Intro
‘In today’s episode I am going to explain to you the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance, the world’s oldest continuing alliance between two nations in global history, with the first treaties being signed towards the end of the fourteenth century. I first heard about it when I first went to Portugal for the first time in 2020. I got off the plane in Lisbon and got a taxi to where I was staying. The friendly taxi driver asked me where I was from and I said I was from England. He then proceeded to tell me all about the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance and I listened intently, absolutely fascinated, not only by the story but also by how well this taxi driver spoke English. I don’t remember his name, but this episode is for him!’
Origins
‘Anglo-Portuguese cooperation and mutual-assistance dates back even further than the fourteenth century to the twelfth century, when English Crusaders, who were on their way to the Holy Land during the Second Crusade, were forced to stop in Portugal because of bad weather. The English then ended up assisting Portuguese Christians during the 1147 Siege of Lisbon (where the Christians managed to win the city of Lisbon off the Muslim-ruled Taifa of Badajoz, with the city later becoming the capital of the Kingdom of Portugal in 1255). This laid the foundations for a friendship between the two countries.
‘Over the next century, the strategic interests of Portugal and England gradually began to converge. The 1369 alliance between France and Castile (the precursor to the Kingdom of Spain), had upset the English court. Anglo-French relations were mired in conflict and confrontation, and now with their alliance with Castile, France could utilise the powerful Castilian navy in its struggle against England. Therefore, in allying with Spain’s western neighbour, this helped to counter this threat.’
‘The Anglo-Portuguese Alliance was given legal foundations with three treaties: the Treaty of Talgide of 1372, the Treaty of London of 1373 and the Treaty of Windsor of 1386. However, the main legal foundation to the alliance is considered to be the Treaty of London, which was signed between King Ferdinand I and Queen Leonor of Portugal and King Edward III of England on 16 June 1373. Its four clauses declare mutual and perpetual peace, friendship, union and alliance between the two parties. A famous quote from the treaty assures that:
“[t]here shall be between the respective kings and their successors, their realms, lands, dominions, provinces, vassals, and subjects whomsoever, faithfully obeying, true, faithful, constant, mutual, and perpetual friendships, unions, alliances, and leagues of sincere affection; and that, as true and faithful princes, they shall henceforth reciprocally be friends to friends and enemies to enemies, and shall assist, maintain, and uphold each other mutually, by sea and by land, against all men that may live or die of whatever degree, station, rank, or condition they may be, and against their lands, realms, and dominions.”
‘After the death of King Ferdinand in 1383, there was a political crisis in Portugal. Ferdinand’s son-in-law was the Castilian King John I who began curtailing Portuguese independence and pushing for a political and dynastic union with Castile. Portuguese nationalists rallied around King Ferdinand’s half-brother John of Aviz. John sent ambassadors to England to try and recruit military help and managed to raise a modest force of only 800 Anglo-Gascon troops. But these soldiers played a significant role in the conflict and ultimately helped ensure victory over Castile in 1385, with John of Aviz declaring himself King John I of Portugal.
‘After this, John sent ambassadors to negotiate a deeper alliance with Richard II of England and to raise money to pay his soldiers. On 9 May 1386, the Treaty of Windsor was signed, ratifying the “perpetual league, friendship and confederation” between the two monarchs. This treaty was bigger in scope than the previous two treaties, and enshrined various rights and privileges for each countries’ citizens in the other. Another consequence of the treaty was the marriage of Portugal’s King John and England’s Philippa of Lancaster, further unifying the two countries’ courts. Philippa herself brought Anglo-Norman ideas and reforms to the Portuguese court and became one of the country’s best-loved queens.’
A Relationship in Limbo
‘The Anglo-Portuguese Alliance flourished for the next two centuries, with the peace and prosperity between the two nations being almost unparalleled throughout Europe. It wasn’t until 1580 that the alliance suffered its first hiccup. In 1580, after a dynastic union between the Crowns of Castile and Aragon and the Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal was subsumed into the Spanish Empire, thereby unifying the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal had another crisis of succession, with various nobles claiming the throne. Eventually António, Prior of Crato became the frontrunner, but was crushed by King Philip II of Spain’s powerful army. Philip seized the Portuguese throne and Portugal fell under Habsburg Spanish rule. António fled to England, where he was given refuge by Queen Elizabeth I.
‘Whilst in England, António tried to raise support for his claim to the Portuguese throne. Queen Elizabeth was basking in her success against the Spanish Armada in 1588, and in 1589, she launched the Counter Armada to attack Spain. António accompanied the English Armada to try and help provoke an uprising against Spanish rule in Portugal. However, the armada failed and António was ultimately unable to get the citizens of Lisbon to rise up in support of his cause. A key reason for this is thought to have been the fact that the English were protestants, whilst Portugal was, and would remain, overwhelmingly Catholic. The humiliating failure of the English Armada meant that the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance was essentially in limbo until 1640, when the Portuguese Restoration War put an end to the Iberian Union and Spanish rule over Portugal. England and Portugal immediately reignited their alliance and reaffirmed the Treaty of Windsor in 1643.’
Peninsula War
‘A golden era for the alliance was during the Peninsular War of 1807-1814. In the early nineteenth century, Europe was ravaged and reshaped by the various conflicts of the Napoleonic Wars. By 1806, French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte had come to dominate much of Europe, either by direct administration or as client states. He implemented the Continental System, which prevented Europe from trading with England, or as it was by now, the British Empire. However there was one country that refused to go along with this – Portugal, Britain’s oldest ally on the continent. Napoleon was furious about this, as Britain was finding new trade opportunities with Portugal’s colony in Brazil, the Royal Navy used Lisbon’s port as a base for its operations against France. In response, Napoleon invaded Portugal, which initiated the Peninsula War.
‘The Portuguese court fled to Brazil, with Prince Regent John of Braganza, who was ruling on behalf of his mother Maria I, orchestrating the transfer of the royal court to Brazil. The court sailed in November 1807 under protection from the British Royal Navy.
‘Britain decided to intervene in 1808 and, under the military command of the Duke of Wellington, Sir Arthur Wellesley, drove the French out of Portugal. However, Wellington was convinced that Napoleon would invade again. Therefore, Wellington ordered the construction of the Lines of Torres Vedras, a fortification of Portugal’s defences, consisting of 152 fortifications and 648 canons. Whilst supervised by British engineers, the construction relied heavily on labour and resources provided by the Portuguese. Local labourers and military personnel, as well as Portuguese and British engineers, worked together to build the fortifications. The Lines of Torres Vedras covered the Portuguese landscape with redoubts, escarpments and roads, a lot of which you can still see to this day.
‘The Line of Torres Vedras helped Wellington to fend off French attacks for several years, before he went on the offensive in 1813, marching 120,000 troops from northern Portugal to northern Spain. Here, Wellington defeated Napoleon’s younger brother Joseph, who had been made King of Spain. Joseph promptly abdicated and the French retreated. After the Peninsular War, the alliance was in its golden era, with Portugal now the more favourable Iberian nation after having been shielded from the worst of the conflict by the Lines of Torres Vedras, and Britain keen to maintain its privileged access to Brazil.’
A Snag in the Relationship
‘The Anglo-Portuguese Alliance was always underpinned by commercial and colonial interests. And as the Portuguese Empire began to decline over the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the British Empire was on the ascendance, eventually rising to become the largest empire in history. This meant that the alliance was unbalanced at times. In 1890, Portugal wanted to acquire territory in Rhodesia, a British colony in Africa, which now lies in Zimbabwe and Zambia. Portugal had assumed Britain would be accommodating, as an old ally but also because of geographical expediency of the location of its colonies within the region. However, the British Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, rejected the idea of Portuguese expansion in Africa, especially if it involved giving up its own land. With Britain at the height of its imperial power, and with the issue of Irish Home Rule back home, the British government did not want to start giving bits of territory away.
‘Britain delivered an ultimatum to Portugal demanding the withdrawal of Portuguese forces from places in Africa where British and Portuguese interests overlapped. With the Portuguese army being totally dwarfed by that of the British Empire, Portugal had no choice but to withdraw. Portugal was humiliated, and the national embarrassment fuelled a republican movement which steadily gained traction over the next 20 years, and which eventually led to a revolution in 1910, where the Portuguese monarchy was toppled.
‘Relations between Portugal and Britain were soured after this episode, and were only repaired at the end of the 1890s, when Britain sought Portugal’s support during the war against the Boers in South Africa. They reaffirmed the treaty in a secret colonial declaration, with Portugal pledging her support in exchange for British guarantees of Portugal’s interests in Africa. With commercial and colonial interests once again being mutually assured between the two countries, the alliance could once again resume.’
Twentieth Century
‘Throughout the twentieth century the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance remained strong. During the First World War, Portugal joined the Entente along with Britain against Germany, with Portuguese soldiers fighting on the Western Front. This became unavoidable, especially after German incursions into Portuguese East Africa.
‘During the Second World War, however, Portugal remained (somewhat) neutral. However, this suited Britain, as they wanted to make sure Francoist Spain stayed out of the war. At the time, Portugal was actually more closely aligned with Spain, as it was ruled by nationalist prime minister and dictator, Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, and would continue to be until 1968. However, during the Second World War, the alliance still allowed for cooperation between the two countries, with Portugal allowing the British to station military bases on the Azores Islands. These would also be offered to Britain during the Falklands War in 1982.’
Legacy
‘Forged over almost seven centuries, the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance has evolved into a dynamic partnership. Today, the United Kingdom and Portugal cooperate on defence and diplomacy, maintaining the legacy of mutual assistance, friendship and cooperation. The UK is, and has been for a number of years, the top destination for Portuguese emigrants, leading to a thriving Portuguese diaspora in the UK, with around 270,000 Portuguese nationals residing there. The same is true for the British diaspora in Portugal, with around 715,000 British nationals accounting for the second-largest number of foreign nationals living in the country after Brazilians.
‘On 16 June 2023, King Charles of Great Britain hosted Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa at Buckingham Palace to celebrate the 650th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of London in 1373. It’s incredible to think that this alliance has lasted this long and so, despite a few hiccups here and there, here’s to hopefully another 650 years of friendship between the two countries!’
Outro
‘Thanks for listening today. If you enjoyed listening, please do consider following The History Buff on social media. But that’s all for now, see you next time.’