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Portugal Iberian Union
After Philip was declared king of Portugal, he decreed
that
his new realm would be governed by a six-member Portuguese
council; that the Portuguese cortes would meet only in
Portugal;
that all civil, military, and ecclesiastical appointments
would
remain Portuguese; and that the language, judicial system,
coinage, and military would remain autonomous. Philip
supported
the two institutions in Portugal that he believed might
unite the
two countries: the Jesuits and the Inquisition. One result
was
that New Christians were persecuted even more severely.
The incorporation of Portugal into the Iberian Union
was
accepted by the Portuguese nobility without much
difficulty. The
royal court had used the language and etiquette of Castile
since
the fifteenth century, and much serious work had been done
in
Castile by Portuguese writers, who were conscious of
belonging to
a common Iberian culture. In the countryside, however,
there
developed a current of resistance that took the form of a
messianic cult of the "hidden prince," Sebastião. Members
of this
cult believed that Sebastião did not actually die at
Alcázarquivir but would return to deliver Portugal from
Spanish
domination. This cult became deeply rooted, and over the
years a
number of impostors appeared and sparked rebellions, all
of which
were easily put down. To this day, Sebastianism
(Sebastianismo),
or the nostalgic longing for the unattainable, is a
continuing
feature of Portuguese life.
During the reign of Philip II, the terms of the
proclamation
of the union of the two crowns were generally upheld. With
Philip's death in 1598 and the ascension to the Spanish
throne of
his son, Philip III, much less respect began to be paid to
the
provision that preserved Portugal's autonomy. Philip III
did not
visit Portugal until 1619, very near the end of his reign,
and he
began to appoint Spaniards to the six-member governing
council as
well as to lesser posts. His son and heir, Philip IV, had
no
interest in government and consequently turned over the
administration of Portugal to the duke of Olivares. The
duke
alienated Portuguese of all classes, including the
hispanophile
elite. In order to prop up the waning power of the Spanish
monarchy, he levied excessive taxes and troop requisitions
on
Portugal to support Spanish military activities,
especially
against France. Moreover, he sought to unify Portugal with
Spain.
In 1637 a rebellion broke out in Évora when the Spanish
attempted to collect these taxes by force. Portuguese
nobles were
summoned to Madrid and ordered to recruit soldiers for war
against France. The Portuguese nobility, encouraged by
Cardinal
Richelieu of France, who promised to support a Portuguese
pretender with soldiers and ships, began to conspire
against the
Spanish. During the 1637 rebellion, the populace acclaimed
João,
duke of Bragança, as king. The duke, who was the nearest
noble to
the House of Avis, was Portugal's leading aristocrat and
largest
landowner. The choice of the populace was supported by the
nobility, which conspired to make João king. The duke, who
was
cautious, initially resisted accepting the Portuguese
crown, but
eventually began to equip a private army. In 1640 the
Catalans
rebelled against Philip IV, and, thus encouraged, João's
supporters went into action on December 1. They entered
the royal
palace and arrested Portugal's Spanish governor, the
duchess of
Mantua, a cousin of the king of Spain. Five days later,
the duke
of Bragança arrived in Lisbon and was crowned as João IV
(r.
1641-56), thus restoring the Portuguese monarchy and
founding a
new ruling dynasty, the House of Bragança.
Although Portugal's seaborne empire had begun to
decline
before the sixty years of incorporation in the Iberian
Union, the
"Spanish captivity," as this period is called by the
Portuguese,
hastened this process. The Portuguese, who were dragged
into
Spain's wars with England and Holland, began to see those
two
countries attack their holdings in Asia, as well as in
Brazil. By
the time independence was regained, Portugal's empire was
greatly
reduced, having lost its commercial monopoly in the Far
East to
the Dutch, and in India to the English. Only the resolute
action
of Portuguese settlers had saved Brazil from the Dutch,
who had
attacked Rio de Janeiro and Baía, and occupied Pernambuco.
Data as of January 1993
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