Antonio, Prior Of Crato

Anthony I of Portugal ( IPA //) ( Lisbon , 1531 – Paris , August 26 , 1595 ), known by ''The Prior of Crato'' (and, rarely, as ''The Determined'', ''The Fighter'' or ''The Independentist''), was a grandson of Manuel I , claimant of the Portuguese throne during the 1580 crisis ( Struggle For The Throne Of Portugal ) and, according to some historians, King Of Portugal And Algarves (during a short time in 1580 , in the continent, and since then until 1583 , in the Azores Islands ).

LIFE

Antonio was the illegitimate son of Prince Louis, Duke Of Beja ( 1506 - 1555 ) by Yolande (Violante) Gomez, a Jew ess, who is said to have died a nun. This made him the grandson of King Manuel I ( 1495 - 1521 ). Due to his illegitimate status, his claim for the throne was considered invalid; furthermore, his father was also Prior of Crato (that enabled him to marry without a Pope's dismissal). He was a disciple of Bartolomeu Dos Mártires .

Antonio was educated at Coimbra , and was placed in the Order of St. John. He was endowed with the wealthy priory of Crato . In 1571 he was governor of the Portuguese North African fortification of Tangier . Nonetheless, little is known of his life until 1578 ; in that year, he accompanied King Sebastian ( 1557 - 1578 ) in his invasion of Morocco , and was taken prisoner by the Moor s at the Disaster Of Alcácer Quibir , in which the young King was slain. Antonio is said to have secured his release on easy terms by a fiction. He was asked the meaning of the cross of St. John that he wore on his doublet, and replied that it was the sign of a small benefice which he held from the Pope , and would lose if he were not back by the 1st of January. His captor, believing him to be a poor man, allowed him to escape for a small ransom.

On his return to Portugal, Anthony sought to claim his rights to the throne. His pretensions were denied however, and his uncle Cardinal Henry , the only surviving son of King John III ( 1521 - 1557 ), became the new monarch. The cardinal was old and was the last legitimate male representative of the royal line (see History Of Portugal ). In January 1580 , when the Cortes were assembled in Almeirim (where it was to be decided the heir of the Portuguese throne), the old Cardinal-King Henry died. The Regency of the Kingdom was assumed by a Governative Junta formed by five governors.

By this time the Portuguese throne was disputed by several claimants; among them there was Catherine, Duchess Of Braganza (1540-1614), her nephew Farnese Rainuccio of Parma, Philip II Of Spain and the Prior of Crato himself. The Duchess has later been dubbed as legitimate heir, after her descendants obtained the thone in 1640 (through John IV Of Portugal ), but at that time, she was one of possible heirs. According to the feudal custom, her late older sister's son Rainuccio, an Italian, was the closest heir, then the Duchess herself, and only after them, King Philip. Philip II was a foreigner and descended from Manuel I by a female line; as for Anthony, although he was a Manuel I's grandson in male line, he was an illegitimate grandson.

Antonio, relying on the popular hostility to a Spanish ruler, presented himself as an alternative candidate to King Philip II. He had endeavoured to prove that his father and mother had been married after his birth. There was, however, no evidence of the marriage. Antonio's claim, which was inferior not only to that of Philip II , but to that of the duchess of Braganza, was not supported by the nobles or gentry. His partisans were drawn exclusively from the inferior clergy, the peasants and workmen. Moreover, Philip had managed to bribe the high classes of the Kingdom with gold from the Americas , and the crown started to pend to his side. For them, the idea of a Personal Union with Spain would be highly profitable for Portugal, which had been experiencing an economic downturn at the time.

Anthony tried to seduce the people for his cause, comparing the present situation to the one of 1385 . Then, just like in 1580 , the king of Castile invoked arguments of blood nature to inherit the Portuguese throne; and like in 1580, the Master of Aviz ( John I ), illegitimate son of King Peter I , claimed his rights to the throne that ended in victory for Portugal in Aljubarrota and in the Cortes of Coimbra in 1385 .

In July 24 1580 , Anthony proclaimed himself King Of Portugal in Santarém , followed by popular acclamation in several locations of the country; he governed in the continent during 20 days, until he was defeated in the Battle Of Alcântara by the Spanish armies led by the Duke Of Alba on August 25 .

Since then, he started to rule the country from Terceira Island , in the Azores , where, until 1583 , he established an opposition government to the Spanish occupation ''ocupación'', that even minted coin - a typical act of sovereignty and royalty. Because of that, many authors consider him the last monarch of the House Of Aviz (instead of Cardinal-King Henry ) and the 18th King Of Portugal .

In the first days of 1581 , he fled to France carrying with him the crown jewels, which included many valuable Diamond s. He was well received by Catherine De Medici , who had a claim of her own on the crown of Portugal, and looked upon him as a convenient instrument to be used against Philip II. By promising to cede the Portuguese colony of Brazil to her, and by the sale of part of his jewels, Antonio secured means to fit out a fleet manned by Portuguese exiles and French and English adventurers.

As the Spaniards had not yet occupied the Azores , he sailed to them, but was utterly defeated at sea by the marquis of Santa Cruz off Saint Michael's on July 27 , 1582 . He now returned to France, and lived for a time at Ruel near Paris . Peril from the assassins employed by Philip II to remove him drove Antonio from one refuge to another, and he finally came to England .

Elizabeth favoured him for much the same reasons as Catherine de Medici. In 1589 , the year after the Armada , he accompanied an English expedition under the command of Francis Drake and Norris to the coast of Spain and Portugal. The force consisted partly of the queen's ships, and in part of Privateer s who went in search of booty. Antonio, with all the credulity of an exile, believed that his presence would provoke a general rising against Philip II, but none took place, and the expedition was a costly failure.

His government in Terceira island was only recognized in the Azores, and in the continent and in the Madeira Islands the power was exercised by Philip II , who was acclaimed king in 1580 as Philip I Of Portugal , and recognized as official king the following year by Cortes of Tomar in 1581 .

After his defeat in the Azores, he went in exiled to France - traditional enemy of the Habsburgs of Spain - receiving their support; he also congregated the support of England . An attempt for an invasion was tried, but ended in failure.

Antonio soon fell into poverty. His remaining diamonds were disposed of by degrees. The last and finest was acquired by M. De Sancy , from whom it was purchased by Sully and included in the jewels of the crown. During his last days he lived as a private gentleman on a small pension given him by Henry IV , and he died in Paris on August 26 , 1595 . He left two illegitimate sons, and his descendants can be traced until 1687 . In addition to papers published to defend his claims Antonio was the author of the ''Panegyrus Alphonsi Lusitanorum Regis'' ( Coimbra 1550), and of a cento of the Psalms , ''Psalmi Confessionales'' (Paris 1592), which was translated into English under the title of ''The Royal Penitent'' by Francis Chamberleyn ( London 1659), and into German as ''Heilige Betrachtungen'' ( Marburg , 1677).

Anthony continued to fight until the end of his life for the restoration of independence of his country. He would never see the end of the Philippine Dynasty , in 1640 , time when a Portuguese - the grandson of his cousin, the Duchess of Braganza, John, was acclaimed king as John IV Of Portugal , after a victorious coup in December 1 1640 .

ANTóNIO'S DESCENDANTS

António, being a religious man, was never permited to marry but had several children from several women.

REFERENCES

Antonio is frequently mentioned in the French, English, and Spanish state papers of the time. A life of him, attributed to Gomes Vasconcellos De Figueredo , was published in a French translation by Mme de Sainctonge at Amsterdam (1696). A modern account of him, ''Un prétendant portugais au XVI siècle'', by E. Fournier (Paris, 1852), is based on authentic sources. See also ''Dom Antonio Prior de Crato-notas de bibliographia'', by J. de Aranjo (Lisbon, 1897).

Information About

Antonio, Prior Of Crato