07/11/1716
This was the that was so exceptionally granted to King D. João V for having piously responded to the papal request asking for help from the leading Catholic Kings in the war against the Ottoman Turks that constituted a force of permanent danger to Christian Europe and who had seized the islands that the Venetians still owned in the Aegean Sea. In an act of keeping up with the zeal of the Portuguese Kings in defending and spreading the faith, and desires of falling into the good graces of the Pope, King D. João V positively responded to his appeal and thus sent an armada to fight the Turks. In recognition Pope Clement XI elevated the royal chapel to patriarchal basilica dividing the archdiocese of Lisbon in two. An ecclesiastical division was established with two jurisdictions, the archbishopric in the Old Cathedral and the Patriarchate in the royal chapel; and an administrative division that divided the city in western Lisbon, with about 700 streets and two squares, Rossio and Terreiro do Paço; and eastern Lisbon the oldest part contained within the walls.
(image – Lisbon Municipal Archives)