HISTORICAL DICTIONARY A–Z - Spain and Portugal: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present - page 270

under the presidency of T EÓFILO B RAGA .
Manuel withdrew to a comfortable exile in
England, took no interest in a proposed res-
toration attempt after World War I, and
died leaving no successor.
Manuel was the last of the B RAGANÇA
dynasty, although kin in the Miguelite line
have continued as pretenders. Ironically
alluding to the only previous bearer of this
royal name, Manuel I, whose virtual foun-
dation of the empire in the early 1500s
earned him the nickname “the Fortunate,”
some have designated Manuel II “the
Unfortunate.”

endorsed the use of military force to rees-
tablish order. The king, who had become
increasingly dissatisfied with her policy of
restraint, dispatched a large force of Span-
ish troops under the implacable duke of
A LBA . Finding herself marginalized by
Alba's aggressive tactics and the monarch's
approval of them, Margaret resigned her
regency and returned to Italy. She had the
satisfaction of seeing her son, A LESSANDRO
F ARNESE , assume the position of governor
general in 1578 and vindicate many of her
ideas about how to deal with the local pop-
ulation when she paid him a brief visit.
Nevertheless, by the time of her death, the
country over which she had presided was
irretrievably split into the present-day Bel-
gium and the Dutch Netherlands.

Margaret, duchess of Parma
(1522-1586)
Spanish regent of the Netherlands
The illegitimate daughter of C HARLES I (Holy
Roman Emperor Charles V) and a Flemish
lady, Margaret spent her early years in the
Low Countries and was married first to
Alessandro dei Medici (1536) and following
his assassination to Ottavio Farnese (1538).
Although her husband soon succeeded his
father as duke of Parma, Margaret demon-
strated her commitment to the H ABSBURG
dynasty by serving her half brother P HILIP II
as regent of the Spanish Netherlands from
1559 to 1566. During this critical period she
did her best to retain the allegiance of a
population increasingly divided over issues
of Protestant-Catholic rivalry and autono-
mist ambitions. Margaret applied the arts of
persuasion and diplomacy, seeking to pre-
serve the attachment of the great nobles of
the Netherlands to the Habsburgs, invoking
their loyalty to her father, the late emperor,
and taking advantage of her own childhood
ties to the region. When, however, militant
Calvinists attacked Catholic churches, she

Margaret of Austria (1480-1530)
regent of the Spanish Netherlands
As the daughter of Maximilian of Austria
(later Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I)
and Marie, duchess of Burgundy, Margaret
was at the center of many plans for mar-
riage alliances during the period when
Europe's modern state system was taking
shape. First betrothed to the heir to the
French throne, she was later married briefly
to Prince Juan, the only son of I SABELLA of
C ASTILE and F ERDINAND V of A RAGON . Fol-
lowing his demise in 1497 she married the
duke of Savoy, who died two years later.
The remainder of Margaret's life was
devoted to the business of government and
statecraft, in which she displayed remark-
able intelligence and talent. As regent of
the Spanish Netherlands (Burgundy) dur-
ing the minority of her nephew, C HARLES I
of Spain (Holy Roman Emperor Charles V),
from 1506 to 1515, and as governor general