These Dates in History, October 22nd…

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Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, Infante of Spain, John V of Portugal, Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria, Maria Amalia of Austria, October 22nd, Peter the Great of Russia

From the Emperor’s Desk: Today is my birthday and we’ll examine different lives and events in Royal History on this date.

1383 – The male line of the Portuguese House of Burgundy becomes extinct with the death of King Fernando, leaving only his daughter Beatrice. Rival claimants begin a period of civil war and disorder.

1721 – Russian Empire is proclaimed by Tsar Peter I after the Swedish defeat in the Great Northern War.

Emperor Peter I the Great of Russia

Soon after peace was made with Sweden, he was officially proclaimed Emperor of All Russia. Some proposed that he take the title Emperor of the East, but he refused. Gavrila Golovkin, the State Chancellor, was the first to add “the Great, Father of His Country, Emperor of All the Russias” to Peter’s traditional title Tsar following a speech by the archbishop of Pskov in 1721.

Peter’s imperial title was recognized by Augustus II of Poland, Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia, and Fredrik I of Sweden, but not by the other European monarchs. In the minds of many, the word emperor connoted superiority or pre-eminence over kings. Several rulers feared that Peter would claim authority over them, just as the Holy Roman Emperor had claimed suzerainty over all Christian nations.

Births

Pre-1600

955 – Qian Weijun, king of Wuyue (d. 991)

1071 – William IX, Duke of Aquitaine (d. 1126)

1197 – Juntoku, Japanese emperor (d. 1242)

king (d. 1750)

1689 — João V (October 22, 1689 – July 31, 1750), known as the Magnanimous and the Portuguese Sun King, was a monarch of the House of Braganza who ruled as King of Portugal during the first half of the 18th century. João V’s reign saw the rise of Portugal and its monarchy to new levels of prosperity, wealth, and prestige among European courts.

João V’s reign saw an enormous influx of gold into the coffers of the royal treasury, supplied largely by the royal tax on precious metals) that was received from the Portuguese colonies of Brazil and Maranhão.
Disregarding traditional Portuguese institutions of governance, João V ruled as an absolute monarch. In keeping with a traditional policy pursued by previous monarchs of the House of Braganza and which stressed the importance of relations with Europe, João V’s reign was marked by numerous interventions into the affairs of other European states, most notably as part of the War of the Spanish Succession.

Maria Amalia of Austria, Holy Roman Empress

1701 – Maria Amalia of Austria (Maria Amalie Josefa Anna; October 22, 1701 – December 11, 1756) was Holy Roman Empress, Queen of the Germans, Queen of Bohemia, Electress and Duchess of Bavaria etc. as the spouse of Emperor Charles VII. By birth, she was an Archduchess of Austria, the daughter of Emperor Joseph I and Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Maria Amalia had seven children, only four of whom lived through to adulthood, including Maximilian III, Elector of Bavaria.

1781 – Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France (d. 1789) Louis Joseph Xavier François (October 22, 1781 – June 4, 1789) was Dauphin of France as the second child and first son of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. As son of a king of France, he was a fils de France (“Child of France”). Louis Joseph died at the age of seven from tuberculosis and was succeeded as Dauphin by his four-year-old brother Louis Charles.

Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, German Empress and Queen of Prussia

1858 – Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (October 22, 1858 – April 11, 1921) was the last German Empress and Queen of Prussia by marriage to Wilhelm II, German Emperor.

Augusta Victoria was born at Dolzig Castle, the eldest daughter of Friedrich VIII, future Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, and Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a great-niece of Queen Victoria, through Victoria’s half-sister Feodora. Augusta Victoria grew up at Dolzig until the death of her grandfather, Christian August II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, in 1869. The family then moved to Castle Primkenau and the estate her father had inherited. She was known within her family as “Dona.”

1859 – Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria (October 22, 1859 – 23 November 23, 1949), was a member of the Bavarian Royal House of Wittelsbach and a General of Cavalry. Following his marriage to Infanta María de la Paz of Spain, the third surviving daughter of Queen Isabella II of Spain and her husband Infante Francisco of Spainhe was also created an Infante of Spain.

Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria, Infante of Spain

Prince Ludwig Ferdinand was the eldest son of Prince Adalbert of Bavaria (1828–75) and Infanta Amalia of Spain (1834–1905). He was a paternal grandson of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and his wife Princess Therese of Saxe-Altenburg. His maternal grandparents were Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain and his wife Princess Luisa Carlotta of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.

Ludwig Ferdinand’s paternal uncles were King Maximilian II of Bavaria, King Otto I of Greece and Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria. His maternal uncle was King-Consort Francisco of Spain (1822–1902) and maternally his first cousin was King Alfonso XII of Spain (1857–85), two years his senior. Ludwig Ferdinand was born in Madrid, but his younger siblings in Bavaria, where they had returned. Ludwig II, Otto I and Ludwig III, Kings of Bavaria, were his first cousins. Alfonso XIII (reigned 1885–1931) was a first cousin’s son.

Deaths

741 – Charles Martel, Frankish king (b. 688)

842 – Abo, Japanese prince (b. 792)

1383 – Ferdinand I of Portugal (b. 1345)

1751 – Willem IV, Prince of Orange, Hereditary Stadtholder of all the United Provinces of the Netherlands. (September 1, 1711 – 22 October 22, 1751). As Prince of Orange he was ruler of the Principality of Orange-Nassau within the Holy Roman Empire.

Willem was born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, the son of Johan Willem Friso, Prince of Orange, head of the Frisian branch of the House of Orange-Nassau, and of his wife Landgravine Marie Louise of Hesse-Cassel (or Hesse-Cassel). He was born six weeks after the death of his father.

Willem succeeded his father as Stadtholder of Friesland and also, under the regency of his mother until 1731, as Stadtholder of Groningen. In 1722 he was elected Stadtholder of Guelders. The four other provinces of the Dutch Republic:, Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht and Overijssel had in 1702 decided not to appoint a stadtholder after the death of the last stadtholder Willem III, (William III-II, King of England, Scotland and Ireland) issuing the history of the Republic into a period that is known as the Second Stadtholderless Period. In 1747 those four provinces also accepted Willem IV as their stadtholder, becoming the first Hereditary Stadtholder of all the United Provinces of the Netherlands.

On March 25, 1734 Willem IV married at St James’s Palace Anne, Princess Royal, eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach.

1761 – Louis George, Margrave of Baden-Baden (b. 1702)

2002 – Queen Geraldine of Albania (b. 1915)

September 23, 1713: Birth of Fernando VI, King of Spain.

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Ferdinand VI of Spain, House of Bourbon, Infanta Barbara of Portugal, Jesuits, John V of Portugal, King Carlos III of Spain, King Felipe V of Spain, Kingdom of Spain, Ricardo Wall, War of the Austrian Succession

Fernando VI (September 23, 1713 – August 10, 1759), called the Learned (el Prudente) and the Just (el Justo), was King of Spain from July 9, 1746 until his death. He was the third ruler of the Spanish Bourbon dynasty. He was the son of the previous monarch, Felipe V, and his first wife Maria Luisa of Savoy.

Born at the Royal Alcázar of Madrid, Infante Fernando endured a lonely childhood. His stepmother, the domineering Elisabeth Farnese, had no affection except for her own children, and looked upon Fernando as an obstacle to their fortunes. The hypochondria of his father left Elisabeth mistress of the palace.

Fernando was by temperament melancholic, shy and distrustful of his own abilities. When complimented on his shooting, he replied, “It would be hard if there were not something I could do.” Shooting and music were his only pleasures, and he was the generous patron of the famous singer Farinelli, whose voice soothed his melancholy.

Marriage

Fernando was married in 1729 to Infanta Barbara of Portugal, daughter of King João V of Portugal and Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, was a daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg. Maria Anna was a sister of Holy Roman Emperors Joseph I and Charles VI. Through her brother Charles, she was an aunt of Maria Theresa, Austria’s only queen regnant.

Beginning of the reign

When he came to the throne, Spain found itself in the War of the Austrian Succession, which ended without any benefit to Spain. He started his reign by eliminating the influence of his stepmother and her group of Italian courtiers. As king he followed a steady policy of neutrality in the conflict between France and Britain and refused to be tempted by the offers of either into declaring war on the other.

Prominent figures during his reign were Marquis of Ensenada, a Francophile; and José de Carvajal y Lancáster, a supporter of the alliance with Great Britain. The fight between both ended in 1754 with the death of Carvajal and the fall of Ensenada, after which Ricardo Wall became the most powerful advisor to the monarch.

The most important tasks during the reign of Ferdinand VI were carried out by the Marquis of Ensenada, the Secretary of the Treasury, Navy and Indies. He suggested that the state help modernize the country. To him, this was necessary to maintain a position of exterior strength so that France and Great Britain would consider Spain as an ally without supposing Spain’s renunciation of its claim to Gibraltar.

Church relations were really tense from start of the reign of Felipe V because of the recognition of Charles of Austria as the King of Spain by the pope. A regalist policy was maintained that pursued as much political as fiscal objectives and whose decisive achievement was the Concord of 1753. From this the right of universal patronage was obtained from Pope Benedict XIV, giving important economic benefits to the Crown and a great control over the clergy.

King Fernando VI helped create the Royal Academy of the Fine Arts of San Fernando in 1752. The noted composer Domenico Scarlatti, music teacher to Queen Barbara, wrote many of his 555 harpsichord sonatas at Fernando VI’s court.

During the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years’ War, Spain reinforced its military might.

The main conflict was its confrontation with Portugal over the colony of Sacramento, from which British contraband was transferred down the Río de la Plata. In 1750 José de Carvajal helped Spain and Portugal strike a deal. Portugal agreed to renounce the colony and its claim to free navigation down the Río de la Plata.

In return, Spain ceded to Portugal two regions on the Brazilian border, one in the Amazon and the other to the south, in which were seven of the thirty Jesuit Guaraní towns. The Spanish had to expel the missionaries, generating a conflict with the Guaraní people that lasted eleven years.

The conflict over the towns provoked a crisis in the Spanish Court. Ensenada, favorable to the Jesuits, and Father Rávago, confessor of the King and members of the Society of Jesus, were fired, accused of hindering the agreements with Portugal.

Death

During his last year of reign, Fernando VI was rapidly losing his mental capacity and he was held in the Villaviciosa de Odón castle until his death on 10 August 1759. That period of time between August 1758 and August 1759 is known in Spanish historiography as the year without a king, due to the absence of the royal figure as ruler.

The cause of the disease is still debated. Some authors suggest that the king suffered a depressive episode. The death of his wife Barbara, who had been devoted to him, and who carefully abstained from political intrigue, broke his heart. Between the date of her death in August 1758 and his own on August 10, 1759, he fell into a state of prostration in which he would not even dress, but wandered unshaven, unwashed and in a nightgown about his park.

Other opinion is that Fernando VI suffered a rapidly progressive clinical syndrome where behavioral disorganization with apathy and impulsivity, loss of judgment, and epileptic seizures of right frontal lobe semiology were predominant. This semiology is highly suggestive of a right frontal lobe syndrome. As the couple had no children, Fernando VI was succeeded as King by his half-brother as King Carlos III.

May 25, 1786. Death of King Pedro III of Portugal

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Archduchess of Austria, Brazil, Duke of Braganza, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, Infanta Benedita of Portugal, John V of Portugal, Joseph I of Portugal, Joseph of Brazil, Kingdom of Portugal, Maria I of Portugal, Pedro III of Portugal

Pedro III (July 5, 1717 – May 25, 1786), nicknamed the Builder, became King of Portugal jure uxoris by the accession of his wife and niece Queen Maria I in 1777, and co-reigned alongside her until his death.

Pedro III, King of Portugal

Pedro was born at 12:00 noon on July 5, 1717 in the Ribeira Palace in Lisbon, Portugal.nHe was baptized on August 29, and was given the name HRH Prince Pedro Clemente Francisco José António de Braganza of Portugal.

His parents were King João V and his wife Archduchess Maria-Anna of Austria, who was a daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and Eleanor-Magdalene of Neuburg. Archduchess Maria-Anna was a sister of Holy Roman Emperors Joseph I and Charles VI. Through her brother Charles, she was an aunt of Maria Theresa, Empress Consort of Holy Roman Emperor Franz I, and Queen of Bohemia, Hungary and Archduchess of Austria in her own right.

King João V of Portugal (father of King Pedro III and King José I of Portugal)

Archduchess Maria-Anna of Austria (mother of King Pedro III and King José I of Portugal)

Pedro was a younger brother of King José I of Portugal. Their maternal Eleanor-Magdalene of Neuburg, was the older sister of Maria-Sophia Elisabeth of Neuburg (1666-1699) who was Queen of Portugal as the wife of King Pedro II from 1687 until her death in 1699. A popular queen, she was noted for her extraordinary generosity and for being the mother of the famously extravagant King João V of Portugal.
Reign

Pedro married his niece Infanta Maria, Princess of Brazil, on June 6, 1760, at which time she was the heiress presumptive to the throne then held by his brother King José I of Portugal. Infanta Maria, Princess of Brazil was the daughter of King José I of Portugal and Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain, daughter of King Felipe V of Spain and Elisabeth Farnese. The elder sister of King José I of Portugal was Infanta Barbara of Portugal married the future Fernando VI of Spain.

Queen Maria I of Portugal

At the time of their marriage, Maria was 25 and Pedro was 42. Despite the age gap, the couple had a happy marriage.

With the death of King José I on February 24, 1777, the throne passed to his daughter who ascended the throne as Queen Maria I. According to custom, Pedro thus became King of Portugal as Pedro III in right of his wife (jure uxoris), who he reigned with jointly. They had six children, of whom the eldest surviving son succeeded Maria as João VI on her death in 1816.

Pedro III made no attempt to participate in government affairs, spending his time hunting or in religious exercises.
He also defended the high nobility of Portugal, and sponsored the petitions of those accused in Távora affair, whose rehabilitation was subject of new lawsuits, in which the heirs demanded the restitution of their confiscated properties.

King José I of Portugal

Pedro III was moderately friendly toward the Jesuits, who had been banished from Portugal and its overseas empire in 1759, largely at the behest of the Marquis of Pombal. Pedro III had taken some of his early education from the Jesuits, explaining this. His affection had little effect; Pope Clement XIV ordered the Jesuits suppressed across Europe in 1773.

Maria I (December 17, 1734 – March 20, 1816) was the first undisputed queen regnant of Portugal and the first monarch of Brazil. With Napoleon’s European conquests, her court, then under the direction of her son João, the Prince Regent, moved to Brazil, then a Portuguese colony. Later on, Brazil would be elevated from the rank of a colony to that of a kingdom, with the consequential formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves.

Infante José, Prince of Brazil, Duke of Braganza

The eldest son of Pedro III and Maria I was Infante José, Prince of Brazil, Duke of Braganza (August 20, 1761 – September 11, 1788) was the heir apparent to the Kingdom of Portugal until his death in 1788. Infante José died of smallpox at the age of 27, causing his younger and ill-prepared brother, Infante João, to become heir-apparent and eventually King. João’s reign would be a turbulent one, seeing the Napoleonic invasion of Portugal and the loss of the Portuguese Empire’s largest and wealthiest colony, Brazil.

Marriage of Infante José, Prince of Brazil, Duke of Braganza

On February 21, 1777, when Infante José, was 15 years old, he married his 30-year-old aunt the Infanta Benedita of Portugal. Benedita was an attractive woman and the main candidate for the wife of José. The marriage was the express wish of the dying King José I of Portugal.

Infanta Benedita of Portugal

This union is an example of the most inbred unions in European Royal History. As we have seen, Infante José was the product of an Uncle-Nice marriage and then he proceeded to marry his own aunt, the sister of his mother!

Thankfully they had no children, however she miscarried twice: in 1781 and in 1786. Three days after their wedding, is when José’s grandfather and Benedita’s father the old King José died, and his mother succeeded as queen regnant. Infante José became the new crown prince, being accorded the titles Prince of Brazil and 14th Duke of Braganza.

King Pedro III died at the age of 68 on May 25, 1786.