Excerpt from Portugal Old and Young: An Historical Study The Altar-Piece of San Vicente, by Nuno Gonsalvez, of which one panel is reproduced as a frontispiece to this book, is one of the few surviving masterpieces of Portuguese mediaeval painting, and gives us the portraits of some of the leading personages of the period when Portugal was a Great Power. The youth kneeling before St. Vincent in the foreground is Affonzo V, 'el rey cavalleiro' (b. 1432, k. 1438, d. 1481), and the lady opposite is his wife and niece, the Infante of Castile, through whom he claimed the Crown of Castile. The Castilians resisted the union, made Isabella her younger sister Queen, defeated the Portuguese at Toro, 1476, as completely as they had been defeated by the Portuguese at Aljubarrota in 1385, and founded the Kingdom of Spain by marrying Isabella to Ferdinand of Aragon. Affonzo was also involved in Moroccan adventures, which earned him the title of 'the African' and nothing much else. The child behind is his son, John II 'the Perfect' (b. 1433, k. 1481 d. 1495), and the careworn intellectual face in the background, under a large hat, is no other than Prince Henry the Navigator - uncle of Affonzo and son of John the Great and Philippa, daughter of John of Gaunt - the most illustrious and interesting personality of this Anglo-Portuguese dynasty. These paintings were lost in dirt and darkness in a Lisbon church until the Revolution. After being most carefully cleaned, they can now be seen in the Museum. Their resplendence makes them a worthy record of Old Portugal, and Young Portugal is significantly symbolized in their resurrection. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.