Miguelite Wars
The Miguelite Wars were a series of civil conflicts in Portugal from 1828 to 1834, primarily fought between absolutist forces loyal to Dom Miguel and constitutionalist supporters of his brother, Dom Pedro IV. The backdrop of these wars began after the Napoleonic invasion of Portugal in 1807, which forced the royal family to flee to Brazil. In the wake of a liberal revolution in 1820, Dom Pedro returned to Portugal but faced a power struggle with Dom Miguel, who had been appointed regent for Dom Pedro's daughter, Maria II.
Tensions escalated when Dom Miguel rejected Pedro's constitutional charter and seized the throne in 1828, leading to widespread persecution of liberals. The conflict saw significant foreign involvement, including support from Britain and France for the liberal cause. Key battles, including the siege of Oporto and the decisive Battle of Santarém, ultimately led to Miguel's defeat in 1834. Following his surrender, Miguel was exiled, and the constitutional monarchy was reinstated, paving the way for the young Maria II to ascend to the throne. The Miguelite Wars were significant in shaping Portugal's political landscape and the evolution of its monarchy.
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Miguelite Wars
At issue: The formation of a representative national assembly (Cortes) in Portugal
Date: 1828–1834
Location: Portugal
Combatants: Portuguese monarchical absolutists vs. Portuguese constitutionalists
Principal commanders:Absolutists (Miguelites), Dom Miguel, regent to Queen Maria II (1802–1866); Constitutionalists, Dom Pedro I, emperor of Brazil (1798–1834)
Principal battles: Oporto, Cape St. Vincent, Lisbon, Santarém
Result: Formation of the Quadruple Alliance (Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal) to combat absolutism in Europe; exile of Dom Miguel to Germany and establishment of Maria II as queen of Portugal
Background
After Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Portugal in 1807, the Portuguese royal family fled to its American colony of Brazil. A liberal revolution in Oporto, Portugal, in 1820, led to the return of John VI from Brazil as a constitutional monarch, leaving his son Dom Pedro as prince regent of Brazil. Between 1820 and 1828, civil war flared between absolute monarchists and constitutionalists in Portugal, in part leading to the creation of an independent and liberal Brazil in 1822, with Pedro as emperor. Pedro’s brother, Dom Miguel, led an absolutist insurrection in 1823, and the following year was sent into exile in Austria.
Dom Pedro, who had nominally succeeded to the throne of Portugal upon the death of his father in 1826, refused to leave Brazil, instead appointing his young daughter Maria II queen, with Dom Miguel as regent. Pedro, acting as King Peter IV of Portugal, tried to effect a compromise between liberals and absolutists in Portugal. He first issued a constitutional charter, which provided for a parliamentary regime authorized by the monarchy rather than by the people. He then conditionally abdicated the Portuguese throne in favor of Maria on two conditions: that she marry her uncle Dom Miguel and that he accept the parliamentary charter.
Action
Hoping that Pedro would renounce all rights to the Portuguese throne, the Council of Regency refused to publish the charter until General João Carlos de Saldanha Oliveira e Daun forced the issue, supported by a British expeditionary force of 5,000 men. Dom Miguel took the oath in October, 1827, returning as regent to Lisbon in February, 1828, with the British withdrawing in April. Almost immediately, Miguel’s supporters began persecuting the liberals. Miguel seized the throne in July, with the Miguelites seizing all of Portugal except the island of Terceira, in the Azores, which then became the base of operations for Portuguese liberals.
Though virtually all of the mainland was in absolutist hands, the Miguelite fleet was turned back at Praia Bay, on August 12, 1828. The liberals purchased a small squadron of ships with a British loan and courted France, whose people had been persecuted in Portugal. In 1831, Dom Pedro abdicated the Brazilian throne, traveling to Europe to raise money and diplomatic support for the reconquest of Portugal. In July, 1831, France seized the Miguelite fleet in the Tagus River.
In July, 1832, an expedition of 6,500 volunteers from Brazil, England, France, and Portugal sailed from the Azores and seized Oporto. The city then suffered a year-long siege by 80,000 absolutist troops. Gradually, support for Miguel waned. On July 5, 1833, the liberal squadron under Captain Charles James Napier defeated a Miguelite flotilla off Cape St. Vincent. Napier and Antonio José de Sousa Manuel, duke of Terceira, then landed in the Algarve. Terceira captured Lisbon on July 24, 1833.
Spain then attacked the absolutist base at Coimbra in an attempt to capture Don Carlos, pretender to the Spanish throne, who had been given shelter by Dom Miguel. This led to the formation of the Quadruple Alliance in April between liberal forces in Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal, which supported Spanish aid to the constitutionalists, who quickly captured Viseu, Coimbra, and Tomar. Liberal forces combined with Saldanha Oliveira e Daun to defeat Miguel at the decisive Battle of Santarém, on May 16, 1834.
Aftermath
Miguel surrendered on May 26 at évora-Monte, renounced his claim to the throne, and was allowed to go into exile in Germany. Pedro reinstated the liberal constitution of 1826 but died in September, paving the way for Maria II to become queen at age fifteen.
Bibliography
Costa, Sergio Correa da. Every Inch a King: A Biography of Dom Pedro I, First Emperor of Brazil. Translated by Samuel Putnam. London: Hale, 1972.
Livermore, H. V. Portugal: A Short History. 2d ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
Macaulay, Neill. Dom Pedro: The Struggle for Liberty in Brazil and Portugal, 1798–1834. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1986.