the Almeida clan, to petition Pope Alexander VI to legitimize Jorge de Lancastre. The petition was rejected, bringing the campaign to a disappointing end. John II, however, had no intention of just handing the kingdom over to Manuel's minions. In the will laid out just before his death in 1495, John II requested that Manuel appoint Jorge de Lancastre as Duke of Coimbra and Lord of Montemor-o-Velho and urged Manuel, on his accession, to pass all his other titles and possessions, including the mastership of the Order of Christ and the island of Madeira, over to Jorge. The concentration of power would have made Jorge de Lancastre the most powerful man in the kingdom, reminiscent of his powerful great-grand-uncle Peter of Coimbra (a comparison suggested by John II himself). Mindful of avoiding a civil war, Manuel agreed to many of the items in John II's will, but rejected others — notably, Manuel insisted on retaining the Order of Christ for himself. Manuel was not in a hurry to fulfill the rest of the terms. The title of Duke of Coimbra was conferred on Jorge de Lancastre only in May 1500, and confirmation was delayed until May, 1509, nearly fifteen years after his father's death. John II had also requested that young Jorge de Lancastre would be married to a royal princess, having Manuel promise his own first daughter, when they came of age. Manuel only partly fulfilled this in 1500 by betrothing Jorge to Beatriz de Vilhena, the daughter of Álvaro of Braganza, not an infanta but nonetheless a princess of royal blood. During Manuel's Reign Most of the details of Jorge's subsequent life and career are marred by hagiographers of Manuel, eager to portray the king's rival in the worst possible light. But far from the lazy and dissolute picture painted by the royal scribes, the chroniclers of the Order of Santiago seem to have regarded Jorge de Lancastre as a particularly diligent leader and administrator. The Duke continued as an important figure in Portuguese politics, particularly in the first decade or so of Manuel's reign. The Order of Santiago was Jorge's principal power base. Jorge established something akin to an 'opposition' court at the Order's headquarters in Palmela. He gathered around him the principal loyalists of John II, who now became political opponents of King Manuel I of Portugal, notably the Almeida clan, the Ataíde family, and, of