Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/749

 KINGS.] JOHN 715 Castile, and the murder, by the king s own hand, of the youthful duke of Viseu for conspiracy. This reign was signalized by Bartolommeo Bias s discovery of the Cape of Good Hope in 1486, and also by the equipment (1493) of a squadron for exploration of the new world recently discovered by Columbus. The latter proceeding led to disputes with Castile, until the claims of the disputants were adjusted by the famous treaty of Tordesillas (7th June 1494). John II. died, without leaving male issue, in October 1495, and was succeeded by his brother-in-law Emmanuel (Manoel) I. JOHN III. (1502-1557) of Portugal was born at Lisbon, June 6, 1502, and ascended the throne as successor of his father Emmanuel I. in December 1521. In 1524 he married Catherine, sister to the emperor Charles V., who in turn shortly afterwards married the infanta Isabella, John s sister. Succeeding to the crown at a time when Portugal was at the height of its political power, and Lisbon in a position of commercial importance previously unknown, John III., unfortunately for his dominions, yielded so far to the counsels of the clerical party among his subjects as to consent to the introduction of the Inquisi tion (about 1526) ; this led to measures of tyranny and oppression which, notwithstanding the enactment of many wise laws, soon avenged themselves in disastrous conse quences to the commercial and social prosperity of his king dom. The conflicts in which Portugal engaged with the Moors and the Turks during his reign were comparatively unfruitful of results. He died of apoplexy on June 6, 1557, and was succeeded by his grandson Sebastian, then a child of only three years. JOHN IV. (1603-1656), &quot;the Fortunate,&quot; of Portugal, was bom at Villaviciosa in March 1603, succeeded to the dukedom of Braganza in 1630, and married Luisa de Guzman, eldest daughter of the duke of Medina Sidonia, in 1633. By the unanimous voice of the people he was raised to the throne of Portugal (of which he was held to be the legitimate heir) at the revolution effected in December 1640 by a conspiracy of the nobles against the grievances inflicted by Spain and the insolence of Philip IV. s minister, the duke of Olivarez. His accession ultimately led to a protracted war with Spain, of which the final issue the recognized independence of Portugal did not declare itself until a subsequent reign (1668). He died after a prosperous reign of sixteen years, on November 6, 1656, and was succeeded by his son Alphonso VI. JOHN V. (1689-1750) of Portugal was born at Lisbon on October 22, 1689, and succeeded his father Pedro II. on December 1706, being proclaimed on January 1, 1707. One of his first acts was to intimate his adherence to the Grand Alliance, which his father had joined in 1703, and his resolution to take his full share in the war then in progress. Accordingly his general Das Minas, along with Lord Galway, advanced into Castile, but sustained the defeat of Almanza (14th April). In October 1708 he married Maria Anna, daughter of Leopold I., thus strengthening the alliance with Austria ; the series of campaigns which ensued were equally unsuccessful with the first, but ultimately terminated in a favourable peace with France in 1713 and with Spain in 1715. The rest of his long reign presents no striking features, except that it was characterized by perfect subservience on his part to the clergy, the kingdom being administered by ecclesiastical persons and for ecclesiastical objects to an extent that gave him the best of rights to the title &quot; Most Faithful King,&quot; bestowed upon him and his successors by a bull of pope Benedict XIV. in 1748. John V. died on July 31, 1750, and was succeeded by his son Joseph. JOHN VI. (1769-1826) of Portugal was born at Lisbon May 13, 1769, and received the title of prince of Brazil in 1788. In 1792 he assumed the reins of government in name of his mother Queen Mary I., who had become insane. He himself having been brought up in an unhealthy ecclesi astical atmosphere, and being naturally of a somewhat weak and helpless character, was but ill adapted for the responsibilities he was thus called on to undertake. In 1799 he assumed the title of regent, which he retained until his mother s death in 1816. The political relations of Portugal with England and France from the period of the first coalition against France in 1793 to the treaty of Fontainebleau (1807), by which the partition of the first- named country was agreed upon, will be elsewhere explained (see PORTUGAL). In consequence of the latter treaty the prince of Brazil found it necessary to leave the kingdom (November 1807), and transfer the seat of his government to Rio Janeiro. The occupation and annexa tion of the whole country immediately ensued ; against this he recorded his protest in November 1808, and in a more practical manner by the seizure of French Guiana in ^the following year. He also entered into alliance with England in 1810, and was a party to the treaty of Paris in 1814. In 1816 he was recognized as king of Portugal on the death of Mary, but he continued to reside abroad ; the consequence was the spread of a feeling of natural dis satisfaction, which resulted in the peaceful revolution of 1820, and the proclamation of a constitutional government, to which he swore fidelity on his return to Portugal in 1822. In the same year, and again in 1823, he had to suppress a rebellion led by his son Dona Miguel, whom he ultimately was compelled to banish in 1824. He died at Lisbon, March 26, L826, and was succeeded by Pedro IV. JOHN (1801-1873), king of Saxony, brother and sue- King of cessor of Frederick Augustus II., and younger son of Duke Saxony. Maximilian and Caroline of Parma, was born at Dresden 12th December 1801. In youth he showed a special bent towards mathematics, and he also studied with great dili gence law and history. His interest in Italian literature having been awakened by a journey to Italy in 1821, he in 1825 printed for private circulation, under the pseudonym of Philalethes, a metrical translation of a portion of Dante s Inferno, and in 1829 he published a complete translation of the Divine Comedy, with critical and historical notes. At an early age he also took an active part in political life. In 1821 he became a member of the college of finance, of which he was president from 1825 to 1831. From 1831 to 1846 he acted as commander of the national guards. On ascending the throne in 1854 he followed the same enlightened and liberal policy as his brother, and introduced several reforms of great benefit to the country. In the wars of 1866 he sided with Austria against Prussia, and on that account had to submit to the payment of a large sum of money and the cession of the fortress of Konigstein at the conclusion of peace. He, however, afterwards entered the North German federation, and his troops took a very prominent and distinguished part in the Franco- Prussian war of 1870-71. He died at Dresden, October 29, 1873. JOHN (JUAN) I. (1350-1395), king of Aragou, was Spanish born December 27, 1350, and succeeded his father, Pedro kings. IV, in 1387. He left the affairs of his kingdom to a large extent in the hands of his wife Yolande, a granddaughter of John the Good, king of France, while he himself led a life of pleasure and inglorious ease. A characteristic feature of his reign was the encouragement he gave to the poetical institutions of the troubadours, a &quot; consistory of the Gaya Sciencia&quot; having been founded at Barcelona under his auspices in 1390. In that year he repelled an attack by the count of Armagnac, who had laid claim to the domains in Majorca previously in possession of his family; and in 1392 he quelled a revolt of the Sardinians.