Manuel António of Portugal

Manuel António of Portugal ( born February 24, 1600 Delft, † October 27, 1666 in hitting ) was a Dutch nobleman.

Youth

He was the son of Manuel of Portugal (* 1568, † June 22, 1638 ), born and Emilia of Orange- Nassau ( † March 6, 1629 * April 1569 ). The latter was a daughter of Prince William I of Orange -Nassau (* 1533, † 1584) and Princess Anna of Saxony ( * 1544, † 1577). Manuel Antónios father, Manuel of Portugal, was the ( illegitimate ) son of the Portuguese pretender António of Crato (* 1531, † 1595 ).

Initially, Manuel António was his mother in the Reformed confessions educated but in 1612 sent together with his brother Louis William from his father to his uncle Christoph to France, where he received a Roman Catholic upbringing. Already in 1613 he was appointed by his uncle, the governor Maurice of Orange, to captain, which did not lead to the acquisition of a military command, but happened because of income involved. 1619 - 1623 he was Governor of the Principality of Orange for his uncle Moritz. It obviously played a role that he attended the Roman Catholic worship, and the majority of the population in the Principality of Orange was a Catholic. The official duties were transferred to the deputy governor Valckenburg. He led there a generous life, spent more money than was available, and had to be called by his uncle in 1623 back early. First, he moved even further the corresponding salary of 6,000 guilders. But so did the next governor, the 1625 ruling Friedrich Heinrich, final.

Church and Military

Without its own source of income so he had to go in 1626 along with his father in the Spanish Netherlands to Brussels. There they were warmly received. Manuel António started there as a captain a military career in the service of Spain, and the Archduke's court.

This was short-lived. On July 15, 1628, he joined - in the presence of the governor Isabella Clara Eugenia and all of her court - the Carmelite Order, took the religious name Felix a Santa Isabella and entered the Carmelite convent in Brussels. There he was ordained a priest. From 1628 to 1633 he was a clergyman. 1633 but he fled from the monastery back to Holland and converted on 15 January 1634 Delft again. Now he was reformed.

For 1638 it is reported that he has assumed the title of Prince of Portugal and on June 12, 1638 he appears again as a captain in the Cuirassiers in the service of the States General.

Shortly thereafter, he was put in funds by the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria and captured General Guillaume de Lamboy, brought to Brussels and then transferred at his request, "his" monastery. This happened but apparently only from the restriction resulting from captivity compulsion, for he fled, returned again to Holland and converted on April 4, 1643 again to the Reformed confession.

Marriage

On December 14, 1646, he married in Delft Countess Johanna of Hanau- coins Mountain Blackrock (* 1610, † September 13, 1673 in Delft), widow of wild and Rheingraf Wolfgang Friedrich von Salm (* 1589, † December 24, 1638 ). From this marriage emerged:

• Wilhelmina Amalia (* 1647, † November 14, 1647 )
• Elisabeth Maria ( born November 20, 1648 Delft, † October 15, 1717 in Vianen ), married on 11 April 1678 Lieutenant Colonel Baron Adriaan of Ghent ( born February 16, 1645 The Hague; † August 10, 1708 )

It is stressed in the literature that the Countess - she came from an impoverished side branch of her family, which was battered by the Thirty Years War arg - hardly anything brought into the marriage. The debt pushed further to Manuel Antonio. This included the maintenance of 300 florins per year, to which he had been sentenced by a Dutch court, and he had to pay to his illegitimate son, William (* 1646), whose mother was a Dina Borre 's.

Late career

1645 he took over in Dutch service as a captain a company of infantry and was soon promoted to colonel. In 1656 he was Governor of Steenwijk and commander of Elburg.

He died on 27 October 1666 beating and was buried in Delft.