Prince Henry the Navigator
by Sir Peter Russell, Peter Russell
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Book Summary Information
Author: Peter Russell, Sir Peter RussellEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-09-01
ISBN: 0300091303
Number of pages: 502
Publisher: Yale University Press
Book Reviews of Prince Henry the Navigator
Book Review: Prince Henry, the Navigator: Crusader-Knight & Maritime Exploration
Summary: 5 Stars
Sir Peter Russell's excellent biography of Prince Henry, the Navigator (1394-1460) provides the reader with multiple insights into a complex historical figure's role in Portuguese maritime exploration. The author draws his information from archival material, contemporary accounts of the Prince's ventures, as well as modern scholarship. A good deal of the text is a thoughtful and critical analysis of contemporary chronicles, as well as a broader perspective on Mediterranean statecraft, knowledge geography of north Africa (both the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts) that served as the Prince's sphere of activity. The reader gains an understanding of relationships between Portugal and other Iberian kingdoms, especially the rivalry with Castile, as well as negotiations with the papacy in the "Conciliar Era," and the years subsequent to the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453. This study places Prince Henry within historical context, and within his family relationships, which are critical to an appraisal of his historical role.
Prince Henry is best understood as a medieval knight, infused with Christian chivalric crusading ideal, concepts likely learned from his English mother, Philippa of Lancaster, married to King John I. For most of his adult life he served as administrator of the Order of Christ, a crusading order. It is telling that, at his death, the full regalia as a Knight of the Garter are included in the inventory of his relatively few possessions. As a warrior, he aimed to seize territory from Muslim control in North Africa, such as Ceuta, captured by a Portuguese army under his leadership in 1415. Attempts to conquer Tangier in 1437 met with disaster, and (the ultimately fatal) imprisonment of Henry's brother, Fernando, to guarantee the peace. He also participated in capture of the minor fortress at Alcacer-Ceguer in 1458. In these ventures Prince Henry often emerges as a headstrong warrior, taking rash actions not always in the best interest of the military enterprise. After the fall of Constantinople, Prince Henry was considered as the leader for a crusade sponsored by Pope Callixtus III to retake that city, although this effort did not materialize. The author analyzes the complex diplomatic reasoning to justify expeditions to North African Muslim territory as well as to the Guinea coast, the justification being that these ventures sought to aid the cause Christian conversion while the opportunity to profit from commercial ventures went unmentioned or unreported.
It is as a navigator, and therefore, seaborne exploration and commerce, that Prince Henry is often recognized. Understanding the Prince's exact role in the history of navigation is much more complex than the triumphal statute in Lisbon facing the river Tagus or the supposed school of navigation he is said to have assembled at Sagres at the great fortress facing the Atlantic. Russell's biography sheds considerable light on Prince Henry's sponsorship of ventures along the Atlantic coast of Africa, gradually going further and further south of Cape Bojador, previously presumed to be the furthest point south that it is possible to sail without danger (although the Phoenicians penetrated this area, circumnavigating Africa 1,500 years earlier, information subsequently lost to succeeding centuries). Russell documents Portuguese voyages, made possible by the perfection of the caravel, ships able safely to transit the ocean, adapting concepts earlier utilized in the Mediterranean and Red Seas by Phoenician and Arab seamen centuries earlier. The success of one voyage contributed to subsequent ventures as knowledge of ocean currents and prevailing winds could be harnessed by the caravel captains to successfully sail southward and, most important, safely return to the port of Lagos. It is in the caravel that Portuguese mariners sailed to Madeira, the Azores, the Canaries, and Cape Verde islands, as well as sailed up some of the larger African rivers in search of gold, items of commercial value, and slaves. Prince Henry obtained royal warrants for these ventures, obtaining (usually) one-fifth of the value of commerce obtained by each voyage. He also challenged others or went beyond his royal warrant in navigation for Atlantic commerce, exploration, or competition with the Muslim caravan route in the slave trade. Caravels transported horses in exchange for slaves obtained on the Guinea Coast.
The Infante Dom Henrique, therefore, financed and authorized many of the Portuguese activities. Ironically (except for military campaigns) he did not sail on the Atlantic voyages. This is likely why the author titles this book, Prince Henry, "the Navigator." It is as a sponsor of exploration, an agent who encouraged commercial ventures and sought to profit from their success, within the broader context of a crusader, and the success of the Order of Christ, that this book reveals Prince Henry's contribution to navigation.
Thanks to Peter Russell's research and skilful writing, this is a truly excellent book, essential for an understanding of early modern history and the history of exploration and the foundation of Portuguese expansion overseas. The book contains a series of plates with images of maps and the Prince and a comprehensive bibliography. The only minor disappointment is an absence of more detailed maps concerning the Atlantic and African river ventures of navigators that sailed under the aegis of Prince Henry.
Summary of Prince Henry the Navigator
This enthralling life of the legendary fifteenth-century Portuguese prince, Henry the Navigator, is the first comprehensive biography in more than a century. Examining the full range of the prince's activities as an imperialist and as a maritime, cartographical and navigational pioneer, Peter Russell shows that while Henry was firmly rooted in medieval times, his innovations set in motion changes that altered the history of Europe and regions far beyond.Irish Books
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