About Opentopia
Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

Duke of Braganza

Encyclopedia : D : DU : DUK : 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, as the ancient Duchy of Braganza (Bragança), is one of the oldest and most important Dukedoms of Portugal. Since the House of Bragança acceded to the throne of Portugal in 1640, the male heir of the Portuguese Crown has been known as the Duke of Bragança together with the title Prince of Brazil (until 1822), or sometimes also by Prince of Beira. The tradition of the heir to the throne being titled Duke of Braganza was revived by various pretenders after the foundation of the Republic in October 5 1910, to signify their claims to the throne.

Contents

List of Dukes of Braganza

(Note: dates are birth and death; the intermediate date represents accession as Duke)

Post-monarchy use and claimants

Hilda Toledano has been a minority-view Claimant of the Duchy of Braganza. Hilda Toledano, also known as Maria Pia of Braganza
and the Duke of Loulé (Loulé family possibly never claimed this duchy - it has just been asserted that the right to the crown of Miguel's branch may be invalid, and the Loulé are the next heirs having all the time resided in Portugal)

History of Dukedom

Feudal dukes

The Duke of Bragança or Braganza, holds one of the most important Dukedoms of Portugal, see Duchy of Braganza. Created in 1442 by King Afonso V of Portugal for his uncle Afonso, Count of Barcelos (natural son of John I of Portugal), it is one of the oldest fiefdoms in Portugal.

By 1640, Portugal was on the verge of rebellion and a new Portuguese king had to be found. The choice fell upon the eighth duke, João II of Bragança, who had a claim both through his grandmother, Princess Catherine of Guimaraes, a legitimate granddaughter of king Manuel I, and through his great-great-grandfather, the 4th duke of Braganza, a nephew of King Manuel I. Duke John was a modest man without particular ambitions to the crown. Legend says that his wife, Leonor of Guzman, daughter of the duke of Medina-Sidónia, urged him to accept the offer saying, I'd rather be Queen for one day than duchess for a lifetime. He accepted the leadership of the rebellion, which was successful, and was acclaimed John IV of Portugal on December 1 1640.

Dukedom in the Braganza monarchy

After the accession of the House of Bragança to the Portuguese throne in 1640, following the Philippine Dynasty of Spanish Habsburgs, the Dukedom became linked to the Crown and later the Duke of Braganza became the traditional title of the heir to the Portuguese Crown, together with, or alternate to Prince of Beira, much as Prince of Wales is in the United Kingdom. When the 8th Duke had ascended the royal throne, and elevated his son and heir Teodosio as the first Prince of Brazil, he granted the Duchy of Braganza to his brother infante dom Duarte de Portugal-Braganca e de Fernandez de Velasco de Frias. He died in 1649, in Spanish incarceration. Then it was granted to king's second son, the future Afonso VI of Portugal.

From this onwards, the Duke of Braganza was kept for the heir apparent of the throne - in its strictest sense. Although the other title for an unavoidable heir, that of Prince of Brazil, was from time to time granted even to female heirs, the Duke of Braganza was always only for the male heir except for two extraordinary creations, in 1683 and 1711 (these two creations are deemed invalid by some legalists, who accordingly number the dukes in a way that the last of them during the monarchy, Luiz Filipe, was 21st Duke).

When Emperor Pedro I of Brazil abdicated his Brazilian throne in 1831, he took his already invested title Duke of Braganza. After his 1834 death, it was (possibly erroneously) regarded to have reverted to the Portuguese crown and for the next time, passed to his grandson Pedro of Coburg, upon his birth in 1837. However, in 1889 Pedro I's son and heir, the then deposed emperor Pedro II of Brazil, took the use of this ducal title. At that point, for two subsequent years, there were two dukes: the deposed emperor Pedro II who lived in France, and the very young Luiz Filippe (1887-1908), crown prince of Portugal, in Lisbon.

In February 1 1908, king Carlos I of Portugal was murdered with his eldest son and heir, Luis Filipe, 23rd duke of Bragança, who was the last individual during the monarchy to have that title. He was succeeded by Manuel II of Portugal but for a short time: on October 5 1910, a republic was instituted and the king was exiled. King Manuel II settled in England.

After the foundation of the Portuguese Republic in 1910, the tradition of the heir to the throne being titled Duke of Braganza was revived by various pretenders to signify their claims to the throne.

In the last years of the deposed king Manuel II of Portugal, the dukedom of Bragança allegedly passed to Miguel II, son of the exiled king Miguel I of Portugal, who was living in the Austrian Empire. His branch of the Bragança family allegedly became heirs to the crown in 1932 when Manuel II died without children. These Braganças were officially allowed to return to the country in 1950 and have lived there ever since.

Presently, the commonly acknowledged duke of Bragança and Portuguese heir is Duarte Pio of Bragança (born 1945). Unlike some European countries like Greece, which continues to forbid the presence of the heirs of former royal houses in their lands, republican Portugal and its claimants to the throne have long been reconciled, a fact shown when among the guests at his wedding was the Portuguese President of the Republic and the country's prime minister.

See also

External link

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles
0123456789
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRST
UVWXYZ?

E-mail this article to:

Personal Message: