English and Portuguese history

Some Portuguese & English History 
compiled by John Warren, 1996

English military co-operation with Portugal may be traced back to 1147 when the re-conquest of Lisbon was achieved by Alfonso Henriques with the help of an army of Crusaders from Britain on their way to the Holy Land.

Following the decade of Pedro I of Portugal (1357-1367), marked by summary justice and boisterous festivities, an instability returned to the whole area of Portugal, Castile and Aragon.

John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (d. 1399 son of Edward III and brother of Edward the Black Prince) married in September 1371 Constance, daughter of Pedro III King of Castile and to further his claim to the throne of Castile following the death of Pedro III negotiated an alliance with Fernando I of Portugal (1367-1383).

This alliance, sworn in St Paul’s on 16th June 1373 was the first treaty between Portugal and England, making Portugal England’s oldest ally.

Following the death of Fernando I, and a fight for the Portuguese succession John of Avis was proclaimed João I (1384-1433). In 1385 João I won the battle of Aljubarrota against the Castilians with the help of English archers.

João I continued the friendly alliance with England and with John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and in 1386 on the 17th May a new Anglo-Portuguese treaty was concluded in the Star Chamber at Westminster.

This new treaty referred to as the Treaty of Windsor, although it is really a re-ratification of the treaty of 1373 contained political, military and economic clauses, and above all it laid down that:

“there shall be between the two above mentioned kings now reigning, and their heirs and successors and between the subjects of both kingdoms, an inviolable, eternal, solid, perpetual and true league of friendship, alliance and union, not only between each other, their heirs and successors, but also between and in favour of their kingdoms, lands, dominions and subjects, vassals, allies and friends, wherever they may be, so that each of them shall have the obligation to assist and give aid to the other against all people now born of who shall come to be born and who shall seek to violate the peace of others or in any way make bold to offend their states………”

Following the treaty, Lancaster prepared to invade Castile from Portugal and João I sent a squadron of galleys for the defence of England.

In February 1387 João I married Philippa, daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster by his wife Constance (see above, descended from Pedro III of Castile), thus cementing the alliance and the claim to the House of Castile.

João I and his dynasty instigated the exciting period in Portuguese history known as the age of the great discoveries.

The Great Discoveries
On 25 July, 1415 a fleet of more than 200 ships under the command of King João I and his three sons, of which Prince Henry was one, set sail from Lisbon. The Portuguese seizure of Ceuta put an end to the Barbarians’ acts of piracy along the coast and assured them control of the Straits of Gibraltar. The spirit of the crusades was not altogether lacking from this enterprise in which Christians opposed Mohammedans. Finally the idea of discovering a new world, of pushing back the boundaries of the unknown was constantly in the minds of men of ambition at that time.

Prince Henry (the navigator) who founded the Sagres School realised that the capture of Ceuta did not ensure the safety of the spice route by land from India to the Mediterranean. The idea was born in his mind to discover a sea route from Europe to India.

To this end he gathered to the Sagres Promontory (south of Lisbon, at the western end of the Algarve) cosmographers, cartographers and navigators. Prince Henry then sent out ships to discover the route around Africa.

Famous names of the ship captains include, Diogo Cão, Bartholomeu Dias, Gil Eanes and Vasco de Gama.

Prince Henry inspired new methods of colonisation by the setting up of trading posts, exchanges and banks. These offices run by private individuals fostered the development of towns independent of the local powers, such as for example Goa.

Henry died in 1460, but the stage had already been set, the route to India and to many other places was achieved as a result of his inspiration.

Catherine of Bragança
In 1662 Catherine of Bragança daughter of King John IV of Portugal married King Charles II of England, who was glad of her dowry of some £300,000 together with the naval bases of Tangier and Bombay. To place this event in the context of British history of the time it is interesting to note that during the reign of Charles II the Great Plague (1665) and the Fire of London (1666) took place. The Habeas Corpus Act was passed (1679) and the emergence of the two party political system, Whig and Tory, became apparent.

Port Wine
The Methuen Treaty of 1703 provided conditions for the shipping of Port wine to Britain. This trade has remained popular and continues to this day, with the British continuing to import large quantities of Port wine

The Napoleonic Wars
Portugal joined the coalition against Revolutionary France in 1793. Napoleon invaded Portugal but with little success. The Duke of Wellington although then only Mr Wellesley was there with some troops who engaged in guerrilla war tactics and finally forced the French from the Peninsular. However Portugal suffered violence and depredations from both armies, material poverty and political and moral effects were tragic. Rival factions, supported at times by both the English and the French emerged to fight a civil war (1828-1834).

Argument about Africa
In 1890 Britain and Portugal had their only real disagreement, which was about the Portuguese desire to link Angola on the west side of Africa with Mozambique on the east. This project to enhance the administration and efficiency of the two Portuguese colonies was thwarted by Britain in a crass and unfriendly manner, which has not been forgotten in Portugal. The British for their own reasons wanted to keep open the corridor linking the north of Africa with South Africa. Despite this disagreement and the heavy handed ultimatum from the British the relationship continued, the Portuguese Anglo treaty continued in tact.

More recent
In 1907 King Carlos I of Portugal (1889-1908), was experiencing political problems with republicans.

On 1st February, 1908 as the king with his family were crossing the Terreiro do Paço in Lisbon in an open landau, they were attacked by a group of assassins.

A young man shot the King in the head. the landau moved forward and a bearded man shot dead the heir to the throne Prince Luis Filipe, his younger brother Dom Manuel, was wounded in the arm. It was the first regicide in Portuguese history.

The sudden disappearance of Dom Carlos and his heir brought to the throne a prince who had not been expected or trained to rule. The political parties began again to intrigue in their usual manner. Finally on 5th October, 1910 Manuel II abdicated and a republic was proclaimed.

Dom Manuel, seeing there was nothing further to be done, was joined by his mother and grandmother at Mafra, and went to the neighbouring fishing village of Ericeira, where he embarked on the yacht Dona Amélia for Gibraltar and England. He settled at Twickenham and devoted himself to his splendid library. He died in 1932.

The republic did not restore order or the economy and when Portugal entered the 1st World War in 1916 matters became worse at home.

In 1928 Dr António Salazar was appointed Minister of Finance and economic and political stability was gradually restored. Dr Salazar became Prime Minister in 1932.

During World War II Dr Salazar steered a tricky course to maintain neutrality, made difficult by the proximity of Franco’s Spain and threats by Germany against the Portuguese merchant fleet and possessions. In 1942 Dr Salazar reluctantly agreed to sell Wolfram (Tungsten ore) to Germany.

Lisbon was an exciting place during the war where allied and German spies mingled..

In 1943 Portugal provided the British Fleet with facilities in the Azores during the Battle of the Atlantic.

Finally in 1944 the allies asked Dr Salazar to suspend all deliveries of Wolfram to Germany and despite threats from Germany Portugal declared a total embargo on the shipments. When the war ended, Dr Salazar had succeeded in upholding the neutrality of Portugal whilst reconciling it with the requirements of the ancient Alliance.

The revolution of 25th April, 1974
The background to the revolution was that the former regime of Dr Salazar who died in July 1970, was now run by incompetents and that Caetano his successor continued a ruinous and unpopular anti-guerrilla war in Africa (Angola and Mozambique).

A group of captains formed the “Movimento das Forcas Armadas” (MFA) or Armed Forces Movement.

On 23 April, 1974 Captain Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho (later popularly known just as “Otelo”), gave final instructions, at a meeting in the Edward VII park in Lisbon, in sealed envelopes, to the MFA men secretly responsible for the whole of the Portuguese territory.

On 25 April at 12.25 am, José Afonso’s song, “Grandola vila Morena”, played during a broadcast from Radio Renascenca, gave the signal for the start of the insurrection. Troops loyal to the MFA and their captains secured all important positions including radio and television. There were practically no casualties and the 25th April has become symbolised by a now famous photograph of a marine chatting to students, in the barrel of his machine gun there is a carnation.

The president Marcelo Caetano took refuge in the Republican National Guards’ barracks in the Largo do Carmo square in Lisbon, which was barricaded.

By 7.45 p.m. Caetano surrendered and a National Junta presided over by General Spinola was invested with the powers of government.

General Spinola resigned in September 1974 and General Costa Gomes became president. The communist experiment was in full swing at this stage. When communism was finally seen to be a failure it was already 1976 and General António Ramalho Eanes was elected president on 27 June 1976, subsequently Portugal moved through a period of socialism, the well known figure of Dr. Mario Soares was to become Prime Minister. The people finally tired of socialism and elected Mr. Anibal Cavaco Silva as prime minister on a centre right ticket. By this time Mario Soares had become President, more for his national appeal as an exile in Paris before the revolution than for his politics.