A Brief History of Portugal

Part  11 - Royalty & Goverment move to Brazil

ARE YOU STILL with me? I was just checking; I know really that my history students are a dedicated lot and wouldn't miss an episode of this gripping saga for all the oranges in Portugal! Right, we have got that little matter sorted out, so why don't we move on?  You may remember (if you have bothered to read last month's thrilling episode) that we left things in abeyance soon after Nelson's victory at Trafalgar.

Dona Maria: 1777-1816 (continued)

In the meantime, Dona Maria had been certified as totally insane and Dom João VI, who had been acting as Regent since 1792 formally took control of Portugal in 1799.  It was Dom João who congratulated Nelson on his resounding victory over the Franco-Spanish fleet.  This victory gave fresh kudos to the Portuguese-English alliance which led to a decision by the Portuguese to allow English ships to operate from any of their ports along the Algarve coast; thus forming a virtual blockade of the Mediterranean with support from Portuguese shipping as required.  In a tit-for-tat, France then ordered all shipping under her control to intercept English shipping wherever they were encountered.  Of course that provoked the English to declare a blockade prohibiting any trade with France.  In addition, all vessels flying the British flag were ordered to seize any French shipping they encountered, with the ship and its cargo becoming the property of the captor.  Not to be beaten, France put together a well equipped army and made it be known that they intended to march on Lisbon.

This news prompted action from the Portuguese authorities who, in what some diarists at the time described as an extraordinary act of cowardice, took the decision to move the royal family, government and the entire administration to Brazil.  All sea-worthy vessels in the Tagus estuary were seized and used to transport, estimates vary but between 10,000 and 15,000 people to Rio de Janeiro where the main court was set up.  The French troops, under General Junot, met with little resistance and occupied Lisbon, albeit for only a few months.  A popular revolt in Spain, which started in Madrid against the French, quickly spread to Portugal. It was brought about by Napoleon's scheme to replace the Spanish king, tricked into going to France, by Joseph Bonaparte, who just happened to be Napoleon's brother!

Whilst all this was going on, the British decided now was a good time to invade the continent.  In 1808 General Sir Arthur Wellesley (better known as the Duke of Wellington) was instructed to put together a well-equipped army and he landed in Portugal, just west of Coimbra.  The French did their best to hold them at bay, but Wellesley over-ran the French troops in battles at both Roliça and Vimeiro.  Soon after these battles, an armistice was drawn up as the Convention of Cintra, whereby all captured French troops were transported back to their homeland.  However, the Peninsula war continued to roll on for several more years, during which time, Wellesley was called to intervene and appointed General Beresford to take charge of the Portuguese army who joined forces with the British army.  This combined force had some notable victories, such as the Battle of Buçaco against a force of some 65,000 men, helped by the fortification labeled `The Lines of Torres Vedras', previously erected between Tagus and the Atlantic.  This proved to be a totally insurmountable barrier, with losses on the French side put in the region of 30,000 the combined force losing only several hundred.  Put into military history context, this confrontation is acknowledged as one of the most decisive ever fought.  It took until 1813 to finally drive all the French troops out of Portugal, with the Portuguese losses put at somewhere around 100,000, if civilian casualties were included.  Another issue was the 100,000 or so men still in the Portuguese army, whose pay and maintenance nearly equalled the national income.

Dom João VI: 1816-26

In 1817, just after the official handing over of power from Dona Maria to Dom João, Marshall Beresford, still in command of the Portuguese forces, stamped out a conspiracy amongst the officers with brutal force. Amongst those subsequently hanged was General Gomes Freire de Andrade, a most prestigious military man, thought very highly of by the government of the time.

The initial start of the Revolution is put at the door of a small bunch of intellectuals who in 1818 became the instigators of Sinédrio, an underground movement dedicated to ending the rule of the monarchy in Portugal.  One of those making up this group was Fernando Tomás from Figueira da Foz, who gave a great deal of help to the British when they landed there in 1808.  Of different persuasion was Ferreira Borges, who sympathized with the French and their invasion. But it was not until the ideals of Sinédrio were taken seriously by some military units in 1820, who signaled their support by firing a 21-gun salute to the Revolution's success, that a great many other military units joined forces to support the movement, among them units from the capital Lisbon's garrison.  This was becoming a bloodless coup and a junta was formed which took power while a proper constitution was hammered out.  The `Constitutional Cortes' which finally emerged incorporated a number of radical ideas to help set up the new state.

To start with, Deputies were sought who held the same liberal thoughts and beliefs as those who initiated the original movement.  Inevitably, perhaps, those who came forward and were elected as Deputies were mostly drawn from the academic ranks, landowners seeking to preserve the status quo and a strong representation from the Catholic Church.  The main objective was, of course, to replace the monarchy with an elected group of people making up parliament.  There were problems from the start with the academics not on the same wavelength as the other members.  Another problem was the existing royal family household, who were still ensconced in Brazil.  The Cortes requested their return without delay, and Dom João with the queen, Dona Carlota-Joaquina, and a whole host of staff and `hangers on', did just that.  The king, realizing that the whole revolutionary movement had been orchestrated and carried out in the absence of a good many of his ministers, decided that things had gone too far to be overturned.  Dom João therefore swore to accept the Constitution in June 1821.  However, the queen had other ideas and refused to accept, whereupon she was swiftly removed to be confined to a Convent.  Dom Pedro had chosen to stay in Brazil rather than be ordered back to Portugal.  Despite a further summons, he defied the Cortes and, as a further act of defiance, put himself forward as Emperor of Brazil a position for which he was accepted.  Another of the royal princes, Dom Miguel,  challenged the Cortes on the basis that the authority of the monarch was sacrosanct and could not be taken away by anybody or authority.  He got together as many of the `refuse nicks' as he could muster and found more opposition `underground' to the Constitution.  With an ever growing number of groups of people expressing their dissatisfaction with the present regime, Dom João stepped into the limelight again and declared the Constitution illegal.  This royal declaration, which came as a surprise to some, was accepted, proving the Revolution was premature in that it did not have a sufficiently wide enough spread of the population.

Looking at the amount of wax which has dribbled down the sides of the candles suggests it's time to put the slates and chalk away for another month.  As long as the dog-sleigh doesn't do a wobbly in the meantime, I shall be with you again next month. Ta-rah for now.

    David Devereux

     dfdev@btinternet.com

Why not now have a look at the Family Tree of Kings and Queens of Portugal?

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