The Forty Conspirators (Portuguese: Os Quarenta Conjurados[1]), were a Portuguese nationalist group during the Iberian Union. The Conspirators were composed of forty men of the Portuguese nobility, and many clergy and soldiers. Their goal was to depose the House of Habsburg king, Philip III (and IV of Spain).
The plot was planned by Antão Vaz de Almada, Miguel de Almeida and João Pinto Ribeiro. On 1 December 1640, they, together with several associates, known as the Forty Conspirators, took advantage of the fact that the Castilian troops were occupied on the other side of the peninsula and killed Secretary of StateMiguel de Vasconcelos, imprisoning the king's cousin, the Duchess of Mantua, who had governed Portugal in his name. The moment was well chosen, as Philip's troops were at the time fighting the Thirty Years' War in addition to the revolt in Catalonia.[2]
The support of the people became apparent almost immediately and soon John, 8th Duke of Braganza, was acclaimed King of Portugal throughout the country as John IV. By December 2, 1640, John had already sent a letter to the Municipal Chamber of Évora as sovereign of the country.
^Conjurado can have a different meaning in portuguese than the word Conjured has in english: it comes from the word jurado (an adjective meaning oathbound) from the word juramento (meaning the act of making an oath) and from the word, that can be both a verb and a name, jura (meaning oath). Therefore, when the forty conspirators are called The Forty Conjured, it does not mean they magically appeared, but rather the meaning translates as The Forty Oathbound.
^Elliot, J.H. (2002). Imperial Spain: 1469-1716. New York: Penguin Books. pp. 346–348. ISBN 978-0141007038.
"Os restauradores de 1640 e seus actuais representantes". 2003.