Joseph I of Portugal


Joseph I, "The Reformer", reigned as King of Portugal from 31 July 1750 until his death. Among other activities, Joseph was devoted to hunting and the opera.
Indeed, he assembled one of the greatest collections of operatic scores in Europe.

Early life

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, in a ceremony that became known as the Exchange of the Princesses. Mariana Victoria loved music and hunting, 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, and almost immediately placed effective power in the hands of Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, better known today as the Marquis of Pombal. 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.

Victory over Spain and France (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. 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, 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:
In South America, the war ended in a draw; the Portuguese took territory from Spain and defeated a Spanish invasion of Mato Grosso, while Spain conquered Colónia do Sacramento and the vast territory of Rio Grande do Sul. The Treaty of Paris restored the status quo ante bellum. The rich and huge territory of Rio Grande do Sul would be retaken from the Spanish army during the undeclared war of 1763-1777.

Marquis of Pombal

The powerful Marquis 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 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 is also noteworthy for the Lisbon earthquake, firestorm and tsunami of 1 November 1755, in which between 30,000 and 40,000 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 Project for the Royal Palace in Campo de Ourique was an ambitious palatial complex planned for the Campo de Ourique neighborhood of Lisbon, but later abandoned due to a lack of impetus from the Portuguese Royal Family and a prioritization of other reconstruction efforts.
The capital was eventually rebuilt at great cost, and an equestrian statue of King Joseph still dominates the Praça do Comércio, Lisbon's main plaza.
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 disliked him since she had been heavily influenced by the Portuguese old nobility that strongly opposed Pombal.

Issue

Joseph I fathered eight children by the Queen, but only four daughters survived and only the eldest had issue:
  1. Maria Francisca Isabel Rita Gertrudes Joanna, married her uncle Infante Peter of Portugal, with issue. Later Queen regnant of Portugal.
  2. Maria Ana Francisca Dorotea Josefa Antonia Gertrudes Rita Joanna Efigenia, potential bride for Louis, Dauphin of France, but her mother refused to consent to the marriage, died unmarried.
  3. Stillborn son.
  4. Maria Francisca Doroteia Josefa Antónia Gertrudes Rita Joanna Efigénia de Braganca, potential bride for Philippe Égalité but she refused to marry him, died unmarried.
  5. Stillborn daughter.
  6. Stillborn daughter.
  7. Stillborn daughter.
  8. Maria Francisca Benedita Ana Isabel Joanna Antonia Laurencia Inacia Teresa Gertrudes Rita Rosa married her nephew Infante Joseph, Prince of Beira, no issue.

    Titles, styles, and honours

Titles and styles