Pedro III Nsimba Ntamba was a ruler of the
Kingdom of Kongo
The Kingdom of Kongo ( kg, Kongo dya Ntotila or ''Wene wa Kongo;'' pt, Reino do Congo) was a kingdom located in central Africa in present-day northern Angola, the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Republic of the ...
during its tumultuous civil war period.
King Pedro III was the elder brother of King
Joāo II and one of many partisans of the
House of Kinlaza.
[Thornton, John K: "The Kongolese Saint Anthony: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita and the Antonian Movement, 1684-1706", page 79. Cambridge University, 1998] Since 1666, the two royal ''kandas'' or lineages of Kinlaza and Kimpanzu had been fighting bitterly over the kingdom of Kongo.
First rule
In 1669, Pedro III became king of Kongo. The
Kongo Civil War
The Kongo Civil War (1665–1709) was a war of succession between rival houses of the Kingdom of Kongo. The war waged throughout the middle of the 17th and 18th centuries pitting partisans of the House of Kinlaza against the House of Kimpanzu. N ...
had been well underway, and the House of Kinlaza had chosen Pedro as its candidate. Like many rules during this period, his was a short one lasting only until June 1669. He was forced out of Kongo by the rival Kimpanzu faction and fled to Lemba where he ruled in opposition.
Sack of Sāo Salvador
In 1678, Pedro III returned to the capital of Kongo, Sāo Salvador, with an army. The capital was then held by the Kimpanzu king
Daniel I Daniel I may refer to:
* Daniel I of Armenia (ruled 347)
* Archbishop Danilo I of the Serbian Orthodox Church (ruled 1271–1272)
* Daniel of Moscow (1261–1303)
* Daniel I of Kongo (ruled 1674–78)
* Metropolitan Danilo I Petrović-Njegoš ( ...
.
In the ensuing battle, Pedro III killed Daniel I and destroyed the city in the process. Afterwards, all claimants for the throne would reside in opposing mountain fortress namely Lemba, Kibangu and Mbamba Luvota.
Assassination
In 1680, King Pedro III was still ruling Lemba where he claimed the Kongo throne in opposition to the
House of Kimpanzu
The Kimpanzu were members of the Mpanzu kanda also known as the House of Kimpanzu, one of the lineages from which the kings of Kongo were chosen during the 17th century and following Kongo's reunification under Pedro IV. They are remembered in ...
partisans residing in Soyo's southern province of Luvota.
Manuel de Nóbrega, brother of the slain King Daniel, swore vengeance and orchestrated a plot to kill Pedro III. Under the auspice of a truce, treacherously negotiated by the Prince of Soyo, Pedro III was lured into a trap expecting to make peace through marriage to a Kimpanzu noble. Instead, Manuel emerged from the Soyo wedding train dressed as a bride and shot Pedro III to death before escaping.
The particular episode in Kongo's history would become one of the sticking points keeping the nobility from finding lasting peace.
See also
*
List of Manikongos of Kongo
This is a list of the rulers of the Kingdom of Kongo known commonly as the Manikongos (KiKongo: Mwenekongo). Mwene (plural: Awene) in Kikongo meant a person holding authority, particularly judicial authority, derived from the root -wene which mea ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pedro 03 Of Kongo
Manikongo of Kongo
1680 deaths
17th-century African people
Year of birth unknown