D. Affonso I , 1509-1540. 311
And thus it happened that when João I died in 1509, the chiefs favoured his second son, Mpanzu a nzinga,312 a heathen, whilst the dowager queen and the Count of Sonyo took the part of the elder brother. Don Affonso, immediately on hearing of his father’s illness, hurried up to the capital, accompanied by only thirty-six Christians. He found that his father had died. His brother approached with a mighty army, but five flaming swords seen in the heavens on the eve of battle gave courage to his small following, whilst a white cross and the appearance of St. James at the head of the celestial host struck terror into the hearts of the assailants. They fled in a panic.313 Mpanzu himself was taken, wounded, and decapitated.
Order having been restored throughout the country, King Affonso availed himself of the presence of Gonçalo Rodriguez Ribeiro, who had come from Portugal with a number of priests, and was about to return to that country, to send an embassy to Pope Julius II and King Manuel.314 The head of this mission was Don Pedro (de Castro?), a cousin of the King (who was accompanied by his wife), and with him went D. Manuel, a brother of the King, and D. Henrique, a son. The presents conveyed to Portugal included seven hundred copper bracelets, elephant tusks, slaves, parrots, civet cats and other animals, and native cloth. D. Henrique remained behind at Rome, where he was ordained and created Bishop of Utica in 1518.315
The mission sent by King Manuel in return was far-reaching in its effects upon the political development of Kongo.316 Of its magnitude we may judge when we learn that it embarked in five vessels. Its leader, Simão da Silva, dying on the road to S. Salvador, his place was taken by Alvaro Lopes, the Royal factor. In his company were priests, experienced soldiers, masons and carpenters to build churches and a royal palace, and a lawyer (leterado) to explain the law books which figured among the royal gifts, besides horses, mules, cloth, banners, church furniture and images. The ambassador was instructed to explain the management of the royal household in Portugal, and King Affonso quickly learnt the lessons he received, and at once introduced the Portuguese titles of Duke, Marquis, and Count. The ambassador likewise had with him an elaborate coat-of-arms for the King,317 and twenty less ambitious heraldic designs for his principal noblemen; and the monarch himself adopted a title closely imitated from that of his “brother” of Portugal.318 The ambassador was likewise instructed to make inquiries about the origin of the Kongo in a lake, and to bring home cargoes of slaves, copper and ivory.
The King was delighted with all these gifts, not being aware that by accepting them he virtually acknowledged himself to be a vassal of the King of Portugal; and he published a long manifesto to his people, in which he dwelt upon his past career, the blessings of the Christian faith, and the honours now done him. He actually read the six bulky folios, but he told Ruy d’Aguiar (in 1516) that if complicated laws like these were to be introduced in his dominions, not a day would pass without a legal offence of some kind being committed.319
The intercourse between Kongo and Lisbon must have been very active in those days. We learn, for instance, that in 1526 the King asked for physicians and apothecaries, and in 1530 he forwarded to his “brother” Manuel two silver bracelets, which he had received from Matamba. Many young Kongoese were sent to Portugal to be educated; but, to judge from a letter written by the King in 1517, the results were not always very gratifying.320 Nay, he accuses Antonio Viera, to whom he entrusted twenty young relations to be taken to Portugal, of having parted with several among them to Mpanzu-alumbu, his enemy, and of having left others behind him at S. Thomé.321 A second embassy left Kongo in 1540, to do homage to Pope Paul III. It was headed by D. Manuel, a brother of the King, who had been a member of D. Pedro’s mission. King Affonso expected the King of Portugal to pay 3,000 cruzados towards the expenses of this mission, in consideration of the large profits which he derived from the trade with Kongo.322
As a member of the Church militant, King Affonso deserved well of the priesthood. He ruthlessly ordered all fetishes to be destroyed throughout his dominions, but supplied their place with images of saints, crosses, agni dei, and other ecclesiastical paraphernalia, which he held to be more effectual. The clergy were numerous in his day, and in addition to secular priests included Franciscans, Dominicans and Austin Friars. They were wealthy, too, for lands and slaves had been given them, and Christian churches arose even in remote parts of the country. A Franciscan friar, Antonio de Dénis (known in the world as D. Diogo de Vilhegas) had been appointed Bishop of S. Thomé and Kongo,323 and took possession of his see in 1534, on which occasion exceptional honours were shown him. He was a man of energy and much sincerity, but, unhappily for his Church, survived only a few years. On his death-bed he desired that D. Henrique, the King’s son, whom he himself had ordained a priest, when in Rome, and whom the Pope (as already mentioned) had created Bishop of Utica in 1518, should succeed him in the episcopal chair. The Pope, however, before he would consent to the appointment of a native, desired personally to inquire into the matter. D. Henrique went to Rome, but died on the voyage home, in 1539 or earlier.
King Affonso deserved his reputation as a zealous Christian, and had certainly proved himself a good friend to the regular and secular clergy who undertook to convert his people. Yet, as early as 1515, he had occasion to call upon the King of Portugal to aid him in suppressing the irregularities of these “unworthy preachers of the Holy Catholic Faith,” whose inordinate desire of power and covetousness brought scandal upon the Church, and promised little for the future.324 Towards the close of his reign, in 1540, one of these priests, Frei Alvaro, actually attempted to assassinate the King, in church, and after Mass!325
The Portuguese living at the time in Kongo were placed under a royal factor and a Corregedor (magistrate), and enjoyed ex-territorial jurisdiction. They had a factory at Mpinda, at the mouth of the Kongo, where the King of Portugal levied heavy duties. The commercial relations do not appear to have been at all times of the most friendly nature. In 1514 the King complained that Fernão de Mello, the Governor of S. Thomé, traded with the Mpangu-lungu326 who were his enemies; and in 1526 he remonstrated against the conduct of the Portuguese slave-merchants. Indeed, so preposterous were the claims put forward by the Portuguese officials, that King Affonso, in 1517, humbly begged to be allowed to employ a ship of his own when trading; or, at least to be exempted from paying the heavy duties exacted by a foreign, albeit suzerain, power upon the outlanders trading in his kingdom. These ill-advised exactions explain, too, why trade gradually deserted the Kongo, and sought more favourable openings to the south, at Luandu, as is shown by an inquiry held in 1548.327
The Portuguese made an effort to exploit the mineral wealth of the country. Ruy Mendes, the “factor of the copper mines,” is stated to have discovered lead; and Gimdarlach (Durlacher?), a German “fundidor,” in 1593 discovered copper, lead, and silver. The King, however, would not allow the mines to be worked, for he feared that such a concession might cost him his kingdom.
Proposals for the exploration of the interior were made, but bore no fruit. Gregòrio de Quadra, who had spent several years as a prisoner among the Arabs, was sent to Kongo in 1520, with instructions to make his way thence to the country of Prester John. The King refused his consent; Quadra returned to Portugal, and died a monk.328 Balthasar de Castro, the companion of Manuel Pacheco in Angola, desired to explore the upper Kongo in 1526; but neither his scheme nor that of Manuel Pacheco himself, who was to have built two brigantines, seems to have been carried out.
Of the domestic wars corned on by the King, we know next to nothing. Angola and Matamba seem to have been virtually independent in his day, though the island of Luandu, with its valuable cowry-fishery, was held by him and his successors until 1649. He conquered, however, Mpanzu-alumbu (Mpangu-lunga?)329 on the lower Kongo, a district inhabited by a predatory tribe.330 That his successes in these “wars” were due to his Portuguese mercenaries and their fire-locks is a matter of course.
Don Affonso died in 1540, or soon afterwards, leaving behind him a son, D. Pedro, who succeeded him, and three daughters.331