Maria I of Portugal

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"Maria I" redirects here. For other uses, see Mary I. For other people of the same name, see Maria of Portugal.

Maria I

D. Maria I; Miguel Antnio do Amaral, 1777

Queen of Portugal and the Algarves later Queen of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves 24 February 1777 20 March 1816

Reign

Predecessor

Joseph I

Successor

John VI John, Prince Regent (17921816)

Regent

Spouse

Peter III of Portugal

details...

Issue

Jos, Prince of Brazil John VI of Portugal Infanta Mariana Victoria

Full name

Maria Francisca Isabel Josefa Antnia Gertrudes Rita Joana

House

House of Braganza

Father

Joseph I of Portugal

Mother

Mariana Victoria of Spain

Born

17 December 1734 Ribeira Palace, Kingdom of Portugal

Died

20 March 1816 (aged 81) Rio de Janeiro, Kingdom of Brazil

Burial

Estrela Basilica, Lisbon, Portugal

Religion

Roman Catholic

Maria I (English: Mary I) (17 December 1734 20 March 1816) was Queen of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves. Known as Maria the Pious (in Portugal), or Maria the Mad (in Brazil), she was the first undisputed Queen regnant of Portugal. Her reign would be a noteworthy one. With Napoleon's European conquests, her court, then under the direction of Prince Dom Joo, the Prince Regent, moved to the then Portuguese colony of Brazil. Later on, Brazil would be elevated from the rank of a colony to that of a Kingdom, the Kingdom of Brazil, with the consequential formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves.

Contents
[hide]

1 Early life
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1.1 Growing up with the Marquis 2.1 Down with Pombal

2 Reign
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3 Mental deterioration 4 Napoleonic Wars

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4.1 Transfer to Brazil

5 Death and Legacy 6 Titles, Honours, and styles

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6.1 Titles and Styles 6.2 Honours

7 Marriage and Issue 8 Ancestry 9 See also 10 Bibliography 11 References 12 External links

Early life[edit]

D. Maria Francisca, Princess of Beira, Duchess of Barcelos;Pavona; 1739.

Maria was born at the Ribeira Royal Palace in Lisbon. Maria was baptized Maria Francisca Isabel Josefa Antnia Gertrudes Rita Joana. On the day of her birth, her grandfather, King Joo V of Portugal, created her the Princess of Beira. She was the eldest of all her siblings.

When her father succeeded to the throne in 1750 as Jos I, Maria became his heiress presumptive and was given the traditional titles ofPrincess of Brazil and Duchess of Braganza.

Growing up with the Marquis[edit]

Maria would grow up in a time when her father's government and country were dominated completely by the first Marquis of Pombal. Her father would often retire to the Queluz National Palace which was later given to Maria and her husband. The Marquis took control of the government after the terrible 1755 Lisbon earthquake of 1 November 1755, in which around 100,000 people lost their lives; the palace of her birth was also destroyed in the disaster. After the earthquake, her father was often uncomfortable at the thought of staying in enclosed spaces and later had claustrophobia. The king later had a palace built in Ajuda, away from the city centre. This palace became known as Real Barraca de Ajuda (Royal Complex at Ajuda) because it was made of wood. The family would spend much time at the large palace and it was the birthplace of Maria's first child. In 1794 the palace burned to the ground andAjuda National Palace was built in its place. In 1760 Maria married her uncle Pedro, younger brother of her father Jose I. They had six children, of whom the eldest surviving son succeeded Maria as Joo VI on her death in 1816.

Reign[edit]

Maria Francisca Isabel, Princess of Brazil; Francisco Vieira de Matos, 1753.

In 1777, she became the first undisputed queen regnant of Portugal and the Algarves. With Maria's accession, her husband became king as Peter III. Despite Peter's status as king and the nominal

joint reign, the actual regal authority was vested solely in Maria[citation needed] as she was the lineal heir of the Crown; also, as Peter's kingship was iure uxoris only, in the event of Maria's death, his reign would cease, and the Crown would pass to Maria's descendants. However, Peter would predecease his wife. Maria is considered as having been a good ruler in the period prior to her madness.

Down with Pombal[edit]

Her first act as queen was to dismiss the popular Secretary of State of the Kingdom, the Marquis of Pombal, who had broken the power of the reactionary aristocracy via the Tavora affair, partially because of Pombal's Enlightenment, anti-Jesuit policies. Noteworthy events of this period were Portugal's membership of the League of Armed Neutrality (July 1782) and the 1781 cession of Delagoa Bay from Austria to Portugal. Queen Maria suffered from religious mania and melancholia. This acute mental illness (perhaps due to porphyria, which also may have tainted George III of the United Kingdom) made her incapable of handling state affairs after 1792.[1]

Mental deterioration[edit]
Her madness was first officially noticed in 1786 when Maria had to be carried back to her apartments in a state of delirium. The queen's mental state became increasingly worse. In May 1786 her husband died; Maria was devastated and forbade any court entertainments. According to a contemporary[who?] the state festivities resembled religious ceremonies. Her state worsened after the death of her eldest son (and heir-apparent), aged 27, from smallpox, and of her confessor, in 1791. In February 1792, she was deemed as mentally insane and was treated by Francis Willis, the same physician who attended George III of the United Kingdom. Willis wanted to take her to England, but that was refused by the Portuguese court. Maria's second son (eldest surviving) and new heirapparent,John, took over the government in her name, even though he only took the title of Prince Regent in 1799.[2] When the Real Barraca de Ajuda burnt down in 1794, the court was forced to move to Queluz, where the ill queen would lie in her apartments all day and visitors would complain of terrible screams that would echo throughout the palace.

Napoleonic Wars[edit]

Portrait of the Queen Dona Maria I with a Crown, Giuseppe Troni, 1783.
In 1801, the Spanish Prime Minister, Manuel de Godoy, Prince of the Peace, invaded Portugal with backing fromNapoleon. He was later forced to abandon the campaign that same year. Though the Spanish ceased their invasion, the Treaty of Badajoz on 6 June 1801 forced Portugal to cede Olivena and part of Guyana to Spain. This cession is not recognized by the present government and Portugal officially considers those territories to still be Portuguese. The refusal of the Portuguese government to join the Continental Blockade against Britain culminated in the 1807 Franco-Spanish invasion led by General Junot. The ultimate Napoleonic plan for Portugal was to split it into three sections. The northern parts of Portugal, from the Douro to the Minho, would become the Kingdom of Northern Lusitania, and its throne was promised to King Carlo Lodovico II of Etruria. The Alentejo Province and Kingdom of the Algarve would be put together to form the Principality of the Algarves, of which Spanish Prime Minister Manuel de Godoy would be sovereign. The remaining portion of Portugal would have been directly ruled by France.

Transfer to Brazil[edit]
Main article: Transfer of the Portuguese Court to Brazil At the urging of the British government, on 29 November 1807, the entire Braganza dynasty decided to flee to Brazil to establish a Cortes-in-exile, in the Portuguese Viceroyalty of Brazil. Along with the Royal Family, she was transported aboard the nau Prncipe Real. During her move from the Royal palace to the docks she was heard screaming throughout the trip, in the middle of the crowd and in the carriage. The Queen's dementia was so great that she feared that she was going to be tortured or robbed during her movement by her servants.

Dona Maria I, Queen of Portugal; Jos Leandro de Carvalho, 1808.

In January 1808, Prince Regent Joo and his court arrived in Salvador da Bahia. After his arrival and persistence by local aristocracy and the British, the Prince Regent signed a commercial regulation that opened commerce between Brazil and friendly nations, which in this case represented England. This important law broke the colonial pact that, until then, only allowed Brazil to maintain direct commercial relations with Portugal. On 1 August 1808, the British General Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington) landed a British army in Lisbon and thus initiated the Peninsular War. Wellesley's initial victory over Junot at Vimeiro (21 August 1808) was wiped out by his superiors in the Convention of Cintra (30 August 1808). Nevertheless, Wellesley (now Lord Wellington) returned to Portugal on 22 April 1809 to recommence the campaign. Portuguese forces under British command distinguished themselves in the defence of the lines of Torres Vedras(18091810) and in the subsequent invasion of Spain and France. In 1815, Prince Regent Joo government elevated Brazil to the status of a kingdom, and Maria I was proclaimed the Queen of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. When Napoleon was finally defeated in 1815, Maria and her family remained in Brazil.

Death and Legacy[edit]

Incapacitated, Maria lived in Brazil for eight years, always in an unhappy state. In 1816, the Queen died at the Carmo Convent in Rio de Janeiro at the age of 81. After her death, Prince Regent Joo was acclaimed the King of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves and had her body was returned to

Lisbon, and interned in a mausoleum in the Estrela Basilica (Portuguese: Basilica da Estrela), that she had helped found. Maria is a greatly admired figure in both Brazil and Portugal, due to the tremendous changes and events that took place during her reign. In Portugal, she is celebrated as a strong female figure. Her legacy shines at Portugal's Queluz National Palace, a baroque-roccoco masterpiece that she helped conceive. A large statue of her stands in front of the palace, and a pousada near the palace is named in her honour. A large marble statue of the Queen was erected at the Portuguese National Library in Lisbon, by the students of Joaquim Machado de Castro. In Brazil, she is admired as a key figure in the eventual independence of Brazil. It is during her reign, though acted through her son's regency, that many of the institutions and organizations in Brazil were created. These institutions were the precursors to their modern day equivalents and granted large degree of power to the Brazilian colonials. While she is often called A Louca (the Crazy) in Brazil, Brazilian and Portuguese historic scholars hold her in high esteem.

Titles, Honours, and styles[edit]

Royal styles of

Maria I of Portugal

Reference style

Her Most Faithful Majesty

Spoken style

Your Most Faithful Majesty

Alternative style

Ma'am

Titles and Styles[edit]

Main article: List of titles and honours of the Portuguese Crown

17 December 1734 31 July 1750 Her Royal Highness The Princess of Beira, Duchess of Barcelos

31 July 1750 24 February 1777 Her Royal Highness The Princess of Brazil, Duchess of Braganza

24 February 1777 16 December 1815 Her Most Faithful Majesty The Queen of Portugal and the Algarves

16 December 1815 20 March 1816 Her Most Faithful Majesty The Queen of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves

The official styling from her accession till 1815 was: By the Grace of God, Maria I, Queen of Portugal and the Algarves, of either side of the sea in Africa, Lady of Guinea and of Conquest, Navigation and Commerce of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia and India, etc With the creation of the Kingdom of Brazil, her style changed to: By the Grace of God, Maria I, Queen of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves, of either side of the sea in Africa, Lady of Guinea and of Conquest, Navigation and Commerce of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia and India, etc.

Honours[edit]
As Queen of Portugal, Maria was Grand Mistress of the following Portuguese Orders:

Order of Christ Order of Saint Benedict of Aviz Order of Saint James of the Sword Order of the Tower and Sword

Marriage and Issue[edit]

Maria married her uncle, Infante Pedro of Braganza on 6 June 1760. At the time of their marriage, Maria was 25 and Pedro was 42. Despite the age gap, the couple had a happy marriage. Peter automatically became co-monarch (as Pedro III of Portugal) when Maria ascended the throne, as a child had already been born from their marriage. The couple had six children and a stillborn baby.

Name

Birth

Death

Notes

Jos, Prince of Brazil

20 August 1761

Jos Francisco Xavier de Paula Domingos 11 Antnio Agostinho Anastciomarried Infanta September Benedita of Portugal and had no issue. His 1788 death lead to his younger brother becoming heir-apparent and later king.

Joo de Bragana

20 October 20 October Joo was a still born baby, born at the Ajuda 1762 1762 National Palace.

Joo 16 Francisco de September Bragana 1763

Joo Francisco de Paula Domingos Antnio 10 October Carlos Cipriano was born at the Ajuda 1763 National Palace.

Joo VI

13 May 1767

10 March 1826

Joo Maria Jos Francisco Xavier de Paula Lus Antnio Domingos Rafael married Carlota Joaquina of Spain and had issue. He was King of Portugal and Titular Emperor of Brazil.

Mariana Victoria de Bragana

15 December 1768

2 November 1788

Maria Ana Vitria Josefa Francisca Xavier de Paula Antonieta Joana Domingas Gabriela married Infante Gabriel of Spain and had issue.

Maria Clementina de Bragana

27 June 9 June 1774 1776

Maria Clementina Francisca Xavier de Paula Ana Josefa Antnia Domingas Feliciana Joana Michaela Julia de Bragana was born at theQueluz National Palace.

12 Maria Isabel December de Bragana 1766

14 January Maria Isabel was born at the Queluz National 1777 Palace.

Ancestry[edit]
[show]Ancestors of Maria I of Portugal

See also[edit]

List of mentally ill monarchs

Bibliography[edit]

Cheke, Marcus (1947). Carlota Joaquina, Queen of Portugal. London, England: Sidgewick & Jackson.

Benevides, Francisco da Fonseca. Rainhas de Portugal: Estudo Historico - Volume I. Lisbon, Portugal: Typographia Castro Irmo.

Benevides, Francisco da Fonseca. Rainhas de Portugal: Estudo Historico - Volume II. Lisbon, Portugal: Typographia Castro Irmo.

Gomes, Laurentino (2007). 1808 How a mad queen, a coward prince and a corrupt court fooled Napoleon and changed the History of Portugal and Brazil. Planeta. (Portuguese)

References[edit]
1. ^ History of Portugal: Pamphlet Collection. CUP Archive, 1937. Accessed September 2012. 2. ^ History of Portugal: Pamphlet Collection. CUP Archive, 1937. Accessed September 2012.

External links[edit]
Media related to Maria I of Portugal at Wikimedia Commons

Maria I of Portugal House of Braganza

Cadet branch of the House of Aviz Born: 17 December 1734 Died: 20 March 1816

Regnal titles Queen of Portugal and the Algarveslater Queen of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves 17771816 with Peter III (17771786) Portuguese royalty Preceded by Maria Barbara Preceded by Joseph Princess of Beira Duchess of Barcelos 17341750 Princess of Brazil Duchess of Braganza 17501777

Preceded by Joseph I

Succeeded by John VI

Succeeded by Joseph