João VI Of Portugal

Dom John VI ( Portuguese: ''João VI''; 13 May 1767 – 10 March 1826), nicknamed "the Clement", was King of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves from 1816 to 1825. Although the United Kingdom of Portugal ceased to exist '' de facto'' beginning in 1822, he remained its monarch '' de jure'' between 1822 and 1825. After the recognition of the independence of Brazil under the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro of 1825, he continued as King of Portugal until his death in 1826. Under the same treaty, he also became titular Emperor of Brazil for life, while his son, Emperor Dom Pedro I, was both ''de facto'' and ''de jure'' the monarch of the newly independent country.

John VI was born in Lisbon in 1767, and he was the second son of Queen Dona Maria I and King Dom Peter III of Portugal. He became heir to the throne when his older brother Dom José, Prince of Brazil, died of smallpox in 1788 at the age of 27. Before his accession to the Portuguese throne, John bore the titles Duke of Braganza, Duke of Beja, and Prince of Brazil. From 1799, he served as prince regent due to the mental illness of his mother. In 1816, John succeeded his mother as monarch of the Portuguese Empire, with no real change in his authority, since he already possessed absolute powers as regent.

One of the last representatives of absolute monarchy in Europe, John VI lived during a turbulent period; his reign never saw a lasting peace. Throughout his period of rule, major powers, such as Spain, France and Great Britain, continually intervened in Portuguese affairs. Forced to flee to South America across the Atlantic Ocean into Brazil when troops of the Emperor Napoleon I invaded Portugal, he found himself faced there with liberal revolts; he was compelled to return to Europe amid new conflicts. His marriage was no less conflictual, as his wife Carlota Joaquina of Spain repeatedly conspired against her husband in favor of personal interests or those of her native Spain. John lost Brazil when his son Pedro declared independence, and his other son Miguel (later Dom Miguel I of Portugal) led a rebellion that sought to depose him. According to recent scholarly research, his death may well have been caused by arsenic poisoning. Notwithstanding these tribulations John left a lasting mark, especially in Brazil, where he helped to create numerous institutions and services that laid a foundation for national autonomy, and many historians consider him to be a true mastermind of the modern Brazilian state. John's contemporaries viewed him as a kind and benevolent king, although later generations of Portuguese and Brazilians have made him the subject of frequent caricature.

Early life

João Maria José Francisco Xavier de Paula Luís António Domingos Rafael was born 13 May 1767 during the reign of his grandfather, King Dom Joseph I of Portugal. He was the second son of the King's eldest daughter and heir, Dona Maria, Princess of Brazil (later Queen Dona Maria I), and Infante Dom Peter of Portugal (later King Dom Peter III). Peter was not only Maria's husband, but also her paternal uncle.

John was ten years old when his grandfather died and his mother ascended to the throne. His childhood and youth were lived quietly in the shadow of Queen Maria I's older son and heir apparent, Dom José, Prince of Brazil and Duke of Braganza. Folklore has Infante John as a rather uncultured youth, but according to Jorge Pedreira e Costa, he received as rigorous an education as his brother José did. Still, a French ambassador of the time painted him in unfavorable colors, seeing him as hesitant and dim. The record of this period of his life is too vague for historians to form any definitive picture. Little is known of the substance of his education. He surely received instruction in religion, law, French, and etiquette, and would presumably have learned history through reading the works of Duarte Nunes de Leão and João de Barros.

Marriage and succession

In 1785, Henrique de Meneses, 3rd Marquis of Louriçal, arranged a marriage between John and Infanta Carlota Joaquina of Spain, daughter of the Prince and Princess of Asturias (later King Don Charles IV and Queen Doña Maria Luisa). Fearing a new Iberian Union, some in the Portuguese court viewed John's marriage to a Spanish infanta unfavorably. Carlota Joaquina endured four days of testing by the Portuguese ambassadors before the marriage pact was confirmed. Because John and Carlota Joaquina were related and because of the bride's youth (she was only 10 years old at the time), the marriage required a papal dispensation. After being confirmed, the marriage capitulation was signed in the throne room of the Spanish court with great pomp and with the participation of both kingdoms. It was followed immediately by a proxy marriage.Pedreira e Costa, pp. 38–43 The marriage was consummated five years later.

Carlota Joaquina was received at the Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa at the beginning of May 1785, and on 9 June, the couple received a nuptial benediction at the palace chapel. However, the marriage seemed to be an uncomfortable one. An assiduous correspondence between John and Mariana at that time reveals that the absence of his sister weighed upon him and, comparing her to his young wife, he wrote, "She is very smart and has a lot of judgment, whereas you have rather little, and I like her a lot, but for all that I cannot love her equally." John's young bride was not inclined to docility, requiring at times the correction of Queen Maria herself. In addition, the difference in their ages (John being 17 years old) made him uncomfortable and anxious. Because Carlota Joaquina was so young, the marriage had not been consummated, and John wrote, "Here's to the arrival of the time when I shall play a lot with the Infanta. The way these things go, I think six years from now. Better that she be a bit more grown up than when she came." The consummation waited until 1790. In 1793, Carlota Joaquina gave birth to the first of nine children: Teresa, Princess of Beira.

The death of John's older brother, Dom José, on 11 September 1788, left John as the heir apparent to the throne, with the titles of Prince of Brazil and Duke of Braganza.''Cronologia Período Joanino''
. Fundação Biblioteca Nacional, 2010. In Portugal. Great things had been hoped for from José, who associated himself with the progressive ideas of the Enlightenment and appeared to have been inclined toward the anti-clerical policies of Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal.

John, in contrast, was well known for his religiosity and his attachment to absolutism. The crisis of succession was aggravated with the death in November 1788 of the Queen's confessor, Inácio de São Caetano, the titular archbishop of Thessalonica. The Archbishop had been a powerful political figure, influencing a controversial choice of the Queen's ministers that favored John, but not without encountering strong opposition from important '' fidalgos'' who had ambitions for those posts. In the year after the deaths of his brother and the Archbishop, John became ill to the extent that his own survival was uncertain. He recovered, but in 1791, he again fell ill "bleeding from the mouth and intestines", according to notes left by the chaplain of the Marquis of Marialva, who added that John's spirit was always depressed. This created a tense climate and uncertainty about his future reign.

Regency

Meanwhile, the Queen showed increasing signs of mental instability. As a result, of her illness, the queen was deemed unfit to rule and John essentially took control of the country. John was reluctant to take the reins of power, rejecting the idea of a formal regency. This opened the way for elements of the nobility to form a ''de facto'' government via a Council. Rumors circulated that John exhibited symptoms of the same insanity, and that he might be prevented from ruling. According to longstanding laws that guided the institution of regency, were the regent to die or become incapable for any reason, and having children of less than fourteen years (which was John's situation at the time), government would be exercised by the guardians of those children or, if guardians had not been formally named, by the wife of the regent. In John's case, that would have been a Spanish infanta. Fear, suspicion and intrigue engulfed the entire institutional framework of the nation.

At the same time, the French Revolution perplexed and horrified the reigning houses of Europe. In January 1793, the revolutionaries executed their former king Louis XVI, precipitating an international response. On 15 July, Portugal signed a treaty with Spain, and on 26 September allied itself with Great Britain. Both treaties pledged mutual aid against revolutionary France and brought six thousand Portuguese soldiers into the War of the Pyrenees (1793–1795), a campaign that began with an advance to Roussillon in France and ended in defeat with the French conquest of northeastern Spain. This created a delicate diplomatic problem, as Portugal could not make peace with France without damaging an alliance with Britain that involved several overseas interests. The Portuguese thus sought a neutrality that proved fragile and tense.

After the defeat, Spain abandoned its alliance with Portugal and allied with France under the Peace of Basel. With Britain too powerful for France to attack directly, France set its sights on Portugal. In 1799, John officially assumed the reins of government as prince regent in the name of his mother;Amaral, Manuel
"João VI"
In: ''Portugal – Dicionário Histórico, Corográfico, Heráldico, Biográfico, Bibliográfico, Numismático e Artístico'', Volume III, 2000–2010, pp. 1051–1055. In Portuguese. that same year, Napoleon Bonaparte staged his '' coup d'état'' of 18 Brumaire in France and coerced Spain into issuing an ultimatum to force the Portuguese to break with Great Britain and submit the country to the interests of Napoleon. With John's refusal, neutrality became unviable. Spain and France invaded in 1801, setting off the War of the Oranges; a defeated Portugal signed the Treaty of Badajoz and the subsequent Treaty of Madrid, under which it ceded territory to Spain, in particular Olivenza, and made concessions to the French over certain colonial territories. With conflicting interests among all the countries involved, the war was marked by ambiguous movements and secret agreements. Portugal, as the weakest player, could not avoid continued struggle.Andrade, Maria Ivone de Ornellas de. "O reino sob tormenta". In: Marques, João et alii. ''Estudos em homenagem a João Francisco Marques, Volume I''. Universidade do Porto, sd, pp. 137–144. In Portuguese. At the same time, John had to face an enemy at home. His wife, Princess Carlota Joaquina, loyal to Spanish interests, initiated an intrigue with the objective of deposing her husband and taking power herself. After this attempt failed in 1805, the Princess was exiled from court; she resided at Queluz Palace, while John took up residency at Mafra Palace.Schwarcz, Lília Moritz; Azevedo, Paulo Cesar de & Costa, Angela Marques da. ''A longa viagem da biblioteca dos reis: do terremoto de Lisboa à independência do Brasil''. Companhia das Letras, 2002, pp. 479–480. In Portuguese.''Aclamação de d. João''
. Arquivo Nacional, 2003. In Portuguese. It was events like this that questioned the Portuguese people as to if John was capable of commanding the nation. That he was as incapable of ruling as his mother was.

Flight to Brazil

John played a desperate game with France for time. For as long as he could, he pretended an apparent submission to France, to the point of suggesting to King George III of the United Kingdom the declaration of a fictitious state of war between their countries, but he did not obey the dictates of Napoleon's Continental System (a blockade against Great Britain). A new secret treaty with the British guaranteed him help in case of an eventual flight of the royal family. The accord greatly favored the British and preserved their influence over the country, as British merchants continued to make vast profits in trade with the Portuguese intercontinental empire. It fell to Portugal to choose between an alliance with France or with Britain, and the hesitancy to decide firmly placed Portugal at risk of war with not merely one of these powers, but with both. In October 1807, news arrived that a French army was approaching, and on 16 November, a British squadron arrived in the port of Lisbon with a force of seven thousand men with orders either to escort the royal family to Brazil or, if the government surrendered to France, to attack and conquer the Portuguese capital. The court was divided between Francophiles and Anglophiles, and after anguished consideration under pressure from both sides, John decided to accept British protection and leave for Brazil.

The invading army led by Jean-Andoche Junot advanced with some difficulty, arriving at the gates of Lisbon only on 30 November 1807. By this time, the Prince Regent, accompanied by the entire royal family and a large following of nobles, state functionaries and servants, had already embarked, leaving the government under a regency with the recommendation that the army not engage in hostilities with the invader. The hasty departure during a rainstorm caused havoc in Lisbon as an astonished population could not believe that their prince had abandoned them. According to the account of José Acúrsio das Neves, the departure brought forth deep emotion on the part of the Prince Regent:

To explain himself to the people, John ordered that posters be put up along the streets stating that his departure was unavoidable despite all efforts made to assure the integrity and peace of the Kingdom. The posters recommended that everyone remain calm, orderly and not resist the invaders, so that blood not be shed in vain. Because of the rush to depart, the Prince Regent was in a ship together with the Queen and John's sons Dom Pedro, Prince of Beira (later Emperor Dom Pedro I of Brazil and King Dom Pedro IV of Portugal), and Miguel (later King Dom Miguel I). This was an imprudent decision given the dangers of a transatlantic voyage in that era, since it placed at risk the succession of the crown in case of shipwreck. Carlota Joaquina and her daughters were on two other ships. The number of people who embarked with John remains a matter of controversy; in the 19th century there was talk of up to 30 thousand emigrants; more recent estimates vary between five hundred and fifteen thousand, the latter being close to the maximum capacity of the squadron of fifteen ships, including their crews. Still, the ships were overcrowded. According to Pedreira e Costa, taking into account all of the variables, the most likely numbers fall between four and seven thousand passengers plus the crews. Many families were separated, and even high officials failed to secure a place on the ships and were left behind. The voyage was not a tranquil one. Several ships were in precarious condition, and overcrowding created humiliating conditions for the nobility, the majority of whom had to sleep huddled in the open in the poops. Hygienic conditions were bad, including an epidemic of head lice. Many had failed to bring changes of clothing. Several people fell ill. Supplies were scarce, causing rationing. The flotilla spent ten days nearly becalmed in the equatorial zone under a scorching heat that caused moods to turn quite sour. The flotilla also faced two storms and was eventually dispersed near Madeira. In the middle of the voyage, Prince John changed his plans and decided to head for Salvador, Bahia, probably for political reasons. He wanted to please the inhabitants of the colony's first capital, which had given many signs of discontent with the loss of its old status. The ships carrying his wife and daughters held to the original destination of Rio de Janeiro.

Colonial Transformation

On 22 January 1808, the Prince Regent's ship and the two others arrived in Baía de Todos os Santos, Brazil. The streets of Salvador were deserted, because the governor, the Count of Ponte, preferred to await the prince's orders before permitting the people to receive him. Finding this attitude odd, John ordered that all could come as they wished. However, to allow the nobility to compose themselves after such an arduous journey, the landing was postponed until the next day, when they were received joyfully amidst a procession, the ringing of bells and a celebration of a '' Te Deum'' at the Cathedral of Salvador. In the following days, John received all who wished to give homage, granting the ceremony of the ''beija-mão'' (the kissing of the monarch's hand) and conceding various mercies.Pedreira e Costa, pp. 201–210 Among the latter, he decreed the creation of a public lecture series on economics and a school of surgery, but his most decisive action at this moment was the Decree of Opening the Ports to Friendly Nations (''Decreto de Abertura dos Portos às Nações Amigas''), a measure of vast political and economic importance and the first of many that went to improve conditions in the colony. Britain, however, whose economy depended in great part on maritime commerce, and for whom the Portuguese and Brazilian monarchy was now something of a protectorate, was the most direct beneficiary.

Salvador spent a month in commemorations of the presence of the court and tried to seduce the court into making it the new seat of the Kingdom. The residents offered to construct a luxurious palace as a home for the royal family, but John declined and continued his voyage, having already announced to various nations his intention to make his capital at Rio de Janeiro. His ship entered Guanabara Bay on 7 March, where he met his daughters and other members of his entourage whose ships had arrived earlier. On the 8th, the whole court finally disembarked to encounter a city adorned to receive them with nine days of uninterrupted celebrations. A well-known chronicler of the era, Father Perereca, eyewitness to the arrival, while lamenting the news of the invasion of metropolitan Portugal, also intuited the significance of the arrival of the court on Brazilian soil:

John helped change Brazil from an ordinary colony into a booming society. This was done, in large part, to the establishment of a new government in the capital, Rio de Genaro. With a government, the essential apparatus of a sovereign state became inevitable: the senior civil, religious, and military officials, aristocrats and liberal professionals, skilled artisans, and public servants. For many scholars, the transfer of the court to Rio began the establishment of the modern Brazilian state and constituted Brazil's first step toward true independence. While Brazil at this time remained formally and juridically a Portuguese colony, in the words of Caio Prado, Jr.

But first it was necessary to provide accommodations for the newcomers, a difficult problem to resolve given the cramped proportions of the city of Rio at that time. In particular, there were few homes suitable for the nobility, especially in the case of the royal family, who were installed in the viceregal palace, known today as the Paço Imperial (Imperial Palace). Though large, it was comfortless and nothing like Portuguese palaces. As large as it was, it was not enough to accommodate everyone, so neighboring buildings were also requisitioned, such as the Carmelite Convent, the town hall, and even the jail. To meet the needs of other nobles, and to install new government offices, innumerable small residences were hastily expropriated, their proprietors arbitrarily ejected, at times violently in the face of resistance. Despite the efforts of Viceroy Marcos de Noronha e Brito and of Joaquim José de Azevedo, the regent was still poorly accommodated. Merchant Elias Antônio Lopes offered his country house, the Quinta da Boa Vista, a sumptuous villa in excellent location that immediately met with the prince's satisfaction. Renovations and expansion transformed this into the Paço de São Cristóvão ("Palace of Saint Christopher"). Carlota Joaquina, for her part, preferred to settle on a farm near the beach of Botafogo, continuing her habit of living apart from her husband.

The city, which at that time had about 70,000 inhabitants, saw itself transformed overnight. The additional populace, full of new requirements, imposed a new organization in the supply of food and other consumer goods, including luxury items. It took years for the Portuguese to settle in, causing years of chaos in the daily life of Rio; rents doubled, taxes rose, and food was in short supply, requisitioned by the imported nobility. This soon dispelled popular enthusiasm over the prince regent's arrival. The very shape of the city began to change, with the construction of innumerable new residences, villas and other buildings, and various improvements to services and infrastructure. Likewise, the presence of the court introduced new standards of etiquette, new fashions and new customs, including a new social stratification.

Among the customs, John continued in Brazil the ancient Portuguese ceremony of the ''beija-mão'', which he esteemed greatly and which fascinated the Brazilians and became part of their folklore. He received his subjects daily, except for Sundays and holidays. The long lines waiting to pay their respects and receive favors were a mix of nobles and commoners. According to painter Henry L’Evêque, "the Prince, accompanied by a Secretary of State, a Chamberlain and some household officials, received all the petitions that were presented to him; listened attentively to all the complaints, all the requests of the applicants; consoled one, encouraged others.... The vulgarity of the manners, the familiarity of speech, the insistence of some, the prolixity of others, none of this bored him. He seemed to forget that he was their master, and remember only that he was their father." Oliveira Lim wrote that he "never confused the faces or the pleas, and the applicants marveled at how well he know their lives, their families, even small incidents that had occurred in the past and which they could not believe had risen to the notice of the King."

Throughout his stay in Brazil, John formalized the creation of a huge number of institutions and public services and boosted the economy, culture and other areas of national life. All these measures were taken principally because of the practical needs of administering a large empire in a territory previously lacking of these resources, because the predominant idea continued to be that Brazil would remain a colony, given that it was expected that the court would return to its old metropolis once the European political situation returned to normal. However, these advances became the basis for Brazil's future autonomy.Loyola, Leandro
"A nova história de Dom João VI"
In: ''Revista Época'', nº 506, 30 January 2008. In Portuguese. This is not to say that all was amenities and progress. A series of political crises began shortly after the Prince Regent's arrival with the invasion of Cayenne in French Guiana in 1809 in retaliation for the French invasion of Portugal, serious economi