In our previous posts concerning the royals that helped to shape history in whatever context we have approached, we have acknowledged that history repeats itself in wherever part of the globe that monarchy (in such specific context) is or could be found. Looking to the tropics, Brazil's own history concerning the royals that left their marks in it, could not be different.
On today's post, we will discuss the lifetime of this Brazilian princess who could have been the first Empress of the tropics, in a charge that her contemporary Queen Victory would later occupy as Empress of India, had the coup d'état that replaced the old system of monarchy for republicanism, been prevented.
To those who are more familiar with Princess Isabel, she is most remembered for signing the Aurea Law, which granted freedom to all of the slaves in one of the last countries to abolish slavery. This particular deed granted the princess the nickname of "The Redemptress", but other than that historians have been questioning her role as regent during the times where her father, Emperor Pedro II, had been absent for reasons of health or for visiting friends and fellow monarchs in Europe; and the extent of her importance to Brazil's history. Whatever is the ideology one believes, it must be understood that every historical character is important for the construction of history. To deny that, is to undermine their relevance for History itself. Being a minor character or not, it is our duty to the figures they were to find out until what extent did their path as privileged persons crossed to History maker.
And to our princess, the Empress who never was, this could not be different. She had in her royal blood ancestors as Maria Theresa the Holy Roman Empress (who was also another subject to this blog), Louis XIV of France, Philippe II of Spain and even Henry VII Tudor through Mary, Queen of Scots. Not to mention the line of the Braganças of Portugal and Orléans of Spain.
Isabel, christened Isabel Cristina Leopoldina Augusta Micaela Gabriela Rafaela Gonzaga of Orléans-Braganza, was born on 29 July 1846 at the Palace of Saint Christopher [Portuguese: Paço de São Cristóvão] as the second child and first daughter of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil and his consort, Empress Maria Theresa of the Two Siciles. Before her birth, Isabel had an older brother named Alfonso, but he died at a tender age. After Leopoldina's birth, another brother was born, Pedro, but he did not live infancy.
It is said that Isabel's childhood was a happy one, once her mother, Empress Theresa (whose life we have already discussed on this blog, as well as of Emperor Pedro II's) always did her best in provide a happy and safe background accordingly to the social expectations of the 19th century towards their gender, which reflects the morality that marked this particular time in History. After the death of Pedro in 1850, Isabel's position rose as the presumptive heiress to the Brazilian empire. However, such position much concerned her father, since those were days that women were not expected to be the chief of state, though in 19th century England the same cannot be said of Queen Victoria. The next paragraph, thus reinforces what the Emperor thought of the whole situation:
"The Emperor's words revealed his inner conviction. After learning of the death of his son Pedro in 1850, he wrote: 'This has been the most fatal blow that I could receive, and certainly I would not have survived were it not that I still have a wife and two children whom I must educate so that they can assure the happiness of the country in which they were born.' Seven years later, in 1857, when it was more than clear that no more children would be born, the Emperor wrote: 'As to their education, I will only say that the character of both the princesses ought to be shaped as suits Ladies who, it may be, will have to direct the constitutional government of an Empire such as Brazil."Despite of the fondness he undoubtedly had for his daughters, much of the Emperor's words reflect the common sense that was for the male-dominating society of those days in having male heirs. As historian Roderick J. Barman claims
"[...] the Emperor [...] although he valued D. Isabel as his daughter, he simply could not accept or perceive her in cold reality as his successor or regard her as a viable ruler. The main reason for this behaviour was his attitude toward the female gender. "Pedro II believed, as did most men of his day", says Barman, "that a single woman could not manage life's problem on her own, even if she possessed the powers and authority of an empress."As a result, Isabel's education was, perhaps, more fitting for a consort rather than a sole Empress. She was educated in "Portuguese and French literature, astronomy, chemistry, the history of Portugal, England and France, drawing, piano, dancing, political economy, geography, geology and [...] philosophy" She would be also fluent in French, English and German. It is also said that her father, the emperor himself, taught his daughters Latin.
Politics were not included in Isabel's education and hardly there were any approach of her father to introduce her to the matters of state. She was not taught about diplomacy nor was presented to the tasks that a presumptive heir should. Such neglection is explained not for the lack of fondness towards his daughter, but because the emperor was the product of a society dominated by male costums. Perhaps she would have been more acceptable amongst the rural nobility and more of the elite conservative had she been better acquainted with the role of a future Empress balanced with one of religious consort. It is said that Isabel
"[...] 'accepted women as dependent and obedient, and indeed her mother's and her governess's behavior did not justify anything else.' She 'did not lack powers of observation and a certain shrewdness, but she was very accepting of existance as it was and certainly not given to pondering the justification of existence for the established order'. All this meant that Isabel would not attempt a 'position in life autonomous of her father', even less rival him."Isabel's character as adolescent was subject of comparisons to that of her father's in the same age. Apparently, she had a dispersive attention to things that did not hold her attention for longer than necessary and "a tendency to take a cheerful view of life". The princess was also "not afraid to speak her mind, and [...] held strong views." Physically, she was said to have been short, blond hair and blue eyes. She had no eyebrows and was a little overweight. When Gaston, Count of Eu, first saw her and Leopoldina, he described the sisters to be "ugly".
Although arranged as political match, it would develop to a love relationship. Isabel much relied on her loved husband, and this would be seen with some suspicious by the Brazilians, whom the prince of the royal house of France grew to be very attached to, as seen here:
"Isabel married French prince Gaston d'Orléans, through an arranged marriage in 1865. Although the prince initially described Isabel as ugly, they developed a strong attachment, and by all accounts they had a happy and loving marriage until their deaths (she in 1921, he in 1922). Likewise, he seemed to love Brazil, and he even fough for Brazil in the Paraguayan War."Once this war which the Empire of Brazil fought against Paraguay after a diplomacy disaster committed by the latter ended, we come to Isabel's regency. As the next paragraph attests:
"Isabel played an important symbolic role during the first regency. Brazil had been gradually moving towards abolition of slavery for some time; as early as the 1820s, in constitutional debates for the new empire, some politicians spoke out against the institution. Mounting pressure from the English led to Brazil's formal abolition of the slave trade in 1850 (though illegal trade continued). After the Paraguayan War, however, the abolition movement really accelerated; during the war, many slaves and ex-slaves fought, often gaining numerous awards for their conduct on the field, and to return to slavery was an obvious problem. [...] In 1871, Brazil passed the Law of Free Birth, declaring that any child born to a slave woman after 28 September 1871 [...] would be free. Although Viscount Rio Branco wrote the law and Brazil's parliament passed it, it was Princess Isabel's signature that made the law the rule of the land. It would not be the last time her name was directly tied to the abolitionist movement."Many historians nowadays disdainly question the extent of Isabel's support to the abolitionist cause. There are evidences that one of the reasons she did not openly embraced the movement was for fear to cause a negative impact to the majority of the supporters of monarchy, which were the owners of slave. This is a complex relationship that over 200 years had shaped Brazil during it's days as Portugal's colony and, in a similar situation in the Russia of Tsar Alexander II where putting serlfdom to an end resulted in his assassination, it should be careful when dealing with it. Isabel was not prepared for her charge, never she was taught to the role expected for the daughter of an Emperor as Pedro II and, to her disavantadge, many suspected she was a puppet of her husband, the french Prince Gaston. Many Brazilians saw her religious character and devotion to the Catholic Church with not good eyes, for they feared France and Rome would govern the country upon Pedro II's death when Isabel ascended as Empress. Isabel's piety is, here, not associated with kindness and support to a long cause of the abolishment of slavery, but rather a pawn of the Church. It did not help her side that she was associated "with ultramontanism, which emphasied the authority of the Church over the government."
After this first period of regency, Pedro II excluded her from government, which must have been a sort of relief for her as, according to "Castelo de Papel" by historian Mary del Priore, she distressed easily with tasks she was not only unprepared to take but disliked it much doing so. Nevertheless,
"a second period of regency began in 1876. This regency was marked with illness [for Gaston and Isabel], as well as fraud and intrigue within the government and public strife. Isabel and Gaston retreated intro private life as this disaster, even spending three years living in Paris."However, it is her third and last time as regent that would mark not only Princess Isabel's position as presumptive heiress to the imperial crown but all of Brazil's history as well. She was once again forced to assume regency when Pedro II fell in 1888. When this happened,
"[...] conservatives were in power in parliament, and were still resisting total abolition. However, by this point, Isabel allegedly felt slavery's time was fast coming to an end. In 1888, she appointed a new government, led by João Alfredo Correia da Oliveira, also from the conservative party. The new government quickly introduced a law abolishing slavery in May of 1888; it passed the Chamber of Deputies (by a count of 83-9) before going to the Senate, which also passed the law. On May 13, 1888, Princess Isabel, who suddenly became known as A Redentora, or "The Redemptress", signed the "Golden Law", making Brazil the last country in the western hemisphere to abolish slavery."Yet, this act was a final blow for Brazilian's monarchy to fall. Republican sayings were already a trend in the country, though supported mostly by militaries, in spite of Pedro II's high popularity. Freedom of speech was, against expectations if observed in countries as Russia whose tsars forbade to speak ill of them, granted and news based in France's liberté, egalité et fraternité were spread (which is, historically speaking, hardly something new, but certainly gained a new refresh in this particular context). As it was said before, however, abolishing slavery was an act that affected all of the country, whose economy still largely relied on slaves and was in the beginning of "changing" it to immigrants.
Isabel's role in it has been minimized, but only because it is failed to observe that by the late 1870's, monarchy was more likely being shaped to be the head of the government than an active system that once was. As a regent, and one very inexperienced, she had to please both struggling sides: the liberals and the conservatives. It is also claimed that she was willing to give the vote for the women, something which would not happen until 1930's, and that she had set free many of her own slaves, taking those who escaped of their masters to her house, aiding them thus. It was also rumoured that Pedro II saw it coming and was more to a "republican" than a monarch. Whatever the case, 1889 came and, regardless of the high level of popularity of Princess Isabel and her father, the Emperor, a coup d'état occurred and the royal family was forced to live in exile.
"Isabel spent the rest of her days in exile in France. Although the Brazilian government lifted the ban on the royal family traveling to Brazil in 1920, Isabel's worsening health made any chance of a return to her birthplace impossible, and in 1921, she died at the age of 75. In 1953, however, her remains (along with those of her husband) were repatriated, and in 1971, they were buried alongside those of Isabel's parents in the cathedral in Petrópolis, the imperial center of Brazil."Whatever that were the myths and the truths that surrounded this gracious figure, we are at least thankful that in our present days we find more biographies concerning her historical character, discussing with far more details than those here presented. So that way different perspectives can rise to propose more discussions about this woman who did so much to Brazil and yet, likely because of republicanism, is left in the corner of history books.
Bibliography:
-https://americasouthandnorth.wordpress.com/2012/09/02/get-to-know-a-brazilian-princess-isabel/
-http://international.loc.gov/intldl/brhtml/br-1/br-1-5-3.html
-http://www.unofficialroyalty.com/july-29-1846-birth-of-isabel-princess-imperial-of-brazil/
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário