Luisa María Francisca de Guzmán y Sandoval (;. 13 October 1613 – 27 February 1666) was a Spanish noblewoman who became

Queen of Portugal This is a list of Portuguese monarchs who ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1139, to the deposition of the Portuguese monarchy and creation of the Portugal, Portuguese Republic with the 5 October 1910 revolution. Thro ...

as the wife of King John IV, the first Braganza ruler. She was the mother of two kings of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

( Afonso VI and Peter II) and a queen of England (

Catherine of Braganza Catherine of Braganza (; 25 November 1638 – 31 December 1705) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England, List of Scottish royal consorts, Scotland and Ireland during her marriage to Charles II of England, King Charles II, which la ...

). She served as

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

of Portugal from 1656 until 1662.

Biography

Early life

Luisa was Spanish by birth, the daughter of

Manuel Pérez de Guzmán y Silva, 8th Duke of Medina Sidonia Manuel may refer to: People * Manuel (name), a given name and surname * Manuel (''Fawlty Towers''), a fictional character from the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' * Manuel I Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire * Manuel I of Portugal, king of P ...

, and Juana Gómez de Sandoval y de la Cerda. Her paternal grandfather was

Alonso Pérez de Guzmán y Sotomayor, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia Alonso is a Spanish name of Germanic origin that is a Castilian variant of ''Adalfuns''. The original Visigothic name ''Alfonso'' suffered the phonetic change of the phoneme /f/ into the mute /h/ in the Early Middle Ages (around 9th Century), w ...

, while her paternal great-grandmother was Ana de Mendoza y de Silva, Princess of Éboli. Through her mother, she was also a descendant of Isabel, Lady of Viseu, the illegitimate daughter of King Ferdinand I. She married a high ranking Portuguese noble, John, 8th

Duke of Braganza The title Duke of Braganza () in the House of Braganza is one of the most important titles in the peerage of Portugal. Starting in 1640, when the House of Braganza acceded to the throne of Portugal, the male heir of the Portuguese Crown were ...

, in 1633, during the period of the

Iberian Union The Iberian Union is a historiographical term used to describe the period in which the Habsburg Spain, Monarchy of Spain under Habsburg dynasty, until then the personal union of the crowns of Crown of Castile, Castile and Crown of Aragon, Aragon ...

Restoration War

Despite her Spanish roots, Luisa guided her husband's policies during the Portuguese revolution against Habsburg Spain of 1640. She is considered the main influence behind his acceptance of the Portuguese throne. It is said that being warned of the dangers of becoming queen of a country that was to face Spain's might, she pronounced the famous words:

''Antes Rainha um dia que Duquesa toda a vida.'' ''Rather Queen for a day than Duchess all my life.''

In some sources, this is quoted as ''for an hour'' instead of ''for a day''. When she was made aware of a failed attempt to murder the King in 1641, she is said to have been one of the members of the ''Corte'', which supported the execution of nobles like the Duke of Caminha.

Regency

In 1656, she was named Regent of the Kingdom after her husband's death and during the minority of her son Afonso VI. Luisa was politically astute and mainly responsible for the diplomatic success of the new alliance with

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Her daughter

Catherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...

married

Charles II of England Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England, Scotland, and King of Ireland, Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest su ...

. Afonso was considered mentally unfit for governing. In addition to lacking intellect, he exhibited wild and disruptive behavior. In 1662, after the king terrorized Lisbon at night alongside his favorites, Luisa and her council responded by banishing some of the king's companions that were associated with the raids. Angered, Afonso took power with the help of Castelo-Melhor and Luisa's regency came to an end. She subsequently retired to a convent, where she died in 1666.

Issue

# Infante Teodósio, Prince of Brazil (8 February 1634 – 13 May 1653) died unmarried. # Ana of Braganza (21 January 1635) died at birth. # Infanta Joana, Princess of Beira (18 September 1635 – 17 November 1653) died unmarried. #

(25 November 1638 – 31 December 1705) married

and had no surviving issue. # Manuel of Portugal (6 September 1640) died at birth. # Afonso VI of Portugal (21 August 1643 – 12 September 1683) married Maria Francisca of Savoy. #

Pedro II of Portugal ''Dom (title), Dom'' Pedro II (Peter II; 26 April 1648 – 9 December 1706), nicknamed the Pacific (''Português:'' O Pacífico) was King of Portugal from 1683 until his death, previously serving as regent for his brother Afonso VI of Portugal, ...

(26 April 1648 – 9 December 1706) married firstly Maria Francisca of Savoy, had issue; married secondly

Maria Sophia of Neuburg Maria Sophia Elisabeth of Neuburg (6 August 1666 – 4 August 1699) was List of Portuguese royal consorts, Queen of Portugal as the wife of Peter II of Portugal, King Peter II from 1687 until her death in 1699. A popular queen, she was note ...

, had issue.

Ancestry

References

Sources

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guzman, Luisa de 1613 births 1666 deaths People from Sanlúcar de Barrameda Queens consort of Portugal 17th-century Portuguese people 17th-century women regents Burials at the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora House of Medina Sidonia House of Braganza Regents of Portugal

Luisa Luisa (Italian and Spanish), Luísa ( Portuguese), or Louise ( French) is a feminine given name; it is the feminine form of the given name Louis (Luis), the French form of the Frankish Chlodowig (German Ludwig), from the Germanic elements ''h ...

Portuguese queen mothers Royal reburials 17th-century regents