Papal Portugal

[miguelrj]

IOTL Henry, the Cardinal of Lisbon inherited the Portuguese throne following the death of his childless great nephew Sebastian in Ksar el Kibir. During his short reign, the old Cardinal-King wasn't able to clearly define a successor leaving Portugal as an easy prey to Philip II.

WI #1: Henry is elected pope before! Not implausible: he lived through 6 papal elections as a cardinal and there was even an abortive move to buy his way into the papacy in 1555 when he was one of the favorites.

Sebastian's doom is hard to be butterflied away. If anything, having his great uncle as pope would feed his delusion of being God's main general. He'll find a premature death in Morocco and the pope is going to inherit the Portuguese throne.

Now, my take is that this would change little. The old king will reign from Rome and appoint a regency but his succession will be left as blurry as IOTL. But...


WI #2: Let's imagine that the Pope becomes convinced that the fact that he inherited the Portuguese throne was a Divine Providence's sign that the Papal States and Portugal ought to be in personal union. He duly proclaims that every pope thenceforth would also be King of Portugal ex officio, ruling Portugal via a regency probably presided by the Cardinal of Lisbon. He seeks and probably gets the support from the Portuguese Cortes.

What would Philip II's reaction be?

Would he swallow the Pope-King's decision fearing excommunication?
After the death of the first Pope-King should he march into Lisbon before a new Pope is elected? The resistance might be stiffer...
Should he risk to anger the other Catholics by preemptively march into Rome to guarantee the election of a Pope that doesn't go through with his predecessor's agenda?

 

[Janprimus]

@ WI # 2: Philip II like his father Charles V was a devout Catholic, but that didn't prevent Charles V from using military force to ensure the Papacy makes the 'right' decision. Especially given the Spanish military presence in the Italian and Iberian peninsulas.

The only other Catholic powers powerful enough are France and the Austrian Habsburgs. The latter are his relatives, who in principle will support him, but if things get though they might want a concession.
This only leaves France.

Protestant powers getting involved, would decide for or against Spain or France (and what they could offer them in return) and would ignore the Papacy.

 

[iori]

I think it's most likely that the situation would'nt last as after awhile the Portuguese Nobility would tire of the situation and/or a pretender of some legitimacy would arise and you'd end-up with a King of Portugal and the Pope (assuming they don't abandon his ruling, which IMO is more likely than not) being a Pretender claiming the Portuguese Throne.

 

[miguelrj]

As discussed elsewhere, another intersting effect of Philip going as far as to send troops to Rome to "protect" the conclave, is that France shall never recognize its result and may be sufficiently upset to elect an antipope in Avignon and bring back the Schism.

 

[Will Kürlich Kerl]

As discussed elsewhere, another intersting effect of Philip going as far as to send troops to Rome to "protect" the conclave, is that France shall never recognize its result and may be sufficiently upset to elect an antipope in Avignon and bring back the Schism.

That would be bad, since I believe the French Wars of Religion are just seven years down the road.

 

[Roberto]

That would be bad, since I believe the French Wars of Religion are just seven years down the road.

They'd probably be jump-started, with a lot more divisions. I see at least three-factions: the Huguenots, the Loyalist Catholics, and the Antipope's Catholics. twould be a lot more complex conflict, and have a lot of repercussions on the development of the French political landscape.