PORTUGAL
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PORTUGAL
ning him the title of "the Cultivator". He favoured
commerce, founded the royal navy, and above all
gave peace to the Church. After long negotiations a
concordat of forty articles was signed in 1289, and
this was followed by two others. The beneplacitutn
regium was abandoned, the property seized by
A&onso III was restored, and the king bound himself
to respect ecclesiastical pri\-ileges and immunities,
and to observe the old laws and customs of the realm.
The free election of bishops was secured, and the
e-xtortions practised by lay patrons of churches and
monasteries were prohibited.
The long struggle between Church and Crown terminated; but if the first gained most of the points contended for, its commanding position ceased. The times were different. With the increasing weak- ness of the papacy, the clergy became more dependent on the monarch. Moreover, the complete na- tionalization of the militarj' orders effected by Denis also tended to increase the central power, and it was said of him "that he did all he ^^nshed". On the initiative and at the expense of the Priors of Santa Cruz at Coimbra, S. Vicente at Lisbon, and Santa Maria at Guimaraens and the Abbot of .Al- cobaga, a university was established at Lisbon and confirmed, in 1290, by papal Bull, with faculties of arts, canon and ci\41 law, and medicine, but not theology, which was studied in the monasteries. The king showed great liberality to the new founda- tion, which was subsequently, by papal permission, moved to Coimbra. When the Templars were sup- pressed, John XXII allowed their property to go to the new Order of Christ established in 13i9.
If Denis proved a wise and just ruler, some of the credit is due to his wife, St. Isabel. She intervened successfully more than once to end the rebellions of his son. Alfonso IV, (1325-57) continued his father's policy. He Mved on good terms with the other peninsular sovereigns, but when his daughter was illtreated by her husband, Alfonso XI, he invaded Castile. Once more St. Isabel inters-ened. Leaving her convent of Poor Clares at Coimbra, she came be- tween the opposing armies at Estremoz and settled the dispute so effectually that when, in 1340, the King of Morocco crossed into Spain to aid the King of Granada against the Christians, Alfonso IV obeyed the papal summons and led a contingent which helped Alfonso XI to win the great battle of the Salado. His later years were clouded by the Black Death and by the rebelUon of his son Pedro, who, though mar- ried, had become enamoured of the beautiful Dona Ines de Castro. To end this infatuation, Alfonso was unfortunately persuaded to consent to her assassination, whereupon the prince rose in arms against his father and devastated the country. Benedict XII exacted the paj-ment of the tribute promised by Alfonso Henriques and took measures against the incontinency of the clergy (a recurring evil in Portuguese history), while Clement VI an- swered the complaints of the Kings of Portugal and Castile as to the appointment of foreigners to ec- clesiastical benefices. The chief characteristic of Pedro I (1357-67), was the plea-sure he took in seek- ing out and punishing lawbreakers, whether laymen or clerics: hence his title, "the Doer of Justice". Allying himself with Pedro the Cruel of Castile, he took summary vengeance on the murderers of his mistress. He repressed the violence of the nobles and the usurj' of the Jews, and this with his generosity earned him the respect of the people, savage despot though he was. It is noteworthy that though an especial avenger of adulteries, as well as of witch- craft, he himself lived an immoral life and had several bastards, one of whom became King .John I.
The chief ecclesiastical interest of this uneventful reign is centred in the Cortes of Elvas. in which the clergy submitted a list of thirty-three grievances,
some of which received attention. As regards the
admission of papal letters, the king promised to see
them and order their publication in so far as was
right. It was a shuffling reaffirmation of the hene-
placilum regium. Ferdinand (1367-83) had his
father's generosity without his strength, and, though
he deser\'es the credit for wise laws encouraging
na\'igation and agriculture, and for the fortification
of Lisbon, he fell a -s-ictim to animal passion and
foolish ambition. His first attempt to win the
Throne of Castile against Henrj- of Trastamara
failed, and in 1371 the Peace of Alcoutim was made
under the auspices of Gregory XI, Ferdinand agree-
ing to marry Henrj-'s daughter. But he could never
keep a treaty, and, having fallen in love with Dona
Leonor Telles, the ynle of one of his nobles, he
married her, notwithstanding the angr>' protest of
the citizens of Lisbon. Moreover, he entered into
an agreement to assist John of Gaunt, who claimed
the crown of Castile. Henry thereupon invaded
Portugal, in 1373, and would have captured Lisbon,
had not Cardinal Guy de Bologne, the papal legate,
forced him to retire and make peace with Ferdinand
at Vallada. Leonor now entirely dominated her
vacillating and indolent husband, and by obtaining
honours and lands for her kinsfolk and friends pro-
vided against the time when he should die. Losing
all scruples, she engineered the murder of her own
sister, and betrayed the king by an intrigue with
the Galician noble, Andeiro, whom she persuaded
him to create Count of Ourem. A few years later
Lisbon was again besieged unsucces.^fullj' by a Castil-
ian army, and in 1381 Ferdinand undertook a war of
revenge with the help of an English force under the
Duke of Cambridge. He invaded Castile, but when
in the presence of the enemy took fright and made
peace with King John, one of the terms being that
the latter should wed Ferdinand's heiress Beatrice,
which would have led to the union of Portugal and
Ca.stile.
.Alt the beginning of the Great Schism it was only the firmne,ss of the bishops that kept Portugal true to L^rban VI and prevented the king from offering his obedience to the anti-pope, Clement VII. The resistance of Lisbon to two Castilian sieges had saved Portuguese independence, and by a Bull of Boniface IX its see was raised to metropolitan rank. The people would not submit to a foreign king, and shortly after Ferdinand's death the citizens of Lisbon rose against Leonor; Andeiro and the archbishop were slain, and .John, Grand Master of .\viz, illegitimate son of Pedro I, became defender of the realm. The King of Ca.stile laid seige to Lisbon, but a pestilence compelled him to retire, and in .\pril, 1385, thanks to the eloquence of the great lawyer John das Regras, the Grand Master of A\-iz was elected king (1385- 14.33) at the Cortes of Coimbra. On 14 .A.ugu,st he totally defeated the Castihans at Aljubarrota, and this, together with the factories gained by Nuno .41vares Pereira, "the Holy Constable", secured Portuguese independence. The king erected on the field of battle the great monasten,- of Batalha and there he and his sons were buried. On 9 May, 1388, he made the Treaty of Windsor with England and, though a cleric, sealed the alliance by wedding Philippa, daughter of John of Gaunt. In 1391 Boniface IX legitimated the marriage.
Portugal now turned her face to the ocean and pre- pared to become a great maritime power. The over- sea conquest began with the capture of Ceuta, in 1415, and under the auspices of Prince Henry the Navigator the voyages were organized which ulti- matelv led to the discoverj- of the road to India round the Cape of Good Hope. The pope encouraged these efforts, which had for their object the spread of Christianity as well as of commerce, and, by a Bull of 4 April, 1418, confirmed to the king all the lands
