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John II of Portugal

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John II (Template:Langx;Template:Efn {{#invoke:IPA|main}}; 3 May 1455 – 25 October 1495),Template:Sfn called the Perfect Prince (Template:Langx), was King of Portugal from 1481 until his death in 1495, and also for a brief time in 1477. He is known for reestablishing the power of the Portuguese monarchy, reinvigorating the economy of Portugal, and renewing the Portuguese exploration of Africa and Asia.

Early lifeEdit

Born in Lisbon on 3 May 1455, John was the second son of Afonso V of Portugal and Isabella of Coimbra.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn At one month old, on 25 June 1455, he was declared legitimate heir to the crown and received an oath of allegiance from the three estates.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In 1468, Afonso V and Henry IV of Castile attempted to arrange a double marriage in which John would marry Henry's daughter, Joanna, and Afonso would marry Henry's half-sister and heir-presumptive, Isabella of Castile.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn However, Isabella refused to consent to the arrangement.Template:Sfn Instead, John married Eleanor of Viseu, his first cousin and the eldest daughter of Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu,Template:Sfn on 22 January 1471.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Early campaignsEdit

File:Príncipe D. João no Cerco de Arzila (Tapeçarias de Pastrana).png
CitationClass=web }}</ref> The tapestries were commissioned by Afonso V to celebrate Portuguese victories in Morocco.Template:Sfn

John accompanied his father in the campaigns in northern Africa and was knighted after the victory in the Conquest of Arzila in August 1471.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Participation in the War of the Castilian SuccessionEdit

Template:Further Following the death of Henry IV of Castile in December 1474 and the accession of his half-sister, Isabella, a faction of the nobility hostile to Isabella offered the Castilian crown to Afonso V, provided he wed Henry's daughter, Joanna.Template:Sfn John urged his father to marry Joanna and invade Castile, but leading nobles, namely the Marquis of Vila Viçosa, opposed this conviction. Afonso sent an envoy to assess support for Joanna's cause and after receiving "favorable accounts respecting the partisans of the Infanta", he ordered war preparations to be made for the following spring.Template:Sfn

On 12 May 1475, Afonso and John entered Castile with an army of 5,600 cavalry and 14,000 foot soldiers. Afonso V proceeded to Palencia to meet Joanna while John returned home to govern the kingdom.Template:Sfn On May 25, Joanna and Afonso were betrothed and proclaimed sovereigns of Castile.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn In the same month, John's wife, Eleanor, gave birth to the couple's only child to survive infancy, Afonso.Template:Sfn

In late 1475, Afonso, with only a fragment of his army remaining,Template:Sfn wrote letters to John imploring him to provide reinforcements.Template:Sfn John raised an army and left for Castile again in January 1476, appointing Eleanor regent of the kingdom.Template:Sfn

In March 1476, at Toro, Afonso V and John and some 8,000 men faced Castilian forces of similar size led by Isabella's husband, Ferdinand of Aragon, Cardinal Mendoza and the Duke of Alba.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> King Afonso V was beaten by the left and center of King Ferdinand's army and fled from the battlefield. John defeated the Castilian right wing, recovered the lost Portuguese Royal standard, and held the field,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> but overall the battle was indecisive.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Despite its uncertain<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="French historian Joseph-Louis Desormeaux (33)">Template:Cite book</ref> outcome, the Battle of Toro represented a great political victory<ref name="Spanish academic António M. (34)">↓Template:Broken anchor Spanish academic António M. Serrano: " From all of this it is deductible that the battle [of Toro] was inconclusive, but Isabella and Ferdinand made it fly with wings of victory. (...) Actually, since this battle transformed in victory; since 1 March 1476, Isabella and Ferdinand started to rule in the Spain's throne. (...) The inconclusive wings of the battle became the secure and powerful wings of San Juan's eagle [the commemorative temple of the Battle of Toro] ." in San Juan de los Reyes y la batalla de Toro, revista Toletum Template:Webarchive, segunda época, 1979 (9), pp. 55–70 Template:Webarchive. Real Academia de Bellas Artes y Ciencias Históricas de Toledo, Toledo. ISSN: 0210-6310 Template:Webarchive</ref><ref name="A. Ballesteros Beretta (35)">↓Template:Broken anchor A. Ballesteros Beretta: "His moment is the inconclusive Battle of Toro.(...) both sides attributed themselves the victory.... The letters written by the King [Ferdinand] to the main cities... are a model of skill. (...) what a powerful description of the battle! The nebulous transforms into light, the doubtful acquires the profile of a certain triumph. The politic [Ferdinand] achieved the fruits of a discussed victory." In Fernando el Católico, el mejor rey de España, Ejército revue, nr 16, p. 56, May 1941.</ref><ref name="Vicente Álvarez Palenzuela (36)">↓Template:Broken anchor Vicente Álvarez Palenzuela- La guerra civil Castellana y el enfrentamiento con Portugal (1475–1479): "That is the battle of Toro. The Portuguese army had not been exactly defeated, however, the sensation was that D. Juana's cause had completely sunk. It made sense that for the Castilians Toro was considered as the divine retribution, the compensation desired by God to compensate the terrible disaster of Aljubarrota, still alive in the Castilian memory".</ref><ref name="Spanish academic Rafael Dominguez (37)">↓Template:Broken anchor Spanish academic Rafael Dominguez Casas: "...San Juan de los Reyes resulted from the royal will to build a monastery to commemorate the victory in a battle with an uncertain outcome but decisive, the one fought in Toro in 1476, which consolidated the union of the two most important Peninsular Kingdoms." In San Juan de los reyes: espacio funerário y aposento régio in Boletín del Seminário de Estúdios de Arte y Arqueologia, number 56, p. 364, 1990.</ref> for Isabella and Ferdinand and Afonso's prospects for obtaining the Castilian crown were severely damaged. John promptly returned to Portugal to disband the remnants of his army,Template:Sfn arriving the first week of April.Template:Sfn

De facto ruleEdit

Months after the Battle of Toro, in August 1476, Afonso V travelled to France hoping to obtain the assistance of King Louis XI in his fight against Castile.Template:Sfn In September 1477, disheartened that his efforts to secure support had proved fruitless, Afonso abdicated the throne and embarked on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He was eventually persuaded to return to Portugal, where he arrived in November 1477.Template:Sfn John had been proclaimed king days prior to Afonso's arrival, but relinquished his new title and insisted that his father reassume the crown.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

From 1477 to 1481, John and Afonso V were "practically corulers."Template:Sfn John, given control of overseas policy in 1474 and concerned with consolidating Portuguese control of Africa, played a major role in negotiating the Treaty of Alcáçovas (1479) with Spain that concluded the War of the Castilian Succession and ensured Portugal hegemony in the Atlantic south of the Canary Islands.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The treaty also arranged for the marriage of John's son, Afonso, to the eldest daughter of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella.Template:Sfn

Following his father's death on 28 August 1481,Template:Sfn John was proclaimed King of Portugal and crowned at Sintra on 31 August.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

ReignEdit

Consolidation of powerEdit

File:D. João II em iluminura do Livro dos Copos (1490-1498).png
Miniature of King John II in the Livro dos Copos, a manuscript written between 1490 and 1498

Template:Nowrap accession to the throne, John strived to diminish the power and influence of the nobility that had greatly accumulated during his father's reign.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn In 1481, he assembled the Cortes in Evora and held a grand oath-taking ceremony in which magnates and other subjects were required to swear allegiance to him as their unequivocal superior.Template:Sfn The ceremony was perceived as humiliating by members of the upper nobility who were accustomed to the feudal tradition of acknowledging the king as simply first among equals.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn At the Cortes, John further enraged nobles by declaring that property title deeds would undergo examination to ensure their validity, as opposed to being confirmed in mass. After representatives of commoners voiced grievances concerning abuses committed by the nobility and clergy, he deprived nobles of their right to administer justice on their estates,<ref name=Prestage>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> instead authorizing crown officials or corregedors to inspect and dispense justice throughout the realm.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn<ref>Template:Harvnb. "...and by informing the Cortes that he had appointed competent persons to examine the validity of the deeds and titles of the grants made up to the time of his accession to the throne, the grandson of the Infante D. Pedro clearly defined the position he was taking. Therefore, by placing himself on the side of the Councils and upholding them, he virtually cast down the gauntlet anew with the point of his lance, that gauntlet which at his suggestions had been flung in the face of the nobility.

War was therefore declared – a war which D. Joao II. hoped, with the aid of the masses, to terminate with advantage, and by increasing his prerogatives. Continuing the proposed reform, he ordered his magistrates (corregedores) heedless of the protests of the nobles, to enter into the lands of such as held jurisdictions, and investigate the abuses and violence said to be practised in the administration of justice. By this he virtually claimed one of the most important rights of the sovereignty, and boldly rent asunder the privileges of the most powerful favourites of his father. These resolutions, taken at the very commencement of the reign, formed the basis of the revolution commenced by D. Joao II. in favour of monarchical union."</ref>

Such aggressive assertions of royal supremacy roused resentment amongst the nobility.Template:Sfn By 1482, Fernando, Duke of Braganza, the wealthiest nobleman in Portugal, and his followers had begun conspiring for John's deposition, allegedly receiving support from the Catholic Monarchs.Template:Sfn John responded by having Fernando arrested, tried and convicted of twenty-two counts of treason, and publicly beheaded in June 1483.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Afterwards, the assets of the House of Braganza were confiscated and the family fled to Castile.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Braganza's execution caused even more intrigue among the upper-nobility, who rallied behind Diogo, Duke of Viseu, John's cousin and brother to his Queen Consort, Eleanor.Template:Sfn In September 1484, John summoned Diogo to his private chambers, confronted him with evidence of treason, and stabbed him to death.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Efn Other ringleaders involved in the plot were persecuted.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Ultimately, John succeeded in enriching the Crown by executing or exiling most of Portugal's feudal lords and confiscating their estates.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn For the rest of his reign, he kept the creation of titles to a bare minimum.Template:Sfn

Economy and administrationEdit

Under John's direction, commercial activity in Africa became a crown monopoly.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The immense profits generated by African ventures<ref>Template:Harvnb. "The Portuguese crown brought in 8,000 ounces of gold per year between 1487 and 1489, enough to mint 64,000 Venetian ducats' worth of gold currency. That was already a substantial amount, which rose further to 22,500 ounces (roughly 180,000 ducats' worth) between 1494 and 1496. Those amounts did not count the massive revenues from other sources, such as the 1.1 million reis the Florentine merchant Marchionni paid for a monopoly on trading in Benin in 1487."</ref> enabled the king to fund exploration expeditions, reduce his reliance on the cortes for financial support,Template:Sfn and strengthen the monarchy's power over the nobility.Template:Sfn

John established a new court called the Mesa or Tribunal do Desembargo do Paco to supervise petitions for pardon, privileges, freedoms, and legislation.Template:Sfn He also instituted annual elections for the judges, clerks, and hospital stewards under federal jurisdiction.Template:Sfn His attempts to centralize hospitals across Portugal were not implemented fully but paved the way for the radical reforms introduced during the reign of Manuel I.Template:Sfn

ExplorationEdit

John II famously restored the policies of Atlantic exploration, reviving and broadening the work of his great-uncle, Henry the Navigator.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Portuguese explorations were his main priority in government, patronising both local and foreign men, such as João Afonso de Aveiro and Martin Behaim, to further his goals. Portuguese explorers pushed south along the known coast of Africa with the purpose of discovering the maritime route to India and breaking into the spice trade.Template:Sfn During John II's reign, the following achievements were realised:Template:Efn

In 1484, John appointed a Maritime Advisory Committee, the Junta dos Mathematicos, to supervise navigational efforts and provide explorers with charts and instruments.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Around the same time, Christopher Columbus proposed his planned voyage to John.<ref name="Rickey1992224">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Sfn The king relegated Columbus's proposal to the Committee, who rejected it, correctly, on the grounds that Columbus's estimate for a voyage of 2,400 nmi was only a quarter of what it should have been.Template:Sfn In 1488, Columbus again appealed to the court of Portugal, and John II again granted him an audience.Template:Sfn That meeting also proved unsuccessful, in part because not long afterwards Bartolomeu Dias returned to Portugal with news of his successful rounding of the southern tip of Africa (near the Cape of Good Hope).Template:Sfn<ref name="Pinheiro-Marques2016">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="SymcoxSullivan2016">Template:Cite book</ref> Columbus then sought an audience with the Catholic Monarchs and eventually secured their support.

Conflict with CastileEdit

File:D. João II – Museu de Marinha.jpg
Portrait of King John II at the Navy Museum

While returning home from his first voyage early in 1493, Columbus was driven by storm into the port of Lisbon.Template:Sfn John II welcomed him warmly but asserted that under the Treaty of Alcáçovas previously signed with Spain, Columbus's discoveries lay within Portugal's sphere of influence.Template:Sfn The king then prepared a fleet under Francisco de Almeida to claim the new islands.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Anxious to avoid war, the Catholic Monarchs arranged negotiations in the small Spanish town of Tordesillas.Template:Sfn The result of this meeting would be the famous Treaty of Tordesillas, which sought to divide all newly discovered lands in the New World between Spain and Portugal.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Religious policyEdit

John sanctioned several anti-Jewish laws at the behest of parliamentary representatives, including restrictions on Jewish clothing and the emancipation of Christian converts owned by Jews.Template:Sfn However, the king's personal attitude towards Portuguese Jews has been described as pragmatic, as he valued their economic contributions and defended them against unjust harassment.Template:Sfn

After the Catholic Monarchs expelled Jews from Castile and Aragon in 1492, John authorized the admission of tens of thousands of Jews into Portugal at the price of eight cruzados a head but refused to let them stay longer than eight months.Template:Sfn Of the some 20,000 families that entered Portugal,Template:Sfn only 600 of the most affluent Castilian Jewish families succeeded in obtaining permanent residence permits.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Jews unable to leave the country within the specified interval (often the result of poverty) were reduced to slavery and were not liberated until the reign of John's successor, Manuel.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn ManyTemplate:Efn children of the enslaved Castilian Jews were seized from their parents and deported to the African island of São Tomé in order to be raised there as Christians and serve as colonists.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Succession and deathEdit

In July 1491, John's only legitimate child, Prince Afonso, died in a horse accident, confronting Portugal with a succession crisis.Template:Sfn The king wanted his illegitimate son Jorge to succeed him but Queen Eleanor was intent on securing succession for her younger brother Manuel, the legal heir presumptive.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Following bitter disputes with Eleanor and a failed petition to Rome to have Jorge legitimized, John finally recognized Manuel as his heir in his will while on his deathbed in September 1495.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

John died of dropsy at Alvor on 25 October 1495 and was succeeded by Manuel I.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn He was initially interred at the Silves Cathedral, but his remains were transferred to the Monastery of Batalha in 1499.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Sfn

LegacyEdit

The nickname the Perfect Prince is a posthumous appellation that is intended to refer to Niccolò Machiavelli's work The Prince.Template:Citation needed John II is considered to have lived his life exactly according to the writer's idea of a perfect prince. Nevertheless, he was admired as one of the greatest European monarchs of his time. Isabella I of Castile often referred to him as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (The Man).Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The Italian scholar Poliziano wrote a letter to John II that paid him a profound homage:

to render you thanks on behalf of all who belong to this century, which now favours of your quasi-divine merits, now boldly competing with ancient centuries and all Antiquity.

Indeed, Poliziano considered his achievements to be more meritorious than those of Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar. He offered to write an epic work giving an account of John II accomplishments in navigation and conquests. The king replied in a positive manner in a letter of 23 October 1491, but delayed the commission.<ref>Template:Cite book (Translation of the latin by Teófilo Braga) "render-vos graças em nome de todos quantos pertencemos a este século, o qual agora, por favor dos vossos méritos quasi-divinos, ousa já denodadamente competir com os vetustos séculos e com toda a antiguidade."</ref>

In popular cultureEdit

Marriage and descendantsEdit

Name Birth Death Notes
By Leonor of Viseu (2 May 1458 – 17 November 1525; married in January 1471)
Infante Afonso 18 May 1475 13 July 1491 Prince of Portugal. Died in a horse riding accident. Because of the premature death of the prince, the throne was inherited by Manuel of Viseu, Duke of Beja, son of Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu, who reigned as Manuel I, 14th King of Portugal.
Stillborn 1483 1483 Stillborn son, born in 1483.
By Ana de Mendonça (c. 1460-?)
JorgeTemplate:Sfn 21 August 1481 22 July 1550 Natural son known as Jorge de Lancastre, Duke of Coimbra.

AncestryEdit

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NotesEdit

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ReferencesEdit

CitationsEdit

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SourcesEdit

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