Manuel I
(born May 31, 1469, Alcochete, Port.?died December 1521, Lisbon) was the
king
of
Portugal
from 1495 to 1521, whose reign was
characterized
by religious troubles (all Moors and Jews refusing baptism were expelled), by a policy of clever neutrality in the face of quarrels between France and Spain, and by the continuation of overseas expansion, notably to
India
and
Brazil
.
Manuel was fortunate to have reigned at all; he was the ninth child of Dom Fernando, who was the younger brother of
Afonso V
. Manuel’s father died a year after Manuel was born. King Afonso had one of Manuel’s sisters married to his heir,
John II
, and another to the powerful Duke of
Braganca
. On his accession John II had Braganca executed on a charge of treason and later murdered Manuel’s only surviving brother on suspicion of
conspiracy
. But John extended his protection to the boy Manuel, making him Duke of Beja. On the death of his own
legitimate
son in 1491, John recognized Manuel as his heir. Although he later contemplated legitimizing his remaining son, Jorge, he finally left the crown to Manuel.
Britannica Quiz
Kings and Emperors (Part III) Quiz
As king (from 1495), Manuel at once pardoned the banished Bragancas and restored their confiscated estates. But the monarchy soon acquired vast new wealth as
Vasco da Gama’s
voyage around Africa opened Portuguese trade with the East. In March 1500 Manuel sent
Pedro Alvares Cabral
with 13 ships to establish trade relations with the Indian princes. Cabral, sailing in the western Atlantic, sighted Brazil, sent back a ship to report the discovery, and continued around the
Cape of Good Hope
to India where he set up trading posts (
feitorias
) at Calicut, Cochin, and Cannanore, all on the Malabar coast of southwestern India. Although half his ships were lost, the
venture
was profitable. In 1502 da Gama took 20 ships and brought back gold as tribute from
East Africa
. Manuel was already wealthy by 1503. Meanwhile,
Joao Fernandes
Lavrador reached what was probably Labrador in 1499, and Gaspar Corte-Real discovered Newfoundland in 1500. The Brazilian coast was explored, though trade was virtually confined to the dyewood (brazilwood [
Caesalpinia echinata
], called
pau-brasil
in Portuguese) after which Brazil is named.
Manuel’s claims to these newly discovered lands were confirmed by the papacy and recognized by the
Spanish, with whom Manuel maintained close relations. His three queens were Spanish. The first was Isabella, eldest daughter of cosovereigns Ferdinand and Isabella and widow of John II’s
heir
. As a condition of the marriage, Manuel was to expel the
Jews
, many thousands of whom had been admitted by John II on their expulsion from Spain in 1492. Thus in December 1496 Manuel ordered Jews and free Muslims to quit Portugal within 10 months. On their assembly in
Lisbon
, every attempt was made to force their conversion. Some were allowed to leave, but the rest were “converted” under the promise that no inquiry should be made into their beliefs for 20 years.
Manuel and Isabella became heirs to the Spanish crowns on her brother’s death. They visited Toledo and Saragossa to receive oaths of
allegiance
in 1498, but the possibility of the union of the crowns ended when Isabella died in the same year while giving birth to their son Miguel, who died in infancy. In October Manuel married Isabella’s younger sister Maria, by whom he had nine children.
The consolidation of Portuguese influence in the East can be dated from the foundation of the fortress at
Cochin
in 1503 and its successful defense by
Duarte Pacheco Pereira
(1504). Manuel sent Dom
Francisco de Almeida
as the first viceroy of
Portuguese India
in 1505.
Afonso de Albuquerque
, who succeeded Almeida as governor, conquered Goa in 1510 and Malacca on the
Malay Peninsula
in 1511, bringing the distribution of oriental spices under Portuguese control. By 1513 the Portuguese had reached
China
.
Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content.
Subscribe Now
The crusading aspect of the expansion reached its
apogee
with Albuquerque, who nourished grandiose schemes for blockading the
Red Sea
and capturing Mecca.
Duarte Galvao’s attempts to persuade other European courts to join a crusade met with little response. The arrival of an Abyssinian envoy at Manuel’s court in 1514 suggested an alliance with the Christian negus (king) of that
country
, and Manuel appointed Galvao ambassador to Abyssinia. But the mission was delayed by Galvao’s death, and the crusading vision faded with the death of Albuquerque off Goa (December 1515). Manuel was no warrior: it was the Duke of Braganca who conquered Azamor in Morocco (1513).
The Indian traffic added enormously to the size and splendour of Manuel’s court. John II had cowed the ambitious nobles. Manuel converted them into a palace
aristocracy
, paying pensions to some 5,000 persons. Despite the brilliance of his age, Manuel appears in somewhat low relief. Most of the heroes of the day had made their mark under John II. Manuel was industrious, temperate, fond of music and display, and extravagant. He resided chiefly at Lisbon, where he built the waterside palace (near the present-day Terreiro do Paco), and at Sintra. The playwright-goldsmith
Gil Vicente
wrote for the court, which became a centre of minor poetry and painting. Manuel founded the palace-monastery of the Jeronimos at
Belem
and built the Tower of Belem; the
architecture
typical of the reign has been called “Manueline” only since the 19th century.
Under Manuel the
public administration
was increasingly centralized. A committee of royal officials revised town charters granted by previous rulers, standardized local privileges, and rationalized taxes. In 1515 Manuel ordered his council to revise the code of laws: his Ordenacoes Manuelinas were issued in 1512 and revised in 1521. The judiciary was enlarged, and royal
corregedores
were appointed to all districts. This carried forward the process of neo-Roman absolutism and assured the rise of the judicial class. Manuel also excepted the church and the military orders of knighthood from certain obligations. He severely punished those responsible for the
massacre
of Jews in 1506. Manuel married Eleanor of Austria, sister of the emperor Charles V, in 1518, and had one daughter by this marriage. He died at Lisbon in 1521 and was buried in the Jeronimos monastery.