D. João III e D. Miguel da Silva, bispo de Viseu: novas razões para um ódio velho

Abstract

In the summer of 1540, D. Miguel da Silva (c. 1480-1556), secretary of king D. João III and bishop of Viseu, fled from the city of Viseu to Italy, where he remained for the rest of his life until he died in 1556. According to the chronicles and as narrated almost ne varietur by historiography, the cause of the hatred that king D. João III nurtured against D. Miguel da Silva, his escape to Italy and his persecution by the monarch until the year of his death in Rome was believed to have been, exclusively, his rise to Cardinal in 1539, against the King's will. It is our understanding that this event must rather be seen from the perspective of a complex set of motives, in which the cardinalate certainly plays an important, albeit not exclusive, part. Consequently, we will be revisiting this exceptional personality to attempt an assessment and understanding from a new perspective of one of the most disturbing episodes in the reign of D. João III, with D. Miguel da Silva, the Bishop of Viseu as its leading actor.