ABSTRACT
King Philip I of Portugal (Philip II of Spain) was acclaimed at the Cortes of Tomar in 1581 and remained resident in Portugal until 1583. The privileges he conferred on his new subjects were so extensive and so generous that few had difficulty in accepting a Castilian king, while in the overseas territories only the island of Terceira in the Azores offered any resistance. Both the nobility and the towns had good economic reasons to welcome the union of the Crowns. Philip had offered to ransom the members of the leading noble families who had been taken prisoner at Alcazar el Kebir in 1578 but beyond this immediate advantage, the nobility anticipated lucrative employment in Spain’s worldwide dominions and were soon rewarded with titles, governorships and commands. The merchant classes and townspeople looked to increased trade with Castile, and in particular hoped to gain access to American markets through Seville, conveniently situated close to the Portuguese border. The small group of wealthy bankers with capital to invest, already very international in their outlook, certainly welcomed the union with Castile and soon developed strong financial links with Seville. Popular dislike and distrust of the Castilians, which had flared up in a burst of patriotism in 1383-5, was by 1580 less focused. Of the common people and lower clergy, relatively few rallied to the pretender António, the prior of Crato, or to the cause of any of the false Sebastiãos who began to put in their appearance in the 1590s.1
