Cardinal Henry Crowned: Portugal's Last Independent King
Henry became King of Portugal at sixty-six after the disastrous death of King Sebastian left the throne without a clear heir, triggering a succession crisis that ended Portuguese independence. As a cardinal of the Catholic Church, he could produce no legitimate heir, and his death in 1580 allowed Philip II of Spain to absorb Portugal into the Spanish Crown for the next sixty years. His brief reign represented the last gasp of an independent Portuguese dynasty before the Iberian Union.
January 31, 1512
514 years ago
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