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27 ‹ 2 › the evolution of sebastianism O n August 4, 1578, the Portuguese lost not only a battle but their army, their treasure, most of their nobility, and their king, in whom so much hope had been placed. They were soon to lose more, however. Sebastian had not secured the succession in case of failure, and the only other member of the Avis dynasty of any standing was Sebastian’s elderly uncle, the cardinal Henry, who suffered under the double disadvantages of being a priest and of having tuberculosis. Despite the fact that Henry was proclaimed king on August 22—a sign of the regime’ s acceptance of Sebastian’s death—reports that Sebastian was still alive were widespread. And even though a body had been identified as his a few days after the battle, the testimony of some soldiers who had fled the Moors fed the rumor that he had escaped to the fortified town of Arzila in the company of several knights. In the climate of uncertainty created by these conflicting reports, many people opted for the more hopeful of the possibilities , though the question remained of where Sebastian was, alive or dead.1 When Henry died, in January 1580, an illegitimate cousin of Sebastian’s, Dom António, the Prior of Crato, emerged as the popular candidate for the throne against the claims of Philip II of Spain. During Dom António’s brief reign, many people hoped that he was the Hidden One prophesied by Bandarra , a hope he did his best to encourage. His cause was lost, though, in the summer of 1580 when his ill-prepared army of volunteers was crushed by the veteran tercios of the Duke of Alba at the Battle of Alcántara. Dom António fled to the north and then to the Azores, but in 1583 the island of Terceira was captured by the Spanish, with Dom António and his remaining supporters fleeing to exile in France and England. In the meantime, Philip II was proclaimed king of Portugal by the Cortes of Tomar in 1581 after swearing to respect the rights, laws, and privileges of the Portuguese. In 1582, Philip, a shrewd ruler, had the body that had been identified as Sebastian’s ransomed from Morocco the millenarian background 28 and publicly interred in the Monastery of the Hieronymites outside Lisbon in a move calculated to convince his new subjects that Sebastian was indeed dead and thereby solidify his own legitimacy. Because some witnesses disputed the identity of the body, though, the burial did little to quell the belief that Sebastian was still alive. One of the earliest pieces of evidence testifying to the continuing belief that Sebastian was alive is the rather obscure inquisitorial trial of a blacksmith named Balthasar Gonçalves from the island of Terceira in the Azores.2 Sometime around March 1581, Balthasar Gonçalves began to proclaim that he had received a revelation that Sebastian had escaped from Alcazarquivir and was in hiding in the Monastery of San Francisco in Lisbon. What is more, Sebastian would soon reveal himself, on a Friday, to reclaim the kingdom of Portugal.3 It is doubtful—given that the Azores were then still holding out against Philip II’s forces—that the claim that Sebastian was still alive was seen as all that remarkable ; it was the fact that Gonçalves said he had received his information by a special revelation from God that was troubling to ecclesiastical authorities. Gonçalves was duly reported to the Inquisition of Lisbon and, after considerable delays stemming from the Spanish conquest of the islands in 1583,he was transferred to Lisbon to stand trial. His first interrogation took place on May 27, 1584, and in it he revealed several details of interest. Sebastian would not, when he returned, merely reclaim Portugal from the Spanish but would alsoconquerallofAfricaintwoyearsandthentheHolyLand.Intheprocess,he would defeat and subjugate the Moors and Turks, and once he brought peace to the world, all would become Christians. In the meantime, the Antichrist would rise and become pope, but he would later be defeated and killed, presumably by Sebastian, although this is not completely clear in the testimony. Three days after the death of the Antichrist, the Final Judgment would occur.4 Inquisitor Bartolomeu de Fonseca listened to all of this very patiently before asking Gonçalves if he had ever had any communication with the devil, to which Gonçalves answered no. After...

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