• Book Beginning
  • Acknowledgments
  • Sources & Bibliography
  • Mary Ames Mitchell

Manoel I, A New Monarch for Portugal

A few events occurred in Portugal while Christopher Columbus was away that we need to catch you up on. While Columbus was on his first voyage, King João II tried to place his illegitimate son, Jorge of Lencastre [Lancaster], in line for the throne instead of his twenty-four-year-old nephew, Manoel. Manoel was also the first cousin of Isabella, the Queen of Castile.

João successfully obtained authorization from Pope Innocent VIII to appoint Jorge to succeed him as Grand Master of the Order of São Tiago, as well as take the position of Administrator for the order. But as we mentioned, in July of 1492, Innocent died, and was replaced by Pope Alexander VI of Aragon. And remember that João and his wife Leonor were not on the best of terms. Jorge was the son of João’s mistress. And Leanor was Manoel’s sister.

In 1494 [while Christopher Columbus was on his second voyage], João sent an emissary to Pope Alexander to legitimize Jorge so he could inherit the throne. But Leanor sideswiped João, her own husband. She wrote to Alexander and told him to forbid the request. Not to be completely defeated, João added certain stipulations to his will:

  1. He wanted Manoel to appoint Jorge de Lencastre as Duke of Coimbra and Lord of Montemor-o-Velho.
  2. He wanted Manoel to betroth his daughter [Manoel did not yet have a daughter], or some other princess, in marriage to Jorge of Lencastre.
  3. He wanted Manoel to pass his titles and possessions, including the Mastership of the Order of Christ, and the island of Madeira, to Jorge. The last request was meant to make Jorge the most powerful man in Portugal.

King João died in 1495, one year after signing the Treaty of Tordesillas. The new King Manoel I followed some of his uncle’s requests, but only after a good deal of stalling and time. He kept the Mastership of the Order of Christ for himself. Just as King João feared, this caused a power shift from the Order of São Tiago back to the Order of Christ.

None of this affected Columbus in Española. But the politics needed to be considered by future explorers John Cabot and Gaspar vas Corte-Real when they went looking for islands in the northwest Atlantic.

Next Article: John Cabot

Contents

Welcome
Notes on Discussing Time
Knowledge Ancient World
Technology Migrates West
The Romans and Latin
Iberia, Brittania, Fall of Rome
Judaism
Christianity
600s The Rise of Islam
800s Christian Europe
County of Portugal

980s The Vikings
1000s Fight for Jerusalem
1143 Portugal’s Independence
1147 Second Crusade
1154 Al-Idrisi’s World Map
1170 Prince Madog of Wales
1187 Third to Fifth Crusades
1200s Mongolian Empire
The Silk Road
Herbs and Spices
Legend of Prester John
1271 Marco Polo
Volta do Mar
Mythical Atlantic Islands
Real Atlantic Islands
Ancient Texts Resurface
Through the Pillars of Hercules
Rise of Portuguese
The Order of Christ
Pedro and Inês
Black Death
1303 Knights Templar in America
14th Century Maps
Rihlas & Travelogues

Portugal, Castile, or England
The House of Avis
1400s Henry the Navigator
Age of Discovery Begins
Henry’s Navigation Center
Chinese Treasure Fleets
Royal Distractions
Cape Bojador
The Caravel
Tools for Navigation
The Astrolabe
1440s Beginning of Slave Trade
Western Land Sightings
1450 Fra Mauro Mappa Mundi
Claiming the Azores
Constantinople
Dinheiro – Portuguese Money
The Guinea Trade
Crossing the Equator
Polo & Toscanelli
Treaty of Alcáçovas-Toledo
The Carrack
Diogo Cão Reaches the Congo
The Rule of the Sun
Overland to Abyssinia
Christopher Columbus
Columbus’ Calculations
1480 Alonso Sanchez of Huelva

c1485 Columbus Leaves Portugal
1486 Pushing West from Azores
1487-88 Bartolomeu Dias
Portuguese Reach Calicut
1487 Columbus in Spain
Conquest of Granada
Columbus’ New Proposal
1492 Columbus’ 1st Voyage
Treaty of Tordesillas
1493 Columbus’ 2nd Voyage
Calculating Longitude
1495 King Manoel I
John Cabot
Nuremberg Connection
Cabot in England
1497-98
Cabot’s 1st & 2nd Voyages

1497-98 Vasco da Gama
Cabot’s Return
1498 Cabot’s 3rd Voyage
1498 Columbus’ 3rd Voyage
1499 William Weston
1499 The Corte-Reals
1500 Fernão Alvares Cabral
1502 Columbus’ 4th Voyage
Maps After Columbus
Loose Ends
Mysterious Dighton Rock

We invite your feedback. If you have any comments, suggestions, or corrections, please email them to Mary.
Please tell me to which page you are referring. Thanks.

©2015 Mary Ames Mitchell. All rights reserved.
Book Beginning | Acknowledgments | Sources & Bibliography | Mary Ames Mitchell

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