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When Dom João IV, O Restaurador (The Restorer), Dies ( 1656), the Situation Is Not Still Solved

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When Dom João IV, O Restaurador (The Restorer), Dies ( 1656), the Situation Is Not Still Solved When Dom João IV, O Restaurador (the Restorer), dies ( 1656), the situation is not still solved. In addition, the heir to the throne, the future Afonso VI, is a sick boy. He is nearly illiterate and with more than a mental disorder. His mother, Dona Luisa de Gusmão, assumes, then, the regency indefinitely. Some noble take advantage of this situation: they become powerful and rich and let the young Afonso free to do what he likes. The friends with whom he surrounds himself – Os Valentes d’El Rei ( The King’s Braves)- get up to all sorts of tricks. On foot or mounted on horses, led by Afonso himself, they run the countryside and the city roads, assail and wound the wayfarers, violate the convents, give and receive wounds, patronize the brothels where the king likes being surrounded by “ favourite women”, prepare gargantuan banquets and watch bullfights. The common Portuguese watch a different show. The Dutch , taking no care about the treaties that bound them to Portugal, have become aggressive on the seas. They appear with their ships even close to Lisbon. The Spaniards are pushing in arms at the borders. Those are difficult moments. A policy lacks, weapons lack, money lacks. The taxes are increased and because of this measure , in the whole Country, some unrests burst. Led by an ambitious and determined young man, Luis de Vasconcelos e Sousa, count of Castelo Melhor, many noble rebel: Dona Luisa is deposed and the power is conferred to Afonso. The treaty with Holland is suspended and the Spaniards are defeated at Montes Claros( 1665) in Alentejo. But inside Portugal the situation is not calm. Some would want on the throne, instead of Afonso, another son of Dom João, Pedro. For this reason, fearing the worst, Castelo Melhor, in order to safeguard the kingdom and his power, opens to France and combines a marriage between the king of Portugal and a young French princess, Maria Francisca de Nemour, known as mademoiselle d’Aumale. From bad to worse. The marriage is not consummated and Francisca, unsatisfied queen, finds her consolation into Dom Pedro’s arms. The duke of Cadaval, member of an ancient Portuguese family, leads another coup. He is young, tough and determined and in addition he is supported by the most part of the Portuguese aristocracy and of the clergy: Castelo Melhor is removed ( September 15 th ), the king is jailed( November 23 rd ) and dom Pedro is appointed regent of the kingdom. Five hundred- twenty years are gone by from the conquest of Lisbon by Afonso Enriques. O Rei Conquistador would not be very glad if he could see all that mess in Portugal. During the period between the Castelo Melhor’s removal and the capture of the king, Maria Francisca leaves Lisbon, takes refuge in a convent, threatens to come back to France and asks his marriage be declared null and void. This last request is accepted. The trial is celebrated. Some witnesses are heard but not the queen. Finally, the court declares that the marriage is null and void and that the queen is still virgin. Some days later, Maria Francisca marries dom Pedro, that is recognised by the Portuguese Cortes as legitimate heir and, for the time, confirmed regent of Portugal. A year later also the peace with Spain is finally signed. Felipe IV has died some years before and the new king, Carlos II, is still a kid under tutelage. Spain of the last Hapsburgs is weak and can not raise her voice. Thus, in 1668, Portugal sees recognised its own independence and its own borders. Only Ceuta remains with Spain. Twenty eight years are gone by from the Restoration. Too many years and paid dearly. And what about Dom Afonso? Confined in a first time in the Azores, then brought again in homeland ( Dom Pedro fears a rebellion under the King's name and wants to control by close Dom Afonso) he dies on September 1683 in the Palacio da Vila in Sintra, aged forty- three. In the same year also Maria Francisca dies. Dom Pedro II, now widow and king, has to choice his new wife and his policy. He marries Maria Sofia of Neuburg and, at the same time, he chooses an opportunistic policy. Along with other European nations, Portugal is now inserted into a system of alliances. Led by clever and smart ministers ( the duke of Cadaval, the marquis of Ericeira) Portugal wants to keep its autonomy and to have a greater political weight. It succeeds. It often changes its political partners, depending upon the advantage of the moment. Before is France that is chosen; then, becoming France too intrusive, Austria and Britain are chosen. But not even those are definitive alliances: Portugal is ready to change its attitude again, if it were necessary. Portugal tries to not take part to the European controversies in the end of Seventeenth Century, but it does not renounce to participate in the Spanish war of succession. At the beginning, Portugal endorses the candidacy of dom Pedro, then it supports the Archduke Charles of Austria( the future Charles III, Carlos III). The war sees victories and defeats, highs and lows, havoc and losses of territories. If in June 1706, the Marquis da Minas – Portuguese- enters Madrid at the head of a victorious army, the following year the Spaniards have their revenge and conquer many towns situated close to the borders. The whole Alentejo is under pressure; Olivença is attacked many times; Miranda do Douro is lost and then re-conquered; the allies leaves Portugal and the Portuguese. The peace signed in Utrecht in 1713 brings the situation to the starting point: Portugal and Europe have fought for nothing. However, Portugal obtains some territorial gains in Brazil. And along with them, Portugal gets the gold of Brazil. .
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