The Most Serene House of Braganza (Portuguese: Sereníssima Casa de Bragança), also known as the Brigantine dynasty (dinastia Brigantina), is a dynasty of emperors, kings, princes, and dukes of Portuguese origin which reigned in Europe and the Americas.
The house was founded by Afonso I, 1st Duke of Braganza, illegitimate son of King John I of Portugal of the House of Aviz, and would eventually grow into one of the wealthiest and most powerful noble houses of Iberia during the Renaissance period.[1][2] The Braganzas came to rule the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves after successfully deposing the Philippine Dynasty in the Restoration War, resulting in the Duke of Braganza becoming King John IV of Portugal, in 1640.[3] The Braganzas ruled Portugal and the Portuguese Empire from 1640 and with the creation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves, in 1815, and the subsequent independence of the Empire of Brazil, in 1822, the Braganzas came to rule as the monarchs of Brazil.[4]
The House of Braganza produced 15 Portuguese monarchs and all four Brazilian monarchs, numerous consorts to various European kingdoms, such as Catherine of Braganza (wife of Charles II of England who introduced tea to Britain) and Maria Isabel of Braganza (wife of Ferdinand VII of Spain who founded the El Prado Museum), as well as sometime candidates for the thrones of Poland and Greece, Infante Manuel, Count of Ourém and Pedro, Duke of Braganza, respectively, and numerous other notable figures in the histories of Europe and the Americas. The Braganzas were deposed from their thrones in Europe and the Americas at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, when Emperor Pedro II was deposed in Brazil, in 1889,[5] and when King Manuel II was deposed in Portugal, in 1910.[6]
- ^ Marques 1976, pp. 88–89.
- ^ Newitt 2019, p. 67.
- ^ Newitt 2019, pp. 69–76.
- ^ Newitt 2019, pp. 189–202.
- ^ Newitt 2019, p. 318.
- ^ Newitt 2019, pp. 39, 291.