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he refrained from taking the royal title and
governed as regent until Afonso's death in
1683. Both before and after assuming the
kingship Peter II guided Portugal through a
period of increasing prosperity, in large part
derived from the discovery of mineral
deposits in B
RAZIL
. Commercial agreements
with Great Britain (particularly the Treaty
of Methuen, 1703) benefited the economy
but led to Portugal's involvement in the
W
AR
OF
THE
S
PANISH
S
UCCESSION
.
hope. His early death robbed his subjects
of their expectations.
Philip I (Felipe el Hermoso, Felipe
I de Castilla)
(1478-1506)
king of Castile
Born in Bruges (in present-day Belgium),
the son of Duchess Marie of Burgundy and
Archduke Maximilian of Austria (later Holy
Roman Emperor Maximilian I), he suc-
ceeded his mother as ruler of the Burgun-
dian Netherlands in 1481. Although much
admired by his subjects (who called him
“the Handsome”) in the prosperous state
that lay in a strategic position between
France and Germany, he developed into a
vain, arrogant, and self-indulgent individ-
ual. Assuming that they could manage
Philip, Maximilian and F
ERDINAND
V, king
of A
RAGON
, arranged a dynastic alliance
uniting Philip with the Spanish princess
J
OANNA
in 1496. The marriage was a tem-
pestuous one due to Joanna's instability
and Philip's infidelity; nevertheless, it
resulted in six children and established a
Habsburg dynasty in Spain, as well as the
line of Habsburgs who would rule in Aus-
tria for 500 years. Ferdinand and Philip
soon became bitter antagonists, first over
the younger man's meddling in the delicate
relations between Spain and France, then
over the question of Philip's claim on the
throne of C
ASTILE
.
When I
SABELLA
I died in 1504 and was
succeeded by her daughter Joanna, Ferdi-
nand, who wished to continue the integra-
tion of Aragon with Castile, sought to exercise
the regency of the latter kingdom. Joanna
was willing to accept this arrangement, but
her husband insisted that he was now right-
ful co-sovereign of Castile. Furthermore he
Peter III (Pedro III)
(1717-1786)
king of Portugal
Younger son of J
OHN
V and brother of
J
OSEPH
I, Peter was wed to his niece in one
of those marriages to stabilize the dynastic
succession that were not uncommon in Ibe-
rian royal families. The pair ruled jointly
from 1777 until Peter's death in 1786. His
widow, M
ARIA
I, due to mental illness, spent
most of the next 30 years under a regency.
Peter IV
Peter V (Pedro V)
(1837-1861)
king of Portugal
Peter was the son of M
ARIA
II and her con-
sort, Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha,
who bore the nominal title King Ferdinand
II. On his mother's death, in 1853, he
passed under the regency of his father and
then was declared of age in 1855. During
his brief reign Peter V attracted a certain
degree of popularity among those who saw
in his youth the promise of better times for
Portugal. Even the colonial empire, where
new buildings and institutions were named
in his honor, reflected this upsurge of
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