A personal sigh of Lisbon’s history – Why we are as we are
Following my master, José Sarmento de Matos, I also believe that Lisbon’s history can be divided into two major periods: the arrivals, with Mediterranean civilizations, and the departures, when Portuguese navigators began sailing the oceans.
As the clear head of the kingdom, due to the critical mass concentrated here at all levels, Lisbon was always highly coveted, becoming a key piece in the European political chessboard. On one side, the Pope and the English; on the other, the Castilian neighbors.
As an example, I refer to the alliances forged through marriages between Portuguese princes and princesses and various European royal houses in the first decades of this new dynasty, certainly with a little help from the Popes behind the scenes.
