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Joseph I of Portugal

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"José I" redirects here. For José I of Spain, see Joseph Bonaparte.
Joseph I
Portrait of King D. José I;
Miguel António do Amaral, 1773.
King of Portugal and the Algarves
Reign31 July 1750 – 24 February 1777
Acclamation8 September 1750, Lisbon
PredecessorJohn V
SuccessorsMaria I and Peter III
Born6 June 1714
Ribeira Palace, Lisbon, Portugal
Died24 February 1777(1777-02-24) (aged 62)
Sintra Palace, Sintra, Portugal
Burial
Pantheon of the Braganzas
SpouseMariana Victoria of Spain
Issue
Detail		Maria I, Queen of Portugal
Infanta Mariana Francisca
Infanta Doroteia
Benedita, Princess of Brazil
DynastyBraganza
FatherJohn V of Portugal
MotherMaria Anna of Austria
ReligionRoman Catholicism
SignatureJoseph I's signature

Joseph I (Portuguese: José I, Portuguese pronunciation: [ʒuˈzɛ], 6 June 1714 – 24 February 1777), "The Reformer" (Portuguese: "o Reformador"), was the King of Portugal and the Algarves from 31 July 1750 until his death. Among other activities, Joseph was devoted to hunting and the opera.[1] Indeed, he assembled one of the greatest collections of operatic scores in Europe.

Early life

Portrait of Joseph, Prince of Brazil; Domenico Duprà, 1725.

Joseph was the third child of King John V of Portugal and his wife Maria Anna of Austria. Joseph had an older brother Pedro, an older sister Barbara and three younger brothers. At the death of his elder brother, who died at the age of two in 1714, Joseph became Prince of Brazil as the heir apparent of the king, and Duke of Braganza.

Marriage

On 19 January 1729, Joseph married the Spanish Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain, daughter of Philip V of Spain and Elisabeth Farnese, and his elder sister Barbara of Portugal married the future Ferdinand VI of Spain. Mariana Victoria loved music and hunting,[2] just like her husband, but she was also a serious woman who disapproved of the king's love affairs and did not hesitate to expose them to acquaintances.

Reign

Joseph succeeded to the Portuguese throne in 1750, when he was 36 years old,[3] and almost immediately placed effective power in the hands of Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, better known today as the Marquess of Pombal.[4] Indeed, the history of Joseph's reign is really that of Pombal himself. King Joseph also declared his eldest daughter Maria Francisca as the official heiress of the throne and proclaimed her Princess of Brazil. By this time, the king did not believe he would ever father a son by his queen.[citation needed]

Victory over Spain and France (1762)

Main article: Spanish invasion of Portugal (1762)

One of the most difficult situations faced by the king was the Franco-Spanish invasion of Portugal, in the end of the Seven Years' War (5 May-24 November 1762). France and Spain sent an ultimatum in order to force Portugal to abandon its alliance with Great Britain and close her ports to British ships. D. José I refused to submit and asked for British help since both the country and the army were in a very poor condition, mainly because of the great 1755 Lisbon earthquake. England sent a force of 7,104 men led by Loudon and Burgoyne, and also an exceptional military leader, the count of Lippe, which reformed the Portuguese army and led the allied army of 14-15, 000 men in a victorious war. The Bourbon invaders first led by Sarria and then by Aranda were thrice defeated by a combination of popular uprising,[5][6] scorched earth strategy/famine and encircling movements by the regular Anglo-Portuguese troops, which like the militia, skilfully used the mountainous terrain at their advantage. The Spanish and French troops suffered staggering losses when they were driven out from Portugal and chased into Spain. As synthesized by historian Walter Dorn:

… Effort of the Bourbon powers to set up the beginnings of a 'continental system' by sending a summons to Portugal to close her ports to British ships and exclude Englishmen from Brazil trade. But the Portuguese minister, the Marquis of Pombal, refused, and with the assistance of Count Lippe and the English General Burgoyne broke the offensive of the Spanish invading army. D'Aranda, the Spanish General, was forced to retreat in disgrace. With the utter failure of the Spanish war machine everywhere, all the hopes which Choiseul [French Foreign Minister] had placed on the Spanish alliance vanished. 'Had I known', he wrote, 'what I now know, I should have been very careful to cause to enter the war a power which by its feebleness can only ruin and destroy France'.[7]

— In Competition for Empire, 1740-1763

In South America, the war ended in a draw; the Portuguese took territory from Spain (most of the Rio Negro Valley) and defeated a Spanish invasion of Mato Grosso, while Spain conquered Colónia do Sacramento and the vast territory of Rio Grande do Sul (1763). The Treaty of Paris (1763) restored the status quo ante bellum.

Marquess of Pombal

The Marriage between Joseph I and Mariana Victoria of Spain; Pieter Schank, 1727.

The powerful Marquess of Pombal sought to overhaul all aspects of economic, social and colonial policy to make Portugal a more efficient contender with the other great powers of Europe, and thus enhance his own political stature. A conspiracy of nobles aimed at murdering King Joseph and Pombal gave him the opportunity (some say, the pretext) to neutralize the Távora family in the Távora affair, and to expel the Jesuits in September 1759, thus gaining control of public education and a wealth of church lands and ushering Portugal into the Age of the Enlightenment.

Legacy and death

The reign of Joseph was is also noteworthy for the great Lisbon earthquake of 1 November 1755, in which about 100,000 people died.

The earthquake caused Joseph to develop a severe case of claustrophobia, and he was never again comfortable living within a walled building. Consequently, he moved the royal court to an extensive complex of tents in the hills of Ajuda.

The capital was eventually rebuilt at great cost, and an equestrian statue of King Joseph still dominates Lisbon's main plaza.

Joseph I monument in Lisbon

With Joseph's death on 24 February 1777, the throne passed to his daughter Maria I and brother/son-in-law Peter III. Pombal's iron rule was sharply brought to an end, because Maria hated him very much for his arrogance and violent behaviour.

Issue

Joseph I fathered eight children by the Queen, but only four daughters survived:[8][9]

  1. Maria Francisca Isabel Rita Gertrudes Joanna (17 December 1734 – 20 March 1816), married her uncle Infante Peter of Portugal and had issue. Later Queen regnant of Portugal.
  2. Maria Ana Francisca Dorotea Josefa Antonia Gertrudes Rita Joanna Efigenia (7 October 1736 – 6 May 1813), potential bride for Louis, Dauphin of France, but her mother refused to consent to the marriage, died unmarried.
  3. Stillborn daughter (February 1739).
  4. Maria Francisca Doroteia Josefa Antónia Gertrudes Rita Joanna Efigénia de Braganca (21 September 1739 – 14 January 1771), potential bride for Philippe Égalité but she refused to marry him, died unmarried.
  5. Stillborn son (7 March 1742).
  6. Stillborn son (15 October 1742).
  7. Stillborn son (May 1744).
  8. Maria Francisca Benedita Ana Isabel Joanna Antonia Laurencia Inacia Teresa Gertrudes Rita Rosa (25 July 1746 – 18 August 1829) married her nephew Infante Joseph, Prince of Beira, no issue.

Titles, honours, and styles

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

Titles and styles

Honours

Ancestors

Family of Joseph I of Portugal
16. Teodósio II, Duke of Braganza
8. John IV of Portugal
17. Ana de Velasco y Girón
4. Peter II of Portugal
18. Juan Manuel Pérez de Guzmán, Duke of Medina Sidonia
9. Luisa de Guzmán
19. Juana Lorenza de Sandoval
2. John V of Portugal
20. Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg
10. Philip William, Elector Palatine
21. Duchess Magdalene of Bavaria
5. Maria Sofia of Neuburg
22. George II, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
11. Landgravine Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt
23. Sophia Eleonore of Saxony
1. Joseph I of Portugal
24. Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
12. Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor
25. Duchess Maria Anna of Bavaria
6. Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
26. Philip III of Spain
13. Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria
27. Archduchess Margaret of Austria
3. Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria
28. Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg =20
14. Philip William, Elector Palatine =10
29. Duchess Magdalene of Bavaria =21
7. Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg
30. George II, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt =22
15. Landgravine Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt =11
31. Sophia Eleonore of Saxony =23
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Joseph I of Portugal.
Joseph I of Portugal
Cadet branch of the House of Aviz
Born: June 16 1714 Died: February 24 1777
Regnal titles
Preceded by King of Portugal and the Algarves
1750–1777 		Succeeded by
Portuguese royalty
Preceded by Prince of Brazil
Duke of Braganza
1714-1750 		Succeeded by

References

  1. ^ History of Portugal: Pamphlet Collection. CUP Archive, 1937. Accessed September 2012.
  2. ^ History of Portugal: Pamphlet Collection. CUP Archive, 1937. Accessed September 2012.
  3. ^ History of Portugal: Pamphlet Collection. CUP Archive, 1937. Accessed September 2012.
  4. ^ History of Portugal: Pamphlet Collection. CUP Archive, 1937. Accessed September 2012.
  5. ^ "Even after their decadence, the Portuguese had their moments: in the war of 1762, threatened by the forces of Spain and France, they resisted with glory and expelled the Spaniards out of their territory owing to well disciplined peasants." In Société d` Histoire Générale et d`Histoire Diplomatique – Revue d`Histoire Diplomatique, vol. 37, Éditions A. Pedone, Paris, 1969, p. 195.
  6. ^ "Both sides relied extensively on foreign troops and officers, though Portuguese popular opposition to the Spaniards proved decisive in places, especially in the North." In Maxwell, Kenneth – Pombal, Paradox of the Enlightenment, University Press, Cambridge, 1995, p. 113.
  7. ^ In Dorn, Walter – Competition for Empire, 1740-1763, p.375.
  8. ^ Dom Joseph Rei de Portugal, Algarves e seus dominios Principe do Brasil in: Genealogy Database by Herbert Stoyan [retrieved 7 February 2015].
  9. ^ The gender of the stillborn children are different. Braganza line in: Royaltyguide.nl [retrieved 30 October 2014].
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