Infanta Maria, Duchess of Viseu

Infanta Maria
Duchess of Viseu
House House of Aviz-Beja
Father Manuel I of Portugal
Mother Eleanor of Austria
Born 18 June 1521
Lisbon, Kingdom of Portugal
Died 10 October 1577(1577-10-10) (aged 56)
Lisbon, Kingdom of Portugal
Burial Chapel of Our Lady of Luz
Religion Roman Catholicism

The Infanta Maria, Duchess of Viseu (Lisbon, 18 June 1521 – Lisbon, 10 October 1577; Portuguese pronunciation: [mɐˈɾiɐ]; English: Mary) was a Portuguese infanta (princess) daughter of King Manuel I and his wife Eleanor of Austria.

Maria was born on June 18, 1521 in Lisbon. She is often referred (like her mother) as a protector of the arts and writing.[1] She was at one point considered as a second wife for her nephew and cousin (the future Philip II of Spain).[2]

Her father died in 1521 and her mother married King Francis I of France in 1530. Maria would not see her mother for 20 years; when they finally reunited in 1557, upon her mother's retirement to Spain, Maria refused to come to live with her and only remained with her for three weeks before returning to Lisbon.

Maria died unmarried and childless in Lisbon on October 10, 1577, and is buried in the Chapel of Our Lady of Luz.

Ancestry

References

Media related to Infanta Maria, Duchess of Viseu at Wikimedia Commons
  1. ^ Paulo Pereira, Enciclopédia dos Lugares Mágicos de Portugal, volume IX
  2. ^ Juan de Mariana: Historia general de España, vol. XIV