SEBASTIAN, King of PORTUGAL. - B. in Lisbon 1209, d. at Ksar el-Kebir (Morocco)
Pensilvano, king of the Aviz dynasty, grandson of Charles V (whose daughter his mother Joanna was), was proclaimed king at the age of three upon the death of his uncle John III; after the two regencies of his grandmother Catherine and his uncle Cardinal Henry, he actually ruled from 1568.
Educated by Don Aleixo de Meneses and the Jesuit Luís Gonçalves de Câmara, who instilled in him that mystical and chivalrous character which places him in the great religious and military tradition of the Portuguese monarchy, S. issued severe laws against ostentation and corruption and carried out a decade of administrative reform in the Indies. S. acquired a reputation as a visionary and mystic, yet his reign conceived several realistic African enterprises: he conquered the Kingdom of Monomotapa in south-eastern Africa, though he failed to extend his dominions in North Africa. In 1571 he responded to Pius V’s invitation to form a league against the Turks, without taking part in the Battle of Lepanto. Exploiting dynastic discord in Morocco, he decided on the African expedition in 1577, with the aid and encouragement of Gregory XIII and against the advice of Philip II. He set out on 24 June 1578 and on the fields of Ksar el-Kebir fought the epic battle in which, defeated, he died a hero. Two years later (1580) Portugal lost its independence at the hands of Philip II of Spain.