i'm 80% positive that this happened, somewhere around 1580...i need some info for history 342 project, can anyone help?
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You're right, it did happen. King Sebastiano of Portugal led a disastrous expedition to Morocco in 1578, which was crushed by the Moroccans at Alcazar. The King, a religious mystic who never married, was killed along with much of his nobility. King Sebatiano's uncle Henry inherited the throne, but Henry was a Cardinal in the Catholic Church; he also had no descendents, and upon his death Sebastiano's uncle, King Philip of Spain, was able to take the throne. There was scant resistance, and the Spanish Army, led for the last time by the famed Duke of Alba, marched into Madrid.
Philip and his son ruled fairly, but the link to Spain proved a disaster for Portugal. The damage was caused by Spain's incessant war with the Protestant sea powers, Holland and England. The two nations savaged Portugal's overseas empire and trade, ruining the Portuguese economy. When Philip's grandson tried to revoke the liberties of the old Portuguese kingdom and impose high taxes, the Portuguese rebelled in 1640 and threw the Spanish out.
There's not much info I can find, but here's a link, from my old standby the Catholic Encyclopedia:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12297a.htm
Philip and his son ruled fairly, but the link to Spain proved a disaster for Portugal. The damage was caused by Spain's incessant war with the Protestant sea powers, Holland and England. The two nations savaged Portugal's overseas empire and trade, ruining the Portuguese economy. When Philip's grandson tried to revoke the liberties of the old Portuguese kingdom and impose high taxes, the Portuguese rebelled in 1640 and threw the Spanish out.
There's not much info I can find, but here's a link, from my old standby the Catholic Encyclopedia:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12297a.htm
As another aside; besides being the source of the brief dynastic merger of Spain and Portugal (and it should be noted that they had 1 king but 2 governments; much like had existed for England and Scotland during the stuarts or Denmark and Sweden during the Union of Kalmar), Philip III/II of Spain & Portugal is also the source of one of the greatest dynastic strugles in European history; He was the Grandfather of Louis XIV of France. When Phillip III/II's great grand son Charles II died without issue, Louis claimed the throne for his own descendants. The War of the Spanish Succession was devastating for most of Western Europe... Of course by this time, Portugal had ended its dynastic union with Spain, but if it had lasted a mere 60 years longer, and the Spansh Succession had been decided differently, there may have been a unified Franco-Iberian empire under a single ruler...