José I of Portugal

Dom Joseph I (, ; 6 June 1714 – 24 February 1777), known as the Reformer (Portuguese: o Reformador), was King of Portugal from 31 July 1750 until his death in 1777. Among other activities, Joseph was devoted to hunting and the opera. Indeed, he assembled one of the greatest collections of operatic scores in Europe. His government was controlled by Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal. The third child and second son of King John V, Joseph became his father's heir as an infant when his older brother, Pedro, Prince of Brazil, died. In 1729 he married Infanta Mariana Victoria, the eldest daughter of Philip V of Spain. Joseph and Mariana Victoria had four daughters: Maria, Mariana, Doroteia, and Benedita. With the death of his father in 1750, Joseph became king of Portugal. His reign witnessed, among other things, a deadly earthquake in Lisbon in 1755 and a Spanish-French invasion of Portugal in 1762. The Lisbon earthquake allowed the Marquis of Pombal to consolidate power and also caused King Joseph to develop claustrophobia, refusing to live in a walled building ever again. Afterwards, Joseph moved his court into a series of tents. A new palace was built for him in Lisbon in the aftermath of the earthquake, but this was left uncompleted. Joseph died in 1777 and was succeeded by his eldest daughter, Queen Dona Maria I. Early life Joseph was the third child of King John V of Portugal and his wife Maria Anna of Austria. He had an older brother Pedro, Prince of Brazil, an older sister Barbara and three younger brothers. When his brother Pedro died in 1714 at the age of two, Joseph became heir apparent with the titles of Prince of Brazil and Duke of Braganza.