of the Age, we are not surprised to find this
narrative to be such a medley of fact and fiction.
INDEX
Abulfeda, 68
Acre, St. John d', 97
Afltonso rV, 70
Affonso V, 79, 204, 218, 219, 224,
270, 272, 301, 307-9, 315
Affonso VI, 119
Agincourt, Battle of, 43
Alcacerguiber, 225
Alcazar, 225, 226
Alcoba9a, 297
Alexander V, 43, 79
Alexandria, 93
Alfarrobeira, Battle of, 215, 224,
272-306
Alhos Vedros. 49
Aljubarotta, Battle of, 3, 4
Almada, Alvaro Vaz de, 98, 196
Alvares, Friar John, 204
Alvaro, 202, 259, 260
Alverca, 300
Amurath II, Sultan, 92
Andeiro, 2
Andjera, 186
Annes, John, 88
Antioch, Prince of, 313
Ararat, Mount, 113
Arc, Jeanne d', 120
Arguin, 212, 217, 218, 220, 222
Arimathaea, 99
Arrayolos, Count of, 152, 178, 239,
245, 246, 264, 279, 282
Arzilla, 197, 201, 225, 226
Athayde, Alvaro Goncalves de, 90,
217
Azores, the. 230
Azurara, 79
Babylonia, 94, 114
Bajazet, Sultan, 89
Baldaya, Affonso, 207, 222
Barbary, 177, 181
Barcellos, Count of, 5, 41, 45, 53,
56, 61, 63, 145, 152-4, 169, 171.
176, 178, 181, 215, 232, 235, 237,
238, 240-2, 244, 247, 252, 255,
264-6, 268, 273, 279, 281, 303
Y 321
Barcelona, 172
Barredo, 273
Batalha, 146, 297
Beatrice, Princess, 1, 308
Belez, 190
Benedict XIII, Pope, 42, 43
Bethlehem, 96, 101-2, 105
Bethsaida, 14
Biscay, Bay of, 183
Blithe, 3
Bojador, Cape, 206, 207, 211, 222
Braga, Archbishop of, 10, 37
Braganza, Duke of, 6, 224, 285,
303
Branca, Princess, 11
Branco, Cape, 211, 217
Brites, Princess, 311
Buerch, 123
Burgundy, Duke of, 11, 120, 121,
123, 169, 224, 307, 311
Byzantium, 123, 169, 224
Cabral, Gon§alo, 222
Cadiz, 78
Cairo, 94, 114
^alabengala, 193, 196
Calvary, Moimt, 105-7
Camoens, Luiz de, 18
Canary Islands, 152, 206, 223
Capernaum, 111
Camide, 196
Castile, 8, 23-5, 38, 43, 59, 77, 87,
152, 244, 250, 260, 261, 263, 264,
266, 267-71, 282, 285, 291
Castro, Alvaro de, 295
Catherina, Princess, 178
Catherine of Braganza, 7
Centiirius, Province of, 94
Ceuta, 20, 21, 24-6, 32, 37, 51, 52,
56, 58-60, 84, 135, 142, 170, 180,
183, 184, 186-8, 190, 193, 197-9,
201, 202, 207-11, 226, 233, 283
Charles the Bold, 121, 205
Chorozin, 111
Cintra, Gongalves de, 215, 216, 257
Cleves, Adolphus de, 311, 313
322
INDEX
Cobham, Lord, 3
Coimbra. 6, 87, 151. 219, 251, 253,
256, 262, 267, 270, 275, 278, 279,
281, 284, 286, 290, 296, 302
Constantine the Great, 97
Constantinople, 93, 224
Conti, ratricio di, 221
Costa, Solivo da. 222, 224
Coutinho, Vasco Femandes, 236, 306
Covilha, 287
Crato, 257-61, 263
Cressingham, 3
Cyprus, 91, 92, 312, 313
Dale, 3
Dead Sea, the, 98, 102
Denmark, 90, 118, 119
Deserto, 83
Dias, 221, 222
Dom, Leonesse, Cotint, 9
Douro, River, 8, 9, 265, 292
Diiarte. Prince, 11, 12, 15, 16, 19,
20, 21, 27, 37, 41, 47, 56, 60, 82,
87, 123, 126, 127, 129, 131. 133,
139, 142; becomes King, 145, 150,
151, 194-6, 198-201, 204, 215,
224, 227, 232, 233, 243, 244, 251,
253, 276, 281, 315
Eannes, GU, 206, 211, 212
Edrisi. Xerife. 68
Edward I, 1, II
Ega, 296
Egypt, 94, 115, 118, 313
Engaddi, 101
England, 119, 169
Erio, King of Denmark. 90, 118
Estovam, Santo, 88, 91, 93, 94,
114-18
Eugin IV. Pope, 173
Evora, 199, 200, 280
Fafilete, 190
Fattima, Ibn, 68
Ferdinand, King, 25
Femandes, Diniz, 207, 208
Fernando I, 1, 2
Fernando, Dom, 201, 265, 282
Fernando, Prince, 11. 47, 145, 154,
168, 170-2. 184. 186, 192-4, 196-
205, 218. 235, 242, 268, 279
Ferrara, 125
Fez, 152, 184, 190, 197, 202, 242,
252. 268
Figiicrirodo, Ayres Gonjalves, 44
Flanders, 123,*134
Furtado, Affonso, 39
Galgala, 96
Galilee, 96, 111, 112
Gambia, River, 221, 222
Gaza, 96. 100
Genoa, 79
Gethsemane, Garden of, 101
Ghent, 123, 312
Gibraltar, 183
Gomes, Bartholomew, 245
Gomes, Fernao. 218-20, 222
Gonial ves, Antao, 207, 209, 215,
221, 222
Goree, 221
Granada, 20, 24, 25, 43, 59, 152, 177
Grantham, 3
GuedeUia, Mestre, 148, 149
Guimaraes, 255, 266
Guinea, Gulf of, 219, 220
Henry III, 2, 71
Henry V of Castile, 310
Henry VI of Castile, 119, 120, 243
Henry, Prince, the Navigator, 11,
18-22, 25, 27, 28, 33, 37, 41, 44,
45, 47, 49, 51, 53, 55, 59, 61, 64,
65-8, 70-8, 81, 83, 84-6, 89, 131,
132, 135, 142, 143, 145, 151-4,
167-74, 176-8, 180-200, 204-40,
250, 251, 255, 256, 258, 261,
263, 264, 266, 269, 276, 278, 283,
284, 286-301, 303, 305
Henry of Trastamara, 3
Hermengildo, 9
Hermon, Moimt, 96
Hospitallers, Prior of the, 26, 31-3
Hugo IV, King, 91
Hungary, 87, 123
Inquisition, the, 19
Isabel, Princess, 11, 42, 47, 128, 173,
235. 236, 270, 314
Isabella, Queen, 25
Jaffa, 79. 96
Jayme, Prince, 306, 308, 311, 314
Jehoshaphat, Valley of, 102, 107
Jericho, 96
Jerusalem. 97, 98, 100-10, 198
Jimenes, Cardinal, 227
Joanne, Princess, 311
John I of Castile, 1. 2. 3, 62, 152
John I of Portugal, 2, 3, 5 26. 30,
31, 34, 35, 39, 43-53, 55, 58, 60-2,
69, 77, 82. 84, 145-9, 151, 171,
236, 237, 286
John II of Castile, 37, 88, 259
John IT of Portugal, 83. 283
John de Bfithencourt, 76
INDEX
323
John of Gaunt, 2, 3, 8
John, Prince, 11, 18, 59, 145, 154,
170, 175, 176, 194, 218, 232, 243,
244, 246-8, 253, 255, 256, 258,
263, 264, 267, 276, 281, 285, 286,
303, 308, 309. 311, 312
John, Prester, 22, 86, 94, 115. 116,
206
' Jord.in, River, 96, 98
Judcea, Wilderness of, 98
Kedron, Brook, 102, 106, 110
Lagos, 206, 210-17, 222, 276
Langarote, 216, 217, 221, 222
Lazaraque, 190
Lebanon, Mount, 96
Leiria, 175, 198
Leonora, Queen, 1, 2, 172, 177, 178,
233, 241, 242, 244, 256, 258, 260,
266, 267, 276, 281
Lion, Cape, 186, 187
Lisbon, 19, 41, 44. 65, 73, 79, 128,
182, 201, 225, 245, 248, 249, 252-
6, 261, 266, 272, 279, 282, 283,
297, 298, 309, 314
Lobo, Friar Gil, 145, 148, 167
Loyal Counsellor, The, 156-68, 173
Luna, Alvaro de, 259, 260, 266, 269,
270, 291
Lusignans, Charlotte de, 312
^ Madeira, 72, 82, 83, 217, 222, 230
i Magancha, Chief Justice, 272, 273
"i Mahdi, 68
\ Mahomet II, 224
Mandeville, Sir John, 91
Margarite III, 121
Martino I, 26
Mecca, 177, 181
Mena, John de, 131
Menzies, Dom Pedro de, 58, 184
Mondego, River, 261, 284, 287
Montemor, 292
Morocco, 18, 23, 30, 38, 67, 74, 175,
177, 190, 206, 207, 224, 225, 227,
253
Naar, 212
Nazareth, 99, 112
Niger, River, 115, 221
Nun'alvares, Constable, 4, 10, 11,
13, 17, 35-8, 51, 52
Odivellos, 45, 46, 49
Offence, Mount of, 101
Ohves, Mount of, 101, 103, 110
Oporto, 6, 9, 10, 41, 44, 45, 152, 178,
283, 300
Oran, 227
Ordono, King, 9, 10
Ourem, Count of, 152, 177, 235,
246, 258, 264, 265, 268, 273-8,
281,282,285,290,306
Pahnas, Cape, 222
Paris, 183
Paul, St., 102
Pedro, Mestre, 76, 133, 236, 240,
249
Penella, 292
Pereira, Alvaro, 37
Perestrello, 71, 73
Perreira, Joao, 186
Pessanhas, Admiral, 40
Peter, Prince, 3, 11, 17, 19-21, 26,
27, 41, 43, 45, 47, 53, 56, 58-60,
75-8, 84-144, 145, 151, 153, 167-
71, 195, 196, 198, 199, 201, 215-17,
223, 226, 227, 232, 234, 235,
237-70, 273-302, 306-8, 310, 311,
314
Philip I, 121
Philip the Good, 120, 128, 133, 173,
308
Philippa, Princess, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9,
11, 12-16,34-6,45-8,62, 241, 311
Phoenicia, 96
Polo, Marco, 75, 76, 124-6, 131
Purbaeh, George, 75, 76
Quebec, 207
Ramires, Garcia, 88
Regras, Joao das, 37
Renascence, the, 127, 141, 143, 166,
229, 305
Richard II, 3
Rio Grande, Estuary of, 222
Rodrigo, Friar, 146
Rodrigues, Femao, 50
Rome, 125, 126
Sacavem, 245
Sagres, 80, 83, 200, 206, 207, 224,
225, 227, 240, 244, 251, 255, 266,
276, 303
St. Catharine, 115-18
St. Vincent, 220
St. Vincent, Cape, 75, 77, 80
Saladin, 97
Samaria, 96, 99, 110
Sancho, Don, 71, 82
Santa Catharina, 4
Santa Maria, 223
824
INDEX
Santarem, 273-6, 285, 291, 294;
296-8, 309
Santiago, 212
Sapheto, 111
Sebastian, Dom, 30, 197
Senegal, River, 221, 222
Shore, H. N., 80
Sierra Leone, 221, 222
Sigismvmdo, 89, 90
Silo, 99
Silva, Jouo Gomes de, 38
Silva, Nimo Martins da, 245
Tabor, Mount 9G, 110, 111
Tangier. 152, 174-81, 186, 186, 190,
193, 190, 201, 205, 207-10, 213,
219, 220, 224, 225, 233
Tetuan, 174, 186
Theodomiro, 9
Theresa, Queen, 9
Three Point Cave, 222
Tiberius, 96, 111
Tidra (Tida Island), 212, 222
Tih, Desert of, 95
Torres Novas, 274
Torres Vedras, 37, 38, 49, 178, 297
Treviso, 123, 125
Tripoli, 177, 181
Tristfto, Nunc, 207
Turkey, 313
Udemburg, 122
Urgel, Count of, 172, 233, 310
Valen^a do Minlio, 306
Varzea, 289
Vaz, Sir Alvaro, 88, 89, 120, 196,
243, 277, 278, 282, 284, 289, 292,
293, 299, 300, 302
Venice, 123-6, 201, 313, 314
Verba, Friar John, 140
Verde, Capo, 215, 218, 221, 222
Villa do Infante, 75, 79, 206
Vizen, Duke of, 6
Zarco, Joao Gonjalves, 71-3, 217,
221
Zeno, Marco, 221
Zion, Mount, 1, 3, 108
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