Dom João VI appreciation Thread

!macacos !historychads

For the burgers and other foreigners, this was D. João VI, King of Portugal, Brazil and and Algarves.

This man was responsible for what Brazil would eventually become. He was king from 1816 until his death in 1826 (a modern autopsy revealed the King's corpse contained high doses of arsenic so he was likely poisoned by someone), however he had been leading Portugal since 1792. His mother was Queen Maria I (known popularly as Maria the Mad), this woman was deemed unfit to rule in 1792 due to mental illness (Bipolar Disorder probably) so he took over as Prince Regent until her death in 1816 at the age of 81.

In 1808 Napoleon invaded the Iberian Peninsula as Portugal violated the Continental blockade on Britain, the Bongs however assured the Prince Regent that the court would be evacuated with the help of the Royal Navy if the French invaded. Which happened so the Royal Family and 10k Portuguese noblemen were evacuated to Rio de Janeiro which from that time on became the Empire's capital.

Now, the prince Regent has been unfairly slandered since the 19th century, deemed as a coward, a buffon and a cuck. This is misleading.

1. He was no coward, there was no point in becoming prisoner and letting Napoleon install one of his relatives as King like he did with Spain. The Spanish King Fernando VII was imprisoned and Napoleon installed his own brother Joseph Bonaparte as the new King. The spanish Virreinatos in the !americas obviously didn't recognize him and this triggered the independence process, there had been criollos calling for independence since the American Revolution but Fernando VII capture provided the perfect opportunity. In Brazil the biggest independence movement previous to 1822 was the Inconfidência Mineira, which was quashed in the 1790s ending with Tiradentes brutal execution. The arrival of the Royal Family killed any republican movement for decades.

2. He was no buffon, he had a melancholic character and was prone to depression episodes but he was a skillful politician. He created many institutions which still exist like Banco do Brasil, and he managed to get support of the local aristocracy. Brazil had something called “nobreza da terra” or “land nobility”, which was basically the equivalent of the landed gentry but they also included wealthy merchants from old lines. Old colonial families which occupied positions of power, Dom João turned them into titled nobles, a reward for the support and also a source of income for the crown as the aspiring noblemen had to pay a fee for the titles. So the Portuguese nobility was divided between titled and untitled nobles, all of them were adressed as “Your Excellency”. The untitled ones were the “Fidalgos”, the landed gentry or “nobreza da terra”, and the member of the literate bureaucracy (judges, prosecutors, officers of the courts). The titled nobility were divided on a scale, the titles with no “grandeza” (baron and viscount) and the titles with “grandeza” (count, marquis, duke), I don't know the exact process during João VI reign but during the Empire there was an Office for Registration of Nobility Titles where aspirants would present their background, their services to the Empire (they had to come from good, respectable families with no “mechanical defect” that is, they shouldn't perform any source of manual labor) and finally they would pay a fee if accepted after being reviewed bu the monarch. Baron was the cheapest, Duke was the most expensive and rare. So you give the local rich guys titles and they give you money and loyal service, win win. He was also crowned in Rio after becoming King and didn't want to leave, he did so because of turmoil in Portugal and adviced his son who would remain as Prince Regent to proclaim independence and become Emperor.

3. He was indeed a cuck lol

This is his wife, Carlota Joaquina de Borbón, known as Dona Carlota Joaquina. She was the daughter of Carlos IV of Spain, she was an extremely nasty woman. She constantly plotted against Portugal's interests so they would benefit Spain and cucked her husband with several men. She would also swim naked in Rio and drink a proto version of the caipirinha. Her son and later emperor Pedro I repeatedly called her a whore lmao.