“I therefore challenge the said John (formerly duke) de Braganza, as having broken his faith to his God and to his king; and I defy him to single combat, hand to hand, with or without seconds, at his choice, which I also give him of weapons. The place of combat to be near Valentia d’Alcantara, which serves as boundary to the two kingdoms of Portugal and Castille, and there will I wait for him eighty days, beginning from the first of October, and ending on the nineteenth of December of this present year. The twenty last days I will appear in person, in the market-place of the said Valentia, and on the day he shall appoint, I will wait for him on the limits. This space of time, although very long, I grant to the said tyrant, that the affair may be made known, not only to him, but to the greater part of the countries in Europe; nay, indeed, to the whole world: and on condition that he will grant a safeguard to the cavaliers whom I shall send forward a league into Portugal, as I will grant one to those of his party a league into Castille, when I promise myself to make known in the fullest manner the infamous action he has committed.
“If he fail to obey this call upon him as a gentleman, and refuse to comply with my challenge, as the only means left me to exterminate this phantom; and I should perceive that he is not hardy enough to meet me in single combat, to prove how I and all my friends do, and ever have served our sovereigns, whilst he and his, on the contrary, are traitors; I hereby do offer (under the pleasure of his catholic majesty, whom God preserve) my town of Saint Lucar de Barameda, the principal seat of the dukes de Medina-Sidonia, to whomsoever shall kill the said John de Braganza: and prostrating myself at the feet of his said majesty, I humbly entreat him not to entrust me with the command of his army on this occasion, which requires a degree of prudence and moderation, that the excess of my wrath would prevent my exercising, but only to permit me to serve in person at the head of a thousand horse, from amongst my proper subjects; so that depending alone on my own courage, I shall not only contribute to the restoration of Portugal, and the punishment of this rebel, but in case he refuse my challenge, I may then be enabled, by the aid of my troops, to throw him dead or alive at the feet of his said majesty: and to omit nothing which may prove my zeal. I also offer one of the finest towns in my domains to the first Portugueze governor or captain who shall surrender a place in Portugal, whether of great or small importance to the service of his catholic majesty; but after doing all I possibly can, I shall never have done enough for his said majesty; since all I possess, I hold from, and owe to him and his glorious ancestors.”—Given at Toledo, this 29th of September, 1641.
The duke de Medina, conformably to his challenge, did not fail to appear on the field of battle. He was armed cap-a-pee, and escorted by don John de Garray, colonel-commandant of the Spanish troops. Parleys were beaten, and defiances published in the usual form; but no one appeared on the part of the king of Portugal. That prince was indeed much too prudent to act a part in so ridiculous a comedy; and even had the affair been of a more serious nature, it would have been highly improper in a sovereign thus to expose his person with a subject of his enemy.
The prime minister, whilst amusing the people with this idle puppet shew, did not neglect turning the whole of his sovereign’s indignation on the marquis d’Aïamonte, and giving him up to the utmost rigour of the law. This nobleman had been put under arrest, and it was requisite to induce him to make a full confession of his guilt; he was therefore flattered with the hope of pardon, and assured that it depended on him alone to experience the same mercy from the best of kings, as had been already shewn to the duke of Medina: but that sovereigns, like the Almighty, whose representatives on earth they were, granted pardon to those only who sincerely repented, and who confessed their guilt.
The marquis, seduced by these promises, and particularly by the acquittal of his accomplice, the duke de Medina, signed every thing which was required of him, and this very confession was brought against him. He was accordingly arraigned, tried, and condemned to lose his head. He listened to this sentence, which was passed upon him in the evening, with the most surprising composure, and without breathing a single complaint against the duke, or the prime minister. He afterwards supped with his usual appetite, and slept so soundly the whole of the night, that his judges were obliged to awaken him to convey him to the place of execution, whither he walked in profound silence, and died with a degree of firmness worthy a better cause. Thus ended a conspiracy, to which the king of Spain must inevitably have fallen a victim, without the intervention of the luckiest chance; or, more properly speaking, without the interference of Providence, which will not always permit such crimes to prosper.
The king of Portugal having failed in this attempt, turned all his thoughts to the support of his crown, not only by open force, but by the assistance of his allies. France afforded him all possible aid, and piqued itself on thus protecting the most ancient branch of its last race of kings. This foreign war was likewise useful in causing a diversion, and giving employment to part of the Spanish forces.
The Portugueze gained several advantages at different times over the Spaniards, and thus prevented them from approaching the frontiers. The king of Portugal might even have penetrated into Castille, had his generals been more able, or his body of regular troops more considerable. The greater part of his army being composed of militia, was much fitter to make incursions than to keep the field: he was frequently destitute even of means to pay his troops, and having abolished most of the taxes on his first accession to the crown, in order to gain the favour of his people; it would have been a dangerous experiment to have re-established them under so new a government. With all these disadvantages, however, he contrived to support the war against Spain, very nearly seventeen years. That country could not boast of greater generals than Portugal; each nation gained more by the weakness of its opponent, than by its own strength; and the exhausted treasury of Philip the IVth, at the latter end of his reign, supplied the place of riches to the new king of Portugal. This prince departed this life on the 6th of November, 1656; and the Portugueze, unable to call forth the attention of posterity to the most striking qualities of their king, confine their praises to his moderation and piety; whilst impartial historians accuse him of want of courage, diffidence of himself, mistrust of others, reserve towards the nobles, who found it difficult to approach his person, whilst he conversed openly and familiarly with his ancient domestics alone, and more especially with the friend and companion of his confessor. The only inference to be drawn from this conduct is, that this prince, naturally peaceable, and given up to his devotions, might be said to possess the good qualities of a private individual, though never the splendid virtues of a great king. His accession to the crown of Portugal must then be solely attributed to the hatred borne by the people of that country to the Spaniards, and to the adroit management of his queen, who made use of this national animosity to raise her to the regal dignity.[24] The king, her husband, in his last will, appointed her regent of the kingdom, rightly judging, that the same conduct and courage which had placed the crown on her head, would not fail to preserve it during the minority of his children. He left behind him two sons and one daughter; the eldest of which, don Alphonso, was nearly thirteen years of age when he succeeded his father. This young prince was of a melancholy disposition, and was deprived of the use of one side: his brother, the infant, don Pedro, was only eight years old; and the infanta, donna Catharine, who was the eldest of the family, was born before the revolution. Don Alphonso being shewn to the people, was proclaimed king, according to the usual forms, and the queen took upon herself, the same day, the regency of the state.
The princess was very ambitious to signalize the commencement of her government by some brilliant action; but her generals could boast more bravery as soldiers, than conduct as captains, and there was not one throughout the whole of Portugal capable of either fortifying a town, or conducting a siege. Neither was her council much better composed; some of her ministers attending more to displaying their eloquence in proving the necessities of the state, than in endeavouring to relieve them; whilst others, without attending to the low state of the army in Portugal, amused themselves by proposing plans of conquests: thus the debates of these supreme councils generally ended in schemes as ill-concerted as unsuccessful.
The considerable losses sustained by the Portugueze at Olivença and Badajos, where they were obliged to raise the siege, may, in a great measure, be attributed to the above causes. They had also embroiled themselves with Holland, on account of the India trade; and France, ever after the peace of the Pyrenees, appeared no longer interested in their favour. The queen, thus deprived of foreign allies, without either disciplined troops or able generals, had no resource left but in the greatness of her courage, which, indeed, supplied to her every other loss. The weight of affairs could not shake her steady soul; the extent of her genius, and the prudence of her conduct were equal to every thing; and the agitated state of the country in the commencement of her regency, served only to display in more striking colours the brilliant qualities of this all-accomplished princess, who began her operations by vesting the authority of the council in her own person: she constantly read all the dispatches; nothing escaped her attention and foresight, and she directed her views to all those European courts from which she could possibly hope for assistance.
Such noble efforts, and constant application, succeeded in putting Portugal in a state of defence against Spain; but being perfectly aware of the necessity there would be in future of employing foreign troops to form her own, and particularly the want she stood in of an able general for that purpose, she cast her eyes on Frederic count de Schomberg, whose valour and capacity were already known and distinguished. The regent was very desirous of appointing him commander in chief of the army, but she was fearful of giving umbrage to the governors of arms, whose pride would not very readily have consented to act under the orders of a foreign chief: she found it, therefore, necessary to employ the count de Soure, her ambassador at the court of France, to treat with the count de Schomberg, and propose his appearing at first in Portugal only as colonel commandant of the army, promising him, however, that in case of the death or resignation of the present governor of arms, he should immediately be appointed commander in chief.