The banishment, or forcible conversion of the Jews deprived Portugal of its middle class and of its most scientific traders and financiers. John II. gave asylum to 90,00o Jewish refugees from Castile, in return for a heavy poll-tax and on condition that they should leave the country within eight months, in ships furnished by himself. These ships were not provided in time, and the Jews who were thus unable to depart were enslaved, while their children were deported to the island of St. Thomas, and there left to sur vive as best they might. In 1496 Emanuel I. desired to wed Isa bella, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, hut found that he was first required to purify his kingdom of the Jews, who were accord ingly commanded to leave Portugal before the end of Oct. But in order to avoid the economic dangers threatened by such an exodus, every Jew and Jewess between the ages of four and was seized and forcibly baptized. "Christians" were not required to emigrate. In October 20,000 adults were treated in the same way. These "New Christians," or "Marranos" as they were called, were forbidden to leave the country between 1498 and 1507. In April 1506 nearly 2,000 residing in Lisbon were massacred during a riot, but throughout the rest of Emanuel's reign they were immune from violence, and were again permitted to emigrate— an opportunity of which the majority took advantage. Large num bers settled in Holland, where their commercial talent afterwards greatly assisted the Dutch in their rivalry with the Portuguese. In 1536 the Holy Office was established in Lisbon, where the first auto-da-fe was held in 154o, and in 156o its operations were ex tended to India.
During the reign of Emanuel I. (1495-1521) the Church was never permitted to encroach upon the royal prerogative. He even sent ambassadors to Rome to protest against ecclesiastical corrup tion, as well as to checkmate the Venetian diplomatists who threat ened Europe with Ottoman vengeance if the Portuguese commer cial monopoly were not relaxed. But Emanuel I. was the last great king of the Aviz dynasty. He had pursued the traditional policy of intermarriage with the royal families of Castile and Aragon, hoping to weld together the Spanish and Portuguese dominions into a single world-wide empire ruled by the house of Aviz. But his ambition was not fulfilled, for Prince Miguel, his eldest son, died in infancy, and the inheritance passed to the Habsburgs. John III. (1521-57) was a ruler of fair ability, who became in his later years wholly subservient to his ecclesiastical advisers. He was succeeded by his grandson Sebastian (1557-78), aged three years. Until the king came of age (1568), his grandmother, Queen Catherine, daughter of Isabella the Catholic, and his great-uncle, Prince Henry, cardinal and inquisitor-general, governed as joint regents. Both were dominated by their Jesuit confessors, and a Jesuit, D. Luiz Gonsalves da Camara, became the tutor and, after 1568, the principal adviser of Sebastian.
The king was a strong-willed and weak-minded ascetic, who en trusted his empire to the Jesuits, refused to marry although the dynasty was threatened with extinction, and spent years in pre paring for a crusade against the Moors. He collected a force of some 18,00o men, chiefly untrained lads, worn-out veterans, and foreign free-lances; but on Aug. 4, 1578, they were surrounded at
Al Kasr al Kebir (q.v.) by Lhe superior forces of Abd el Malek, the reigning sultan, and after a brave but ineffective resistance Sebastian was killed and his nondescript army almost annihilated (see SEBASTIAN).
Cardinal Henry, who now became king, died on Jan. 31, 158o, and the throne was left vacant. There were five principal claim ants—Philip II. of Spain ; Philibert, duke of Savoy; Antonio, prior of Crato; Catherine, duchess of Braganza; and Ranuccio, duke of Parma—whose relationship to Emanuel I. is shown in the table above.
Meanwhile, the victory of AlcAntara left Philip II. supreme in Portugal, where he was soon afterwards crowned king. His con stitutional position was defined at the cortes of Thomar (1581). Portugal was not to be regarded as a conquered or annexed province, but as a separate kingdom, joined to Spain solely by a personal union similar to the union between Castile and Aragon under Ferdinand and Isabella. At Thomar Philip II. promised to maintain the rights and liberties conceded by his predecessors on the Portuguese throne, to summon the cortes at frequent inter vals, and to create a Portuguese privy council.
Insurrections in Lisbon (1634) and Evora (1637) bore witness to the general discontent, but until 1640 the Spanish ascendancy was never seriously endangered. In 1640 war with France and a revolution in Catalonia had taxed the military resources of Spain to the utmost. The royal authority in Portugal was delegated to Margaret of Savoy, duchess of Mantua, whose train of Spanish and Italian courtiers aroused the jealousy of the Portuguese nobles, while the harsh rule of her secretary of state, Miguel de Vasconcellos de Brito, provoked the resentment of all classes. Even the Jesuits, whose influence in Portugal had steadily in creased since 1555, were now prepared to act in the interests of Cardinal Richelieu, and therefore against Philip IV. A leader was found in John, 8th duke of Braganza, who as a grandson of the duchess Catherine was descended from Emanuel I. On Dec. 1, 1640, various strategic points were seized, the few partisans of Spain who attempted resistance were overpowered, and a pro visional government was formed under D. Rodrigo da Cunha, arch bishop of Lisbon.