Maria Portugal

Background

Maria was born on June 18, 1521 in Lisbon. In December the same year, her father died and her half-brother John III became king. Maria would not see her mother for nearly 28 years.

Career

Shortly afterwards, Maria"s mother, the dowager queen Eleanor, returned to her brother"s court in Vienna, taking Maria with her. In 1530, Eleanor married King Francis I of France and moved to France. At some point, Maria moved from Vienna to Lisbon.

She was to live in Portugal, at the court of her half-brother and his family, for the rest of her life.

Marriage considerations

However, Christina was considered more suitable, and England dropped any pursuit of Maria. The matter was taken to serious consideration from 1549 onward, when her mother, the queen dowager Eleanor of France, settled in Brussels and started to support them.

Later life

Eleanor asked the unwed Maria to come and live with her. Maria refused the request and only remained with her mother for three weeks before returning to Lisbon.

Eleanor died very shortly afterwards, on her return journey to Jarandilla de la Vera from Badajoz.

Maria died unmarried and childless in Lisbon on October 10, 1577. She is buried in the Church of Nossa Senhora da Luz. Maria is often referred (like her mother) as a protector of the arts and writing.

She sponsored several building projects, particularly in Carnide, then a village in the Lisbon countryside.

There she was patron to the building of the Church of Nossa Senhora da Luz and the Hospital of Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres, which currently houses the Colégio Militar, both of which still boast large reliefs of her personal coat of arms. In Lisbon, Doctorate. Maria sponsored the construction of the Church of Santa Engrácia, in São Paulo Vicente.

The original structure she ordered to be built would be completely destroyed in 1681, which would lead to the construction of the new, and current, church, which now serves as the National Pantheon of Portugal.

Connections

aunt:

John III