An exploration of women's involvement in the Latin American Wars of Independence

Dom Pedro I

Gender:Male

Ethnic origen: White

Events:

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Biography:
The second son of the Portuguese Bragança monarch, King João VI, and Princess Charlotte of Spain, Pedro was born on 12 October 1798 and died on 24 September 1834 (Macaulay, 6; 305) . He became heir to the throne when his elder brother died in infancy. When the Napoleonic invasion threatened the Iberian peninsula, the Portuguese royal family moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1807, setting up court there as the ruling centre of the Portuguese empire (Macaulay, 20). In 1817 he married Princess Leopoldina, the Archduchess of Austria (Macaulay, 62). In 1821, when the Bragança’s sovereignty was threatened at home, the King João VI returned to Lisbon leaving behind his eldest son Pedro (Macaulay, 87). The status and privileges granted to Brazil were then threatened as Lisbon seemed set to assert its power as the ruling metropolis once again. Pedro supported Brazil’s autonomy from the mother country, and refused to return to Portugal when ordered by his father to do so in 1822. His cry of “Independence or Death” (the famous Grito de Ipiranga, made on the banks of the Ipiranga River in 1822) marks the symbolic beginning of Brazilian Independence from Portugal. He was declared the Emperor of Brazil in October 1822 (Macaulay, 87-126).

Pedro I retained considerable power under the Constitution he enacted in 1824. He is frequently summed up by the expression, “I will do everything for the people, but nothing by the people” (Macaulay, 213). Uniting an independent, imperial Brazil proved a major challenge with revolts occurring in different regions, notably the “Confederation of the Equator” rising in Pernambuco in 1824 (Macaulay, 165-7). Dom Pedro was to lose popularity in the latter part of his reign, partly on account of his numerous love affairs, most notably with Domitila de Castro, whom he made the Marquesa de Santos (Macaulay, 170; 196-9). His first wife the Empress Leopoldina, who was well liked by the Brazilian people died in 1826. She had borne him seven children, including the Crown Prince, the future Pedro II (Macaulay, 202-3). He then married again in 1829 to Princess Amélia de Beauharnais von Leuchtenberg (Macaulay, 235). A political and economic crisis eventually forced him to abdicate in favour of his infant son Pedro in 1831. He returned to Portugal, where, following his father’s death in 1826, he had tried to retain both crowns by placing his infant daughter Dona Maria da Glória on the throne, leaving his brother Miguel as her regent, with the intention he would marry her and consolidate the two claims (Macaulay, 251-2). However, Dom Miguel then laid claim to the Portuguese throne himself. Dom Pedro returned to Lisbon in 1831 to fight for his daughter’s right to accede, which he successfully defended against his usurping brother Dom Miguel, in 1834 (Macaulay, 254-98). He died of consumption in Portugal, at the Queluz palace near Lisbon at the age of 36 (Macaulay, 304-5).

References:

Macaulay, Neill (1986) Dom Pedro. The Struggle for Liberty in Brazil and Portugal, 1798-1834