Chapter 9 - A Standing Army
- An initial overview -
By the late 13th century, the kings of Portugal needed more revenue due to escalating military costs due to the changing art of war, especially in its technology. Chain mail began to be replaced with more expensive plate armor, forts are being redesigned to better withstand sieges, and the recruitment of
besteiros, or crossbowmen into the Portuguese army at the time intensified. Although the process of recruiting crossbowmen was complex, it became a foundation for a standing army, and the weapon itself became one of the most important ranged weapons in Medieval Portugal. Units of crossbowmen were raised on a quota basis by the municipalities, and recruited mostly from sons of tradesmen, and not by the nobility.
A reenactment of Portuguese crossbowmen from the late 14th century (
Image source)
By the time of the
1383–1385 succession crisis, although the Portuguese army under João I still consisted of feudal levies, the use of crossbowmen became a game changer in the
Battle of Aljubarrota in 1385. During the battle
Nuno Álvares Pereira used well-trained crossbowmen in favorable defensive positions to inflict a devastating effect on slow-moving Castilian knights. Thanks to having a smaller army than Castile at the time, the organization of the Portuguese army became more coherent and perhaps had the potential to modernize, but this did not last long.
Cannons, such as these 16th century ones in Fort São Sebastião in the island of Moçambique were crucial in siege warfare
In the early 14th century, revolutionary gunpowder weapons like handguns were introduced, but were too cumbersome for the time and took a long time to gain acceptance. But by the start of the 15th century, the use of cannons started to become more dominant in the medieval Portuguese army, especially in siege warfare. The production of firearms and artillery were kept strictly under royal control, with the central arsenal dedicated to its production founded in Barcarena in 1479 under Afonso V’s reign. Portuguese cannons were used to great effect during Afonso V and João II’s expeditions into Morocco, with the latter intensifying the use to capture key enemy forts in coastal Morocco during the Granadine War at the end of the 15th century.
- The Knight and Squire Charters -
Like other European rulers at the time, the Portuguese kings mostly relied on professional forces from the Royal Guards to foreign mercenaries and soldiers from the Orders of Christ and Avis. The Portuguese nobles still believed that the knights were still the best warriors on the battlefield, and that the mixed use of pikes and arquebuses (The future model of the Portuguese
terços) were just utilized by medieval peasants, and that knighthood is considered the “mirror” of the warrior.
The status of knighthood in late medieval Portugal was confirmed by charters, the oldest dating back to 1484 under João II’s reign. Although in the late 15th century, as the art of war began to gradually change to the terço model, knighthoods were still granted in conjunction. The possessions in Morocco were the main breeding ground for knights, as they garrison the possessions of Ceuta, Tânger and
Mazagão, going on mounted patrol and plundering cattle from the surrounding villages with little resistance, due to the lack of organization in the
Wattasid government. Morocco was also used to promote household servants, both royal and noble to the knighthood.
Knighthood was also granted for other kinds of military service in India, tropical Africa, Java and Brazil, as well as a reward for other types of services to the Crown, the latter in part due to the focus on merit beginning in the last decades of the 15th century as a result of military reforms, from a merchant from Porto to a woolmaker in Badajoz. There are also uncommon racial features of some of the people who were granted knighthood. One Francisco de Meneses from Tânger was a
mourisco, a Catholic convert who adopted his surname from his godfather and a Pero Gonçalves, was a
mulato. There were also cases of Asians in the late 16th century being promoted to the knighthood, with several cases of freed Javanese slaves being promoted in
Sofala and even a charter granted to a Japanese adventurer in Goa.
The charter knights aren’t exactly nobles. Pedro Fernandes da Alcáçova, for example, was granted a coat of arms by João II in 1491 during his service as the secretary to the treasury. He was knighted two decades earlier by Afonso V for his service during the conquest of Arzila, but this charter made him as an “armigerous nobleman,” a plebian from the third estate by origin. Furthermore, knight charter mentioned anything about hereditary right to the title, and contained a provision that the title’s future holders (rightful descendants by direct line) are of armigerous nobleman.
Royal proclamation of the late Middle Ages always addressed “
fidalgos, cavaleiros, escudeiros,” implying a clear social difference among Portuguese knights. The various identities, origins, occupations and motives for knighthood give a definite evaluation on the status of Portuguese knights in the early modern times, and how these promotions were a clear sign of a rudimentary merit system that focuses on talent.
Squires were clearly recognized by the Crown as a separate status, with the oldest charter being granted in 1462. The total quantity of the squire charters were significantly smaller than the knights’ charters, and were eventually stopped during Duarte II’s reign. The early charters were usually granted to people who belonged to deceased potentates’ households, such as Henry the Navigator during Afonso V’s reign. Rarely was a squire ever promoted into the knighthood in Portugal. Over the many charters granted during João II’s long reign, only 23 charters were granted to squires that were promoted to the knighthood, with 6 of those being noble squires [1].
Some
Cortes articles imply that the status of the Portuguese squire was also a step in the young Portuguese nobleman’s career at court. In the first
cortes during João II’s reign, the eldest heirs of destitute noblemen were requested to be raised at the royal county as pages and to not be promoted to squires too early, suggesting that the pages be trained in military life rather than in court life. On the other hand, most of those who were promoted to squires came from rural residences across Portugal, with several living in Madeira, the Azores, Cape Verde and after 1477, the Canaries. Only two lived in the cities of the
First Bench, which were the five main cities in the cortes, one in Lisbon and the other in Évora.
- A new kind of warfare -
One of the consequences of the victory of the Portuguese and
La Beltraneja’s supporters at the Battle of Toro in 1476 was keeping up with the recent developments in warfare around that time. Although the Portuguese won the battle, the Castilians used small firearms that have been used with great efficiency, inflicting serious losses on the Portuguese cavalry. During Afonso V’s last years, he has learned from the mistakes of not adapting to the developments at the time and his successor began to strengthen Portugal’s military capabilities.
A depiction of the Portuguese handgunners in one of the Pastrana tapestries
João II then followed the medieval conventions of consolidating the cavalry network of
coudelarias, territorial cavalry and horse breeding divisions, and between 1481 and 1492 appointed a great number of heads, or
coudeis and administrative clerks to the
coudelarias. Seeing the impact the Castilian small arms had on the Portuguese cavalry, he issued 619 individual and 37 collective (based in main cities and smaller towns) handgunner charters across Portgual, Galiza and Leão to confirm these privileges. This was one of the clear signs how enthusiastic the king was in adopting firearms early. Although João II still occasionally issued crossbowmen charters to individuals, this practice was largely stopped by the early 1510s [2].
The use of handguns and pikes in the first major battle of the Italian Wars, the Battle of Fornovo
In addition to the adoption of firearms, the use of piked mass formations began to appear. The conflict between France under the House of Valois and Habsburg Austria over influence in Italy in 1494 brought many soldiers of fortune across Europe, with a fair number from Portugal arriving, bent to learn about recent developments in warfare. This was the beginning of the use of combined arms of pike and shot. The age of the
terço português had begun.
- The Council of War and the fate of the Military Orders -
Despite adapting to the ever-changing art and technology of warfare, the Portuguese nobility were worried about the increasing royal control over the affairs of war. Great noble families still have the capacity to field significant forces, even at a significant disadvantage to the increasing power of the Crown. After the
Battle of Alfarrobeira in 1449 which challenged Afonso V in his early reign and the downfall of plots against the crown such as the Bragança conspiracy of 1483, the Viseu conspiracy the following year, as well as the half-hearted Beja conspiracy of 1496, it demonstrated that the King is in charge, and no Portuguese noble would ever dare to challenge the royal authority, at least for the time being. From the reign of Afonso V, the royal family was usually protected by a 200-strong royal guard, which would eventually expand as time passed.
In 1494, six years before the Granadine War, in order to prepare for future wars and overseas expeditions, João II would establish the
Conselho da Guerra (Council of War). The council would consist of seven key figures, 3 nobles and 3 non-nobles, including the King himself, primarily responsible for the royal affairs in the army and navy, and among this main role, they also:
Appoint officers based on a rudimentary merit system, rather than from the nobility [3]
Oversee the officers’ activities, making sure that they focus on key objectives as the wars progress, and to punish them for misconduct and corruption
Maintain logistics and formulate projects in military infrastructure, such as forts and food supply for invasions, as well as maintaining weapons and firearms factories
Instill military discipline and morale among the Portuguese army, providing training for more men to be prepared for future conflicts, thanks to the expanded population base in Galiza and Leão
The crosses of the Military Orders of Christ and Avis, respectively
In addition, the military reforms under João II would initiate the integration of the Military
Order of Christ and the
Order of São Bento de Avis into the Portuguese military. These two military orders emerged shortly after the end of Portugal’s Reconquista, a mere corporation of knights which proclaimed loyalty to the Crown, but more absorbed in administering their estates. The Order of Avis is notable for bringing João I as the first Avis king of Portugal in 1385, while the Order of Christ is notable for its crucial role in the early stages of Portuguese exploration, with Henry the Navigator becoming the governor of the order in 1419. As governor, he obtained a bull from the Papacy the right to control the rights and revenues of the Catholic Church outside of Portugal.
These two military orders played a role in the early expansion of the Portuguese Empire, and also forged an strong crusader-like attitude which marked Portuguese anti-Muslim mentality that was developed during the Reconquista. Although Henry the Navigator’s past governorship of the Order of Christ began to change things up in favor of the crown, João II and his successors would prefer that the Crown should have the rights and revenues for the Church in the Ultramar, rather than having it held by the Military Orders; that is in other words, complete absorption.
[1] During OTL Manuel I’s reign, 608 were granted, with 14 squires granted to the knighthood, 3 of them being of noble blood. All of the six charters made during João II’s OTL reign were already knights.
[2] OTL, João II was aware of the developments in firearms and knew that they largely replace crossbows when the Castilians conquered Granada in 1492, but decided not to adopt them largely since he shrewdly thought that he could replace crossbows with firearms at any time and that what actually mattered was a standing defence organization. Here we see TTL’s João II being more forward thinking with adopting firearms.
[3] The nobility still has some major roles in both the army and the navy, mostly from the ones who support the royal cause, but the line between the nobles and the commoners would eventually blur by the end of the 16th century.
Note - Finally, after two months (due to preparing and taking finals in college at the time), this chapter is finally finished. This is in fact one of the hardest chapters to think of for this TL so far in terms of researching and writing it, given the scarce info about the Portuguese army in the late 15th century (I got a significant amount of sources from JSTOR and Osprey Publishing), but we're seeing the development of the Portuguese army in a more prepared and more forward direction before the invasion of coastal Morocco in the Granadine War, which will be covered in the next chapter. Any feedback and suggestions on this chapter (especially about what to do with the military orders) and the upcoming Granadine War? (conquest and integration of coastal Morocco).
