340 Henry “the Navigator”
and SWABIA. In the north, he tried to regroup his patri-
mony, including inheritances, new acquisitions, and
FIEFS, to make them into a territorial state that he
intended to govern as sovereign. This ambition earned
him the hostility of a number of lay and ecclesiastical
vassals. A second marriage, to Matilda (1156–89) of EN-
GLAND, a pilgrimage to CONSTANTINOPLEand JERUSALEM,
and impressive patronage increased his political prestige.
He also conducted several bloody and successful expedi-
tions against the SLAVSin eastern Europe.
He refused to send troops to Frederick I, then in mil-
itary difficulty with the LOMBARDLEAGUEin ITA LY. The
emperor later blamed his defeat at LEGNANO on this.
Frederich used this and a complaint by a bishop of Hal-
berstadt about Henry’s spoliation of church properties in
order to summon him before his feudal court. After a
long traditional procedure, Frederick condemned him to
the loss of his possessions and exile in 1186. The outlaw
Henry took refuge in NORMANDYand England, returning
to his lands only in 1192. He was able to bequeath to his
children only the duchy of Brunswick. After Frederick’s
death, Henry was the focal point of opposition to his son
HENRYVI, but he died on August 6, 1195. His tomb and
that of his wife are in a church at Brunswick, where he
had built a castle, Dankwarderod, where he erected a
bronze lion to represent the prestige of his family.
Further reading:Madelyn Bergen Dick, “Henry the
Lion (1129/1131–August 6, 1195),” in Medieval Germany:
An Encyclopedia,ed. John M. Jeep (New York: Garland,
2001), 346; Karl Jordan, Henry the Lion: A Biography,
trans. P. S. Falla (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986); Peter
Munz, Frederick Barbarossa: A Study in Medieval Politics
(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1969).
Henry “the Navigator” (Infante Dom Henry of Portu-
gal)(1394–1460)Portuguese prince, duke of Viseu
The Infante Dom Henry of Portugal was born on March
4, 1394, in LISBONor Oporto in PORTUGAL, the third sur-
viving son of King John I (r. 1385–1433) of Portugal,
founder of the Avis dynasty, and his English wife,
Philippa of Lancaster (1359–1415). He never married and
had no children. Henry’s father richly endowed him with
lands and titles, but Henry’s ambitions could not be easily
satisfied within the confines of Portugal. His personality
and outlook were formed by the successful conquest of
the North African city of Ceuta in 1415. For the rest of
his life, he sought to repeat that triumph by continuing
the war against the Muslims to enhance his personal
glory and fortune in the process.
The penurious Portuguese Crown was reluctant to
deepen its involvement in MOROCCO. In 1419 Henry led a
relief force to lift the siege of Ceuta, but it was only after
the death of John I that he persuaded the new king, his
brother, Duarte (r. 1433–38), to embark on another
attack in Morocco. The expedition against the city of
Tangier in 1437 ended in a military and personal disaster
for Henry. This, however, did not quench or dull his
ambitions. He continued to plan new campaigns through-
out the 1440s. After the fall of CONSTANTINOPLEin 1453,
he responded enthusiastically to the pope’s call for a CRU-
SADE. However, it was only in 1458, two years before his
death, that he managed to participate in another success-
ful Moroccan venture, the capture of Qsar al-Saghir, a
small town in northern Morocco.EXPLORATIONS
The pioneering explorations in the Atlantic, which Henry
was influential in launching and which gave him a famous
place in history, occurred in the context of his Moroccan
ambitions. He built a personal base in the Atlantic by tak-
ing Madeira from the Crown in 1433 and some of the
AZORESislands later. He also attempted to gain title to
the CANARYISLANDS. For the rest of his life he organized
maritime raids and naval attacks against Muslim coastal
possessions and shipping. The early voyages were priva-
teering expeditions and only secondarily exploratory. The
majority of Henry’s successful explorations took place
between 1440 and 1446, when his ships progressed from
Cape Blanc to as far south as the mouth of the Gambia
River on the west coast of AFRICA. The explorations in
and past the Gambia River were continued only 10 years
later. The final expedition, which reached Sierra Leone,
set sail from Portugal in 1460, the year of his death.
In the 1440s Henry began to consider these seaborne
explorations in Africa as a source of wealth and personal
glory. This was fostered by the praise and admiration lav-
ished on him. Poggio BRACCIOLINI, for example, com-
pared the expeditions to those of Julius Caesar and
Alexander the Great.LEGACY
The image of Henry the Navigator became that of a
creative Renaissance innovator and a fanatical, chivalric
crusader. Perceiving himself hard pressed by adverse
familial, economic, and social conditions, he amassed
land and titles. He also gained personal economic privi-
leges and benefited from profitable enterprises. He placed
his clients and retainers in influential posts and attained
domestic power, especially during the regency of his less
talented brother, Pedro, between 1439 and 1448. Despite
his huge debts, Henry made a bequest to his nephew and
adoptive son that was so huge that the king made himself
heir instead.
Nineteenth-century scholars credited him with major
contributions to GEOGRAPHY, astronomy, shipbuilding,
and scientific education. Later historians stressed the
broader social and economic aspects and successes of
the Portuguese overseas expansion and have tended to
downplay Henry’s role.
Further reading: Gomes Eandes de Zurala, The
Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea,trans.