Manuel I, Duke of Silves

## Manuel of Portugal

Duke of Silves

Henry of Silves

**Manuel of Portugal** (May 27, 1251 - September 10, 1299) was the youngest son and 7th child of Alfonso III of Portugal and his third wife Urracca of Combria, when he was 8, his father died and Alfonso in his will wrote Manuel should take the title of "Duke of Silves" with Urracca of Combria acting as regent until Manuel was 18. Manuel from his early teenage years believed he was the rightful heir of Portugal, other then his older-half brother Denis I of Portugal for 2 reasons, first reason was because he was a son, and secondly was because Manuel's mother Urracca had a claim to the Portuguese throne but Denis's mother was a German and had no claims to it. When Manuel was 15, he and his mother led siege to Lisbon with much of Portugal's support, but the siege failed. Manuel wanted more support from the Portuguese nobles, so he married Maria of Penela when he was 17 and there first child was a son named Alfonso Peter of Silves, Manuel's sieges either failed because of his tired soldiers and crusades he had to attend. When Denis died of illness, he was succeeded by his son Henry I of Portugal, while Manuel and Henry were in battle in Lisbon, Manuel was killed at age 48, he was succeeded by his son Alfonso Peter who later became Alfonso IV of Portugal after he deposed Henry.

## Early Life

### Childhood

Manuel was born in Lisbon Palace, Portugal to Alfonso III of Portugal and his third wife Urracca of Combria. His mother dearly adored him, and spoiled him rotten with money. Manuel was born with 6 older half siblings, the one whom he was most at threat of was the Prince of Portugal, Denis of Portugal who was set up to be future King of Portugal. So Manuel in his early years never saw one of his half-siblings, his mother gave birth to Manuel's younger sisters Beatrice and Infanta Isabella, though Urracca never loved them as much as she loved Manuel.

### Education

Manuel was educated by his uncle Sancho I, Duke of Combria in the Duchy of Combria, he learned Latin, Italian, and Portuguese, he also learned about Warfare, reading, writing, science, and politics, Manuel was considered smart as he knew division when he was 7, he also attended religious studies on saturday's.

### Duke of Silves

When Manuel was 8, his father fell very ill with hay fever, Manuel was devastated and he comforted his father on his death bed. In his father's will, it stated Manuel should assume the title of "Duke of Silves" with his mother (Urracca) as his regent. He died a few hours later and Manuel was sworn in as Duke of Silves in Combria, he and his mother and younger sisters moved to the Castle of Silves in the northern part of the Province where they continued there education. When Manuel was 13, he joined his uncles army in the Crusades where he crusaded on the 'King Phillip's Crusade" and the "Antiochene's Crusade." When Manuel was 14 he was considered a great crusader for a boy like him in the high middle ages.

## Claim to the Throne

When Manuel was 15, he started thinking he was the rightful heir to Portugal, he mostly put aside of his claim because he was a son, but focused a lot on his mother's distant claim to the throne, his mother was the great-great-daughter of Afonso the Founder, the first King of Portugal. His mother encouraged her son to cease the crown, and so did his younger sisters, after his 15th birthday on May 27, 1266, he and his mother led siege to Lisbon with much of Portugal's support against his unpopular half-brother Denis, Denis though defeated Manuel and forced him to flee back to Silves, but Manuel did not give up, he continued to plot against his older half brother.

### Marriage

When he was 17, he wanted support from the biased Portuguese nobles, most Portuguese nobles preferred Manuel's second cousin the Lord of Serpa, so Manuel asked the Lord of Penela for his unmarried daughter Maria's hand in marriage, the powerful Lord agreed and Manuel and Maria were married in a the Silves Cathedral. Maria and Manuel were very close and they lived happily in Silves Castle. They had 3 children together throughout their union.

* Alfonso I, Duke of Silves, became Duke of Silves, and eventually King of Portugal once he removed his half-cousin Henry I of Portugal.
* Ferdinand of Silves, became Lord of Lemos after Alfonso became King, and granted Ferdinand the title of Lord of Lemos.
* Henry of Silves last child of Manuel, and died in 1305.

### Second Attempted Siege

When Manuel was 18 he earned rights to rule his Duchy. He wanted to have better relationships with his half-uncle Ferdinand III of Castile, so he married his 16 year old sister Beatrice to Ferdinand, and he was present at her coronation as Queen of Castile. After grabbing the King of Castile's support, he marched to Lisbon again, and successfully marched across the bridge with his mother, Manuel once again was chased out of Lisbon by the royal army, and forced back into Silves, his older brother sent spy's to spy on Manuel and his plans, but Manuel usually always caught them and executed them, Manuel needed more ally's, so he married his sister Isabella of Portugal to the King of the Goths in Sweden, the Goths needed support against the Swedes and the Nordic kings, so the alliance was a very helpful one.

### Mother's death

When Manuel was 25, his mother fell terribly ill with yellow fever, Manuel was devastated and called doctors to save his mother, his wife comforted him when Manuel heard his mother had Yellow fever which was uncureble. Urracca died the next evening leaving Manuel's claim to Portugal stronger, he attended Urracca's funeral, but quickly got back to work in his "rightful" crown. Manuel had a de facto coronation in Silves with 6,283 people to view. Manuel's older half-brother died that year, leaving his son Henry I of Portugal to become the new King.

### Henry I of Portugal

Henry was a vain and handsome king with little care for ruling, even though he did not care about ruling, he still wanted the status as King of Portugal to be well known and liked by the public, but Henry was well disliked and hated by Portugal for not going on Crusades and because of the fact he did not try to regain the Kingdom of Galicia which was taken by Castile during Denis's reign. Manuel used this to his advantage and rounded up popularity in Lisbon, but the King's worried mother attempted to chase Manuel out, but she did not succeed, Manuel marched to a monastery where is grandfather Sancho was buried. He stayed there for 3 hours before a general told them to fire as the royal army was trying to kill Manuel, Manuel rushed to the Lisbon square where it was total chaos, people were running both directions cheering Manuel's name, and so Manuel and the Royal army fought, both army's were crushed and forced to flee once again, Manuel rushed home to plan again, this time he would wait for his 10 year old son to turn 15 to join Manuel's army, and the 2 could fight together.

### Third Attempted Siege

When his son Alfonso turned 15 in 1283, his son was well trained, they first had to attend the King's Crusade in the Holy Land, but they were able to get back to work in Portugal, Manuel told Alfonso that Alfonso was the rightful Prince of Portugal, which Alfonso believed and he was ready to claim his father's stolen throne, after they said bye to Maria of Penela who was in tears leaving her son to fight. This time they marched to Estremadura, Portugal and raided a council there, they then marched to Lisbon together, and captured some of the kings sisters, and imprisoned them in a Portuguese castle, which led to Manuel's son Henry being captured, Manuel was forced to return the Kings sisters in order to save his dear son.

## Death

Manuel though still knew what he wanted: his crown. So he and his 3 sons marched large army's to Lisbon where Manuel barecaded the royal army base, which prevented royal army from fighting back, but little did he know he barcaded his own army and the royal base was actually in the *Portuguese Centré* and Manuel was killed after calling for his army, he died after he was stabbed by no more then 8 royal soldiers in the army. He was buried in Orduña Monastery, and his son fulfilled his father's wish by deposing King Henry of Portugal and becoming Alfonso IV of Portugal.