Prince Henry the Navigator

Prince Henry the Navigator (4 March 1394 – 13 December 1460) was a Portuguese prince who played a key role in the early expansion of the Portuguese Empire and is often seen as a major spark for the Age of Discovery. The third surviving son of King John I, founder of the House of Aviz, Henry helped launch systematic exploration of West Africa, Atlantic islands, and new trade routes using the caravel ship. He backed his father’s 1415 capture of Ceuta, a Muslim port in North Africa across from Gibraltar. Known as the patron of Portuguese exploration, he died on 13 November 1460 in Vila do Bispo, Algarve.

Henry was baptized in Porto and likely born there, perhaps at the city’s old mint (now called Casa do Infante) or nearby, while the royal couple lived in the area. Another possible birthplace is the Monastery of Leça do Balio in Leça da Palmeira. As early as 1410 or 1412, he ordered captains to explore beyond Cape Non and Cape Bojador, then the edge of Europe’s known world, though little is known of those trips.

At age 21, Henry helped capture Ceuta. He recruited troops and ships in northern Portugal, assembling them at Porto before joining the main fleet. Anchoring off the lower town, he claimed and was granted the right to land first. On 16 August, volunteers rushed ashore—Ruy Gonçalves was first—followed by Henry and his brother Edward. After pushing Muslims from the landing grounds to the city walls, the Portuguese breached Ceuta, but Henry held his men at the gates, sending for reinforcements led by Fernandes de Ataíde. In street fighting, the Muslims were routed. When Portuguese soldiers scattered to plunder, Henry’s squadron twice broke a Muslim rally and held a gate on the inner wall with just seventeen men. Henry, his brothers Edward and Peter, and the main force lost contact; all three were reported dead to King John, but they were found alive that evening. The brothers decided to assault the citadel the next morning, but scouts reported most defenders had fled, and it surrendered.

Henry was knighted at Ceuta alongside his brothers by King John, who also made them dukes—the first use of that title in Portugal. Henry became Duke of Viseu, governor of the Order of Christ, and was put in charge of supplying the captured city. His fame spread across Europe, and he was invited to command armies by the Pope, the Holy Roman Emperor, and the kings of Castile and England.

In 1416, Prince Peter left on a grand tour of Europe, which spurred Henry’s efforts. Peter first went to the Holy Land, then the Ottoman court in Babylon, where he was grandly received, and on to Rome to meet Pope Martin V. He also visited Hungary, Denmark, and Venice, where he received a copy of Marco Polo’s travels and a map thought to be Polo’s own. He then traveled to England, was elected Knight of the Garter on 22 April 1427, and returned to Portugal the next year.

Three years after Ceuta’s capture, the emir of Granada and the sultan of Fez besieged it by land and sea. Granada sent seventy-four ships, and Fez’s forces broke into the lower town. Governor Dom Pedro de Meneses asked Portugal for aid. Henry was sent to organize a relief fleet from Lisbon, while Edward and Pedro prepared to follow from Lagos and the Algarve. The Muslims secured Almina as Granada’s galleys closed in on the port. When Henry’s fleet crossed the Straits of Gibraltar, news of the city’s dire situation reached them, but the sight of the approaching ships panicked the besiegers, and most withdrew before the fleet arrived. Henry stayed at Ceuta with his forces for two months, planning an attack on Gibraltar on the way home, but a storm scattered the fleet and the attack failed.