How was Vasco da Gama chosen?
Hwere we are plunged into the dense web of Portuguese intrigue and factional politics which the author seems to revel in considering the astonishing detail with which he treats it. Joao II, Manuel’s predecessor and brother-in-law, was the first ‘absolutist’ monarch of Portugal — the kind that mushroomed in 15th century Europe, be it Louis XI in France, Henry VII in England, the Catholic Monarchs in Spain or the princely despots in Germany who were shortly to take advantage of the Lutheran Reformation to this end. But Joao II had no idea that he was founding the modern state: he only knew for certain that he was grabbing power for himself. Like all dynasts, he then sought to manipulate the succession, this time in favour of his illegitimate son Jorge; but the Pope rejected his appeal for legitimization. Therefore Manuel had to succeed him, no matter how much Joao deplored it. He consoled himself then by making Jorge Master of the Orders of Santiago and of Avis, leaving instructions in
