Duke of Braganza

“ Her first care on her marriage was to obtain the esteem and confidence of her husband, and she succeeded perfectly in her design, by her exemplary conduct, solid piety, and obliging compliance with his favourite pursuits. Indifferent to all the pleasures natural to her age and quality, she passed every leisure hour in cultivating her understanding, and adding fresh force to the natural strength and justness of her judgment. The duke of Braganza felt himself happy in the possession of so truly accomplished and amiable a woman ”

“ That Evening there were Illuminations every where, and Fireworks in every publick Place; each Citizen in particular had a Bonfire before his door, which made a Spaniard say, "The Duke of Braganza was a happy Prince, who had got a whole Kingdom for a Bonfire." Nor was it long indeed before he was Master of the whole Kingdom, every Town follow'd the Example of their Capital, and seem'd as if they had a Plot ripe for Execution. Fresh Couriers every day arriv'd, who brought News of Towns, and sometimes of whole Provinces, which had driven the Castilians out, and proclaim'd the Duke of Braganza. ”

“ Don Antonio de Menezes answer'd, and assur'd her, "That so many Persons of Quality had not taken up Arms to murder a Wretch, who ought to have lost his Life by the hands of the common Hangman; but that their Design was to restore the Crown to the Duke of Braganza, to whom it lawfully belong'd, and which the King of Spain had unjustly usurp'd; and that they were all ready to sacrifice their Lives in so glorious a Cause." ”

“ NE. of Oporto, Portugal; the residence of the Primate; the capital of Minho.
Braganza, capital of Traz-os-Montes, in Portugal; gives name to the ruling dynasty of Portugal, called the House of Braganza, the eighth duke of Braganza having ascended the throne in 1640, on the liberation of Portugal from the yoke of Spain.
Bragi, the Norse god of poetry and eloquence, son of Odin and Frigga; represented as an old man with a long flowing beard and unwrinkled brow, with a mild expression of face; received in Valhalla the heroes who fell in battle. ”

“ Securing the person of the duke was an object of so very great importance to the king his master, that he was determined on using all possible means to succeed in his design; but so great was the attachment of the Portugueze to the family of Braganza, that open force could not be attempted; he therefore sought to seduce him by the most flattering caresses, and to draw him from his retreat by professions of the sincerest friendship, and marks of unlimited confidence. ”

“ The Marquis of Tavora’s family had a nearer claim to the crown than that Duke of Braganza who got it, but not being [159] personally so well qualified for so great an attempt, or for want of alliances or other means, they were quietly governed by Spain, but when the Braganzas gained the Royal dignity, they grudged it to them, and ambition and envy may easily form conspiracy and assassination. Twelve of the first nobility will be brought to the scaffold. ”

“ But the instinctive unpopularity of the fourth Philip’s sway in Portugal, especially as deputed to a Spanish Vice-Regal lady, made more apparent the liberal and virtuous Duke of Braganza’s popularity with the Portuguese nation. After a deceitful calm, a very summary insurrection put the crown on the Duke’s head, and enthroned him in Lisbon as King John IV. This was in December 1640. For sixteen years he successfully defended his frontiers against the Spaniards, who could not attempt any bold stroke, on account of the drain upon their resources made by their war in Flanders. ”

“ In the mean time, Philip the IId, well aware that causes of such importance were not terminated by the opinions of civilians, sent a powerful army into Portugal: this was commanded by the celebrated duke of Alba, who presently decided the affair, in his master’s favour.
It does not appear in history that the duke of Braganza took up arms to support his claims to the crown. The grand prior alone employed every possible means to oppose the Castillians; he had been proclaimed king by the populace, and took the title, as if it had been bestowed on him by the states general of the nation. ”

“ The exiled king, Miguel, founded a branch of the family of Braganza which settled in Bavaria, and various noble families in Portugal are descended from cadets of this house. The title of duke of Braganza is now borne by the eldest son of the king of Portugal.
BRAGG, BRAXTON (1817-1876) , American soldier, was born in Warren county, North Carolina, on the 22nd of March 1817. He graduated at the United States military academy in 1837, and as an artillery officer served in the Seminole wars of 1837 and 1841, and under General Taylor in Mexico. ”

“ For in April, 1831, a revolt in Brazil had obliged the emperor Dom Pedro to resign his throne in favour of his son, Dom Pedro II, who was still a minor. In Europe a task lay ready to his hand: that of assisting his daughter Maria da Gloria to her throne, and at the same time freeing Portugal from her tyrant.
Countenanced by England and France, the duke of Braganza, as Dom Pedro now called himself, obtained a small land-force and a fleet, and with these he appeared at Terceira in March, 1832. ”

“ Don GASPAR ALONCO Perez de Gusman, Duke of Medina Sidonia, Marquiss, Earl, and Baron of Saint Lucar de Barameda, Captain General of the Ocean, of the Coasts of Andalusia, and of the Armies of Portugal, Gentleman of the Bed-Chamber to his Catholick Majesty;
Whom God Preserve.
hereas nothing has been more conspicuous to the whole World, than the treasonable Practices of John late Duke of Braganza ”

“ The prospect of so great an enterprise excited the natural courage of her character, and awakened every aspiring sentiment in her bosom. She asked Braganza [15] in what manner he would act, in case his refusal of the crown should end in Portugal’s becoming a republic, and how he would conduct himself between that new form of government and the king of Spain? to which the duke replied, that he should ever remain inviolably attached to the interests of his country. ”

“ The Portuguese were an independent nation until Philip II. of Spain overran the country, and annexed it in the year 1580 to his own dominions, but in the year 1640 they threw off the Spanish yoke, which had grown intolerable, and raised John, Duke of Braganza, to the throne. The regal power has ever since remained in this family.
The Royal Standard bears on its scarlet field the arms of Portugal, surmounted by the regal crown. These arms were originally only the white shield with the five smaller escutcheons that we see in the centre of the present blazon. ”

“ He has an itching palm. We’ll treat with him easily enough. If not, there’s Jamaica with rarer fun than ever was shown on Tortuga for men with money to chink. Who knows? If the luck holds we’ll sail back to Europe. Philip of Spain reigns over Portugal now, but we’ll see the Duke of Braganza on the throne before long. There’s insurrection brewing in Lisbon now. We could join Braganza’s crowd. There’ll be honor and loot to be won. A bold man can go far these times. ”

“ His successor, John II. (1481–1495) reverted to the policy of matrimonial alliances with Castile and friendship with England. Finding, as he said, that the liberality of former kings had left the Crown “no estates except the high roads of Portugal,” he determined to crush the feudal nobility and seize its territories. A cortes held at Evora (1481) empowered judges nominated by the Crown to administer justice in all feudal domains. The nobles resisted this infringement of their rights; but their leader, Ferdinand, duke of Braganza, was beheaded for high treason in 1483 ”

“ Neither France nor Spain were in a condition to equip a fleet capable of standing against the attacks of the English, and yet these powers insisted on Portugal’s taking an active part in the war. Spain, in particular, treated the Portugueze ambassador with insupportable insolence, and on his urging the necessity of his master’s remaining neuter, he was answered by the cardinal Portocarrero, “that no other conduct could be expected from the rebel duke of Braganza.” ”

“ It flickered out in Dom Sebastian, who dragged his country into a mad invasion of Morocco and vanished from human ken on the disastrous battlefield of Alcazar-Khebir. Then, for sixty years, not by conquest, but by intrigue, Portugal passed under the sway of Spain, and lost to the enemies of Spain—that is to say, to England and Holland—a large part of her colonial empire. At last, in 1640, a well-planned and daring revolution expelled the Spanish intruders, and placed on the throne John, Duke of Braganza. ”

“ To this brave answer the Marquis replied, by commanding the Duke to attend him in private, with the person he protected, for the sake of hearing his strange story. Braganza went: and leaving his armed escort in the hall of the palace, ascended with Gaspar to the audience chamber.
“Pardon me dear Lady! let me breathe awhile! I am old and soon overcome, and there are some events one cannot recal without sorrow.”
Father Sampayo paused to rest himself; while Kara Aziek, pale with anxiety, and trembling with anticipated horror, waited all ear to catch his renewed discourse. ”

“ England, Sicily, and Portugal; the rest of the Old World was either subject to Buonaparte or directly under his influence; but in the New World it was different: the Brazils, after the emigration of the royal family of Braganza, became important under every point of view, and relations were established between the junta and that court, that afterwards under the cortez created considerable interest, and threatened serious embarrassments to the operations of the duke of Wellington. ”

“ But the Duke was too prudent to trust to the uncertain Sallies of an inconstant People. He knew what a vast difference there was between their vain Shouts, and that Steddiness which is necessary to support so great an Enterprize. Therefore after having paid his respects to the Vice-Queen, and taken leave of her, he return'd to Almada, without so much as going to Braganza-House, or passing thro the City, lest he should encrease the Jealousy of the Spaniards, who already seem'd very uneasy at the Affection which the People had so unanimously express'd for the Duke. ”

“ The new king was twenty-six years of age when he succeeded his father. Though inclined to be a despot, he was one of the wisest and ablest princes that ever sat on the throne of Portugal. His great object was to reduce the power of the nobles, who under the feudal system of government were really masters of the country, and he therefore instituted an inquiry into the nature of their tenures, which provoked their resentment. First among them was the third duke of Bragança, who was lord of many towns, and owned more than one-fourth of the whole territory of the kingdom. ”

“ Some of the noblest in the land had, with philanthropic boldness, wandered amid the ruins, to bear succour to those who might yet providentially remain alive beneath them; and among the first of those charitable persons, who set so bright an example to their fellow-men, was Don John of Bragança, a cousin of the King’s, and brother of the Duke of Lafoens, well-known about that time, in France and England, as the Duke of Bragança. ”

“ When the Cardinal King died in 1580, Philip II., who for two years had been intriguing, suborning, and threatening the leading Portuguese to acknowledge his right to the succession, stretched out his hand to grasp the coveted crown. Of the two native claimants one, the Duchess of Braganza, was timid and unready; the other, Dom Antonio, was ambitious, bold, and eager. ”

“ In Portugal the revolution was primarily the work of the nobility, exasperated by Spanish arrogance and exclusiveness; but they were effectually supported by the people for the same reason; and the state of Spain, financially decrepit and embroiled in war abroad and rebellion in Catalonia, left the new dynasty of Braganza able to maintain itself, with French help, against the clerical and other elements of pro-Spanish reaction. The overthrow of the Dutch in Brazil was almost against the new king's will, for they had at first supported him against Spain ”

“ Where is your loyalty?” Meanwhile some of the conspirators, having forced open all the doors they had found closed, courteously compelled her to withdraw from the window. She wished to descend to the courtyard, and as the nobles prevented her: “Enough, gentlemen!” she cried, “the guilty minister has already paid for his sins. Go no further, I pledge my word that the king of Castile shall not merely pardon you, but shall thank you for having delivered the kingdom from the excesses of the secretary.” The nobles replied that they no longer recognised any king but Dom João de Braganza. ”

“ Braganza was not so willing to resign its pretensions. The intrusive government had not been re-established in that city, notwithstanding the efforts of its adherents, and the apparent assent of General Sepulveda. Their penitent letters to the French ministry were stopped at Villa Real, where the people proclaimed their lawful Prince; and when the Braganzans, upon tidings of the second insurrection at Porto, formed a Junta, and required obedience to its edicts, its authority was disowned there. ”

“ Considerable difference of opinion exists as to the fate of the Braganza after King John's death. Did he give it to Don Miguel his second son? or was it a crown jewel and as such did it devolve upon Don Pedro the eldest along with [Pg 147] the kingdom of Portugal? Don Pedro preferred the young empire of Brazil to the old kingdom of Portugal, which he gave to his little daughter Donna Maria da Gloria for whom he contracted that unnatural marriage with his own brother. ”