Portuguese Succession Crisis of 1580 - Claimants To The Throne

Claimants To The Throne

Portuguese nobility was worried about the maintenance of their independence and sought help to find a new king. By this time the Portuguese throne was disputed by several claimants. Among them were:

• Infanta Catherine, Duchess of Braganza
• Ranuccio Farnese, Hereditary Duke of Parma
• Philip II of Spain
• António, Prior of Crato
• Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy

The Duchess would later be acknowledged as the legitimate heir, after her descendants obtained the throne in 1640 (in the person of her grandson John IV of Portugal), but at that time, she was only one of several possible heirs. According to the principle of agnatic primogeniture, the closest heir was her nephew Ranuccio Farnese, being the son of Catherine's late older sister Maria, followed by his siblings; then the Duchess herself and her children; and only after them, King Philip. Philip II was a foreigner (although his mother was Portuguese) and descended from Manuel I by a female line; as for Anthony, although he was Manuel I's grandson in the male line, he was of illegitimate birth.

The 11-year-old Ranuccio Farnese, Hereditary Duke of Parma and Piacenza, was the grandson of Infante Duarte of Portugal, the only son of Manuel I whose legitimate descendants survived at that time. Ranuccio was according to the feudal custom the first heir to the throne of Portugal. However, his father Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma was an ally and even a subject of the Spanish king, another contender, so Ranuccio's rights were not very forcibly claimed at that time. Ranuccio became reigning Duke of Parma in 1592.

Instead, Ranuccio's mother's younger sister Catherine, Duchess of Braganza, claimed the throne, very ambitiously, but failed. Catherine was married to João I, Duke of Braganza (descendant in male line from Afonso I, Duke of Braganza, an illegitimate son of King John I of Portugal), who himself was grandson of the late Duke Jaime of Braganza, also a legitimate heir of Portugal, being the son of Infanta Isabella, sister of Manuel I and daughter of Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu, second son of King Duarte I. The duchess also had a son, Dom Teodósio de Braganza, who would be her royal heir and successor to the throne. The duchess's claim was relatively strong, as it was reinforced by her husband's position as one of the legitimate heirs; thus they would both be entitled to hold the kingship. Moreover, the Duchess was living in Portugal, not abroad, and was not underage, but 40 years old. Her weaknesses were her gender (Portugal had not had a generally recognized reigning queen) and her being the second daughter, there thus existing a genealogically senior claimant.

According to the old feudal custom, the line of succession of the Portuguese throne would have been:

1. Ranuccio Farnese, Hereditary Duke of Parma and his siblings Odoardo and Margherita
2. Infanta Catherine, Duchess of Braganza and her children
3. Philip II of Spain and his children
4. Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress, Philip's sister, and her children
5. Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy and his children (son of Beatrice of Portugal, Duchess of Savoy, the youngest daughter of Manuel I)