The Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves had been the first nation in history to have held its global empire position for two and half centuries, which that record still holds today, for now, before it had been taken over by the Kingdom of Spain, despite it was, and still is, approximately the same size as that of the state of California, in the United States of America, and despite it had an approximate population of 1,000,000 citizens at that time. The Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves completely lost its holding power of being a global empire as soon as it was taken over by the Kingdom of Spain.
On this note entry of mine, I wrote an approximate ten page history story with two headings, which one heading is titled “How It All Started” and the other titled “How It All Ended”, that is entirely based on this revolution, which the revolution is given the name as Guerra da Restauração, English for Restoration War, but more commonly called in the English speaking world as the Portuguese Restoration War, erstwhile called as Aclamação de Guerra, English for Acclamation War. The history story of the Guerra da Restauração will start from the beginning of the heading “How It All Started” and will end from the ending of the heading “How It All Ended”.
Happy reading!
How It All Started
The Batalha de Ksar El Kebir, English for the Battle of Ksar El Kebir, known in the Kingdom of Morocco as Batalha de Oued El Makhazeen, English for Battle of Oued El Makhazeen, known in the Portuguese Republic as Batalha de Alcácer-Quibir, English for Battle of Alcácer Quibir, but more commonly known in the Portuguese Republic as Batalha dos Três Reis, English for Battle of Three Kings, was a major battlefield that had involved three kings, Dom Sebastião I de Portugal, who was the 16th King of the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves, and two Moroccan kings, Abu Abdallah Mohammed II Saadi, who was the 76th Sultan of the Kingdom of Morocco, and Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik I Saadi, who was the 77th Sultan of the Kingdom of Morocco; it was a major battlefield that had occurred on the date of Monday, August 4, 1578, between the Portuguese Empire and the Saadi dynasty, who were supported by the Ottoman State; it was over recovering a throne and over fanatic arrogance in believing that it was Portuguese destiny to control all of Northern Africa, especially the regions of Ceuta and Tangier, thinking that it would secure the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves from the danger of the Moors; it was Dom Sebastião I de Portugal’s fanatic arrogant head of his that came up with this idea to control all of Northern Africa after he offered to help Abu Abdallah Mohammed II Saadi, who was commonly known as Abu Abdallah, or even as Abu Abdallah Mohammed II, to recover Abu Abdallah Mohammed II’s throne after it had been taken over from him by his own uncle, Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik I Saadi, commonly known as Abd Al-Malik.
Before Dom Sebastião I de Portugal and his Portuguese army fought in the battlefield, he led his army on horseback from Lisbon to the region of Ksar-el-Kebir, in the Kingdom of Morocco; they had travelled during a bad time, because August, which was the month they began their travel journey, is, along with July, the hottest of the year; his entire army were having a very difficult time coping underneath the very hot Moroccan sun, especially with the Mediæval shinning armour his entire army were wearing; it was one of Dom Sebastião I de Portugal’s common stupidest ideas of his for him and his army to fully protect themselves with the Mediæval shinning armour from the top of their heads to the bottom of their feet, as he thought this would fully protect him and his army from suffering a severe wound and, most importantly, from being killed. This, however, would later proof him wrong, very wrong.
When Dom Sebastião I de Portugal and his army arrived in the Kingdom of Morocco, Dom Sebastião I de Portugal was told by his advisers that it was best if they headed south; he ignored their advice by choosing to head north instead, which his ignorance would later be a fatal one. This was very typical of Dom Sebastião I de Portugal to ignore other peoples advices, especially his own advisers advises; he was a very spoiled and stubborn young lad who always got what he wanted. If there had been something that he wanted, he would get it. If there had been something that he first refused and, all of a sudden, decided to have it, he would get it, the same thing applies if it had to do with food. In fact, if there was something that he wanted to eat, it would be cooked, or baked, for him to eat, regardless the time of day. If he never got what he wanted, he would pull temper tantrums. Albeit he was spoiled and pulled temper tantrums, there is no historic proof of him abusing his powers as king; it could have to due with the fact that he was actually well taken care of and educated by Jesuits and priests rather than by his mother, Dona Joana de Áustria, Joana de Espanha, whose brother was Dom Felipe II de España, who would later be bestowed as the 18th King of the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves, some scholars and historians consider him as the 19th King, whilst a few other scholars and historians consider him as the 20th; Dom Sebastião I de Portugal’s father, Dom João Manuel, Príncipe Herdeiro de Portugal, had died 18 days shy of Dom Sebastião I de Portugal’s birth.
The Batalha dos Três Reis began in the early afternoon, possibly at noon, with Abu Abdallah having 6,000 male forces and approximately of 40 cannons and Dom Sebastião I de Portugal having an approximate of 18,000 male forces, which 13,000 of those 18,000 were from his own army and 5,600 of those 18,000 were volunteers fighting under the Holy Roman Empire, such as 2,000 volunteers from the Crown of Castile, 3,000 Flanders and German mercenaries, and 600 Italians. Abd Al-Malik, who was the enemy, had an approximate of 25,000 males forces, which approximate of 15,000 of those 25,000 were Ottoman Janissaries volunteering in their support of Abd Al-Malik, brining with them approximately of 34 Turkish cannons.
The Batalha dos Três Reis killed all the three kings and is said that the combined army of Abd Al-Malik’s and the Ottoman Janissaries’ had killed an approximate 8,000 of their enemies and captured an approximate 15,000. The approximate 8,000 killed is debateable, because a vast majority of historians and scholars believe that Dom Sebastião I de Portugal’s army were completely destroyed after all being killed by their enemies. If what they believe is true, which could highly likely be true, then that would mean that the official killed were approximately 13,000 and an unknown number of Abu Abdallah’s army killed; it is unknown how many forces from Abd Al-Malik’s side were killed, wounded, and captured. Dom Sebastião I de Portugal defeat and death would eventually turnout changing the face of the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves, for good; it was a sign that the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves’ global empire was beginning to decline gradually, but in a slow and study pace, and a sign that a Portuguese Succession Crisis was soon to be on a rise.
Dom Henrique I de Portugal was bestowed the 17th King of the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves after preceding his grand-nephew, Dom Sebastião I de Portugal, hours after his grand-nephew’s tragic death; his preceding of his grand-nephew was the beginning of a dynastic crisis, which was given the name the Crise de Sucessão de 1580, because his grand-nephew had no immediate heirs and due to his body never found. Like the cult of King Arthur in the Kingdom of England, the Portuguese developed a cult to Dom Sebastião I de Portugal called Sebastianism, sometimes called as Sebastianists, waiting for his return from North Africa to free the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves and bring about the Age of Glory that it had experienced for approximately 200 years. This cult and his missing dead body influenced four male imposters claiming to be Dom Sebastião I de Portugal, which made the whole situation worsen and confusing.
The four pretenders to the Portuguese throne successively impersonated Dom Sebastião I de Portugal; the first two, known from the Portuguese parishes of Penamacor and of Ericeira, in which the first two were born as the King of Penamacor and the King of Ericeira, were of peasant origin; they were captured and executed on an unknown dates in the years 1584 and 1585 respectively.
The third, Gabriel Espinosa, who was an educated man, whose followers included members of the Austrian and Spaniard courts and of the Society of Jesus in the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves; he, too, fell and was executed on an unknown date in the year 1594.
The fourth one was Marco Tullio of Calabria, the Kingdom of Italy, who could not even speak Portuguese, yet he impersonated the rei encuberto at Venice in on an unknown date in the year 1603 and gained many supporters because of it; he was eventually captured and executed, just like his three predecessors.
The Sebastianists had an important role in the Guerra da Restauração of 1640, which were, once again, prominent during the Liberal Wars.
At an even later period, the cult appeared to have survived until the beginning of the 20th Century, albeit it declined as a political force after the end of the Liberal Wars.
Dom Sebastião I de Portugal is supposed to be a name of terror to Moorish children that went like this:
“Nor shall Sebastian’s formidable name
Be longer used to still the crying babe.”
The Sebastianism legend has a touch of the myth motif of the King in the Mountain, also called as King Under the Mountain, or as Sleeping Hero, or even as Sleeping King.
The Sebastianism legend was a time of the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves’ swift economic decline as well as political upheaval. When Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves was taken over by the Kingdom of Spain, the Portuguese lower classes responded to the loss of independence and to their king, Dom Sebastião I de Portugal, in a way that seems odd to today’s society. The response to the circumstances of the times spread into the lower-middle classes as well, which was spurred by the fear that the Counter-Reformation, differs from the Catholic Reformation, or even differs from Catholic Revival, Felipe II de España’s, would intensify the already rigorous Inquisition in Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves, albeit this did not eventuate.
Despite the passage of many years, the conviction that Dom Sebastião I de Portugal was still alive grew into a kind of messianic cult that persisted into the early 20th Century, or at least the late 19th Century, passing on from one Portuguese generation to another. Its devotees believed that the Rei Encuberto, English for Hidden King, was either absent on a pilgrimage, or, like King Arthur in a legendary island called Avalon, which is featured in the Arthurian legend, was waiting on some enchanted island until the hour of his second advent.
Stanley George Payne, commonly known as Stanley G. Payne, sometimes known as Stanley Payne, who was an historian of modern Kingdom of Spain and European Fascism at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, wrote a book entitled “A History of Spain and Portugal”, which was published on an unknown date in the 1973, where he described in Volume 1, Chapter 12, “Sixteenth-Century Portugal”, that Sebastianism may also have been a reflection of the level of popular culture. The Portuguese peasantry were among the most ignorant of the peninsula and of Western Europe. Little benefited by the wealth of the Portuguese Empire, which was drained off by the upper classes; they remained extremely superstitious well into the 20th Century. Mythic fixation on the symbol of an intemperate prince was an expression of the saudade, English for sadness, longing, and even nostalgia, of a depressed people who had once accomplished great deeds, but whose culture, social structure, and natural resources frustrated their transition to a more modern way of life.
The Portuguese people were so confident that Dom Sebastião I de Portugal would return that sales of horses and other items had been sometimes made payable upon the second coming of Dom Sebastião I de Portugal; it was this fact that induced Jean-Andoche Junot, who was a French general serving under Napoleon Bonaparte during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars, who had invaded the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves on the date of Monday, November 30, 1807, and who was bestowed as 1st Duc d’Abrantès and promoted as the Governor of the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves for his successful invasion, was once asked what he would be able to do with the Portuguese; his answer was this:
“What can I do with a people who were still waiting for the coming of the Messiah and King Sebastian?”
On December of 1825, The Times reported that Old Portuguese visionaries would go out on windy nights, wrapped in cloaks, watching the movements of the heavens; sometimes they would see a shooting star and cry out the words “Lá vem ele!”, English for “Here he comes!”, as they thought Dom Sebastião I de Portugal was coming.
Luís Vaz de Camões, who was, and still is, the greatest poet ever in the history of the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves and in the Portuguese speaking world, fell ill in the year 1578, or 79, after being broken-hearted when he learnt of the appalling defeat of Dom Sebastião I de Portugal, who was his favourite king and was like a son he never had; he wrote from his death-bed these exact words:
“All will see that so dear to me was my country that I was content to die not only in it, but with it.”
He died in his death-bed on the date of Friday, June 10, 1580, shortly before the Kingdom of Spain invaded the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves by late June; his date of death is a national holiday in the Portuguese Republic in his reorganisation for his epic poem “Os Lusíadas”; his epic poem is a national epic poem in the Portuguese Republic in celebration of Portuguese history and achievements; hence why it is a national holiday.
On the date of Sunday, January 31, 1580, the Crise de Sucessão de 1580 worsened after the death of Dom Henrique I de Portugal, which led to the to disputing over the Portuguese throne between Catarina, Infanta de Portugal, Duquesa de Bragança, and her nephew, Ranuccio I Farnese, Ducato di Parma, and Dom Sebastião I de Portugal’s uncle, Dom Felipe II de España, and Dom Sebastião I de Portugal’s monk cousin and Dom Manuel I de Portugal’s grandson, Dom António, Prior de Crato, also known as Dom António I de Portugal, who aid claim to the court to become the King of the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves, but was eventually rejected by the Pope, Papa Gregorio XIII, born as Ugo Buoncompagni, due to being a half Jew.
Dom Felipe II de España being the next of king to be King of the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves annexed the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves together with the Kingdom of Spain on an unknown date in the year 1580. Dom Felipe II de España quickly moved in and took over Lisbon and the whole country, due to the Kingdom of Spain being a strong country that it was at that time and due to having the full support of Papa Gregorio XIII to the annexing of both countries. When the Portuguese found out about their country being annexed, especially by a Spaniard, they rebelled against it, as they were not very keen to this turn of things, of course; their rebelling was not enough to prevent the Dom Felipe II de España from annexing their country with his.
As a result, Dom António, Prior de Crato, had to flee the incoming Spaniards; he quickly fled to the island of Terceira where he brought the mint, many troops, and the desire to keep the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves alive and liven from the island of Terceira. The motto used then by all proud Portuguese was “Melhor morrer português antes de livres e sujeitos a Espanha.” English for “Better die Portuguese than free and subject to Spain.” This is written over the entrance to the Spaniard castle in Angra do Heroísmo, the main city of the island and the second most main city on the Azores. The Terceirenses are actually very proud of the fact that their island was the only actual Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves left of the Portuguese Empire.
To stop Dom Antonio, Prior do Crato, from laying claim to the Portuguese Royal Court, the Spaniards quickly followed him to Terceira; there was a battle called Batalha da Salga, English for Battle of Salga, which had occurred on the date of Tuesday, July 25, 1581, at a place called Baía da Salga; it was a battle that was witnessed by two Spaniards, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, who was a Spaniard novelist, poet, and playwright, and Félix Arturo Lope de Vega y Carpio, who was one of the most important playwrights and poets of the Spaniard Golden Century Baroque literature; they had witnessed this from aboard one of the ships that laid anchored off the coast of Terceira; they had witnessed something that they never ever imagined happening. What they had witnessed were two islanders, Friar Pedro Porteiro and Brianda Pereira, leading the battle against the Spaniards. Brianda Pereira, who is said to have been a very beautiful woman and a brave one, had gathered all her wild cattle from the interior of the island. As the Spaniards got on land, a stampede of 100,000 bulls, some historians and scholars claim it being 10,000 wild bulls rather than 100,000, some other historians and scholars claim it only being 1,000, stampeded their way on land; they headed towards the Spaniard soldiers, who were trying to land on the island, killing approximately 1,800 Spaniard soldiers in no time with much gusto and cruelty. What the bulls did not down, Dom Antonio, Prior do Crato, and his forces did, with much gusto and cruelty.
The 100,000, or 10,000, or 1,000, stampede of bulls influenced the practice of street bullfighting on The Island of the Bulls, officially known as Terceira, which the practice of street bullfighting is part of the Holy Spirit cult that constantly normally starts on May Day of every year and ends around October 15 of every year, where bullfights always go on anywhere on the island during that time. It is celebrated with gusto, zeal, and affection, but in even more extreme manner than that of the Kingdom of Spain. It attains levels of obsession, which can be said are almost a cult. The trend seems to be that the less agricultural the island becomes, the more of these bullfights there are. When most of the grain and food the islands consume, is imported, the more bullfights and festivals there are. This in contrast with the past when feasting and bullfighting were related to harvest time feasting and party making.
The Spaniards returned on the date of Thursday, July 26, 1582, after they were unable to land from the 100,000, or 10,000, or 1,000, stampede of bulls; they returned off the island of São Miguel instead of off the island of Terceira; they brought along with them a new leader, Dom Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz, who was a Spaniard admiral; he had a strong force, a much stronger force than at the Batalha da Salga; he was supported by the Spaniards and by the Portuguese, who supported Dom Felipe II de España, hence why he had a much stronger force; he battled it out in a naval battle against Dom António, Prior de Crato, who was supported by his Portuguese Loyalists and the Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of England. The naval battle was given the name Batalha Naval de Vila Franca, English for Battle of Vila Franca, commonly called as the Batalha de Ponta Delgada, sometimes called as Batalha de São Miguel, or even sometimes called as Batalha de Terceira; it was a naval battle over the Crise de Sucessão de 1580 and over preventing Dom António, Prior de Crato, from taking Portuguese control of the Azores. Dom António, Prior de Crato, and his forces lost the battle after a massive naval bombardment and then were finished off with a lower naval bombardment; their enemies had an approximate 28 warships, compared to the approximate 60 warships Dom António, Prior de Crato, had; his enemies managed to steal 7 of his 60 warships, sink 4 of his 60 warships, burn 2 of his 60 warships, and capture 4 of his 60 warships, compared to his enemies not losing any vessel, not one whatsoever; it is unknown how many forces both sides had, but what is known is that Dom António, Prior de Crato, had lost an approximate of 1,500 forces and another 1,500 were reported wounded, missing, or captured, whilst his enemy, Dom Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz, had only lost an approximate 224 men and 550 wounded. Dom António, Prior de Crato, submitted, of course, and the island of Terceira had officially belonged to the Kingdom of Spain; it was this taken of the island that the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves’ Age of Glory was gone were, for good; it was that takeover that the Age of Glory was gone, for good, sadly. The Portuguese Armada was brought together with the famous Spaniard Armada.
The Kingdom of Spain’s takeover of the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves led the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves to depend only on its African, Asian, and South American colonies, as everything else they had depended on before the takeover, such as the Kerala pepper, luxury items, porcelain, silk, silver, the spice trade, and the Atlantic slave trade, all went into the hands of the Spaniards, whilst a vast portion of the Portugueses wealth had been used by the Dinastia de Habsburgo, English for House of Habsburg, to help support the Roman Catholics in the Thirty Years’ War, and, most importantly, its two and half centuries of global empire, which that record still holds today, for now, declined. The only one thing the Portuguese managed to prevent the Spaniards to get a hold of was the Portugueses Age of Discovery, sometimes called as the Age of Exploration, or sometimes as Age of Glory, or even sometimes, but seldom, as O Infante Dom Henrique de Avis’ Era, but were unable to hold it long enough during its takeover. When the Portuguese and Spaniard Armadas united as one, the Dutch, the English, and the French were rapidly rising to the same thing to what the Portuguese had once risen way, way before any of those nations and other nations did. The Portuguese were actually well protected by the Spaniards during Felipe II de España’s reign as king, especially when he had disrupted the Dutch from importing and exporting trade in Colonial Brazil, today’s Federative Republic of Brazil. The reason Felipe II de España protected the Portuguese well is because of his kept promise after swearing to rule the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves as a kingdom separate from his Spaniard domains, which were known under the system as Pessoal da União, English for Personal Union. The well protection of the Portuguese had vanished shortly after Felipe II de España’s death, as his successors, Felipe III de España and Felipe IV de España, progressively forgot, more like ignored, to follow Felipe II de España’s promises under the Pessoal da União system.
How It All Ended
The Guerra da Restauração began when the Portuguese started a revolution against the Spaniards in order for the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves to be independent from the Kingdom of Spain; it was a revolution that had occurred on the date of Tuesday, December 1, 1640, in Lisbon, the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves; it was on that date that the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves declared its independence from the Kingdom of Spain and that the Kingdom of Spain had been expelled from the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves, of course, for quite a long time; the Kingdom of Spain did not recognise the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves’ independence, nor the new ruling dynasty, Dinastia de Bragança, English for House of Braganza, until on the date of Monday, February 13, 1688, after a peace treaty called Tratado de Lisboa, English for Treaty of Lisbon, was established between Afonso VI de Portugal and Carlos II de España, by mediation of Charles II of England.
Dom João IV de Portugal, nicknamed as João o Restaurador, English for John the Restorer, was bestowed as the 21st King of the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves, some scholars and historians consider him as the 22nd King, whilst a few other scholars and historians consider him as the 23rd, on the day of the Guerra da Restauração; he remained as king up until his death, which had occurred on the date of Monday, November 6, 1656.
After the Guerra da Restauração, nineteen battles occurred between the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves and the Kingdom of Spain, because the Kingdom of Spain refused to recognise the independence. Only five of those nineteen battles are considered in Portuguese history as to helping to push and force the Spaniards from recognising the independence. The five battles are as follows:
The Batalha de Montijo, English for Battle of Montijo, was a naval battle that had occurred on the date of Thursday, May 26, 1644, near Montijo, in the Kingdom of Spain. The Spaniards had thought Matias de Albuquerque, commonly known as Herói de Dois Continentes, English for Hero of Two Continents, who was a Brazilian-Portuguese colonial administrator and soldier and the first and only Count of Alegrete, was attempting to pillage, burn, capture, and attack the province of Provincia de Badajoz and the municipalities of Villar del Rey, Puebla de Alcocer, and Boca de Manfarete. What they did not know was that he never had any intentions in doing any of those things, believe it or not, as he was heading his way home to his second homeland, the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves, when both sides went tête-à-tête in a naval battle. Both sides had won the battle.
The Portuguese had an approximate 6,000 infantry and 1,100 cavalry, which had included 6 guns, compared to the their enemies only having 4,000 infantry and 1,700 cavalry, which had included 2 guns; the number of Portuguese forces killed and wounded were either approximately 900 or 3,000, or approximately 900 captured, compared to their enemies approximate 433 or 3,000 killed, or 380 or 3,000 wounded or killed.
The Batalha das Linhas de Elvas, English for Battle of the Lines of Elvas, was a battlefield over the Portuguese from preventing the Spaniards to siege the Portuguese city of Elvas; it was a battlefield that had occurred on the date of Tuesday, January 14, 1659, near Elvas. The Portuguese won the battle, despite having approximate 10,500 forces, compared to the approximate 19,000 their enemies had; the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves lost approximately 200 forces, compared to their enemies losing approximately 12,700, of whom more than 2,000 were killed, whilst their entire artillery had been captured.
The Batalha de Ameixial, English for Battle of Ameixial, was a battlefield over the Spaniards preventing the Portuguese from taking back the southern part of the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves; it was a battlefield that had occurred on the date of Wednesday, June 8, 1663, near Estremoz. The Portuguese won the battle, despite having approximately 17,000 forces, compared to the approximately 18,000 their enemies had; the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves lost approximately 2,000 forces, compared to their enemies losing approximately 4,000 and having 3,500 held as prisoners, whilst their entire artillery had been captured.
The Batalha de Castelo Rodrigo, English for Battle of Rodrigo Castle, also called as the Batalha de Salgadela, English for Battle of Salgadela, was a battlefield over the Spaniards preventing the Portuguese from defending their castle, Castelo Rodrigo; it was a battlefield that had occurred on the date of Monday, July 7, 1664, near Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo. The Portuguese won the battle, despite having approximately 3,000 forces, compared to the approximately 5,000 their enemies had; the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves only had an approximate 1 of their 3,000 forces killed, compared to their enemies approximate 1,000 of their 4,000 forces killed, wounded, and captured.
Batalha de Montes Claros
The Batalha de Montes Claros, English for Battle of Montes Claros, was a battlefield over the Portuguese from defending Lisbon from the Spaniards after the Spaniards had taken Vila Viçosa and then Setúbal; it was a battlefield that had occurred on the date of Wednesday, June 17, 1665, near Vila Viçosa. The Portuguese won the battle, despite having an approximate 20,000 forces, compared to the approximate 22,600 their enemies had; the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves had approximately 2,700 forces killed or wounded, compared to their enemies having approximately 4,000 killed and 6,000 held as prisoners, whilst their entire artillery had been captured. The Batalha de Montes Claros changed the face of the Guerra da Restauração between the Portuguese and the Spaniards; it was a battle that had definitively secured the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves’ independence from the Kingdom of Spain and the very last time that the Spaniards made their last attempt in invading the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves.
After the final battle of the Guerra da Restauração, the Kingdom of Spain had recognised the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves’ independence, finally, and their new ruling dynasty, the Dinastia de Bragança, finally, on the date of Monday, February 13, 1688, after signing the Tratado de Lisboa that was established between Afonso VI de Portugal and Carlos II de España, by mediation of Charles II of England.
After the Tratado de Lisboa, the island of Terceira kept its position as the economic, administrative, and religious centre on the Azores, whilst the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves’ Age of Glory had been gone, gone for good; they had at least managed to continue holding their African and Asian power up until on the date of Monday, December 20, 1999.
Pork Chop 4 Life! <:o)
