of Portingale had for then Justification in a Case so extraordinary as this was; and
why, having sworn, two several times in their Parliaments, Allegcance unto the Catholick
Kings' who thereby had held sull possession for above three score years, the Portingalls
would change them, and interraine others: whereto th' Agent readily made
Answer, that the King his Master had not recourse unto the Sacred See of Rome, for th'
Approbation thereof in temporall matters; not with a purpose to submit the Businesse in
hand unto the Decision of his Holiness; (Portingale being a Kingdom most free, and
wholly in dependant of other Monarchies;) But to pl ase his Eminency, and manifest
the more his Masters Right within the Court of Rowe; he was very ready to give satisfaction
therein: And so he did shewing elderly by the reasons hereafter mentioned, that
the Kingdom of Portingale belonged unto him that now sent him.
First because he was the sole and onely Prince, who by direction, and the masculine
Line, descended from the Kings Don Alsonso Henriques, and Don John the First, and who
maintained the Consanguinity of the King Don Emanuel, his great Grand-father, by
being the first great Grand-child unto th' Infant Don Edward, Son to the said King
Emanuel.
Secondly, By the Benefit of Representation; the said Lady Catherine representing
her Qualities, the Person of her Father in the succession of the King Don Henriques, exclusively
to the Catholick King, for as much as this Prince was but Son to a Daughter;
whereas she was Daughter to a Son. Thirdly; by reason of the Prerogative of the more
excellent, whereof the La. Catherin[nl]e was; for if you make of everyone of the Children of
King Emanuel, a distinct and severall Line, 'tis evident, that the first was of his eldest
Son King John the 3d. the second of th' Infant Don Lovis, the 3d of King Henry, and the
4th. and last of the masculine Line, that of Don Edou[nl]ard: So that the first being ended
by the want of Successors, and the second extinct through want of Legitimation, we[nl] goe
to the third, of King Henry, which being likewise ended, we should come to the fou[nl]rth,
of Don Edward, whether in his own person, or in that of his Issue, without Leaping to[nl] the[nl]
femenine Line of th' Empresse Isabella, the Spanish Kings Mother, as all the Doctors
who have written upon this subject do most judiciously resctive, Fourthily, that in the first
Parliament of Portingale solemnly held in the Town of la Megue, it was ordinals, that
no strange Prince could be admitted unto the Succession of the Kingdom of Porti[nl]ngale,
which was also confirmed by the disposition of the fixt Councell of Toledo: And showed
by many reasons and Authorities that the Catholick King was a stranger, though the
son of a Portingole woman, and the most excellent Lady Catherine the true here to
the Crown, being not onely a Portingale woman, but also matryed unto a Prince of this
Nation, viz: Don John Duke of Braganca, descended likewise from the Royal Line of
Portingale. Fistly, admitting that his Majesty of Portingale had such authenticall
Reasons for justification of the Right of restitution made unto him of his Kingdom, that
of th' Acclamation and A[nl]pplause of his Subject, would be sufficient, it being most certain,
that the Decease of the King Hemigues without Successors left unto themfull Libert,
and power to name one; as this deceased Prince himselfe pretended to doe; to
which effect he sent Don Gaspard de Cazall Bishop of Coimbra, and Emanu[nl]el de Mello
Great Huntsman of the Kingdom, to desire the Catholick King not to invade Portingale
with his Forces, but to submit himself unto the disposition of the Law: which Grego[nl]ry the
13th. performing the part of a Common Father, did likewise cause him to be called by
his Legat, the Cardinal Riario; instead whereof that King, using all kinde of Violence,
did in force the Kingdom of Portingale to recover in Liberty, upon the first Opportunity
presented unto it.
Th' Agent satisfying likewise all the scruples which the said Cardinal Barberin could
make, first justified the Portingals for not having kept th' Oath they tooke of Obedience