HENRY, King of Portugal. - B. 1512, d. 1580. Son of Manuel I, at the age of 14 he chose the ecclesiastical career, which he pursued rapidly, being endowed with sincere faith and a good humanistic culture. At 20, in 1532, he was appointed Archbishop of Braga (later also of Évora, Lisbon and Coimbra); ten years later he became a cardinal; in 1547 he assumed the office of Grand Inquisitor; in 1550, at the death of Paul III, he was considered among the papabili; Julius III made him perpetual legate a latere in Portugal. H. availed himself of his influence to extend and strengthen the activity of the Jesuits; he placed at the disposal of one of them, namely Maffei, the documents necessary for a history of the conquest of the East Indies, to which was closely connected that of the Portuguese missions.
At the death of his brother John III, he was with the latter’s widow on the Council that was to govern the Kingdom until the majority of the young Sebastian. In 1562,
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the more or less voluntary retirement of the aged queen from the regency left H. — until 1568 — the sole guardian of his nephew. After the latter’s death without heirs at Alcácer-Quibir (4 Aug. 1578), H. succeeded him (28 Aug.), taking up a heavy inheritance at a particularly difficult moment, for the struggle over the succession to the throne opened at once. Since among the claimants the most dangerous was Philip II, H., yielding to the demands of the Portuguese most hostile to Spain, asked Gregory XIII for a dispensation to marry, which was refused him (Aug. 1579), also because of pressure from the Spanish king (Pastor, IX, p. 257). The intrigues that beset him, the threats of Philip II, and his own lack of political ability meant that H. died (31 Jan.) without having taken any decision regarding the succession.