Journal of World History

Journal of World History 14.3 (2003) 411-414

Prince Henry "the Navigator": A Life. By Peter Russell. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2000. Pp. xvi + 464. $35.00 (cloth).

Everyone knew that, in the face of intense scepticism from his peers, from experienced pilots and from cosmographers, he [Prince Henry] had been proved right when he said that the fears seamen associated with the name of Cape Bojador were mere superstitions. His own unshakeable self-confidence that it was his destiny to succeed as a sponsor of oceanic exploration communicated itself to mariners and sea-going knights and squires alike, even before the caravels started . . . (p. 238)

Sir Peter Russell, now retired after a distinguished career at Oxford (as professor of Spanish studies and also director of Portuguese studies), has succeeded brilliantly in writing an exemplary biography about one of the most outstanding men of the fifteenth century: Prince Henry, Infante de Portugal, the Navigator.

Revisiting a subject that has been a challenge since the beginning of his academic career—remember one of his first studies, Prince Henry, the Navigator (London, circa 1960), as well as, more recently, the collected studies printed by Variorum (Aldershot, 1995), Portugal, Spain and the African Atlantic, 1343-1490: Chivalry and Crusade from John of Gaunt to Henry the Navigator—Peter Russell has produced a cultural and historical masterpiece, a main reference for the future.

Based on primary sources (p. 411) and on an extensive selected bibliography (pp. 411-35), Russell follows Henry's life step by step, pursuing the idea that Henry's modern activities (as a crusader, navigational pioneer, mathematician, and merchant) were responsible for the changes that occurred not only in Europe in his own time, but also in the world.

As Russell states, "in 1415, when he was twenty-one, Henry's career as a public figure really began" (p. 28). Following up one of the recent historical interpretations about the beginning of the Portuguese expansion (see Luis Filipe Thomaz, "Espansao Portuguesa e Expansao Europeia—Reflexões em Tomo da Génese dos Descobrimentos," in De Ceuta a Timor [Lisboa, 1994], pp. 1-41), King John I, Mestre de Avis, was aware that only the combination of political autonomy (both internal and external) and a guaranteed access to the sea (controlling the Strait of Gibraltar) would defend Portuguese interests, in both [End Page 411] economic and financial terms—not to mention being an ideological instrument that, since the very first beginning, legitimized seafaring activities: the idea of the Crusade (seen as the following up of the Reconquista's spirit). In fact, as Russell pointed out, "there was nothing improvised about" the capture of Ceuta in 1415 (p. 29). Even more, Henry is presented to us by Russell as the man who assumed the heroic role of the monarchy's plan. "Afterwards, he would never cease to present himself to the world as a leader whose life was dedicated to crusading against infidels . . ." (p. 58).

Appointment by the Pope on 25 May 1420 to be the general administrator of the military Order of Christ seemed to be the logical consequence of the prestige he had won in Ceuta as a militant Christian knight, but it has also to be seen as a part of John's I plan to bring the military orders under the crown's control (pp. 58-80). Founded in 1319 by D. Dinis's diplomatic and strategic intervention, the Order of Christ has since then performed an exemplary role in articulation with the crown's interests, a commitment that would have profound consequences when associated with the maritime expansion (see Isabel Morgado S. e Silva, A Ordem de Cristo [1420-1521] [Porto, 1998]).

In the first half of the fourteenth century, the first voyages to Madeira and to Azores took place. Some of the Azores islands were most probably discovered on a return voyage from the coast of Africa; however, they began to be settled only in the last years of 1420s (pp. 81-108). At the same time some regular expeditions to the...