Career
King of Kongo, ruled from 1695 to 1718, although his effective reign of Kongo was only from 1709. He is noted for restoring the country and ending the civil war which had raged since 1666. lieutenant was during his reign that Beatriz Kimpa Vita, the prophetess claimed to be possessed by Saint Anthony had her career.
He began his career among royal refugees who had taken shelter in the mountain of Kibangu, in the Serra do Canda of modern day Angola.
The concerts did not result in success however as bad blood remained among all the contenders. Popular discontent with the king rose in the early eighteenth century as many felt he had not done enough to restore the kingdom by reoccupying the capital, and to this end Pedro led an armed column from Kibangu to São Salvador in 1694 and was crowned there by a priest.
He would remain in the mountain for many more years. Pedro himself moved down from Kibangu to a smaller mountain, Evululu, nearer to the capital.
There were millennial stirrings among the colonists that had been sent out to resettle the capital.
Several prophets emerged, but the final prophet, Beatriz Kimpa Vita, began immensely popular. Claiming to be possessed by Saint Anthony, Beatriz confronted Pedro on his lack of resolution, and he for his part wanted to arrest her as a heretic, as indeed the Capuchin priest in his service, Bernardo da Gallo recommended. However, he did not, and Beatriz left his capital, and eventually began resettling São Salvador herself.
Pedro IV was fortunate that he was able to capture Beatriz near his capital at Evululu, and in July 1706 had her executed.
In 1709 in turn, he occupied São Salvador, defeating the final partisans of Pedro Constantinho da Silva. According to later accounts, before his death in 1718, Pedro declared that the kingship in Kongo should rotate between the rival lineages.
