You may be aware of the importance of the various saints’ days that are scattered across the calendar, and it might seem as though Portugal will have a bank holiday at the drop of a hat.

But some are really important, and apart from 25 April (Portugal’s Independence Day), 1st December is equally as important, being the date of the Restoration of Independence in Portugal. This date remembers the action of Portuguese nobles, who on December 1st 1640 invaded the Royal Palace of Lisbon and killed Miguel de Vasconcelos, a man considered a traitor by the people of Portugal, who was the representative of Spain in Lisbon.


End of discontent with Spain

This became the end of a period of great discontent on the part of the Portuguese population. Unhappy with the union of Portugal and Spain, where three kings of Spain had ruled over Portugal for 60 years (from 1580 to 1640), the discontent included tax burdens and Portugal’s involvement in the conflicts of Spain. At the time, Miguel de Vasconcelos was Secretary of State, the equivalent to the position of ‘prime minister’, appointed in 1635 by Vice-Queen Margaret of Savoy, on behalf of King Philip III of Spain.


Évora involved

His collaborationist policies led him to demand heavy taxes from the people which gave rise to several revolts and riots, among which the Manuelino revolt in Évora stands out. The people of Portugal hated Vasconcelos because, although Portuguese, he had collaborated with Spain and had obtained full powers from the Castilian court in Madrid to impose high taxes on the Portuguese people.


Shot and thrown out of a window!

Led by a group called The Forty Conjured, on 1st December 1640, the group invaded the Royal Palace of Lisbon, searching for Miguel Vasconcelos – where he initially evaded capture. When Vasconcelos realised that he could not escape, he hid in a small closet and locked himself inside with a gun. His movements and the rustling of papers gave him away, whereupon he was discovered and shot, and after his death, his body was thrown out of the window into the crowd, leaving his corpse to the angry public. All this culminated with the restoration of Portugal as a sovereign country, and the restoration of the Portuguese King, D. João IV.

Interestingly, in 2012 the Coalition government controversially revoked four holidays – two civilian holidays - Republic Day, (5th October), and Restoration of Independence, (1st December), plus two religious ones - Corpus Christi, (around 30th May) and All Saints Day (1st November). The move was effective from 2013 onwards and was presented as a measure to increase productivity, but the four holidays were eventually restored by the government in January 2016.

Author

Marilyn writes regularly for The Portugal News, and has lived in the Algarve for some years. A dog-lover, she has lived in Ireland, UK, Bermuda and the Isle of Man. 

Marilyn Sheridan