Everything about Ant Nio Prior Of Crato totally explained
» For the Portuguese infante see: Infante António of Portugal.:
For the Monagesque prince, see Antonio I of Monaco.
António, Prior of Crato (;
Lisbon,
1531 –
Paris,
August 26,
1595; sometimes, rarely, called
The Determined,
The Fighter or
The Independentist), was a grandson of King
Manuel I of Portugal, claimant of the
Portuguese throne
during the 1580 dynastic crisis,
King of Portugal between 1580 and 1581, and, after the crowning of
Philip I of Portugal, claimant to the throne until
1583, in the
Azores.
Life
Early life
António was the illegitimate son (some argue his parents later married perhaps at
Évora) of Prince
Louis, Duke of Beja (
1506–
1555) and
Violante Gomes (for long
accused of being a
Jewess or a
New Christian, but in fact a member of the small Portuguese nobility, who died a
nun in
Almoster,
Santarém, on
16 July 1568, daughter of Pedro Gomes, from Évora ). This made him the grandson of King
Manuel I (
1495–
1521). Due to his illegitimate status, his claim to the throne was considered invalid; furthermore, his father was also
Prior of
Crato (that enabled him to marry without a Pope's dispensation). He was a disciple of
Bartolomeu dos Mártires.
António was educated in
Coimbra, and placed in the
Order of St. John. He was endowed with the wealthy priory of
Crato. In
1571 he was governor of the
Portuguese North African fortification of
Tangier. Nonetheless, little is known of his life until
1578. In that year, he accompanied King
Sebastian of Portugal (
1557–
1578) in his invasion of
Morocco, and was taken prisoner by the
Moors in the
Battle of Alcazarquivir, where the young King was slain. António is said to have secured his release on easy terms by a fiction. He was asked the meaning of the cross of St. John that he wore on his doublet, and replied that it was the sign of a small benefice which he held from the
Pope, and would lose if he were not back by the 1st of January. His captor, believing him to be a poor man, allowed him to escape for a small ransom.
Claimant to the throne of Portugal
On his return to Portugal, António laid his claim to the throne. His pretensions were, however, denied. His uncle, Cardinal King
Henry I of Portugal, the only surviving brother of King
John III of Portugal (
1521–
1557), became the new monarch. The cardinal was old and the last legitimate male representative of the royal line. In January
1580, when the
Cortes were assembled in
Almeirim (where the rightful heir of the Portuguese throne was decided), the old
Cardinal-King Henry died. The regency of the kingdom was assumed by a governing junta composed of five members.
By this time, the Portuguese throne was
disputed by several claimants. Among them were
Catherine, Duchess of Braganza (1540–1614), her nephew the 11 years old
Ranuccio I Farnese, Duke of Parma, King
Philip II of Spain and the Prior of Crato himself. The Duchess was later named as the legitimate heir, after her descendants obtained the throne in 1640 (through King
John IV of Portugal), but at that time, she was one of possible heirs. According to feudal custom, her late older sister's son Ranuccio, an
Italian, was the closest heir, followed by the Duchess herself, and only after them, King Philip. Philip II descended from Manuel I through a female line. As for António, although King Manuel I's grandson in male line, he was an illegitimate grandson.
António, relying on the popular hostility to a
Spanish ruler (even if Philip's mother was Portuguese), presented himself as an alternative candidate to King Philip II. He endeavoured to prove that his father and mother were married after his birth but no evidence of the marriage could be found at the time (and is still question of debate). António's claim, which was inferior to those of
Philip II and the
Duchess of Braganza, wasn't supported by the nobles or gentry. His partisans were drawn almost exclusively from the inferior clergy, the peasants and workmen. Moreover, Philip managed to bribe the upper classes of Portugal with gold from the
Americas which ensured the success of his pursuit of the
Portuguese crown. For them, the idea of a
personal union of the crowns with
Spain would be highly profitable for Portugal, which had been experiencing an economic downturn at the time, and would maintain formal independence as well as authonomous adminstration (in
Europe and the
empire).
António tried to win the common people to his cause, cashing in the diffuse anti-Spanish Portuguese identity and comparing the current situation to the one of the
1383-1385 Crisis. Then, just as in
1580, the king of
Castile invoked arguments of blood nature to inherit the Portuguese throne; and like in 1580, the
Master of Aviz (
John), illegitimate son of King
Peter I of Portugal, claimed his rights to the throne that ended in victory in the
Battle of Aljubarrota and in the
Cortes of
Coimbra in
1385.
Proclaims himself king
In
July 24 1580, António proclaimed himself
King of Portugal in
Santarém which was followed by popular acclamation in several locations of the country. However, he governed in
Continental Portugal for only 20 days, culminating in his defeat in the
Battle of Alcântara by the Spanish
Habsburg armies led by
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba on
August 25.
After the above event, he attempted to rule Portugal from
Terceira Island, in the
Azores, where he established an opposition government to what he saw as the Spanish occupation that lasted until 1583, and where he even minted coin — a typical act of sovereignty and royalty. Because of that, many authors consider him the last monarch of the
House of Aviz (instead of Cardinal-King Henry) and the 18th King of Portugal.
His government on
Terceira Island was only recognized in the Azores. In the continent and in the
Madeira Islands, power was exercised by
Philip II, who was recognized as official king the following year by the Portuguese
Cortes of
Tomar.
Exile
In early
1581, he fled to
France carrying with him the crown jewels, including many valuable
diamonds. He was well received by
Catherine de' Medici, who had a claim of her own to the Crown of Portugal. She looked upon him as a convenient instrument to be used against Philip II. By promising to cede the Portuguese colony of
Brazil to her and the sale of some of his jewels, António secured support to fit out a fleet manned by Portuguese exiles and French and English adventurers.
As the Habsburgs hadn't yet occupied the
Azores, he sailed for them with a number of
French adventurers under
Philip Strozzi, a
Florentine exile in the service of France, but was utterly defeated at sea by the
Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz at the
Battle of Ponta Delgada off
Terceira Island on
July 26, and off
São Miguel Island on
July 27,
1582. He then returned to France and lived for a time in
Ruel near
Paris. Fear of assassins, employed by Philip II to remove him, drove António from one refuge to another until he finally went to
England.
Queen
Elizabeth I of England favoured him for much the same reasons as Catherine de' Medici did. In
1589, the year after the
Spanish Armada, he accompanied an English expedition, under the command of
Francis Drake and Norris, to the coast of Spain and Portugal. The force consisted partly of the queen's ships, and in part by
privateers who joined in search of booty. António, with all the credulity of an exile, believed that his presence would provoke a general rising against Philip II. However, none took place and the expedition was a costly failure.
Latter days and death
António soon fell into poverty. His remaining diamonds were disposed of by degrees. The last and finest was acquired by
Nicholas Harlai, Seigneur de Sancy, from whom it was purchased by
Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully. It was later included in the jewels of the crown. During his last days, he lived as a private gentleman on a small pension given by King
Henry IV of France. He died in
Paris on
August 26,
1595. He left six illegitimate sons by two different women. In addition to papers which he published to defend his claims, António was the author of the
Panegyrus Alphonsi Lusitanorum Regis (
Coimbra 1550), and of a
cento of the
Psalms,
Psalmi Confessionales (Paris 1592), which was translated into
English under the title of
The Royal Penitent by Francis Chamberleyn (
London 1659), and into
German as
Heilige Betrachtungen (
Marburg, 1677).
António continued to fight for the restoration of and independent Royal Dinasty of his country until the end of his life. He didn't see the end of the
Philippine dynasty and of the
Iberian Union, in
1640, when a Portuguese — the grandson of his cousin, the Duchess of Braganza — was acclaimed king as
John IV of Portugal, after a victorious coup in
December 1 1640.
Ancestors
Descendants
António, being a religious man, was never permitted to marry but had several children with several women.
Further Information
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