(_For the Mirror._)


Portugal was first created into a monarchy on the 27th of July, 1139;
on which day, Dom Alphonso I., son of Henry, Count of Burgundy, the
son of Robert, king of France, was proclaimed at Lisbon, after having
vanquished and slain five Moorish kings in the battle of Campo
d'Ourique, where he was unanimously chosen as sovereign of Portugal by
his army. This dignity was confirmed to him by the first assembly of the
states-general at Lamego. In commemoration of this event, the Portuguese
arms bear five standards and five escudets.[1] After the unfortunate
expedition of Dom Sebastian I. to Africa, where he was slain in the
battle of Alcazar, the crown devolved upon his great uncle, the Cardinal
Dom Henry, a man of 67 years of age, and who reigned but 17 months.
At his death there were several claimants for the succession, and the
kingdom in consequence became the theatre of civil war. Philip II. of
Spain, the most powerful of these, sent an army, under the Duke of Alba,
into Portugal, and completed the conquest of the country with little
opposition. This event took place in the year 1580, and the kingdom of
Portugal remained under the dominion of Spain until the 1st of December,
1649, the day on which the Duke of Braganza was proclaimed king with the
title of Dom Joao IV. Since that time Portugal has maintained its
independence. For a more detailed account, see L'Abbé Nertot's
"Revolutions of Portugal."


[Footnote 1: See Succession Chronologica de los Reyes de Portugal.]