Henry I (Portugal)

King Henry I of Portugal

Henry I ( Portuguese Dom Henrique I ) (born January 31, 1512 in Lisbon , † January 31, 1580 in Almeirim ), called "the Cardinal King " (Portuguese Cardeal Dom Henrique ), was the seventeenth King of Portugal and Cardinal of the Roman Church . He was the last ruler in the history of Portugal from the House of Avis and ruled from 1578 to 1580.

Life

Henry was the fifth son of King Manuel I of Portugal and his second wife Maria of Aragon . He was thus a younger brother of King John III. For him, as the seventh child of the royal family, a spiritual career was planned in order to ensure adequate care. He became prior of Coimbra in 1526 , archbishop of Braga in 1538 and archbishop of Évora in 1545 , in 1557 he succeeded his brother Afonso de Portugal as abbot of the royal abbey of Alcobaça and finally in 1564 he became archbishop of Lisbon and Primate of Portugal. In 1539 he was appointed Inquisitor General and in 1545 received the cardinal's hat, and in 1561 he became papal legate .

When in 1557 his brother King John III. died, his grandson and successor Sebastian was just three years old. Heinrich therefore reigned for his great-nephew until 1568. After Sebastian died without children and without children in the battle of Alcácer-Quibir , in Morocco, Heinrich ascended the Portuguese throne as the last male member of the house of Avis. After his death, the Portuguese throne passed to the Spanish Habsburgs; Portugal only regained its independence 60 years later under King John IV from the House of Braganza .

The coat of arms of the Portuguese kings from John II to Manuel II.

Developments after Heinrich's death

For several generations, the House of Avis had been closely tied to neighboring Spain and the ruling dynasty of the Habsburgs with many marriages . Associated with this was the hope of being able to assert inheritance claims to the Spanish throne in the event of the Spanish Habsburgs becoming extinct, in order to found a great Iberian empire under Portuguese leadership. After Henry's death, however, the Spanish King Philip II made claims to the Portuguese throne. His mother was a daughter of Manuel I , so he himself was a grandson of the Portuguese king in the female line. In addition, his wife Maria was a daughter of Johann III. and thus Heinrich I's cousin. Heinrich therefore had no choice but to appoint the Spanish king as his successor in his will.

King Henry I of Portugal

After Heinrich's death, António von Crato , a grandson of Manuel I in an illegitimate line, initially proclaimed himself king, but was soon chased away by the Spaniards. Even the Duke of Braganza , who initially asserted claims to the throne for his wife Katharina (who was also a granddaughter of Manuel I), did not get a chance. In view of the military balance of power (Portugal had been weakened since the defeat of Alcácer-Quibir), the Cortes had no choice but to recognize the claims of the Spanish king, who subsequently ascended the Portuguese throne as Philip I. The two kingdoms were not united under constitutional law, but only ruled in personal union by the Spanish king, Philip's two successors on the Spanish throne (Philip II of Portugal = Philip III of Spain and Philip III of Portugal = Philip IV of Spain ) restricted Portuguese autonomy more and more, so that the country de facto became a Spanish province.

Tomb in the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos

The dissatisfaction with this situation finally led to the uprising of 1640, through which the Spanish rule could be shaken off and with John IV , the Duke of Braganza, from now on a Portuguese king ruled again.

See also : Timeline Portugal  and Portugal under Avis

literature

• Marcus Wüst: Heinrich I of Portugal. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 36, Bautz, Nordhausen 2015.
• Polonia, Amélia: D. Henrique. O cardeal-rei , Lisbon 2005 (= Reis de Portugal, 17)

Web links

Commons : Henry I of Portugal  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Portugal, Henrique de. In: Salvador Miranda : The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. ( Florida International University website), accessed October 23, 2016.
• Entry on Henrique de Portugal on catholic-hierarchy.org ; accessed on October 23, 2016.

predecessor	Office	successor
Sebastian I.	King of Portugal 1578–1580	Philip I.
Fernando de Menezes Coutinho e Vasconcelos	Archbishop of Lisbon 1564–1570	João Manuel