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TheTreaty of Lisbon of 1668 was a peace treaty betweenPortugal andSpain that was concluded atLisbon on 13 February 1668 with the mediation ofEngland[1] in which Spain recognised the sovereignty of Portugal's new ruling dynasty, theHouse of Braganza.
The regent of Spain, QueenMariana of Austria, the second wife of the late KingPhilip IV, acted in the name of her young son,Charles II and oversaw the negotiations on the behalf of Spain.
The prince-regent of Portugal, Pedro, the future KingPeter II of Portugal,[2] in the name of his incapacitated brother,Afonso VI, represented Portugal.
The peace was mediated byEdward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, an ambassador ofCharles II of England.
By 1640, theHabsburg king,Philip IV of Spain (Philip III of Portugal), could no longer count on the trust, support or loyalty of most Portuguese nobles. The country was overtaxed, andPortuguese colonies had been left unprotected. Portugal, like many of Philip's domains, was on the verge of open rebellion.
After60 years of living under the rule of Spanish kings, a small band of conspirators in Lisbon rebelled, and theDuke of Braganza was proclaimed King of Portugal asJohn IV on 1 December 1640,[3] who took advantage of a simultaneousrevolt in Catalonia andSpain's ongoing conflict with France.[2] Thus began the 28-yearPortuguese Restoration War.
At first, Portugal lost many of its colonial possessions to theopportunistic Dutch. Portugal's military strength was reserved for protecting its own frontiers against Spanish incursions, but after 1648, the end of theThirty Years' War allowed the reversal of those misfortunes.[4] Portugal regained its colonies inAngola,São Tomé and Brazil by 1654.
In 1652, Catalonia's rebellion against Spain collapsed, and in 1659, Spainended its war with France and so there were grounds for Spanish optimism in its struggle to regain control over Portugal. However, Portugal could draw on the wealth ofBrazil and the aid of firstFrance and thenEngland, but Spain's finances were perpetually in crisis.[2]
A series of successes by the Portuguese, with the help of aBritish brigade, made it clear that theIberian Peninsula would not be reunited under Spanish rule. The first took place on 8 June 1663, when thecount of Vila Flor, Sancho Manoel de Vilhena, with MarshalFrederick Schomberg by his side, utterly defeatedJohn of Austria the Younger, an illegitimate son of Philip IV, at theBattle of Ameixial before he retookÉvora, which had been captured earlier that year. One year later, on 7 July 1664, Pedro Jacques de Magalhães, a local military leader, defeated theDuke of Osuna atCiudad Rodrigo in theSalamanca Province of Spain. Finally, on 17 June 1665, themarquis of Marialva and Schomberg destroyed a Spanish army, under theMarquis of Caracena at theBattle of Montes Claros, followed by defeat atVila Viçosa.[3]
The Spanish failed to gain any compensating advantage. A year later, desperate to reduce its military commitments at almost any price, Spain accepted the loss of Portugal. A treaty was signed between England and Spain atMadrid in 1667. As a result, England mediated the Treaty of Lisbon, which recognised the sovereignty of theHouse of Braganza.[5]
TheSpanish Habsburgs recognised the legitimacy of the Braganza dynasty in Portugal.Infanta Catarina, Duchess of Braganza (1540–1614), the former Duchess of Braganza and grandmother ofJoão IV of Portugal, was retroactively acknowledged as a legitimate heir to the throne.
Portuguese sovereignty over its colonial possessions was reconfirmed except for the African exclave ofCeuta, a city that did not recognise the House of Braganza as the new ruling dynasty.
Agreements on the exchange of prisoners, reparations and the restoration of commercial relations were reached.[6]
Portugal ceded Ceuta to Spain. Seven years earlier, the nearby city ofTangiers had been awarded to KingCharles II of England as part of the dowry ofCatherine of Braganza, as had been stipulated in theMarriage Treaty of 1661.
The treaty had advantages for both countries. Spain, relieved to be ending a financially ruinous war, was quite pliant in the negotiations. Also, Portugal could now pursue the possession of its overseas colonies.
After 1668, Portugal, determined to differentiate itself from Spain, turned toWestern Europe, particularly France and England, for new ideas and skills, part of a gradual "de-Iberianization", as Portugal consolidated its cultural and political independence from Spain.Portuguese nationalism, which was aroused by success on the battlefield, produced hostile reactions to Spanish things and persons. By then, Portuguese society was composed of two basic elements: those who participated in the gradual Europeanization process, the "political nation", and those who remained largely unchanged, the majority of the people, who remained apolitical and passive.[7]
Portugal's restoration of independence freed it to pursue the course mapped out by the pioneers of commercial imperialism. During the 17th century, its economy depended largely uponentrepôt trade in tobacco and sugar and the export of salt. During the 18th century, staples were not abandoned, but thePortuguese economy came to be based more uponslaves, gold, leather and wine. Portuguese trade was centered in the busy port of Lisbon and influenced especially by Anglo-Dutch capitalism and the colonial economy in Brazil.[8]