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Henry I of Portugal

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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I. (1512-1580), king of Portugal, third son of Emanuel the Fortunate, was born in Lisbon, on the 31st of January 1512. He was destined for the church,. and in 1532 was raised to the archiepiscopal see of Braga. In 1542 he received the cardinal's hat, and in 1578 when he was called to succeed his grandnephew Sebastian on the throne, he held the archbishoprics of Lisbon and Coimbra as well as that of Braga, in addition to the wealthy abbacy of Alcobazar. As an ecclesiastic he was pious, pure, simple in his mode of life, charitable, and a learned and liberal patron of letters; but as a sovereign he proved weak, timid and incapable. On his death in 1580, after a brief reign of seventeen months, the male line of the royal family which traced its descent from Henry, first count of Portugal (c. i ioo), came to an end; and all attempts to fix the succession during his lifetime having ignominiously failed, Portugal became an easy prey to Philip II. of Spain.