Descrição

But fifteenth-century Portugal already was a nation a mission overseas. To carry on the task that the Infante D. Hen rique had bequeathed required the concentration of all power about the throne. During the long reign of Alonso V — a mediaeval king — dispersion had gone far towards imperilling the goal, It was left to his son, D. Joao 11, to weld, to unify, to centralize the forces under his control, and gathering around his throne the fiery energy offighting clans, to whet the blade that would carve a crusading empire.

This was the king, alert and purposeful and keen, who brought his statesman’s mind, his strength of will, all the resources of his Crown to the fulfilment of the Navigator’s dream. If D. joäo 11 had not been, it is doubtful if Portugal would ever have played the part she did in the sixteenth century. King Manuel the Fortunate, passive and bland, did little more than reap the harvest sown by his Predecessor.