Jorge de Lencastre, 2nd Duke of Coimbra - Succession Campaign

Succession Campaign

After the death of the royal heir Prince Afonso in July 1491, King John II was left with no legitimate sons and no daughters he could marry off. The next legitimate successor to the throne was his cousin (and brother-in-law), Manuel, 4th Duke of Beja and grand master of the Order of Christ since 1484.

This was a disturbing prospect for John II, who neither trusted Manuel nor the powerful Order of Christ. During the purges of the high nobility in 1483–84, John II had ordered the execution of Manuel's own brother Diogo, Duke of Viseu and brother-in-law Fernando II, Duke of Braganza. Manuel himself only escaped a similar fate largely because John II regarded him as a harmless fool. Now that 'fool' stood to succeed him, and in John II's estimation, would likely undo all the king's hard-won centralizing reforms and deliver the kingdom back to the nobles.

John II consequently launched a campaign to make his natural son, Jorge de Lencastre, his heir. From Pope Innocent VIII, John II received authorization to appoint Jorge the Master of the Order of Santiago and administrator of the Order of Aviz, in April, 1492. Only a few days later, Jorge's tutor, Diogo Fernandes de Almeida was appointed Prior of Crato (head of the Portuguese branch of the knights of St. John Hospitaller).

Meanwhile, Queen Eleanor set about knitting a rival campaign, in conjunction with the Order of Christ, to prevent Jorge's advancement and protect the position of Manuel (her brother) as heir.

In 1494, John II dispatched an embassy to Rome, headed by two members of the Almeida clan, to petition Pope Alexander VI to legitimize Jorge de Lencastre. The petition was rejected, bringing the campaign to a disappointing end.

John II, however, had no intention of just handing the kingdom over to Manuel's minions. In the will laid out just before his death in 1495, John II requested that Manuel appoint Jorge de Lencastre as Duke of Coimbra and Lord of Montemor-o-Velho and urged Manuel, on his accession, to pass all his other titles and possessions, including the mastership of the Order of Christ and the island of Madeira, over to Jorge. The concentration of power would have made Jorge de Lencastre the most powerful man in the kingdom, reminiscent of his powerful great-grand-uncle Peter of Coimbra (a comparison suggested by John II himself).

Mindful of avoiding a civil war, Manuel agreed to many of the items in John II's will, but rejected others — notably, Manuel insisted on retaining the Order of Christ for himself. Manuel was not in a hurry to fulfill the rest of the terms. The title of Duke of Coimbra was conferred on Jorge de Lencastre only in May 1500, and confirmation was delayed until May, 1509, nearly fifteen years after his father's death.

John II had also requested that young Jorge de Lencastre would be married to a royal princess, having Manuel promise his own first daughter, when they came of age. Manuel only partly fulfilled this in 1500 by betrothing Jorge to Beatriz de Vilhena, the daughter of Álvaro of Braganza, not an infanta but nonetheless a princess of royal blood.