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Alonzo IV. ,[38] though not an amiable character, was perhaps the
greatest warrior, politician, and monarch of his age. After a reign of
military splendour, he left his throne to his son Pedro, surnamed the
Just. Ideas of equity and literature were now diffused by this great
prince,[39] who was himself a polite scholar, and a most accomplished
gentleman. Portugal began to perceive the advantages of cultivated
talents, and to feel its superiority over the barbarous politics of the
ignorant Moors. The great Pedro, however, was succeeded by a weak
prince, and the heroic spirit of the Portuguese seemed to exist no more
under his son Fernando, surnamed the Careless.

Under John I. [40] all the virtues of the Portuguese again shone forth
with redoubled lustre. Happily for Portugal, his father had bestowed an
excellent education upon this prince, which, added to his great natural
talents, rendered him one of the greatest of monarchs. Conscious of the
superiority which his own liberal education gave him, he was assiduous
to bestow the same advantages upon his children, and he himself often
became their preceptor in science and useful knowledge. Fortunate in all
his affairs, he was most of all fortunate in his family. He had many
sons, and he lived to see them become men of parts and of action, whose
only emulation was to show affection to his person and to support his
administration by their great abilities.

All the sons of John excelled in military exercises, and in the
literature of their age; Don Edward and Don Pedro[41] were particularly
educated for the cabinet, and the mathematical genius of Don Henry
received every encouragement which a king and a father could give to
ripen it into perfection and public utility.

History was well known to Prince Henry, and his turn of mind peculiarly
enabled him to make political observations upon it. The history of
ancient Tyre and Carthage showed him what a maritime nation might hope
to become; and the flourishing colonies of the Greeks were the frequent
topic of his conversation.
Where Grecian commerce extended its influence
the deserts became cultivated fields, cities rose, and men were drawn
from the woods and caverns to unite in society. The Romans, on the other
hand, when they destroyed Carthage, buried in her ruins the fountain of
civilization, improvement and opulence. They extinguished the spirit of
commerce, and the agriculture of the conquered nations. And thus, while
the luxury of Rome consumed the wealth of her provinces, her
uncommercial policy dried up the sources of its continuance. Nor were
the inestimable advantages of commerce the sole motives of Henry. All
the ardour that the love of his country could awaken conspired to
stimulate the natural turn of his genius for the improvement of
navigation.

As the kingdom of Portugal had been wrested from the Moors, and
established by conquest, so its existence still depended on the
superiority of force of arms; and even before the birth of Henry, the
superiority of the Portuguese navies had been of the utmost consequence
to the protection of the state. Whatever, therefore, might curb the
power of the Moors, was of the utmost importance to the existence of
Portugal. Such were the views and circumstances which united to inspire
the designs of Henry, designs which were powerfully enforced by the
religion of that prince. Desire to extirpate Mohammedanism was
synonymous with patriotism in Portugal. It was the principle which gave
birth to, and supported their monarchy. Their kings avowed it; and
Prince Henry always professed, that to propagate the Gospel and
extirpate Mohammedanism, was the great purpose of all his enterprises.
The same principles, it is certain, inspired King Emmanuel, under whom
the eastern world was discovered by Gama. [42]

The crusades, which had rendered the greatest political service to Spain
and Portugal, had begun now to have some effect upon the commerce of
Europe. The Hanse Towns had received charters of liberty, and had united
together for the protection of their trade against the pirates of the
Baltic. The Lombards had opened a lucrative traffic with the ports of
Egypt, from whence they imported into Europe the riches of India; and
Bruges, the mart between them and the Hanse Towns, was, in consequence,
surrounded with the best agriculture of these ages,[43] a certain proof
of the dependence of agriculture upon the extent of commerce.