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indulgent lifestyle was mimicked by the Portuguese nobility, just as he
himself sought to mimic Louis XIV of France.
John's successor, Joseph I, placed the effective management of the
kingdom in the hands of Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, known to
history as Pombal (although the title of marques de Pombal was not
bestowed on him until 1770). A disciple of the French philosophes but
utterly ruthless and brutal in his administrative tactics, this minister
was one of Europe's most ardent exponents of enlightened despotism.
His energy and resourcefulness in rebuilding Lisbon after the devastat-
ing earthquake of 1755 were paralleled by his merciless repression of
an aristocratic conspiracy in 1758 and his expulsion of the Jesuits in the
following year on the general ground that some of them had aided the
conspirators. Pombal thus preceded the Spanish onslaught against the
Jesuits during the next decade and was a major advocate of the order's
dissolution by the pope in 1773. Although the need to preserve good
relations with Britain drew Portugal into another short-lived war with
Spain during the Seven Years' conflict, Pombal's main concern was with
strengthening his country's economy. This policy was reflected in pro-
motion of agriculture and industry, support for education, and develop-
ment of new approaches to trade, particularly in the colonial sphere.
Pombal was even more heavy handed in Brazil than in Portugal, with
the result that salutary reforms in America did not create a legacy of
goodwill but contributed to rising discontent among the colonists.
When Joseph I succumbed to insanity in 1774, his Spanish wife, María
Ana, assumed the regency and began to undermine Pombal's authority.
The dictator was dismissed in 1777 after the king's death and the acces-
sion of his daughter Maria I. During the next decade the nobility
reclaimed much of its old power, and many of Pombal's reforms were
weakened, although few were completely abolished.
Maria I also went mad, in 1792, and her son John took control of the
country. Fearful that the virus of revolution would spread from France
into Portugal, he joined the anti-French coalition led by Britain and
remained loyal to it even after his powerful neighboring state defected.
Portugal's new time of troubles began in earnest as the century ended
with an attack from Spain, egged on by Napoléon Bonaparte because
the smaller Iberian realm refused to close her ports to the British. The
so-called War of the Oranges lasted only a few months and resulted in
Portugal's adherence to the policy of trade exclusion. But its troubles
were just beginning.
 
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