Chapter One - The Betrothal
Sebastião I de Portugal, attributed to Cristóvão de Morais.
Since he was very young, the subject of the marriage of King Sebastian I of Portugal was one of much discussion at the court of the Paço da Ribeira. Shortly after his birth, which happened two weeks after the death of his father, Fernando Abarca Maldonado, a doctor who had come with Joanna of Austria to Portugal, cast his horoscope, predicting that the young prince would be very attracted to women, marry and father many children. Dowager Queen Catherine of Austria, the young king’s grandmother, seemed intent on forcing this future to happen sooner than later, and quickly began to analyze potential brides.
A woman of a good catholic family was essential, and by the King’s twelfth birthday, it had come down to three names: the sisters Anna and Elisabeth of Austria, daughters of Sebastian’s aunt Maria of Austria with the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II and Marguerite of Valois, daughter of the now-deceased King Henry II of France and the famous Catherine de’ Medici. Dominated by his grandmother since birth, the consent of Sebastian, called Sebastião by his subjects, was almost guaranteed.
As a Habsburg and Archduchess of Austria by birth, the dowager Queen preferred the match with one of her great-nieces, but, after resigning from her role of regent in 1562, she had no power to assert her choices. The regent at the time, and brother-in-law to Queen Catherine, the Infante-Cardinal Henry, who, after watching three generations of men from his family marry Habsburgs (father, brother, and nephew) had reservations about the Austrian match. He felt that they had allowed themselves to be too influenced by the Habsburgs, forgetting their roots and power.
Princess Marguerite was thus chosen. As a younger sister of the French King, the match could award Portugal with a precious ally, and, after the marriage of Philip II of Spain to Margaret’s sister, Elisabeth, pleasing to all parties involved.
Eight months older than her intended, Margaret of Valois was considered beautiful, cultured, and refined. Called the ‘pearl of Valois’, many at court felt the King would be satisfied with his bride, who, after seeing a portrait of hers by François Clouet, is rumored to have said, “The pearl of Paris will soon be the pearl of Lisbon.”
A woman of a good catholic family was essential, and by the King’s twelfth birthday, it had come down to three names: the sisters Anna and Elisabeth of Austria, daughters of Sebastian’s aunt Maria of Austria with the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II and Marguerite of Valois, daughter of the now-deceased King Henry II of France and the famous Catherine de’ Medici. Dominated by his grandmother since birth, the consent of Sebastian, called Sebastião by his subjects, was almost guaranteed.
As a Habsburg and Archduchess of Austria by birth, the dowager Queen preferred the match with one of her great-nieces, but, after resigning from her role of regent in 1562, she had no power to assert her choices. The regent at the time, and brother-in-law to Queen Catherine, the Infante-Cardinal Henry, who, after watching three generations of men from his family marry Habsburgs (father, brother, and nephew) had reservations about the Austrian match. He felt that they had allowed themselves to be too influenced by the Habsburgs, forgetting their roots and power.
Princess Marguerite was thus chosen. As a younger sister of the French King, the match could award Portugal with a precious ally, and, after the marriage of Philip II of Spain to Margaret’s sister, Elisabeth, pleasing to all parties involved.
Eight months older than her intended, Margaret of Valois was considered beautiful, cultured, and refined. Called the ‘pearl of Valois’, many at court felt the King would be satisfied with his bride, who, after seeing a portrait of hers by François Clouet, is rumored to have said, “The pearl of Paris will soon be the pearl of Lisbon.”
Marguerite de Valois by François Clouet
The negotiations would last for at least two years, but Catherine de’ Medici, who had long nurtured a plan to marry her youngest daughter to the Portuguese King had, as early as 1566, added the Portuguese language to her studies, alongside Latin, Spanish, Italian, Greek, and her native French. At the age of fourteen, during the reign of her brother Charles IX, Margaret began to be treated as the future Queen of Portugal and may have seen herself as such since she asked her remaining brothers to call her Margarida, the Portuguese version of her name. The young girl seemed eager for her life in Portugal and devoted to the portrait sent by Infante Henry that showed a tall and blonde handsome youth. "Marguerite prays for the King's health and safety, hoping she is on his mind in the same way that he is in hers," Catherine de Medici wrote to her son, Henry, Duke of Anjou.
As France followed Salic law, it would be impossible for either Margaret or her descendants to inherit the throne on their own, and so the negotiations, aside from the usual discussion of dowry and jewels to be taken to Portugal, focused on what would happen if Margaret were to be left a widow. It was decided that, if she were childless, she would return to France with her jewels and dowry, but, if one of her children, either a son or a daughter, ascended to the throne, she would be allowed to remain at the Portuguese court.
Her dowry was decided at 200,000 livres and, on the 24th of June of 1568, Margaret of Valois began her travel to Portugal. Although King Philip II of Spain, an uncle to King Sebastian and brother-in-law to Princess Marguerite, promised her safe conduct through his territories, Catherine de’ Medici insisted on the young bride traveling through the sea. The excuse that it would be quicker prevented any offense taken by the monarch and, on the 09th of September, three months after her departure from France, Princess Marguerite arrived in Lisbon.
As France followed Salic law, it would be impossible for either Margaret or her descendants to inherit the throne on their own, and so the negotiations, aside from the usual discussion of dowry and jewels to be taken to Portugal, focused on what would happen if Margaret were to be left a widow. It was decided that, if she were childless, she would return to France with her jewels and dowry, but, if one of her children, either a son or a daughter, ascended to the throne, she would be allowed to remain at the Portuguese court.
Her dowry was decided at 200,000 livres and, on the 24th of June of 1568, Margaret of Valois began her travel to Portugal. Although King Philip II of Spain, an uncle to King Sebastian and brother-in-law to Princess Marguerite, promised her safe conduct through his territories, Catherine de’ Medici insisted on the young bride traveling through the sea. The excuse that it would be quicker prevented any offense taken by the monarch and, on the 09th of September, three months after her departure from France, Princess Marguerite arrived in Lisbon.
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