Maria I of Portugal de Bragança ^{1 2}

  General Notes:

Maria I Francisca, (English: Mary I), the Piteous (Port. a Piedosa) - was the daughter of King José I of Portugal, the eldest of four daughters. She married her father's younger brother, Pedro, in 1760 and later became the first Queen of Portugal, and the 26th (or 27th according to some historians) Portuguese monarch. She was also Duchess of Bragança and Princess of Beira.

Her first act as queen was to dismiss the unpopular prime-minister, the Marquis of Pombal, following the brutal treatment given to the Távoras in the Tavora affair. Noteworthy events of this period were Portugal's membership of the League of Armed Neutrality (July 1782) and the 1781 cession of Delagoa Bay from Austria to Portugal. In 1801 the Spanish dictator Manuel de Godoy invaded Portugal with backing from Napoleon, but was forced to abandon the campaign in the same year. However the Treaty of Badajoz on June 6 1801 forced Portugal to cede Olivenza and part of Guyana to Spain.

Queen Maria suffered from religious mania and melancholia. It made her incapable of handling state affairs after 1799 and so her son Prince John became regent. The refusal of his government to join the Continental Blockade of Britain culminated in the 1807 Franco-Spanish invasion led by Marshal Junot. The Braganza dynasty fled to Brazil on November 13, 1807, and Junot was appointed governor of the kingdom pending Napoleon's decision on its ultimate fate. On August 1, 1808, the British General Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington) landed a British army in Lisbon and thus commenced the Peninsular War. Wellesley's initial victory over Junot at Vimeiro (August 21 1808) was wiped out by his superiors in the Convention of Cintra (August 30). Nevertheless Wellesley (now Lord Wellington) returned to Portugal on April 22, 1809 to recommence the campaign. Portuguese forces under British command distinguished themselves in the defence of the Torres Vedras lines (1809-1810) and in the subsequent invasion of France. When Napoleon was finally defeated in 1815, Maria and her family were still in Brazil. The aged Queen died at Rio de Janeiro in 1816 and the Prince Regent succeeded her as King John VI of Portugal and Brazil.

  Noted events in her life were:

• She was a Queen of the Algarve, Princess of Beira.

• Acceded: Queen of Portugal & Brazil, 1777.

• Interred: 1821, Basilica of Estrela, Lisbon, Lisboa, Portugal.

Maria married Pedro III of Portugal de Bragança, son of John V the Magnanimous de Bragança and Maria Antonia Josefa Habsburg, on 6 Jun 1760. (Pedro III of Portugal de Bragança was born on 5 Jul 1717 in Lisbon, Lisboa, Portugal and died on 5 Mar 1786 in Lisbon, Lisboa, Portugal.)