Afonso VI
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Afonso VI, King of Portugal (Portuguese pron. IPA [ɐ'fõsu]; English Alphonzo or Alphonse), or Affonso (Old Portuguese), (August 21, 1643 – September 12, 1683) was the twenty-second (or twenty-third according to some historians) king of Portugal and the Algarves, the second of the House of Braganza, known as "the Victorious" (Portuguese o Vitorioso).
At the age of three, Afonso suffered an illness that left him paralyzed on the left side of his body, as well as leaving him mentally unstable. His father created him 11th Duke of Braganza.
After the 1653 death of his eldest brother Teodosio, Prince of Brazil, Afonso became the heir-apparent to the throne of the kingdom. He received also the crown-princely title 2nd Prince of Brazil.
Ascension to the throne and reign
He succeeded his father (João IV) in 1656 at the age of thirteen. His mother, (Luisa of Medina-Sidonia) was named regent in his father's will. His mental instability and paralysis, plus his disinterest in government, left his mother as regent for six years, until 1662. Luisa oversaw military victories over the Spanish at Ameixial (June 8 1663) and Montes Claros (June 17 1665), culminating in the final Spanish recognition of Portugal's independence on February 13 1668 in the Treaty of Lisbon. Colonial affairs saw the Dutch conquest of Jaffnapatam, Portugal's last colony in Sri Lanka (1658) and the cession of Bombay and Tangier to England (June 23, 1661) as dowry for Afonso's sister, Catherine of Braganza who had married King Charles II of England. English mediation in 1661 saw the Netherlands acknowledge Portuguese rule of Brazil in return for uncontested control of Sri Lanka.
According to the diarist Samuel Pepys, Afonso VI was a brutal man who was brought low by debilitating illnesses in childhood and was left with a withered body, a totally defective mind and a tendency towards violence.[1] Pepys notes that Thomas Carte, 18th century British historian wrote in his History of the Revolutions of Portugal describing Afonso VI in the lowest terms, reporting that if a man was brought before the court on charges of murder or rape then Afonso would welcome him to be one of his guards. In the initial years of his reign, he surrounded himself with a group where murder, rape, etc. were normal activity.[2]
Shortly after Afonso VI's coming-of-age in 1662, the Count of Castelo Melhor saw an opportunity to gain power at court by befriending the mentally unstable king. He managed to convince the king that his mother, Luisa of Medina-Sidonia , was out to steal his throne and exile him from Portugal. As a result, Afonso took control of the throne and his mother was sent to a convent.
Castelo Melhor was a Portuguese royal favorite who, effectively governor of Portugal from 1662 to 1667, was responsible for the successful prosecution of the war against Spain, which led, in 1668, to Spanish recognition of Portugal's independence. The Afonso VI appointed Castelo Melhor his secret notary (escrivão da puridade), a position in which Castelo Melhor was able to exercise the functions of first minister.
As de facto first minister, Castelo Melhor overcame the difficulties which had hindered Portugal in its war against Spain. He reorganized the Portuguese troops (now reinforced by an English contingent by virtue of the English king Charles II 's marriage to Catherine of Braganza) and entrusting their command to competent generals. Consequently the Portuguese Restoration War entered a victorious phase for Portugal (1663–65) and Spain began peace negotiations.
Agreement proved difficult to attain and meanwhile the internal political situation in Portugal deteriorated. Castelo Melhor and his Francophile party were losing ground to the Anglophile party. Afonso VI dismissed Castelo Melhor on September 9, 1667, in a palace coup organized by Afonso's wife Maria Francisca of Nemours and his brother Pedro. Shortly afterwards, Afonso himself was also deprived of power.
Castelo Melhor went into exile in Paris and then London, but in 1685 he was permitted to return to Portugal and, two years after that, to court. On the accession of John V (1706), he was appointed a councilor of state and he continued to occupy a position of distinction until his death.
Marriage
He was married to (Marie Françoise of Nemours), the daughter of the Duke of Nemours, in 1666, but this marriage would not last long. Marie Françoise, or Maria Francisca in Portuguese, filed for an annulment in 1667 based on the impotence of the king. The Roman Catholic Church granted her the annulment, and she married Afonso's brother, Pedro, Duke of Beja, (future (Peter II)). That same year, Pedro managed to gain enough support to force the king to relinquish control of the government and he became Prince Regent. Afonso was exiled to the island of Terceira in the Azores for seven years, returning to mainland Portugal shortly before he died at Sintra in 1683.
His trial is the base for José Mário Grilo's 1990 film, The King's Trial (O Processo do Rei).
Legacy
While Afonso's illness makes it difficult to credit him with responsibility for what occurred during his reign, nonetheless several significant events did take place. Afonso had no direct involvement in most if not in all of these developments, since he had to leave the responsibility of governance to others but since he was king, action was taken in his name. Portugal's independence from Spain was finally recognized following a series of military victories, and negotiation with England resulted in the satisfactory redrawing of various colonial boundaries, at least from the point of view of the imperial powers. This was a period when the Europeans happily divided the world up among themslves, with no regard to the rights of the people whose territory they were acquiring or transferring. By the end of Afonso's reign, the locus of Portugal's imperial sphere had been consolidated, as had that of the English. Significantly, peaceful strategies were increasingly being used to agree boundaries and spheres of interest among the world powers at the time, rather than war.
Ancestors
Afonso VI of Portugal | Father: John IV of Portugal |
Father's father: Teodósio II, Duke of Braganza |
Father's father's father: John II, Duke of Braganza |
Father's father's mother: Infanta Catarina of Guimarães, Duchess of Braganza | |||
Father's mother: Ana de Velasco y Girón |
Father's mother's father: Juan Fernández de Velasco, Duke of Frias | ||
Father's mother's mother: Ana Ángela de Aragón y Guzmán | |||
Mother: Luisa of Medina-Sidonia (Luisa de Guzmán) |
Mother's father: Juan Manuel de Guzmán El Bueno, Duke of Medina-Sidonia |
Mother's father's father: Alonso de Guzmán El Bueno, Duke of Medina-Sidonia | |
Mother's father's mother: Ana de Sylva y Mendoza | |||
Mother's mother: Juana Lourença Gómez de Sandoval y la Cerda |
Mother's mother's father: Francisco Goméz de Sandoval y Rojas, Duke of Lerma | ||
Mother's mother's mother: Catarina de Lacerda |
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Garraty, John Arthur, and Peter Gay. A history of the world. New York: Harper & Row 1972. ISBN 9780060422547
- Levenson, Jay A. The Age of the baroque in Portugal. Washington: National Gallery of Art 1993. ISBN 9780894681981
- Robertson, Ian. A traveller's history of Portugal. New York: Interlink Books 2002. ISBN 9781566564403
House of Braganza Cadet Branch of the House of Aviz Born: 21 August 1643; Died: 12 September 1683 | ||
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Preceded by: John IV |
King of Portugal and the Algarves 1656 – 1683 |
Succeeded by: Peter II |
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- ↑ Alfonso VI (King of Portugal), The Diarys of Samuel Pepys. Retrieved November 20, 2007.
- ↑ Alfonso VI (King of Portugal), The Diarys of Samuel Pepys. Retrieved November 20, 2007.