For three hundred years a manuscript titled “A Brief History of the Kings of Portugal” laid undisturbed in the archives of the Society of Antiquaries of London until academics Nuno Vila-Santa and Kate Lowe of the universities of Lisbon and London recognized it as being a document of great historical importance. Through painstaking research, they have established that it is a transcription of a treatise dating from 1569/1573 which was written as an aide memoire for William Cecil (later to become Lord Burghley) who was the mastermind of the Privy Council advising the Tudor monarch Elizabeth I as Secretary of State for foreign affairs and, later, as Lord High Treasurer.

The manuscript is bound in vellum and consists of twelve pages, two folios and a pull-out table which shows in chronological order the genealogy of the royal families from D. Afonso Henriques to D. Sebastian. The pages bear English watermarks and are written in a 16th century cursive by a professional copyist who has added in brackets a commentary which expands the narrative. The margins are annotated by Lord Burghley in whose extensive library it was held until 1687 when it was sold to the Earl of Stamford for two shillings and eight pence. Also included in that sale were works by 16th century Portuguese authors such as Pedro Nunes, Jeronimo Osório and Damien de Gois. These testify to Cecil´s political interest in Portugal which, at that time, was regarded as an important European power and often called upon to arbitrate between the conflicting factions of Spain, France and England.

The professors list a number of clues which point to the likelihood that the author was an English merchant whose family business was established in Lisbon. It is possible that he held an honorary position on the staff of the English ambassador and, as a Portuguese speaking Roman Catholic, had access to the high society of court.

For the first royal dynasty, the manuscript follows an historical format of giving a brief synopsis for the reign of each monarch but, after the accession of King John I and the house of Avis, much more detail is given including references to royal indiscretions and the intrigues of court. As such it became more of an intelligence document so that Lord Burleigh could be briefed about the consequences of England´s alliance created by the Treaty of Windsor in 1386.

The fabric of this Alliance was tested during the “Age of Discovery” when Portugal (and Spain) advocated a policy of Mare Clausum whereby it would have exclusive jurisdiction over the Atlantic Ocean bordering most of West Africa. Naturally other European nations desirous of sharing in the burgeoning maritime trade disputed this and there followed a number of maritime confrontations between the trading fleets of Portugal and privateers.

Catherine of Austria, regent of Portugal, instructed her top diplomat, João Pereira Dantas to intervene in these disputes. After Queen Elisabeth had expressly denied a Portuguese monopoly, Dantas sent to the Tudor court in 1561 a “spy” named Manuel de Araújo who paved the way for Dantas to arrive as Ambassador. Both men created a favourable impression for their courteous but adroit diplomacy. However, the pillage of mercantile shipping continued so, in 1564, Aires Cardoso was sent to register a detailed complaint against John Hawkins whose fleet of privateers had caused grave disruption to trade; especially so with the very profitable business of capturing slaves from Guinea, Senegal and Sierra Leone and their shipment to Spanish America.

The arguments between the counsellors of both countries became ever more heated and it seemed possible that the Treaty would be suspended if the skirmishes at sea escalated towards a formal declaration of war. Two other interlocutors were despatched from Portugal (Manuel Alvares in 1567 and Francesco Giraldi in 1571) to present serious complaints that the rule of international law had been disrupted by the attacks on shipping by the privateers but to no avail. In 1568, the Portuguese threatened war and the following year confiscated the property of the English.

A new English Ambassador, a capable diplomat named Thomas Wilson was sent to Lisbon with instructions to weather the storm of discontent by negotiating a fairer distribution of passage and trading rights. It is quite possible that Cecil included in his instructions a requirement to find an undercover agent who could provide reports of regal politics and intelligence concerning the strength of the Portuguese mercantile fleet and the royal navy. It would seem that the anonymous author of MS86 may have fulfilled this role but original copies of his reports have never been found.

Academia.edu have published the paper written by Kate Lowe and Nuno Vila-Santa as a report of the findings. This includes a transcript. which uses the spelling of 16th century English including the names of the monarchs e.g. John for João and Mary for Maria. It makes an interesting read for those troubled times when Portugal led the contest for who should “rule the waves”.

An interesting comparison can be usefully made to the History of Portugal written a century later by Manuel de Faria and Sousa, a knight of the Order of Christ. This gives a much more detailed account of the times in Portugal during the lives of the fifteen kings who reigned over Portugal in succession after D. Afonso Henriques and provides many glimpses of social and economic events. For example, the manuscript terminates with only a short account of D. Sebastian who was still alive when it was written but de Sousa takes delight in recounting the preparations for the ill-fated expedition to Africa which resulted in the young king being indebted to foreign merchants at a reported interest rate of 8%. He also finds it necessary to report the nocturnal jaunts of the young king with his page and other young men to beaches and woods for contemplation!

The details of this essay will be included in a revision of my History of the Anglo-Portuguese Alliances which is to be republished in the Autumn of 2025

by Roberto Cavaleiro Tomar 21 May 2025