Henry (Prince), the Navigator

The name of Prince Henry the Navigator is inseparably bound up with the discovery and early colonisation of this archipelago. He was the initiator and promoter of our maritime discoveries, and Madeira is the great, undying commemorative pillar (padrão) that truly marks the auspicious beginning of our odyssey as navigators. If a monument ought long ago to have been raised here to João Gonçalves Zarco, to remind Portuguese and foreigners alike of the discoverer’s distinguished personality, the glorious figure of the illustrious prince should not be forgotten either. It was he who opened a new era of prosperity for Portugal, setting in motion the one enterprise that truly made us great in the eyes of the whole world. Madeira owes his memory a worthy tribute, which future generations will know how to pay him in full justice, when the time comes for the future to make good the errors and failings of the past.

We have already referred in another article to the grants of this archipelago made to Prince Henry. It is to be presumed, although the chroniclers do not say so and no known document proves it, that it was John I himself who first granted this island to his son and recognised him as the true lord of the whole archipelago. The later grants that are known (see Grants) would merely have confirmed, in a more solemn and more authentic manner, those already made earlier. They would also be proof that Duarte, without wishing to give up his rights of sovereignty, recognised in his brother the privileges and prerogatives that the monarch, their father and his predecessor, had conferred on the prince.

The proof of the sweeping grant obtained by Prince Henry lies in the donations he made to the discoverers João Gonçalves Zargo and Tristão Vaz Teixeira, in which, referring to this island, he speaks of ‘my island of Madeira’ (minha ylha da Madeyra). We are convinced that the king granted this archipelago to the Order of Christ (Ordem de Cristo) chiefly because Prince Henry was Grand Master of that Order, besides other weighty reasons that may have recommended the grant.

It may be said that Prince Henry held the most absolute dominion over this archipelago and exercised true sovereign rights over it. The kings gradually curtailed the privileges that he had granted to the recipients of his donations, and these came almost entirely to an end under Philippine rule (Spanish Habsburg rule over Portugal, 1580–1640).

In various places in this work we refer to the part played by Prince Henry in the discovery, early colonisation, administration and development of this archipelago, and for that reason we omit here various facts and circumstances that might be relevant to the subject of this article. Prince Henry was born in 1394 and died in 1460.