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Pedro I of Brazil (English:
Peter), known as "Dom Pedro" (October 12, 1798 - September 24, 1834),
proclaimed Brazil independent from Portugal and became Brazil's first Emperor.
He also held the Portuguese throne briefly as Pedro IV of Portugal, O Rei-Soldado
(the Soldier-King) , 28th (or 29th according to
others) king of Portugal. Dom Pedro, of all the Brazilian
personality ruler, Dom Pedro epitomize the "brasileiro", the bohemian, short
temper, lover, a music lover and free spirit.
Pedro I was born in the Queluz Palace, near Lisbon. His father was the regent
prince at the time but would soon become King John VI of Portugal (João VI);
his mother was Carlota Joaquina, Princess of Spain, daughter of Charles IV of
Spain. His full name was Pedro de Alcântara Francisco António João Carlos
Xavier de Paula Miguel Rafael Joaquim José Gonzaga Pascoal Cipriano Serafim de
Bragança e Bourbon.
In 1807, when he was nine, the royal
family moved to Brazil in order to escape the Napoleonic Wars. The family
would remain in Brazil for 13 years. Their presence made Rio de Janeiro the
de facto capital of the Portuguese Empire, and led to Brazil being
elevated to the status of a kingdom co-equal with Portugal. It was in
Rio, on November 5, 1817, that Pedro married his first wife,
Maria Leopoldina, Archduchess of Austria.
His father granted him the old and traditional title Prince of Brazil.
Brazilian Independence
When King João VI finally returned to Portugal,
in the early 1820s, most of the privileges that had been accorded to
Brazil were rescinded, sparking the ire of local nationalists. Pedro, who had
remained in the country as regent, sided with the nationalist element and even
supported the Portuguese Constitutionalist movement that led to the revolt in
Oporto, 1820. When pressed by the Portuguese court to return, he refused. For
that, he was demoted from regent to a mere representative of the
Lisbon court in Brazil. These news reached him
on September 7, 1822, when he had just arrived in São Paulo, from a visit to
the port of
Santos. On the banks of the
Ipiranga River,
he unsheathed his sword, and declared "Independence or death!" He was
proclaimed Emperor of Brazil on October 12 and crowned on December 1, 1822.
Dom was
a Mason Master his Masonic name was
"Guatimozim" the name of the last Emperor
of Aztecs killed in Mexico in 1522. Even if officially Brazil commemorates it
independence on 7th of September, independence had already bee declared on 20
August 1822, that day 3 of the Rio's Masonic Lodge met at the Great Oriental
of Brazil Lodge, without the Grand Master José Bonifácio who as tutor to Dom
Pedro did not want to get involved with the Coup openly, there the mason
applauded frenetically the Proclamation by the 1st Watcher Joaquim
Gonçalves Lêdo who chaired the meeting, it was also a mason Domingos Alves
Branco the proposed the title of “ Emperor” for Dom Pedro that motion was
unanimously accepted by those present, it was proposed that 12 of October
Pedro’s birthday as the day for the official Proclamation, but
Grand Master of
The Orient "Guatimozim"
was prone to impulsivity and contradictory behaviour not wait that long therefore Proclaimed “ Independencia or Morte “ there are some other details to this story but maybe
this is not the best occasion to discuss them. His Masonic life was very
short indeed he was initiated on August the 2nd 1822 at the Commerce and Craft
Lodge taking the name of
"Guatimozim", he was acclaimed on
August the 5th 1822 the second
Great Master of
Brazilian
Great Oriental
but on 25th of October
1822 he closes the Great Oriental and ban the assembly of Masons in Brazil.
Amazing enough Marshal Manoel Deodoro da Fonseca, the military leader of the
Coup that eventually depose Dom Peter's son Dom Pedro II as Emperor was also
the 13th Great
Master of
Brazilian
Great Oriental he
resign as Great Master in February 1892 two months after resigning as
President and die 8 months later heart broken with the mess he help to create.
The other great instigator of the Republic was also a Mason Rui Barbosa, who
was also exile for while after the "proclamation" of the republic.
Troubled Reign
The early years of Brazilian
independence were very difficult ones. Dom Pedro I assumed the title of
Emperor instead of King, both to underline the diversity of the Brazilian
provinces and to emulate Napoleon, who linked
the idea of Empire – as opposed to that of Kingdom – to the French Revolution
and modernity. Nevertheless, Dom Pedro I had to navigate between the
relatively cosmopolitan society of Rio de Janeiro and the more conservative
and patriarchal rest of the country. He soon appeared to forget his liberal
ideals by enacting a Constitution (proclaimed on February 24, 1824) that gave
him substantial power, although this was seen as necessary to keep control of
the interior, particularly in the yet-feudal North. Many provinces,
particularly in the North, favored continued association with Portugal,
republican sentiment soared, and in 1825, during a war with Argentina, the Cisplatine province
seceded to become Uruguay. Furthermore, Pedro had a number of illicit affairs,
which cost him some popularity.
On the death of his father, Pedro
chose to inherit his title as King of Portugal (Pedro IV) on March 10, 1826,
ignoring the restrictions of his own Constitution. He promulgated the
Portuguese liberal constitution of April 26, but was forced to abdicate on May
28 from the Portuguese crown in favor of his daughter
Maria II. Since she was
then only 7 years old, he nominated his brother Dom Miguel as steward, on the
promise that he would marry her. Meanwhile, his apparent indecision between
Brazil and Portugal further damaged his waning popularity.
On October 17, 1829 he married his
second wife, Princess Amélie de Beauharnais von
Leuchtenberg, in Rio de Janeiro. Amélie was the daughter of Eugène de
Beauharnais, and the granddaughter of the Empress Josephine, Napoleon's wife.
She was also the sister of Charles Auguste Eugène Napoléon de Beauharnais, who
married his (Pedro's) daughter Maria II.
Return to Portugal
In the aftermath of a political
crisis that followed the dismissal of his ministers, Pedro abdicated his
throne in Brazil in favor of his son
Pedro II on April 7, 1831, who was only 5 at
the time. He then returned to Portugal to fight against his brother King
Miguel, who meanwhile had usurped the Portuguese crown (the War of the Two
Brothers). In 1834 he overthrew the
usurper and restored his daughter Maria II to her title.
He died in Queluz, the palace of his
birth, at the age of 36 of tuberculosis. In 1972, his remains were returned to
Brazil and reinterred in the present Ipiranga Museum.
Children
By his first wife, Maria Leopoldina, Archduchess of
Austria:
-
Maria II of Portugal
- Miguel de Bragança, Prince of Brazil (1820,
stillborn)
- Joao Carlos de Bragança, Prince of Brazil
(1821-1822)
- Januária de Bragança, Princess Imperial of Brazil
(1822-1901). Married Luigi Prince of the Two Sicilies, Count di Aquila, son
of Francis I of the Two Sicilies, and had issue.
- Paula de Bragança, Princess of Brazil (1823-1833).
- Francisca de Bragança, Princess of Brazil
(1824-1898). Married Francis d'Orleans, Prince de Joinville, son of
Louis-Philippe of France, and had issue.
-
Pedro II of Brazil
By his second wife, Amélie de Beauharnais von
Leuchtenberg:
- Maria Amélia de Bragança, Princess of Brazil
(1831-1853).
He had also nine illegitimate childrens, including five
with his best-known lover Domitila, Marchioness of Santos, one with her
sister, and one with a nun in Portugal.
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