Febo Moniz

At the Cortes of Almeirim, on 11 January 1580, as President of the Deputies of villages and cities, Febo Moniz vigorously impeached the suggestions of Cardinal Henry to consider with calm the pretensions of Philip II of Spain to successor of Sebastian.

As he felt death close and was able to admit the pretensions of the Castilian King, he had called to the Paço the five Procurators of the first bench, who were the ones of Lisbon, Porto, Évora, Coimbra and Santarém, and in the presence of all of them, he prompted that they ceased the opposition, referring them the decisions of the nobility and the clergy, favourable to the acclamation of Philip of Spain, but Febo Moniz denied himself to any deliberation, as Henry was getting along with suspicious people and enemy of the motherland.

The Cardinal-King tried uselessly to impose his will, invoked the formidable power of Spain, but Febo Moniz did not cede and revindicated for the people the right of electing a Portuguese King, as it had been done, two centuries before, with the Master of Aviz.

The Cardinal-King could not win this resistance and, time later, dead himself, the events came to show the corruption and venality of the upper classes of the Nation.

Deeply dispirited, Febo Moniz retired himself to Santarém, where the tumultuous acclamation of the Prior of Crato as King of Portugal made him understand that the national cause was losing itself.