ships used as freighters by the Portuguese
in the Mediterranean. Henry paid for the
explorations he sponsored through his ap-
pointment as governor of the Order of
Christ, a religious order holding estates
and benefices throughout the kingdom,
and through his right to one-fifth of all
the trading profits from lands he discov-
ered.
Leaving from the port of Lagos, the
Portuguese fleets set out to rescue and ran-
som Portuguese prisoners of the Barbary
Coast pirates. The small caravels sailed
down the coast of Mauretania and re-
turned with slaves, thus beginning the era
of European slave trading. Henry’s fleets
discovered Madeira and, in 1427, the
Azores Islands, which were soon colonized
by Portugal. In 1434 Gil Eannes rounded
Cape Bojador, up to that time the south-
ernmost limit of European exploration.
An expedition led in 1437 by Henry to
Tangier, however, ended in failure when
the Portuguese were defeated by the Moors
and Henry’s brother Fernando was made a
prisoner.
Portuguese ships later reached Cape
Blanco, the mouth of the Senegal River,
and Cape Vert, eventually reaching the
sub-Saharan coasts that lay beyond the
limits of Muslim-held Africa. The trade in
African gold greatly enriched the kingdom
of Portugal, which began minting the fa-
mous gold coins known as cruzeiros in
- In addition, the establishment of
bases closer to the prevailing westerly trade
winds greatly eased the task of navigating
across the Atlantic to the Americas. Even-
tually Portuguese navigators would push
well beyond Africa—to Brazil in South
America as well as the Indian Ocean and
the Spice Islands.
SEEALSO: Aviz, House of; Camoes, Luis
Vaz de; exploration
Henry VIII ......................................
(1491–1547)
Tudor dynasty king of England from 1509
until his death, best known for his defi-
ance of the Catholic pope in the matter of
his divorce from Catherine of Aragon and
his establishment of the Church of En-
gland. Born in a royal palace in Green-
wich, he was the son of King Henry VII
and Elizabeth of York and became heir ap-
parent on the death of his elder brother
Arthur in 1502.
Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Ara-
gon, daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon,
was arranged by his father in order to
make a useful alliance with the kingdom
of Spain, recently united by the marriage
of Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile. The
younger Henry, although opposed to the
marriage, went through with it after the
death of his father and just before his own
coronation as the king of England.
A patron of the arts, and himself a
competent musician and poet, Henry in-
vited scholars, musicians, and humanists
to his court. He ambitiously sought a place
for England in the political affairs and
wars of the European continent, and to
this end joined the Holy League with Spain
and Venice against France in 1512. He con-
tested control of Italy with Francis I, who
became king of France in 1515; after Fran-
cis was captured at the Battle of Pavia in
1525, Henry joined the League of Cognac
with Pope Clement VII to prevent Em-
peror Charles V from dominating the Ital-
ian peninsula.
Early in his reign Henry was a staunch
Catholic, and through his writings against
the teachings of Protestant reformer Mar-
tin Luther earned the honorary title of De-
fender of the Faith. But when it became
apparent that Catherine of Aragon would
not provide him with a male heir, HenryHenry VIII