Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
HENRY OF PORTUGAL
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: HEG-HIG
del.icio.us it!
|
See also: About this time, moreover, it is probable that he had begun to gather See also:information from the Moors with regard to the coast of " See also:Guinea " and the interior of Africa. In 1419, after his return to Portugal, he was created governor of the " See also:kingdom " of Algarve, the southernmost See also:province of Portugal; and his connexion now appears to have begun with what after-wards became known as the" Infante's See also:Town" (V ilia do .1-.ff ante) at Sagres, See also:close to Cape St See also:Vincent; where, before 1438, a Tercena Nabal or See also:naval See also:arsenal See also:grew up; where, from 1438, after the See also:Tangier expedition, the prince certainly resided for a See also:great See also:part of his later life; and where he died in 1460.
In 1433 died King John, exhorting his son not to abandon those schemes which were now, in the See also:long-continued failure to See also:round Cape Bojador, ridiculed by many as costly absurdities;and in 1434 one of the prince's See also:ships, commanded by Gil Eannes, at length doubled the cape. In 1435 Affonso Goncalvez Baldaya, the prince's See also:cup-See also:bearer, passed fifty leagues beyond; and before the close of 1436 the Portuguese had almost reached Cape Blanco. Plans of further conquest in Morocco, resulting in 1437 in the disastrous attack upon Tangier, and followed in 1438 by the See also:death of King Edward (Duarte) and the domestic troubles of the earlier minority of Affonso V., now interrupted Atlantic and African exploration down to 1441, except only in the Azores. Here rediscovery and colonization both progressed, as is shown by the royal See also:licence of the 2nd of See also:July 1439, to See also:people " the seven islands " of the group then known. In 1441 exploration began again in See also:earnest with the venture of Antam Gongalvez, who brought to Portugal the first slaves and See also:gold-dust from the Guinea coasts beyond Bojador; while Nuno Tristam in the same year pushed on to Cape Blanco. These successes produced a great effect; the cause of discovery, now connected with boundless hopes of profit, became popular; and many See also:volunteers, especially merchants and See also:seamen from See also:Lisbon and See also:Lagos, came forward. In 1442 Nuno Tristam reached the See also:Bay or See also:Bight of Arguim, where the infante erected a fort in 1448, and where for years the Portuguese carried on vigorous slave-raiding. Meantime the prince, who had now, in 1443, been created by Henry VI. a See also:knight of the Garter of See also:England, proceeded with his Sagres buildings, especially the See also:palace, See also: This was perhaps the most distant point reached before 146r. In 1444, moreover, the island of St See also:Michael in the Azores was sighted (May 8), and in 1445 its colonization was begun. During this latter year also John Fernandez (q.v.) spent seven months among the natives of the Arguim coast, and brought back the first trustworthy first-See also:hand European See also:account of the Sahara See also:hinterland. Slave-raiding continued ceaselessly; by 1446 the Portuguese had carried off nearly a thousand captives from the newly surveyed coasts; but between this time and the voyages of See also:Cadamosto (q.v.) in 1455-1456, the prince altered his policy, forbade the See also:kidnapping of the natives (which had brought about fierce See also:reprisals, causing the death of Nuno Tristam in 1446, and of other pioneers in 1445, 1448, &c.), and endeavoured to promote their peaceful inter-course with his men. In 1445-1446, again, Dom Henry renewed his earlier attempts (which had failed in 1424-1425) to purchase or seize the Canaries for Portugal; by these he brought his See also:country to the See also:verge of See also:war with Castile; but the See also:home See also:government refused to support him, and the project was again abandoned. After 1446 our most voluminous authority, See also:Azurara, records but little; his narrative ceases altogether in 1448; one of the latest expeditions noticed by him is that of a foreigner in the prince's service, " Vallarte the Dane," which ended in utter destruction near the See also:Gambia, after passing Cape Verde in 1448. After this the chief matters See also:worth See also:notice in Dom Henry's life are, first, the progress of discovery and colonization in the Azores —where See also:Terceira was discovered before 1450, perhaps in 1445,and apparently by a See also:Fleming, called " Jacques de See also:Bruges "- in the prince's See also:charter of the 2nd of March 1450 (by this charter Jacques receives the captaincy of this isle as its intending colonizer) ; secondly, the rapid progress of See also:civilization in Madeira, evidenced by its See also:timber See also:trade to Portugal, by its See also:sugar, See also:corn and See also:honey, and above all by its See also:wine, produced from the Malvoisie or See also:Malmsey See also:grape, introduced from See also:Crete; and thirdly, the explorations of Cadamosto and Diogo See also:Gomez (q.v.). Of these the former, in his two voyages of 1455 and 1456, explored part of the courses of the Senegal and the Gambia, discovered the Cape Verde Islands (1456), named and mapped more carefully than before a considerable See also:section of the African littoral beyond Cape Verde, and gave much new information on the trade-routes of See also:north-west Africa and on the native races; while Gomez, in his first important venture (after 1448 and before 1458), though not accomplishing the full See also:Indian purpose of his voyage (he took a native interpreter with him for use " in the event of reaching See also:India "), explored and observed in the Gambia valley and along the adjacent coasts with fully as much care and profit. As a result of these expeditions the infante seems to have sent out in 1458 a See also:mission to convert the Gambia negroes. Gomez' second voyage, resulting in another " discovery " of the Cape Verde Islands, was probably in 1462, after the death of Prince Henry; it is likely that among the infante's last occupations were the necessary See also:measures for the equipment and despatch of this venture, as well as of Pedro de Sintra's important expedition of 1461. The inf ante's See also:share in home politics was considerable, especially in the years of Affonso V.'s minority (1438, &c.) when he helped to make his See also:elder See also:brother Pedro See also:regent, reconciled him with the See also:queen-mother, and worked together with them both in a See also:council of regency. But when Dom Pedro See also:rose in revolt (1447), Henry stood by the king and allowed his brother to be crushed. In the Morocco See also:campaigns of his last years, especially at the See also:capture of Alcazar the Little (1458), he restored the military fame which he had founded at Ceuta and compromised at Tangier, and which brought him invitations from the See also:pope, the See also:emperor and the See also:kings of Castile and England, to take command of their armies. The prince was also grand See also:master of the See also:Order of See also:Christ, the successor of the See also:Templars in Portugal; and most of his Atlantic and African expeditions sailed under the See also:flag of his order, whose revenues were at the service of his explorations, in whose name he asked and obtained the See also:official recognition of Pope See also:Eugenius IV. for his work, and on which he bestowed many privileges in the new-won lands—the See also:tithes of St Michael in the Azores and one-half of its sugar revenues, the tithe of all merchandise from Guinea, the ecclesiastical dues of Madeira, &c. As " See also:protector of Portuguese studies," Dom Henry is credited with having founded a professorship of See also:theology, and perhaps also chairs of See also:mathematics and See also:medicine, in Lisbon—where also, in 1431, he is said to have provided See also:house-See also:room for the university teachers and students. To instruct his captains, pilots and other pioneers more fully in the See also:art of See also:navigation and the making of maps and See also:instruments he procured, says See also:Barros, the aid of one Master Jacome from See also:Majorca, together with that of certain Arab and Jewish mathematicians. We hear also of one Master See also:Peter, who inscribed and illuminated maps for the infante; the mathematician Pedro Nunes declares that the prince's mariners were well taught and provided with instruments and rules of See also:astronomy and See also:geometry " which all map-makers should know "; Cadamosto tells us that the Portuguese caravels in his See also:day were the best sailing ships afloat; while, from several matters recorded by Henry's biographers, it is clear that he devoted great See also:attention to the study of earlier charts and of any available information he could gain upon the trade-routes of north-west Africa. Thus we find an See also:Oran See also:merchant corresponding with him about events happening in the negro-See also:world of the Gambia See also:basin in 1458. Even if there were never a formal " See also:geographical school " at Sagres, or elsewhere in Portugal, founded by Prince Henry, it appears certain that his See also:court was the centre of active and useful geographical study, as well as the source of the best See also:practical exploration of the time. The prince died on the 13th of See also:November 146o, in his town near Cape St Vincent, and was buried in the church of St See also:Mary in Lagos, but a year later his See also:body was removed to the superb monastery of See also:Batalha. His great-See also:nephew, King Dom See also:Manuel, had a statue of him placed over the centre See also:column of the See also:side See also:gate of the church of Belem. On the 24th of July 1840, a See also:monument was erected to him at Sagres at the instance of the See also:marquis de Sa da Bandeira. The See also:glory attaching to the name of Prince Henry does not See also:rest merely on the achievements effected during his own lifetime, but on the subsequent results to which his See also:genius and perseverance had See also:lent the See also:primary See also:inspiration. To him the human See also:race isindebted, in large measure, for the maritime exploration, within one See also:century (1420-1522), of more than half the globe, and especially of the great waterways from See also:Europe to Asia both by See also:east and by west. His own life only sufficed for the accomplishment of a small portion of his task. The See also:complete opening out of the African or See also:south-east route to the Indies needed nearly See also:forty years of somewhat intermittent labour after his death (1460-1498), and the prince's share has often been forgotten in that of pioneers who were really his executors—Diogo See also:Cam, See also:Bartholomew Diaz or Vasco da Gama. Less directly, other sides of his activity may be considered as fulfilled by the Portuguese penetration of inland Africa, especially of See also:Abyssinia, the See also:land of the " Prester John for whom Dom Henry sought, and even by the finding of a western route to Asia through the discoveries of Columbus, See also:Balboa and See also:Magellan. See Alguns documentos do archivo See also:national da Torre do Tombo acerca das navega4aes . portuguezas (Lisbon, 1892); Alves, Dom Henrique o Infante (Oporto, 1894); Archivo dos Acores (Ponta Delgada, 187871894); Gomes Eannes de Azurara, Chronica do descobrimento e conquista de Guine, ed. Carreira and See also:Santarem (See also:Paris, 1841; Eng. trans. by See also:Raymond Beazley and See also:Edgar Prestage, See also:Hakluyt Society, See also:London, 1896–1899) ; Joao de Barros, Decades da Asia (Lisbon, 1652); Raymond Beazley, Prince Henry the Navigator (London, 1895), and introduction to Azurara, vol. ii., in Hakluyt See also:Soc. trans. (see above) ; See also:Antonio Cordeiro, Historia Insultana (Lisbon, 1717) ; See also:Freire (Candido Lusitano), See also:Vida do Infante D. Henrique (Lisbon, 1858) ; " Diogo Gomez," in Dr Schmeller's Uber Valentim Fernandez Alem¢o, vol. iv. pt. iii., in the publications of the 1st class of the Royal Bavarian See also:Academy of Sciences (See also:Munich, 1845); R. H. See also:Major, The Life of Henry of Portugal, surnamed the Navigator (London, 1868); Jules Mees, See also:Henri le Navigateur et l'academie . de Sagres (See also:Brussels, 1901), and Histoire de la decouverte See also:des Iles Acores (See also:Ghent, 1901); Duarte See also:Pacheco Pereira, Esmeraldo de situ orbis (Lisbon, 1892) ; Sophus See also:Ruge, " Prinz Heinrich der Seefahrer," in vol. 65 of Globus, p. 153 (See also:Brunswick, 1894); Gustav de Veer, Prinz Heinrich der Seefahrer (See also:Danzig, 1863) ; H. E. Wauwerman, Henri le Navigateur et l'academie bortugaise de Sagres (See also:Antwerp and Brussels, 1890). (C. R. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] HENRY OF LORRAINE |
[next] HENRY PETTY FITZMAURICE |