Catherine of Braganza
Katharina Henrietta von Braganza, Infanta of Portugal , (born November 25, 1638 in the palace of Vila Viçosa in the province of Alentejo in Portugal , † December 31, 1705 in the palace of Bemposta near Lisbon ) was born on May 31, 1662 with the English King Charles II. Married, but not crowned queen as a Catholic.
Life
Childhood and youth
Katharina Henrietta was the third daughter of John IV , King of Portugal and first monarch from the House of Braganza and his wife Luisa von Guzmán . From an early age she was destined to be a political alliance aid to her father. Since her father ruled over a country with a very young independence, political alliances with European ruling houses were very important to him. In order to sustainably consolidate the independence of his country from Spain, Katharina was chosen as the future bride of the English heir to the throne. When she was seven, she received a small picture of her future husband as a gift and was sent to a monastery for further education.
In the time in which Katharina protected and worldly things away lived in the monastery, broke into their future home England a civil war from. After the English King Charles I was arrested and sentenced to death, the English royal family fled to the continent. After the execution of Charles I, the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell ruled England and the further pursuit of the marriage plans between Charles II and Catherine was no longer considered.
While the English royal family hoped for a speedy end to Oliver Cromwell's rule, France and Spain decided to dissolve the Kingdom of Portugal. Luisa von Guzmán , since 1656 regent of Portugal for her sick son Alfons , had consistently turned down all marriage offers for Katharina and continued to hope for a marital and political alliance with England. When Oliver Cromwell died on September 3, 1658, the first hope arose - in Portugal as well as with the exiled English royal family. Oliver Cromwell's son and successor, Richard Cromwell , remained glorious and only for a short time in his father's position. Following a request from Parliament, he gave up the office of Lord Protector without hesitation and voluntarily went into exile. Parliament granted Charles II royal dignity and on May 29, 1660, Catherine's future husband ascended the throne of England.
Negotiations for a wedding between Charles II and Catherine were resumed immediately. As a dowry, Katharina brought the port city of Tangier , the Indian city of Bombay , as well as trade privileges for Brazil and all of East India and 300,000 British pounds into the marriage. Charles II had to guarantee his new wife the free exercise of her faith, guarantee all English subjects in Portugal full commercial and religious freedom and guarantee Portugal military protection from Spain and France. On April 25, 1662, Catherine sailed with her entourage to England, where she landed in Portsmouth on May 13 .
Living in England
The alleged statement made by Charles II when he saw his future wife for the first time has been handed down. So to the English king, confused by the Portuguese Hair Fashion, said: ". My God, They sent me a bat instead of a woman," (My God, they sent me a bat instead of a woman). " Also narrated is, wrote the biographer of Charles II, Antonia Fraser, Katharina's request for a cup of tea and Charles II's answer: "We don't drink tea in England. But maybe some ale will do" (Drink in England we don't have tea. Maybe a beer would be enough?) In fact, it was Katharina von Braganza who brought tea to England and taught the English to love tea. Since she liked to drink tea herself, tea came in large quantities from China to India introduced to England and soon led to tea becoming the drink of fine society.
At the time of their wedding, Katharina knew little about court life. She had been raised in the seclusion of a monastery and was very religious. She spoke little English and little French, so talking to or getting close to her husband was a problem. She knew even less about the courtly intrigues and intrigues and that her husband was a lover of women, who at the time of their marriage was already the father of a few illegitimate children. His favorite at the time was undisputed Barbara Villiers , Lady Castlemaine. In 1662 the so-called Bedchamber Crisis occurred , in which Barbara was even able to assert herself against Katharina's express wishes. Barbara kept her apartment in Whitehall and a little later became the Queen's bed- maid (Lady of the Bedchamber), so she had access to the most private rooms of Catherine. The relationship with the queen, who in contrast to Barbara remained childless and had to accept her as the official mistress, was very tense. In the same year Barbara obtained the dismissal of a lady in waiting for Katharina's because she had dared to argue with her. The king, it seemed for a long time, was pure wax in the hands of his mistress . Until 1663 she had more influence at the English court than the queen. With the other mistresses of her husband, Nell Gwyn or later Louise de Kérouaille , Katharina learned to deal with or, after initial problems, cultivated a friendly relationship.
Katharina never interfered in political affairs, which earned her the sympathy of her husband, who later made her his closest confidante. When she became critically ill due to a miscarriage, Charles II interrupted a company to which he had been invited and cared for it. Childlessness was interpreted negatively by the anti-Catholic opposition in England, since the king's fertility was proven by numerous illegitimate children. Her sterility was interpreted as a sign from heaven that her marriage was not wanted and she was later accused ( Popish Plot ) of even forging plans to murder her husband.
After London was struck by a devastating wave of plague (Great Plague) in 1664 and 1665 , which claimed over 70,000 lives, a fire disaster devastated large parts of the old town in September 1666 . Around 13,000 houses and 89 churches fell victim to the flames. Katharina and her Catholic faith were also made the scapegoat for these catastrophes. In Protestant circles there was a demand for an official divorce between the King and Catherine. Since she remained childless, the next heir to the throne was Charles' younger brother, Jacob , the Duke of York. Jakob had officially declared himself a Catholic as early as 1672 and thus conjured up the old specter of most Protestants. The persecution of Protestants on St. Bartholomew's Night in France and Queen Mary I of England were the greatest fears of most of the English who rejected the return of a Catholic king in England. Catherine's childlessness also triggered a state affair that made her husband's illegitimate son, the Scottish noblewoman Lucy Walter, the legitimate heir to the throne for many Englishmen - James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth . James was illegitimate, but he was a Protestant and the firstborn of Charles II. The calls for divorce from Katharina and recognition of his firstborn, so that the Protestant succession to the throne in England could be ensured, became louder over time. Charles II expressly contradicted these demands and refused to divorce his marriage from parliament. He also expressly refused to feed the public pressure and rumors of a secret marriage between him and Lucy Walter by having his son James confirmed as heir to the throne by Parliament.
The reasons why Charles II did not divorce and also did not allow his son James to be legitimized are not due to his strong love for Katharina or an aversion to James. Charles II felt himself to be a monarch and an absolutist ruler who did not want to set a precedent in the hands of the English parliament to decide on the private affairs of the king. His royal dignity was for him the will of God and at the same time it was his task to defend this will of God against the will of Parliament and the people. Since his father had been sentenced to death by the decision of Parliament, Charles II was all the more relentless in protecting his interests.
A relief of a more private nature came for Katharina when her husband's interest in his long-time mistress Barbara Villiers slowly waned. The Test Act , passed in 1673 , required all officials in administration, justice, church and military to take an oath of supremacy and loyalty under witnesses. In addition, a declaration against the doctrine of transubstantiation of the Catholic Church had to be signed and the reception of communion in the Church of England had to be carried out in public. Since the Villiers had been Catholic for a long time, they had to give up their position at court. Shortly thereafter, a falling out with the king caused her to leave Whitehall.
Due to the accusations of Titus Oates , an English Baptist preacher who, with alleged evidence of a Popish plot for the murder of the king, caused unrest and uprisings in England in 1678 , Katharina had to accept the humiliation that her private rooms were searched. On November 28, 1678, the investigative commission even charged her with high treason, although Oates' accusations later turned out to be pure pipe dreams.
After the anti-papist movement in England weakened, Katharina's life also went smoothly, although she still had to share her husband with his numerous mistresses. On February 5, 1685, Karl was baptized a Catholic and received the last rites. He died on February 6, 1685.
Katharina retired to Somerset House and Hammersmith as a widow . Your relationship with King Jakob II./VII. remained friendly because she could practice her faith more freely than ever with a Catholic king as head of state. On June 10, 1688, she witnessed the birth of the son of Jacob II and his second wife Maria Beatrix of Modena , Jakob Franz .
Shortly after the Glorious Revolution , in which William of Orange triumphed against Jacob II and thus prevented the Catholic succession to the throne in England forever and at the same time had herself proclaimed the English king, Katharina left England forever.
Return to Portugal and end of life
In March 1692 Katharina traveled back to Portugal, where she was enthusiastically received in early 1693. She withdrew to the new palace in Bemposta and lived very quietly, withdrawn and spartan by the standards of the time. In 1704 her brother, King Peter II of Portugal, fell so seriously ill that Catherine was appointed regent. She ruled so skillfully and successfully that her reign was extended further in 1705. On December 31, 1705, Katharina died suddenly of consequences of colic .
Her fortune was shared between various religious institutions and her brother Peter. She received a lavish burial in Belém .
Honors
The Queens borough of New York City is named in her honor.
literature
- Marita A. Panzer: England's Queens . Piper 2006.
- Ronny Baier: Katharina von Braganza. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 24, Bautz, Nordhausen 2005, ISBN 3-88309-247-9 , Sp. 347-364.
Web links
- Catherine of Braganza in the nndb (English)
- Kings & Queens of Britain
| predecessor | Office | Successor |
|---|---|---|
| Henrietta Maria of France |
Queen Consort of England and Ireland Queen Consort of Scotland 1662–1685 |
Maria Beatrice of Modena |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Catherine of Braganza |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Katharina Henriette |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Wife of King Charles II of England |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 25, 1638 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vila Viçosa , Portugal |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 31, 1705 |
| Place of death | Bemposta Palace , Lisbon , Portugal |