History of Portugal (1777–1834)
Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves Reino de Portugal e dos Algarves (Portuguese) | |||||||||
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1777–1834 | |||||||||
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Second Portuguese Empire in 1800 | |||||||||
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Common languages | Portuguese | ||||||||
Religion | Roman Catholic | ||||||||
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History | |||||||||
1777 | |||||||||
1807–1814 | |||||||||
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1834 | |||||||||
Currency | Portuguese real | ||||||||
ISO 3166 code | PT | ||||||||
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History of Portugal |
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The history of the
In 1807, Napoleon ordered the invasion of Portugal and subsequently the royal family and its entire court
The liberal period was stormy and short as
Queen Maria I
The death of
Although the queen retained many of the Marquis' other ministers, she restored most of the privileges of the nobility and clergy, and released many of Pombal's political prisoners.
In 1789, the French Revolution caused great social upheaval in Europe. The eventual Portuguese reaction was to land forces in Catalonia, and together with the Spanish forces attack the French in the Pyrenees in the War of Roussillon (1794).[7] The war did not go well, and by 1795, Spain had privately sued for peace, signed an alliance and aligned its external politics against Great Britain.[8] Even as Portugal was politically divided between continuing its old alliance with Britain, its people were also divided. The French Revolution, as seen by intellectuals and progressives, was romanticized: Bocage and the Partido Francês (French Party) believed the French could usher in a liberal revolution in Europe. The French represented a threat to the traditionalist nobility who were returning to prominence and were very willing to fight them externally or internally.[8]
It was at about this time that Queen Maria, already possessed of a religious mania, began to show signs of mental illness.
Continental blockade
John VI's regency was a complex political period that saw Portugal attempting to remain neutral in spite of the combative intransigence of its neighbors and contentious forces within the country that favored either liberal or traditional policies. Between 1795 and 1801, his government struggled to maintain a delicate balance of peace in the face of the French
War of the Oranges
On 29 January 1801, an ultimatum from Spain and France forced Portugal to decide between France and Britain, even as its government had tried to negotiate favorable relations with the two powers rather than abrogate the Treaty of Windsor (1386).[9] The French sent a five-point statement to Lisbon demanding that Portugal:[11]
- abandon its traditional alliance with Great Britain and close its ports to British shipping;
- open its ports to French and Spanish shipping;
- surrender one or more of its provinces, equal to one fourth part of her total area, as a guarantee for the recovery of Trinidad, Port Mahon (Menorca) and Malta;
- pay a war indemnity to France and Spain;
- review border limits with Spain.
If Portugal failed to accomplish the five conditions of this ultimatum, it would be invaded by Spain, supported by 15,000 French soldiers. The British could not promise any effective relief, even as
On May 20, Godoy finally entered Portugal; this incursion was a precursor of the
I lack everything, but with nothing I will go to Lisbon.
— Manuel de Godoy[11]
The conflict ended quickly when the defeated and demoralized Portuguese were forced to negotiate and accept the stipulations of the
A special convention (i.e., the
Napoleonic invasions
In 1806, after Napoleon's victory over the
On 27 October 1807, France and Spain signed the
On either 19 or 20 November 1807,[18] a French battalion commanded by General Jean-Andoche Junot entered Portugal.[17] Napoleon had ordered its invasion and occupation.
On 27 November, the Prince Regent, the Queen and the entire royal family, accompanied by much of the nobility as well as their servants, boarded fifteen Portuguese ships gathered in the Tagus with an escort of several English ships,[19] as planned the year before when the British ambassador advised the prince that the Portuguese Crown should be transferred to Brazil. Approximately 10,000 people, including the entire governmental administration and the judiciary, joined the royal family as they moved to Brazil, a possession of Portugal, and established the capital of the Portuguese Empire in Rio de Janeiro.
First invasion
General
By 1808, as Junot was busy redesigning Portuguese society, Napoleon decided to revise his alliance with Spain; he forced the abdication of Charles IV of Spain and his son
The following year, a British force commanded by
Second invasion
As Napoleon began dealing with the Spanish in earnest, he sent Marshal
Unlike the first invasion, there was a popular revolt against French occupation by farmers, conservative nobility and the poor.[27] Many of the citizen soldiers and farmers fought against the French aggression, going so far as to see tactical retreats as a betrayal or treason by the Portuguese officers.[29][30]
But Soult occupied
Meanwhile, in the
Third invasion
The third invasion, the last effort of the
But the French were impeded along the
A series of battles in Spain followed, until a final victory was reached on French soil in the Battle of Toulouse on April 10, 1814, putting an end to the Peninsular War. However, in numerous coastal, interior and border towns there were bodies bayoneted and left on the ground; several frontier towns were pillaged and ransacked for treasure or vandalized by retreating troops (both British and French); reprisal killings were common in the local populations for sympathizers (the total number of casualties in the war reached 100,000 by one account);[25] while famine and social deprivation was common.[37]
Furthermore, the instability in Spain and the abdication of the king, resulted in declarations of independence in the Spanish colonies of America, which in turn was responsible for a tense political climate in Brazil.
In 1816, and as a result of the increasing influence of the
Liberal Revolution
From 1808 through 1821, Portugal was effectively both a British
After 1807 the limitations and subordinations inherent in Brazil's colonial status were already being reduced incrementally. The prohibition on transformative industries was rescinded, and new incentives were offered for: the creation of factories, the importation of British machinery, ship construction, and road building, as well as the foundation and construction of public schools and military academies. In addition to these improvements, the Bank of Brazil was chartered and insurance companies, commerce commissions and currency exchanges were established. This damaged the mother country's commercial interests and aggravated social problems there, while benefiting the United Kingdom, as Portugal was governed by the increasingly despotic British general
At the end of the Peninsular War, Portugal returned French Guiana (which had been seized in 1809) to France on 30 May 1814.[41] With the declaration by King John of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves in December 1815,[42] Brazil's new importance worsened the situation in continental Portugal: politically, it became the Portuguese capital (shedding the pretense of being a colony), and economically, was now able to trade directly with other European powers.
1820 Revolution
A report was sent from the Regency to John VI on 2 June 1820, stating:
- "Portugal has arrived at a crisis in which it will suffer a revolution of fortunes, of order, an anarchy, and other ills that will bring a complete reduction of public credit...".[43]
Portugal's neighbor Spain, during its resistance to the Napoleonic invasions, had approved a
The significance of events in Spain was not lost on a small group of politically like-minded bourgeoisie in Porto; two years earlier, Manuel Fernandes Tomás, José Ferreira Borges, José da Silva Carvalho and João Ferreira Viana had founded the Sinédrio, a clandestine liberal group who debated the political evolution of Spain and Portugal and would influence subsequent events. The Sinédrio's members were a mixture of merchants, property-owners, the military and noblemen, whose liberalism was based not on personal economic circumstances but on their exposure to international literature and philosophies at university or in the masonic lodges.[44] The common people were rural, almost totally illiterate and lived in a culture of tradition and religion guided by the clergy. The ideological differences between the doctrinairism of the liberal movement and the dogmas of religion would bring the two groups into conflict eventually.[44] In the meantime, however, the rhetoric of the liberal intellectuals had influenced those soldiers in the northern garrisons who on 24 August 1820, first proclaimed in Porto a revolution against the absolute monarchy of Portugal. A colonel read out the declaration:
- "Let's join our brothers-in-arms to organize a provisional government that will call on the Cortes to draw-up a Constitution, whose absence is the origin of all our ills."[45]
The Regency in Lisbon attempted to gather forces to oppose the revolt, but on 15 September they too joined the movement.
The administration of William Beresford was swiftly replaced by a
Empire of Brazil
Talk of separatism had dominated the economic and intellectual circles of Brazil, which was prosperous, although at least one third of its population of 3.5 million were African
In September 1821, the Portuguese Cortes, with a handful of the Brazilian delegates present, voted to abolish the Kingdom of Brazil and the royal agencies in Rio de Janeiro, thus subordinating all provinces of Brazil directly to Lisbon. Troops were sent to Brazil to stifle resistance, and local units were placed under Portuguese command.[51] On 29 September, the Cortes ordered Prince Pedro to return to Europe to complete his education with a tour of Spain, France and England, but the governmental junta in São Paulo, as well as the Senate Chamber of Rio de Janeiro implored the prince to remain. He was moved by petitions from Brazilian towns and fears that his departure, with the consequent dismantling of the central government, would trigger separatist movements.[52]
Pedro formed a new government headed by
Hoping to rally support throughout the country, Pedro began a series of initiatives to strengthen his position, even as the Portuguese Cortes ridiculed him and disparaged his importance. In
Returning from an excursion to Santos, Pedro received messages from his wife Princess Maria Leopoldina and Andrade e Silva that the Portuguese Cortes had declared his government traitorous, and were dispatching more troops. Pedro then had to choose between returning to Portugal in disgrace, or breaking the last ties to Portugal; in a famous scene in front of the Ipiranga River on 7 September 1822, he tore the Portuguese white and blue insignia from his uniform, drew his sword, and swore: "By my blood, by my honor, and by God: I will make Brazil free." With this oath, repeated by the assembled crowd, he announced: "Brazilians, from this day forward our motto will be...Independence or Death"[55]
Absolutism
Vilafrancada
The situation in continental Europe changed in 1823. Once again influenced by events in Spain, where the anti-liberal Santa Aliança had restored the absolute monarchy, pro-monarchist forces gravitated towards Queen
Prince Miguel, who shared the queen's views, served as her instrument to subvert the revolution. On 27 May 1823, the prince organized an insurgency against the liberal constitution; a garrison from Lisbon joined Miguel in Vila Franca de Xira, and there absolutism was proclaimed. The king responded by suspending the 1822 Constitution and promising the promulgation of a new law to guarantee "personal security, property and jobs". The revolt was referred to as the Vilafrancada (events that occurred in Vila Franca).[59] One of the objectives of Queen Carlota and Miguel was the abdication of King John, who, although he accepted absolutism, was yet loyal to the liberal Constitution. Ultimately the king accepted absolutism when a movement of army officers and citizens surrounded the Palace of Bemposta to urge him to renounce liberal ideals.
Abrilada
In Portugal, as in Spain, the adversaries of constitutionalism were divided into two factions: a radical and a more moderate group.
During his reign as king, John promoted the arts (mainly literature), commerce and agriculture, but being forced to return to Europe and to keep track of the court intrigues that arose following the independence of Brazil made him an unhappy man, and he died soon after the Abrilada in 1826. It was also at the end of his life that he recognized the independence of Brazil (15 November 1825) and restored his son Pedro's
To Civil War
The death of King John VI sparked a constitutional crisis, as his rightful successor, Prince Pedro, was the Emperor of Brazil. To absolutists, the proclamation of Brazilian independence created a foreign nation, thus revoking Pedro's citizenship and his right of succession to the throne.
In Brazil, Pedro faced other challenges to his newborn country; the people clearly did not wish to return to colonial status and subservience to the politics and economy of the much smaller kingdom of Portugal. The Brazilian constitution prohibited the Emperor from subsuming another crown; this fact obliged Pedro to choose between Portugal or Brazil.[63] Pedro, a pragmatic politician, tried to find a solution that would reconcile the desires of the liberal, moderate and absolutist elements in the debate, and eventually chose to abdicate as king of Portugal (28 May 1826) in favor of his eldest daughter Princess Maria da Glória, who was seven years old at the time. The abdication was conditional: Portugal should receive a new Constitution, i.e., the 1826 Charter, and his brother Miguel, exiled in Vienna, was to marry the Princess when she came of age.[63] The Constitution was not popular with the absolutists (who wanted Prince Miguel to govern as an absolute monarch), but the liberal Vintistas also did not support the Charter (which was imposed by the King); moderates bided their time as a counter-revolution was slowly building.[65]
Acclamation of Miguel I as King
In 1828, Prince Miguel returned from
The sequence of events inevitably triggered the
Portuguese Civil War
The political climate began to change in 1830. Popular opposition to Pedro's reign in the aftermath of the dismissal of several of his ministers during a growing economic crisis forced him to abdicate his throne in Brazil in favor of his son, Pedro II, on 7 April 1831.[69] He then returned to Europe, but found little support from England or France for his quest to regain the throne; instead, he collected arms, money and mercenaries to install his daughter on the throne. He then departed for Terceira in the Azores, from where his government-in-exile organized an expeditionary force that disembarked in Mindelo, not far from Porto, on 8 July 1832.[69]
With the backing of liberals from Spain and England, and substantial foreign mercenary contingents (who comprised roughly 80% of the liberal forces), Pedro landed near
The liberals were able to occupy Lisbon, making it possible for them to repel the Miguelite siege in Porto. A stalemate of nine months ensued. Towards the end of 1833, Maria da Glória was proclaimed Queen regnant, and Pedro was made regent. His first act was to confiscate the property of all who had supported Miguel. He also suppressed all religious orders and confiscated their property, an act that suspended friendly relations with the Papal States for nearly eight years, until mid-1841. The liberals occupied Portugal's major cities, Lisbon and Porto, where they commanded a sizable following among the middle classes.
Meanwhile, the absolutists controlled the rural areas, where they were supported by the aristocracy and the peasantry. Operations against the Miguelists recommenced in early 1834, and they were defeated at the Battle of Asseiceira. The Miguelite army, however, was still a force (about 18,000 men) to be reckoned with, but on May 24, 1834, at the Concession of Evoramonte, peace was declared under a convention by which Miguel formally consented to renounce all claims to the throne of Portugal, was guaranteed an annual pension, and was banished from Portugal, never to return. Pedro restored the Constitutional Charter and died soon after, on 24 September 1834, while his daughter assumed the throne as Maria II of Portugal
See also
Notes
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.260
- ^ a b Marcus Cheke (1969), p.3
- ^ Her dislike for Pombal was so great that she issued one of the world's earliest restraining orders, commanding that Pombal should never be closer than 32 kilometres (20 mi) to her; in situations where the Queen was close to his estates, he was compelled to remove himself from his house to fulfill the royal decree. She is also reported to have had tantrums at the slightest reference to her father's former Prime Minister.
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.260-261
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.261
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.262-263
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.263
- ^ a b José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.264
- ^ a b c d e José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.265
- ^ CUP (1970), p.386-389
- ^ a b c d H.V.Livermore (1976), p.247
- ^ H.V. Livermore (1976), p.247
- ^ E. A. Strasen; Alfredo Gândara (1944). Oito séculos de história luso-alemã. Instituto Ibero-Americano de Berlim. p. 267.
- ISBN 978-972-671-122-3.
- ^ August Fournier (1903). Napoleon the First: A Biography. H. Holt. p. 210.
- ^ H.V.Livermore (1976), p.248
- ^ a b José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.266
- ISBN 978-0-7391-9332-7.
- ^ a b CUP (1970), p.396
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.267
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.268
- ^ CUP (1970), p.397
- ^ James Maxwell Anderson (2000), p.127
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.270-271
- ^ a b José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.270
- ^ a b CUP (1970), p.399
- ^ a b José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.271
- ^ CUP (1970), p.400
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.271-272
- ^ In one case, Bernardim Freire de Andrade, the northern commander, was accused treason by local farmers, arrested and sent to Braga, where the local population then lynched him.
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.272
- ^ H. V. Livermore (1976), p. 253; The Prince Regent appointed Beresford to reorganize the Portuguese Army, granting him the rank of Marshal and Commander-in-Chief in January 1809.
- ^ H. V. Livermore (1976), p.246-247
- ^ For his failure to hold the line, the Portuguese governor, was bayoneted by the British during the aftermath of the conflict.
- ^ H.V. Livermore (1976), p.254
- ^ H.V.Livermore (1976), p.254
- ^ a b c d e James Maxwell Anderson (2000), p.129
- ^ a b H.V. Livermore (1976), p.255
- ^ Portugal under British Protection, 1808–1814
- ^ Louise Guenther, "The British community of 19th century Bahia: public and private lives"
- ^ The Map of Europe by Treaty: Showing the Various Political and Territorial Changes which Have Taken Place Since the General Peace of 1814; with Numerous Maps and Notes. Gregg International. 1875. p. 269.
- ISBN 978-1-55643-601-7.
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.276
- ^ a b José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.279
- ^ a b José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.277
- ^ John Armitage (1836). The history of Brazil, from ... 1808, to ... 1831. A continuation to Southey's History. p. 349.
- ^ The Annual Register, Or, A View of the History, Politics, and Literature for the Year ... J. Dodsley. 1838. p. 322.
- ^ The 1820 revolution
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.281-282
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.282
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.283; As Borges Carneiro would remark in the Cortes, the Brazilians needed a guard dog to put them in order.
- ^ The atmosphere was so charged that Prince Pedro sought assurances of asylum on a British ship in case he lost the looming confrontation; he also sent his family to safety out of the city.
- ^ José Bonifácio de Andrade e Silva
- ^ In the following days, the Portuguese commander delayed embarkation, hoping that expected reinforcements would arrive. However, the reinforcements that arrived off Rio de Janeiro on 5 March 1822 were not allowed to land. Instead, they were given supplies for the voyage back to Portugal.
- ^ Neil Macaulay (1986), p.125
- ^ Marcus Checke (1969), p.90
- ^ Queen Carlota Joaquina
- ^ Thomson 2014, p. 51
- ISBN 978-1-107-02897-5.
- ^ a b José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.284
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.284-285
- ^ Paquette 2013, p. 284
- ^ a b c José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.285
- ISBN 978-1-56656-440-3.
- ^ a b c José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.286
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.25
- ^ Liberalism versus Reaction: Portugal 1814–1851
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.287
- ^ a b c José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.288
- ^ Philip Alexander Prince (1843). Parallel History: Being an Outline of the History and Biography of the World, Contemporaneously Arranged. Whittaker. p. 432.
- ^ a b José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p.289
References
This section includes a improve this section by introducing more precise citations. (February 2020) ) |
- Anderson, James Maxwell (2000). The Greenwood Histories of the Modern Nations: The History of Portugal. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-31106-4.
- Birmingham, David (1993). A Concise History of Portugal (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-53686-3.
- Levine, Robert M. (1999). The History of Brazil (1st ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9780313303906.
- Livermore, H.V. (1966). A New History of Portugal (2nd ed.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
- Macaulay, Neil (1986). Dom Pedro: The Struggle for Liberty in Brazil and Portugal, 1798-1834. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-0681-6.
- Payne, Stanley G. A History of Spain and Portugal (2 vol 1973) full text online vol 2 after 1700; standard scholarly history; Chapters 18, 19, 22
- ^ War of the Oranges
- ^ Peninsular campaign
- ^ Titles of European Rulers
- ^ Vilafrancada
Historiography
- Fernandes, Paulo Jorge; Menses, Filipe Ribeiro de; Baioâ, Manuel. "The Political History of Nineteenth Century Portugal," e-Journal of Portuguese History (e-JPH) (2003) 1#1 online
In Portuguese
- Carmo Reis, A. do (1987). Atlas de História de Portugal (in Portuguese) (5th ed.). Edições Asa.
- Mattoso, José (1993). História de Portugal (in Portuguese). Vol. IV (1st ed.). Círculo de Leitores. ISBN 972-42-0715-3.
- Mattoso, José (1993). História de Portugal (in Portuguese). Vol. V (1st ed.). Círculo de Leitores. ISBN 972-42-0752-8.
- Mattoso, José (1993). História de Portugal (in Portuguese). Vol. VII (1st ed.). Círculo de Leitores. ISBN 972-42-0972-5.
- Saraiva, José Hermano (2007). História Concisa de Portugal [Concise History of Portugal] (in Portuguese) (24th ed.). Lisbon, Portugal: Colecção Saber.
- Cheke, Marcus (1969) [1947]. Carlota Joaquina, Queen of Portugal. London, England: Sidgewick & Jackson. ISBN 9780836950403.
External links
- Portugal Chronology, World History Database
- Map of Revolutionary Europe 1806–1808
- List of ships of war lying in the Tagus in 1806
- Wellington's dispatches from the Peninsular War and Waterloo: 1808–1815
- Peninsular War
- List of Peninsular War British officers who died
- The British Army in Portugal and Spain: Its Order-of-Battle