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Illustrious Generation According to Fernando Pessoa

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Illustrious Generation According to Fernando Pessoa ( Mensagem ), the infantes sons of João I, the Rei da Boa Memoria (King of the Good Memory) and of Philippa of Lancaster, have, something special. Henrique, anticipating the times, foresees the maritime future of Portugal; Fernando has received by God the gift of the divine Grace; Pedro is honest, intelligent and fair; Duarte is wise and eloquent. However, one of them seems to be an exception: it is João, the younger one. Speaking about himself, the young prince says: Não fui alguém. Minha alma estava estreita Entre tão grandes almas minhas pares, Inutilmente eleita, Virgemmente parada; Porque é do português, pai de amplos mares, Querer, poder só isto: O inteiro mar, ou a orla vã desfeita — O todo, ou o seu nada. (Fernando Pessoa, Mensagem, As Quinas, Quarta, Dom João, infante de Portugal ) (I was nobody. My soul was limited amidst the great souls of my brothers: it was uselessly elevated, Virginally gifted; Because the Portuguese, master of wide seas, wants and can only this: The whole sea, or the vain and broken coast – All or nothing. But for the moment, everything and its opposite are not played at sea, but in Africa. Ascended the throne in 1433, Dom Duarte - in a first moment, at least- does not listen to his brother Henrique and to the other supporters of the expansion in Morocco and adopts a defensive policy. He focuses on the internal affairs of Portugal, issues some laws (Ordinaçoes de Dom Duarte , a kind of Consolidated Act and the so called Lei Mental about the revision of the royal donations to the aristocracy, for example), he writes treaties and poems. He is the first who guesses that the word saudade ( from Latin term solitatem ) indicates a typically Portuguese feeling, a mix of melancholy and of sweet regret that is difficult to express otherwise. He is O Rei Eloquente ( the eloquent king), the wise and grim king, entirely involved in his high job and in his high responsibilities. At a certain moment, however, he changes his mind about the war in Africa. He gives in to pressures of his brothers Henrique and Fernando and prepares an expedition to Tangier. Things go wrong. The Portuguese army suffers a hard defeat and must give hostages. One of them is the king’s brother, the prince Fernando himself. The winners say: if you renounce to Ceuta, we release Fernando. According to the legend, it is Fernando himself who does not accept this proposal; according to other sources, it is his brother Henrique who convinces the Cortes to refuse it. Evidently, according to this latter version, Ceuta, in Henrique’s opinion, is most important than the life of his own brother. Fernando will never return to Portugal. He will die in captivity in Fez, will be considered saint and will become immortal in the verses of Camões, don Pedro Calderon de la Barca ( El Principe Constante ) and FernandoPessoa. The defeat at Tangier and the captivity of Fernando are a nasty blow for Dom Duarte. He becomes sad, his health is compromised . When he dies, after only five years of reign, his heir, the infante Afonso is a six -year -old child. Afonso is appointed king and supported by his mother, the queen Eleanor, as a regent. This solution is well-accepted by the “War Party”, by prince Henrique and by the powerful son-in law of Nuno Alvares Pereira, Afonso, Count of Barcelos, an illegitimate son of Don João I. But Dom Pedro –other brother of Dom Duarte -- disagrees this solution. Intellectual, tireless traveller he is a fierce opponent of the African enterprise. Portugal is again close to a civil war, perhaps different with respect to the civil war of 1383-85, perhaps more feudal, more political than social, but equally dangerous. The aristocracy is at the Queen’s side, the middle classes at Pedro’s side. After alternate events, Dom Pedro overcomes, after having got Afonso on his side, by appointing him Duke of Bragança and by increasing his wealth. The seven years of Pedro’s regency are troubled years. The deposed Queen born in Aragon, asks for help her own brothers, who are very powerful at the Castilian court. But Dom Pedro reacts well. At first he repels a Castilian embassy ; then he offers his own support to Don Alvaro de Luna -- engaged to contrast, in Castile, the influence of the so called Infantes de Aragon – and finally enters always more the internal Castilian affairs. In Portugal he plots in order to combine a marriage between his daughter Isabel and the future King Afonso; he appoints his son Pedro as Constable of the kingdom and Mestre of Avis. But, by acting in this way, he becomes unpopular at court. And thus, when Afonso gets the age for reigning, Dom Pedro is set aside. He will fall in combat at Alfarrobeira, in 1449, trying to contrast , weapons in hand, his nephew. He will define himself, in Pessoa’s verses as : …fiel à palavra dada e à ideia tida. Tudo o mais é com Deus ! ( ..[ I always was]..loyal to the given word and to my ideas. The rest is with God!) And the Portuguese poetess Sofia de Mello Breyner Andersen will write( 1961) about dom Pedro: Nunca choraremos bastante nem com pranto Assaz amargo e forte Aquele que fondou gloria e grandeza E recebeu em paga insulto e morte. (Never we will mourn enough and with bitter and loud cry the man who founded glory and greatness and received death and offence in reward.) .
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