howdidtheindiannamedmetacometcometobenamedkingphilip

King Philip? How did the Indian
named Metacomet come to be named?
By Humberto Duarte Carreiro

Historian from Bristol, R. I.
April 1 2006

Metacomet was one of two sons of Sachem or Chief Massasoit of the Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts . In the fall of the year 1620, the English Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Massachusetts under terrible weather. As a result of the harsh weather they faced here during the first winter, half of them died. Sachem Massasoit came in rescue and helped them live in the New World .

The Indians and Pilgrims celebrated together the first harvest of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving in the following years. Chief Massasoit was very helpful and friendly to them. He brought his court as well as five deer (1) to the celebration.

Some scholars believe that Chief Massasoit accepted two English names for his sons Wamsutta and Metacomet. Wamsutta took the name Alexander and Metacomet Philip. Other scholars believe that after Massasoit died his two sons went to the Court of Plymouth and asked for English names. The Court then gave them names of the classical characters of Macedonia , Alexander and Philip, Kings in the year 359 BC.

I believe otherwise, as you will see in my article. In 1661, Chief Massasoit died and his son Wamsutta became Chief of the Wampanoag Indians. His reign, however, was very short as he was poisoned by the English settlers. Metacomet in 1662 took over as chief and renewed the treaties that his father had with the new settlers. More and more colonists arrived and began taking their land. Chief Metacomet took refuge at Mount Hope Neck here in Bristol , RI . At the time, Bristol was still Massachusetts territory and remained so until 1680.

With other warriors, Chief Metacomet declared war against the colonists. This war was called King Philip’s War.

To find out why Chief Metacomet obtained the nickname of King Philip, we have to go back to the history of Portugal and Spain . When King John III died in 1557 he made his grandson Sebastian, King of Portugal . However, Sebastian was only three years old and they named Cardinal Dom Henrique, brother of King John III, regent for his nephew from 1562-1578.

The young King Sebastian was killed in Morocco in battle against the Moors. Henry or Henrique, his uncle a Catholic bishop in Evora was appointed Grand Inquisitor during the Inquisition (2) in Portugal , expelling all the Jews of Portugal . He became a Cardinal in 1545 and King of Portugal in 1578.

King Henry died in 1580 without an heir to the throne in Portugal . The closest relative was a nephew in Spain named Philip. Philip became King Philip II from 1556-1598.

During the Dynasty of the series of Philips' of Spain, which lasted almost two hundred years, 1556-1746, Spain and England didn't see eye to eye. England was attacking the Spanish colonies and broke away from the Roman Catholic Church. (3) King Philip II of Spain was a devout Catholic. He received the blessing of Pope Gregorious XIII to build the Spanish Armada to invade " England and to destroy the Anglican Church”.

The invincible Armada of 80 ships was eventually destroyed, mostly by storms in the Atlantic and by the English Navy under the command of Sir Francis Drake, in 1588.

When the Pilgrims arrived here in 1620 seeking refuge from persecution of religion, Spain and England were still at war. Here in the New World , they encountered a brutal man, Chief Metacomet, ^“King Philip" who was defending his own land. Together with the Narragansett Indians of Rhode Island , the Wampanoags destroyed every village killing more than 600 colonists.

Where Metacomet was killed in the Mount Hope, which later became, Bristol, Rhode Island. The white man is Benjamin Church. The American Indian who killed the Indian Chief betrayed Metacomet .

In December 1675, Major Winslow and a force of 1000 men burned down the great fort of the Narragansett's, slew more than 700 Indians and massacred 1000 woman and children. In the spring of 1676, the Indians retreated back to Mount Hope Neck to regroup. Captain Benjamin Church and his men surprised Chief Metacomet and the remaining warriors. Chief Metacomet was slain, and his head cut off.

Naturally, after this terrible war, the colonists named Chief Metacomet, King Philip, after the King Philip of Spain . There was never a King named Philip in England !

There are two theories about the nickname of chief Metacomet. Was he named after the King Philip of Macedonia 359 BC who had great success? Or did the Pilgrims or Colonists name him in the XVII Century because they were reminded of the wars that their native country had with King Philip of Spain for two centuries?