Belenzada
In Portuguese history, Belenzada is understood to mean the attempt on November 3, 1836 to reverse the September Revolution . The masterminds of this coup were Queen Maria II and a number of conservative politicians. The attempt failed. The name "Belenzada" refers to Belém , at that time an independent place, today a suburb of Lisbon . The royal palace , to which the queen and her co-conspirators had retired, was located in Belém .
prehistory
The constitutionalists, the supporters of a constitutional monarchy , who are also called liberals in Portugal, quickly split into two warring currents after their victory in the Miguelistenkrieg . The left-liberal part of the movement wanted to build on the liberal revolution of 1820 and in particular to reintroduce the constitution of September 1821 that resulted from this revolution. The adherents of these ideas were called Setembrists . The conservative right-wing liberal part of the constitutionalists, on the other hand, wanted to adhere to the constitutional charter given to the country by King Peter IV . They were therefore called cartists .
Queen Maria II, who began to rule independently immediately after the end of the Miguelistenkrieg, was a supporter of the Cartists. Since the end of the war, it had only appointed cartist governments. In September 1836 there was finally a popular uprising in Lisbon, supported by the National Guard, with which the last Cartist government was overthrown (September Revolution). These events forced the Queen, against her will, to appoint a Setembrist government ( Manuel da Silva Passos , Margrave of Sá da Bandeira ). The charter was repealed and the constitution of 1821 reintroduced.
The coup
Queen Maria II could not make friends with this way of things. On November 3rd, barely four weeks after the September Revolution, she was already trying to undo what had happened. To this end, she retired to the Palace of Belém and gathered the most important leaders of the Cartists there. On their advice, they deposed the Setembrist government and appointed a new Cartist cabinet. At the same time, it put the constitutional charter back into force. The National Guard, however, remained loyal to the Setembrists, occupied some strategically important places in Lisbon and cut all communications to Belém. The matter was further complicated by the British , who sent two gunboats into the Tagus River near Lisbon, ostensibly to protect the Queen, who was threatened by the National Guard. This - unwelcome - help led to great problems for the Cartists, as the people got the impression that the English were interfering in the internal affairs of Portugal on the Cartist side. Many cartists also protested against the British intervention. After the Queen saw that she was completely isolated and could do nothing against the National Guard, she finally had to give up her plan and again accept a Setembrist government.
meaning
The Belenzada was just one of a series of uprisings with which the conservative political establishment tried to undo the results of the September Revolution (see also Marshal uprising ). These were ultimately also successful, in 1842 the Queen was able to reinstall a conservative cartist dictatorial government with António Bernardo da Costa Cabral .