Manuel I of Portugal

Manuel I (31 May 1469 – 13 December 1521) was the fourteenth King of Portugal and the. His tenure as king signified notable political and cultural reforms for Portugal, and resulted in the creation of an overseas empire following the Age of Discovery.

During his reign, King Manuel became allied with the Borgia, the Papal family, often serving their Templar interests. In 1503, Manuel sent Pedro Álvares Cabral to Calicut in India to eliminate the local Assassins Guild, but Cabral's attempt was thwarted by a group of Italian Assassins. In response, Manuel sent his priced explorer Vasco da Gama to complete the task, but the subsequent opposition caused Manuel to lose his grip over the city.

Manuel ordered the creation of a massive fleet for da Gama in retaliation against the Assassins in Calicut. Around the same time, Portugal initiated an Inquisition against its Jewish population, forcing Jews to convert to Catholicism. Another group of Italian Assassins thwarted the Inquisition, offering safe passage out of Portugal and training rebels to fight their oppressors, with the intention of diverting Manuel's attention from Templar demands.

Around 1511, four years after the fall of the Borgia, Manuel started funding missionary expeditions towards colonies as far east as India, not realizing that the missionaries were secretly Templars and were diverting the money to their cause. A handful of Ottoman Assassins stole the money to use towards their own ends.

Trivia

 * King Manuel I was the Grand Master of the, the heritage of the Order of the Knights Templar.