Afonso V (15 January 1432 – 28 August 1481), called
the African , was the twelfth
King of Portugal and the Algarves. His sobriquet refers to his conquests in Northern Africa.
He was born in
SintraSintra is a town in Sintra Municipality in Portugal, located in the Grande Lisboa subregion and the Lisbon Region. The town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site on account of its 19th century Romantic architecture....
, the eldest son of King
Edward of PortugalEdward, , called the Philosopher or the Eloquent, was the eleventh King of Portugal and the Algarve and second Lord of Ceuta from 1433 until his death. He was the son of John I of Portugal and his wife, Philippa of Lancaster, a daughter of John of Gaunt...
by his wife, Infanta
Eleanor of AragonEleanor of Aragon was the daughter of Ferdinand I of Aragon and Eleanor of Alburquerque.She married King Edward of Portugal on 22 September 1428...
. Afonso V was only six years old when he succeeded his father in 1438.
During his minority, Afonso V was placed under the regency of his mother, according to a late will of his father. As both a foreigner and a woman, the queen was not a popular choice for regent. Opposition rose and the queen's only ally was Afonso, Count of Barcelos, the illegitimate half brother of Duarte I and count of Barcelos. In the following year, the
Cortes (assembly of the kingdom) decided to replace the queen with
Infante Pedro, Duke of CoimbraThe Infante Pedro, Duke of Coimbra
KG , was a Portuguese infante of the House of Aviz, son of King John I of Portugal and his wife Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt. In Portugal he is better known as Infante D. Pedro das Sete Partidas [do Mundo], "of the Seven Parts...
, the young king's oldest uncle. His main policies were concerned with avoiding the development of great noble houses, kingdoms inside the kingdom, and concentrating power in the person of the king. The country prospered under his rule, but not peacefully, as his laws interfered with the ambition of powerful nobles. The count of Barcelos, a personal enemy of the Duke of Coimbra (despite being half-brothers) eventually became the king's favourite uncle and began a constant struggle for power. In 1442, the king made Afonso the first
Duke of BraganzaThe title Duke of Braganza in the House of Braganza is one of the most important titles in the peerage of Portugal, as the ancient Duchy of Braganza , is one of the oldest and most important dukedoms in Portugal...
. With this title and its lands, he became the most powerful man in Portugal and one of the richest men in Europe. To secure his position as regent, in 1445 Pedro married his daughter, Isabel of Coimbra, Infanta of Portugal, to Afonso V.
But in 9 June 1448, when the king came of age, Pedro had to surrender his power to Afonso V. The years of conspiracy by the Duke of Braganza finally came to a head. On 15 September of the same year, Afonso V nullified all the laws and edicts approved under the regency. The situation became unstable and, in the following year, being led by what he afterwards discovered to be false representations, Afonso declared Pedro a rebel and defeated his army in the
Battle of AlfarrobeiraThe Battle of Alfarrobeira took place on May 20 1449. It was a confrontation between the forces commanded by King Afonso V of Portugal and his uncle Afonso, Duke of Braganza, against the army of the rebellious Pedro, Duke of Coimbra. The place was Alverca do Ribatejo, near Lisbon, at the margins...
, in which both his uncle and father in law was killed. After this battle and the loss of one of Portugal's most remarkable infantes, the Duke of Braganza became the
de facto ruler of the country.
Afonso V then turned his attentions to the North of Africa. In his grandfather's (
John I of PortugalJohn I , called the Good or of Happy Memory, was the tenth King of Portugal and the Algarve and the first to use the title Lord of Ceuta...
) reign,
CeutaCeuta is an autonomous city of Spain located on the North African side of the Strait of Gibraltar, on the Mediterranean, which separates it from the Spanish mainland. The area of Ceuta is approximately ....
had been conquered from the king of
MoroccoMorocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 32 million and an area just under . Its capital is Rabat, and its largest city is Casablanca. Morocco has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the...
, now the new king wanted to expand the conquests. The king's army conquered Alcácer Ceguer (1458), Tangiers (won and lost several times between 1460 and 1464) and Arzila (1471). This achievements granted the king the nickname of
the African. The king also supported the exploration of the
Atlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres , it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface and about one-quarter of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek...
led by prince
Henry the NavigatorHenry the Navigator was an infante of the Kingdom of Portugal and an important figure in the early days of the Portuguese Empire, being responsible for the beginning of the European worldwide explorations.Henry the Navigator was the third child of King John I of Portugal, the founder of the Aviz...
but, after Henry's death in 1460 he did nothing to pursue this course of action. Administratively, Afonso V was an absent king, since he did not pursue development of laws or commerce, preferring to stand with the legacy of his father and grandfather.
In 1452,
Pope Nicholas VPope Nicholas V , born Tommaso Parentucelli, was Pope from March 6, 1447 to his death in 1455.-Biography:He was born at Sarzana, Liguria, where his father was a physician...
issued the
papal bullA Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a pope. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end to authenticate it....
Dum DiversasDum Diversas is a papal bull issued on June 18, 1452 by Pope Nicholas V, that is credited by some with "ushering in the West African slave trade." It authorized Afonso V of Portugal to conquer Saracens and pagans and consign them to indefinite slavery...
, granting Afonso V the right to reduce any "Saracens, pagans and any other unbelievers" to hereditary slavery. This approval of slavery was reaffirmed and extended in the
Romanus PontifexRomanus Pontifex is a papal bull written January 8 1455 by Pope Nicholas V to King Afonso V of Portugal. As a follow-up to the Dum Diversas, it confirmed to the Crown of Portugal dominion over all lands discovered or conquered during the Age of Discovery. Along with encouraging the seizure of the...
bull of 1455 (also by Nicholas V). These papal bulls came to serve as a justification for the subsequent era of slave trade and European colonialism.
When the campaigns in Africa were over, Afonso V found new grounds for battle in the Iberian Peninsula. In neighbouring
CastileThe Crown of Castile, as a historic entity, is usually considered to have begun in 1230 with the third and almost definitive union of the monarchies of kingdoms Castile and Toledo in one hand, and the kingdoms of Leon and Galicia in other hand, and with the union of their parliaments a few decades...
, a huge scandal with political and dynastic implications had arisen. King
Henry IV of CastileHenry IV , King of Castile, nicknamed the Impotent , was the last of the weak late medieval kings of Castile. During Enrique's reign the nobles increased in power and the nation became less centralised...
died without a male heir. From his two marriages, only a daughter,
Joan, princess of CastileJuana of Castile, known also as la Beltraneja was a princess of Castile.-Birth:Her birth caused a scandal in the Castilian court. Her mother was Joan of Portugal, the spouse of Henry IV of Castile. The king had no other children from this or the previous marriage and rumour said he was impotent...
had been born. But her paternity was questioned, as rumour said the king was impotent and the queen, princess Joana of Portugal, had a notorious affair with a nobleman called
Beltrán de La CuevaBeltrán de la Cueva y Alfonso de Mercado, 1st Duke of Alburquerque, , , was a Spanish nobleman and presumed lover of Queen Joan of Portugal.-Early life:...
. The birth of princess Joan in 1462, openly called
the Beltraneja, caused the divorce of her parents. She was never considered legitimate and, when the king was dying, no one took her as a serious contender for the crown. Her aunt,
Isabella I of CastileIsabella I was Queen of Castile and León. She and her husband, Ferdinand II of Aragon, laid the foundation for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor....
, was due to inherit the crown, but Afonso V was keen to interfere with the succession in Castile. In 1475 he
married his niecePedigree collapse is a term created by Robert C. Gunderson to describe how reproduction between two individuals who knowingly or unknowingly share an ancestor causes the family tree of their offspring to be smaller than it could be.- How it works :...
Joan, the Beltraneja, whom he considered the legitimate heir to the crown. Since her adulteress mother was his own sister, Afonso V had not only ambition, but the family honour to protect. He proclaimed himself king of Castile and
LeónKingdom of León was an independent country situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in 910 AD when the Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their main seat from Oviedo to the city of León...
and prepared to defend his wife's rights. In the following year he was defeated at the Battle of Toro by King
Ferdinand II of AragonFerdinand the Catholic was King of Aragon , Sicily , Naples , Valencia, Sardinia, and Navarre, Count of Barcelona, de jure uxoris King of Castile and then Regent of that country also from 1508 to his death, in the name of his mentally unstable daughter Joanna the...
, the husband of Isabella of Castile. He went to
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
to obtain the assistance of
Louis XILouis XI , called the Prudent and the Universal Spider or the Spider King, was the King of France from 1461 to 1483...
, but finding himself deceived by the French monarch, he returned to Portugal in 1477 in very low spirits. Disillusioned and depressed, he fell into a deep melancholy and abdicated in favour of his son Prince João (future
John IIJoão II , the Perfect Prince , was the thirteenth king of Portugal and the Algarves...
). After this, he retired to a monastery in Sintra where he died in 1481. His death was mourned in the country, by the people who loved the king, and by the nobles who were starting to fear his successor.
Afonso was a direct descendant of
Edward III of EnglandEdward III was one of the most successful English monarchs of the Middle Ages. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into the most efficient military power in Europe...
through his son John of Gaunt and therefore was a direct descendant of William the Conqueror, King of England.
Marriages and descendants
Afonso married first to his cousin
Isabel of CoimbraInfanta Isabel of Coimbra was a Portuguese infanta and the first wife of King Afonso V of Portugal.She was a daughter of Infante Pedro, Duke of Coimbra and Isabella of Aragon, Countess of Urgel...
in 1447. Isabel died in 1455 and Afonso married again (although not recognized by the Papacy) in 1475, this time to
Joan of CastileJuana of Castile, known also as la Beltraneja was a princess of Castile.-Birth:Her birth caused a scandal in the Castilian court. Her mother was Joan of Portugal, the spouse of Henry IV of Castile. The king had no other children from this or the previous marriage and rumour said he was impotent...
(known as "la Beltraneja"), daughter of
Henry IV of CastileHenry IV , King of Castile, nicknamed the Impotent , was the last of the weak late medieval kings of Castile. During Enrique's reign the nobles increased in power and the nation became less centralised...
and
Joan of PortugalThe Infanta Joana was the second Queen consort of King Henry IV of Castile and a Portuguese infanta , the posthumous daughter of King Edward of Portugal and his wife Eleanor of Aragon...
. This marriage was an attempt to inherit the throne of Castile as Joan was the sole daughter of Henry IV. However this didn't happen as Afonso lost a short war with Castile.
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|
By Isabel of CoimbraInfanta Isabel of Coimbra was a Portuguese infanta and the first wife of King Afonso V of Portugal.She was a daughter of Infante Pedro, Duke of Coimbra and Isabella of Aragon, Countess of Urgel...
(1432- 2 December 1455; married on 6 May 1447) |
| Prince João (John) |
29 January 1451 |
1451 |
Crown Prince of Portugal (1451). |
| Princess Joana (Joan) |
6 February 1452 |
12 May 1490 |
Crown Princess of Portugal (1452-1455). Known as Saint Joan of Portugal or Saint Joan Princess. Canonized in 1693 by Pope Innocent XIIPope Innocent XII , born Antonio Pignatelli was Pope from 1691 to 1700. He was the successor of Pope Alexander VIII .-Biography:...
|
Prince JoãoJoão II , the Perfect Prince , was the thirteenth king of Portugal and the Algarves...
(John) |
3 March 1455 |
25 October 1495 |
Who succeeded him as John, 13th King of Portugal. |
Joan of CastileJuana of Castile, known also as la Beltraneja was a princess of Castile.-Birth:Her birth caused a scandal in the Castilian court. Her mother was Joan of Portugal, the spouse of Henry IV of Castile. The king had no other children from this or the previous marriage and rumour said he was impotent...
(1462-1530; married on 30 May 1475) |
| By Maria Álvares de Carvalho (?-?) |
| Álvaro Soares de Carvalho |
c. 1467 |
1557 |
Natural son. |
|-