The Plans for the Castrum Doloris

On 6 November 1656, sixteen years after his elevation to the throne, John IV of Braganza died, aged fifty-two. He was survived by two sons and two daughters. Dom Theodosio, the crown prince, had died three years before, aged nineteen. On his father's death, John's second oldest son, Afonso, was only thirteen and both physically and intellectually weak due to a childhood illness, so John IV's widow, Luísa de Gusmao, governed in his place. (In 1668, Afonso would be declared incompetent by his younger brother, Pedro, and exiled to the Azores.) The funeral rites for the first Portuguese king after Spanish hegemony—and the first king in the Braganza line—took place in the Church of Sao Vicente de Fora (fig. 105). This choice of location represents a complex decision. For not only St. Vincent of Valencia but also the building dedicated to him was closely tied to the Spanish crown. In 1582, Philip II had arranged for this church's construction on the site of an older building. The older structure had been erected in consequence of a vow made by the first Portuguese king, Afonso Henriques, after taking back Lisbon from the Almoravid Muslims in 1147.