James of Portugal

Jaime or James of Portugal (17 September 1433 – 27 August 1459), also known as James of Coimbra, James of Lusitania, was a Portuguese infante (prince) of the House of Aviz, and a bishop and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.

James of Coimbra
bishop of Arras and of Paphos
Coat of Arms of James of Portugal, combining his father coat of arms (Aviz-Coimbra) with his mother's (Aragon).
archbishop of Lisbon
Born	17 September 1433
Died	27 August 1459
House	Aviz
Father	Peter, Duke of Coimbra
Mother	Isabella of Urgell
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Early life and background

James was the 3rd son of Infante Pedro, Duke of Coimbra, and Isabella of Urgell; among other kinships he was the great-grandson of the English prince John of Gaunt.

At the age of 15, James accompanied his father in the Battle of Alfarrobeira in 1449. During the conflict, his father's forces were defeated by the Portuguese royal army, and his father was killed.^[1] After the battle, James was taken captive but was later freed as a result of the intervention of his aunt Isabella and her husband Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy.^[2] He then went into exile in Burgundy together with his brother John and his sister Beatrice. His aunt ensured that the siblings were well provided for.^[3]

Church career

James of Portugal studied in Flanders and, on 23 March 1453, was appointed Bishop of Arras. On his aunt’s advice, he traveled to Rome, where Pope Nicholas V, hearing of the disgraces inflicted upon his family after Alfarrobeira, resolved to appoint the young James as the new Archbishop of Lisbon, which had been recently vacated by the death of D. Luís Coutinho. However, not being old enough to be consecrated to the dignity, James was only appointed administrator in perpetuity of the Archdiocese on 30 April 1453. Given the political situation in Portugal, James was unable to return to Lisbon to take possession of it, and so remained in Italy and governed his archdiocese from afar, via the vicar-general Luís Anes.^{[citation needed]}

Nicholas V having died in early 1455, the new Pope Calixtus III elevated James to a cardinal-deacon of the Church (despite not having the requisite 30 years of age for the office), assigning him the titular diaconate of Santa Maria in Portico Octaviae, soon substituted for the diaconate of Sant'Eustachio. Callixtus III also gave James the Bishopric of Paphos,^{[citation needed]} in Cyprus, where his brother, John, had married Charlotte of Lusignan, Princess of Cyprus.

Following the death of Callixtus III, James of Portugal participated in the conclave that elected Pius II as the new pope.^{[citation needed]} He was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, number 58, at the 9th Chapter of the order, held in 1456 at The Hague.

The Portuguese art historian António Bélard da Fonseca, in his multi-volume O Mistério dos Painéis (1957-1967), controversially claimed that it is James of Portugal, and not St. Vincent, who is depicted as the radiant saintly figure in the central panels of the famous Saint Vincent Panels of Nuno Gonçalves.

Death and burial

His tomb by Antonio Rossellino

While travelling from Rome to Austria to rally support for a new crusade, James of Portugal fell ill and died in Florence on 27 August 1459, at the age of twenty-six.^[4] He was buried in the basilica of San Miniato al Monte in Florence, the only tomb in that church.^[5] Some of the best artists in Renaissance Florence were commissioned to design and decorate the chapel of the "Cardinale del Portogallo" in San Miniato, including the Cardinal of Portugal's altarpiece by the Pollaiuolo brothers.

Ancestry

Ancestors of James of Portugal
8. Peter I of Portugal 4. John I of Portugal 9. Teresa Lourenço 2. Peter, Duke of Coimbra 10. John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster 5. Philippa of Lancaster 11. Blanche of Lancaster 1. Jaime of Aviz, 6th Archbishop of Lisbon 12. Peter II, Count of Urgell 6. James II, Count of Urgell 13. Margaret of Montferrat 3. Isabella of Urgell 14. Peter IV of Aragon 7. Isabella of Aragon 15. Sibila de Fortià

References

Citations

1. Rogers 1961, p. 62.
2. McMurdo 1889, p. 488.
3. Rogers 1961, p. 77.
4. Wright 2005, p. 192.
5. Rogers 1961, pp. 82, 84.

Sources

• McMurdo, Edward (1889). The history of Portugal, from the Commencement of the Monarchy to the Reign of Alfonso III. Vol. II. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington.
• Rogers, Francis M. (1961). The Travels of the Infante Dom Pedro of Portugal. Harvard Studies in Romance Languages. Vol. XXVI. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
• Nobreza de Portugal e Brasil. Vol. I. Lisbon: Zairol Lda. 1989. p. 271.
• Wright, Alison (2005). The Pollaiuolo Brothers: The Arts of Florence and Rome. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300106251.

External links

• Genealogical information on Jaime of Portugal (in Portuguese)
• "Jaime Cardinal de Portugal" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved February 29, 2016

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Fortigario di Piacenza	Apostolic Administrator of Arras 1453	Succeeded by Jean Jouffroy
Preceded by Luís Coutinho	Apostolic Administrator of Lisbon 1453-1459	Succeeded by Afonso Nogueira
Preceded by	Apostolic Administrator of Paphos 1457-1459	Succeeded by Guillaume Gonème