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In-Depth Information
Maria I (Mary I)
(1734-1816)
queen of Portugal
Daughter of J
OSEPH
I, Maria was married to
her father's brother and reigned jointly with
him after the king died in 1777. Both the
queen and her husband, P
ETER
III, were
opposed to the long domination of the chief
minister, P
OMBAL
, and supported his ene-
mies in the successful intrigues to end his
experiments in enlightened despotism. The
death of the queens's consort in 1786 and
one of her sons two years later evidently
precipitated a mental breakdown. By 1792
her son John (J
OHN
VI) was directing the
affairs of state although he did not assume
the regency formally until 1799. Accompa-
nying the rest of the royal family to B
RAZIL
in 1807, Maria retained the title of queen
until her death in 1816.
of the region from 1519 to her death, Mar-
garet was the effective ruler of the richest
and most commercially significant region of
Europe. She sought to maintain peaceful
relations between Spain and France,
encouraged cooperation between the Span-
ish and Austrian branches of the House of
H
ABSBURG
, and tried to preserve stable rela-
tions with England. A Burgundian by birth
and affinity, she understood her people's
dependence on a steady supply of English
wool for the survival of their textile indus-
try. From the trade negotiations that she
carried on with London in the early days of
her regency to the “Ladies' Peace” of Camb-
rai concluded with her former sister-in-law
Louise of Savoy (who had become regent of
France) in 1529, Margaret displayed a con-
sistent commitment to an orderly pattern of
European relations. Affable and willing to
compromise when necessary, Margaret was
also a hard administrator who was deter-
mined to hold the Burgundian inheritance
together and curb the pretensions of any
internal faction. She chose shrewd and skill-
ful ministers such as the Savoyard Mercu-
rino Gattinara, whom she passed on to her
nephew. The pan-European instincts of
Emperor Charles V and his councillors were
clearly derived from the broad vision of
Margaret, whose preference for strong, cen-
tral government in place of feudalistic rem-
nants appears even more modern when
seen in the perspective of a broader Euro-
pean union. Had Margaret's marriage to
Prince Juan lasted longer or their child lived,
her role as queen consort of Spain and
matriarch of a dynasty descended from her
might well have guaranteed her a rank in
history like that of Elizabeth I of England.
Instead she remains a supporting figure in
the chronicle of Renaissance Spain.
Maria II (Mary II, Maria da Glória)
(1819-1853)
queen of Portugal
The daughter of P
EDRO
I of Brazil, Maria da
Glória had a troubled reign from early child-
hood, having been proclaimed queen in
1826 upon her father's renunciation of the
Portuguese throne. She was subsequently
betrothed to her uncle, who usurped the
throne two years later; found refuge in Eng-
land; was restored by the efforts of her
father who came from B
RAZIL
to lead a lib-
eral counter-revolution; and married in
1836 Duke Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-
Gotha. Although the next few years were
beset by frequent political disruptions and
attempted military coups, the country made
some economic progress, added modestly to
its exiguous school system, and even intro-
duced railroad transportation. In 1853, the
young queen, who had borne five children,
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