Latest / The History of Portugal: The Small Nation That Built a Global Empire — Fexingo History
The Forty Conjured: Portugal's 1640 Coup Against Spain
In 1640, Portugal was under the thumb of the Spanish Habsburgs for sixty years, its empire stagnating under foreign rule. Then a daring conspiracy of forty nobles—the Forty Conjured—stormed the Lisbon palace, assassinated the Spanish secretary Miguel de Vasconcelos, and placed the Duke of Braganza on the throne as King John IV. This episode unpacks the plot, the key figures like João IV and the Count of Évora, the subsequent Restoration War that pitted Portugal's outnumbered forces against Spain's Tercios, and the diplomacy that secured alliances with England and France. We explore…
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