Manuel established theCasa da Índia, a royal institution that managed Portugal's monopolies and its imperial expansion. He financed numerous famed Portuguese navigators, includingPedro Álvares Cabral (who discoveredBrazil),Afonso de Albuquerque (who establishedPortuguese hegemony in theIndian Ocean), among numerous others. The income from Portuguese trade monopolies and colonized lands made Manuel the wealthiest monarch in Europe,[1][2] allowing him to be one of the great patrons of thePortuguese Renaissance, which produced many significant artistic and literary achievements. Manuel patronized numerous Portuguese intellectuals, including playwrightGil Vicente (called the father ofPortuguese andSpanish theatre).[3] TheManueline style, considered Portugal's national architecture, is named for the king.[4]
Manuel grew up amidst strife between the Portuguese noble families and King John II.[9] In 1483,Fernando II, Duke of Braganza, leader of Portugal's most powerful feudal house,[10] was executed for treason.[11][12] Later, Manuel's older brother,Diogo, Duke of Viseu, was accused of leading a conspiracy against the crown and was stabbed to death in 1484 by the king himself.[13][14]
Manuel would prove a worthy successor to his cousinJohn II for his support ofPortuguese exploration of theAtlantic Ocean and development of Portuguese commerce. During his reign, the following achievements were realised:
All these events made Portugal wealthy from foreign trade as it formally established a vast overseas empire. Manuel used the wealth to build a number of royal buildings (in the "Manueline" style)[27] and to attract artists to his court.[28]
Commercial treaties and diplomatic alliances were forged with theMing dynasty ofChina and the PersianSafavid dynasty.[citation needed]Pope Leo X received a monumental embassy from Portugal during his reign designed to draw attention to Portugal's newly acquired riches to all of Europe.[29][30]
Like Afonso V, Manuel extended his official title to reflect Portugal's expansion. He styled himselfKing of Portugal and the Algarves, on this side and beyond the Sea in Africa, Lord of Guinea and the Lord of Conquest, Navigation and Commerce in Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia and India.[31][32]
In Manuel's reign, royal absolutism was the method of government.[33] ThePortuguese Cortes (the assembly of the kingdom) met only four times during his reign,[34] always inLisbon, the king's seat.
He reformed the courts of justice and the municipal charters with the crown, modernizing taxes and the concepts of tributes and rights.[35] During his reign, the laws in force in the kingdom were recodified with the publication of theManueline Ordinances.[36][37]
Manuel was a very religious man and invested a large amount of Portuguese income to send missionaries to the new colonies, among themFrancisco Álvares, and sponsor the construction of religious buildings,[28] such as theMonastery of Jerónimos.[38][39] Manuel also endeavoured to promote another crusade against the Turks.[40]
At the outset of his reign, Manuel relaxed conditions that had kept Jews in virtual slavery under John II.[41][42] However, in 1496, while seeking to marryInfanta Isabella of Aragon, he relented to pressure from her parents, Ferdinand and Isabella, and decreed that Jews who refused baptism must leave the country.[43][44] Then, before the deadline for their expulsion he converted all Jews to Christianity by royal decree.[45]
Panel portrait of Manuel I
That period of time technically ended the presence of Jews in Portugal. Afterwards, all converted Jews and their descendants would be referred to as "New Christians" and were given a grace period of thirty years in which no inquiries into their faith would be allowed, which was later extended to end in 1534.[46][47]
During theLisbon massacre of 1506, people murdered thousands of accused Jews. The leaders of the riot were executed by Manuel.[34][48]
In addition, Manuel also ordered the expulsion of Muslims from Portugal, and he is known to have pressured Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain to end the toleration of Islam in their own kingdom.[40]
Isabella died in childbirth,[49] thus putting a damper on Portuguese ambitions to rule in Spain, which various rulers had harbored since the reign of KingFerdinand I (1367–1383).[50] Manuel and Isabella's young son,Miguel da Paz, was namedPrince of Asturias,Prince of Portugal, andPrince of Girona, making him heir apparent of Castile, Portugal, and Aragon until his death in 1500, at the age of two years, ended the ambitions of the Catholic Monarchs and Manuel.[29][51]
In December 1521, while Lisbon was dealing with an outbreak of theBlack Plague, Manuel and his court remained atRibeira Palace.[54] On 4 December, Manuel began displaying symptoms of an intense fever which incapacitated him by the 11th. He died on 13 December 1521, at the age of 52,[55] and was succeeded by his son,John III of Portugal.[56][57]
The next day, his body was transported to theBelém district of Lisbon, in a black velvet-draped coffin, followed by masses of mourners. He was provisionally buried at Restelo Church, while the royal pantheon of theHouse of Aviz was furnished insideJerónimos Monastery. His coffin was buried by four of the most prominent nobles of the kingdom, theDuke of Braganza, theDuke of Coimbra, and theMarquis of Vila Real, in a private ceremony attended only by the royal family and thePortuguese nobility. His remains were transferred to Jerónimos Monastery in 1551,[55] along with his second wifeMaria of Aragon.
^Benveniste, Arthur (October 1997).500th Anniversary of the Forced Conversion of the Jews of Portugal (Speech). Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel, Los Angeles.
^abde Sousa, Antonio Caetano (1735).Historia genealogica da casa real portugueza [Genealogical History of the Royal House of Portugal] (in Portuguese). Vol. 2. Lisboa Occidental. p. 497.
Rebelo, Luis (2003). "Manuel I, King of Portugal". In Gerli, E. Michael (ed.).Medieval Iberia : an encyclopedia. New York: Routledge.ISBN0-415-93918-6.
* also an infante of Castile and León, Aragon, Sicily and Naples,§also an infante of Spain and an archduke of Austria,#also an infante of Spain,‡also an imperial prince of Brazil,¶also a prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke in Saxony,◙also a prince of Braganza,¤title removed in 1920 as their parents' marriage was deemed undynastic,ƒclaimant infante
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