Maria I of Portugal Facts & Worksheets

HEALTH DETERIORATION

• Unfortunately, Maria I’s achievements as Queen have received less attention than her ill health. The first description of Maria’s mental disorder mentions an incident of delirium in 1781. A considerable quantity of loss occurred both before and after this illness. Her husband died in May 1786 due to a thrombosis, and her eldest son, Prince Dom José, died from smallpox in September 1788.
• One crucial detail is that, despite receiving instruction, Maria avoided vaccination against smallpox for religious purposes. In November of the same year, the same sickness killed Mariana Vitoria, her daughter, as well as Vitoria’s newborn son and husband, Prince Gabriel de Bourbon of Spain. In the same month, Friar Ignatius of San Caetano, the Queen’s confessor, died from a thrombosis. In December 1788, Carlos III of Spain, Mariana Vitoria’s father-in-law and Maria I’s uncle, passed away, marking the sixth death in three years. 
• Maria began writing about her feelings of melancholy. As cited in a research article entitled ‘Maria I: The losses and glories of the Queen who went down in history as “the Crazy”’, published in 2019:

“restlessness, [...] dry mouth, difficulty swallowing, blurred vision, tremors or heat waves and body aches….”

• Maria I began to exhibit more serious symptoms, most likely from a depressed state, in October 1791, when she was 56 years old. According to the report, she began to plunge into great melancholy, with nocturnal anguish, interrupted sleep and a sadness of spirit. 
• In December of that same year, it was recorded that she was suffering from melancholy reflections, the malaise in her head and a very afflicted mind. Maria I, who had been active and exercised before, had become soft and passive and suffered from insomnia and a lack of appetite at the time. 
• Maria I displayed significant emotions of guilt during her depression, which were most likely erroneous. She felt sinful and, therefore, declined communion. She felt she was responsible for all of the world’s evils and had failed in her obligations. She claimed that the deaths of her children, grandchildren and loved ones were divine retribution for her misdeeds. It is conceivable that the formation of these illusions was influenced, at least in part, by her new confessor, Monsignor José Maria de Melo, the bishop of the Algarve, who continually pressed her to rehabilitate and forgive the survivors of the Távora massacre.
• In a research article entitled ‘What would be the psychiatric diagnosis of D. Maria I, the “mad queen”?’ published in 2021, Maria had a ‘fit’ during a performance at the theatre. After being carried home, she shouted and moaned throughout the night, wandering from side to side, pulling her hair and speaking incoherently. Her talks were sometimes of a low-caste nature.
• At other times, she was cheerful and sang, which was unusual. Maria I received a variety of treatments throughout the years, all of which proved ineffective. In addition to sulphurous water baths, diets, enemas and the consumption of quinine and valerian, she experienced regular bleeding. In 1792, Dr Francis Willis, an unlicensed English doctor, was summoned to Lisbon to treat Maria. Willis was the same person who treated King George III of England. 
• Willis advocated for moral treatment (psychotherapy) and sufficient diet above medication, and the first results were promising. However, unlike his treatment of George III, his role was to advise rather than have complete control over Maria’s care. 
• Willis’s approach proved unsatisfactory: his attempts to release Maria from the pressures of court life, including a sea cruise, were foiled when all her couriers and government officials insisted on accompanying her. Jenifer Roberts, Maria I’s biographer, mentions the use of straitjackets, cold water baths, ointments and enemas, in addition to vomit induction during the treatment process. 
• Willis proclaimed Maria incurable and advised her to continue receiving therapy from physicians at the University of Coimbra. Because of Maria’s condition, her second-born son, Prince João, took over the government in her name. In 1799 João was legally recognised as prince regent, although having governed since 1792.
• There were several incidences of mental disorders in Maria I’s household, which included many inbred marriages. Mariana and Dorothea, two of Maria I’s three sisters, also suffered from mental disorders.
• During Maria I’s reign, the Catholic Church promoted the belief that mental illness was caused by demonic possession. Doctors at the time still believed in the humoral theory that melancholy was caused by black bile accumulation. This justified the Portuguese Queen’s purgative treatments and bleeding.
• Despite the scarcity of evidence about Maria I’s mental illness, the accounts of her complaints and behavioural changes strongly suggest that she experienced multiple depressed and manic episodes, each accompanied by psychotic symptoms. Therefore, based on current psychiatric classification systems, the most likely diagnosis is Bipolar disorder.
• In 1807, French leader Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Portugal, and with British encouragement, the whole House of Braganza fled to Brazil, which was then a colony of Portugal. Maria became known in Brazil as ‘Maria a Louca’ or ‘Maria the Mad’, which was unfortunate given her deteriorating mental and physical health. In 1815, Prince João’s government made Brazil a kingdom, and Maria was named Queen of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves.
• When Napoleon was defeated in 1815, Maria and her family stayed in Brazil. Maria I died of cardiovascular problems in March 1816, aged 82. After Maria’s death, the prince regent became King Dom João VI. In 1821, her body was returned to Lisbon and placed in a mausoleum at the Estrela Basilica, which she had helped found.

LEGACY

• Maria is a revered figure in Brazil and Portugal because of the monumental changes and events during her reign. In Portugal, she is revered as a powerful female character. Her impact is visible in Portugal’s Queluz Palace, a baroque-rococo masterpiece she helped design. To honour her name, a big statue can be found in front of the palace, and a pousada can be found near the palace.
• In Brazil, Maria is regarded as a pivotal character in Brazil’s ultimate independence. Many of Brazil’s national institutions and organisations were established during her reign, albeit under her son’s regency. These institutions predated their modern counterparts and gave the Brazilian colonials significant influence.