Catherine of Braganza

My guest today is someone our listeners have met before.

Historian Sophie Shorland joined us a while back to talk about her wonderful book on Catherine of Braganza, the forgotten queen who, among other things, helped bring tea to Britain.

And she's back now with a brand new book, and she's turned her attention to the most famous queen eagle never had, and found a story most of us think we already know, but really don't.

The book is...

Thank you so much for having me.

It's lovely to be back.

So the last time we talked, we talked about Catherine of Braganza, a genuinely overlooked queen.

Now you've jumped to Elizabeth I, who might be the most written about woman in English history.

The little colony was further increased under the later Stuarts, notably under Charles II.

In the retinue of his Portuguese bride, Catherine of Braganza, were quite a number of moneyed Jews, among them the Brothers da Silva, Portuguese bankers of Amsterdam, who were entrusted with the transmission and administration of the Queen's dowry.

Contemporaneously, with them came the Mendes and the da Costas from Spain and Brazil, who united their families under the name of Mendes da Costa.

About the same period, the Ashkenazi Jews, German Jews, began to arrive in the country.

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end of chapter eleven chapter twelve of post mortem's two mere mortals medical historical essays by charles mclaren chapter twelve king charles the second catherine of braganza and nell

as the best thing that we hear of the life of king charles the second is the manner of his leaving it i confine myself to a

description of his death you will get a moderately good account of it in bishop burnet's history of which swift was so scornful and a recognizable account of it in lord macaulay

points out on june twenty first nineteen o two the late king edward's private secretary wrote that there was not a word of truth in the rumours that had been floating about concerning his majesty's health though on june twenty fourth the coronation was

postponed and he had to be operated on for appendicitis though considering what a sudden thing acute appendicitis is there is little wonder that three days before any one might not have known of his coming ill health on the thursday occurred those dramatic events of which conventional historians have made so much when he was first taken ill on the

monday his poor wife had hurried to his side and had taken the place of at least one of his mistresses in nursing him catherine of braganza may not have had sufficient physical charm to keep his wayward fancy and may not have been able to bear him an heir but at least she was faithful to him unto his death

in her presence the other women retired and she nursed her husband until the horrors of the sick-room overcame her she felt faint and withdrew as macaulay says was carried senseless to her chamber little wonder the sick-room must indeed have been horrible to every sense with all the purgatives and clisters and cauterizations of bare skin and a husband writhing in convulsions and rolling his eyes apparently in the utmost agony though i doubt if he felt anything at all in his fits early in her married life she had fainted when charles had introduced her to his mistress en

So there's actually, between parties and Protestants, there's nowhere really for her to feel totally comfortable.

This is the thing, and actually her religion is something that she's made to feel as a problem very keenly right from the beginning, not just because she received reports of much unrest when it was sort of publicly announced that she was coming, that England was going to have yet another Catholic princess arrive to marry royalty, because remember her sister-in-law, Catherine of Braganza, had married Charles.

She's then going to marry James, and it was not popular.

And being Italian made it a lot worse as well.

And when she arrived, she was told that actually having her pray in public would be too much of a problem.

We don't want to draw attention to the new Catholic princess.

So Catherine of Braganza was told to sort of claim the chapel because technically it had

been hers, but because she lived in a different palace, she never used it.

Not a single peer ventured to affirm that the judgment was legal.

But much was said about the odious character of the appellant, about the impudent accusation which he had brought against Catherine of Braganza, and about the evil consequences which might follow if so bad a man were capable of being a witness.

There is only one way, said the Lord President, in which I can consent to reverse the fellow's sentence.

He has been whipped from Aldgate to Tyburn.

Not a single peer ventured to affirm that the judgment was legal.

But much was said about the odious character of the appellant, about the impudent accusation which he had brought against Catherine of Braganza, and about the evil consequences which might follow if so bad a man were capable of being a witness.

There is only one way, said the Lord President, in which I can consent to reverse the fellow's sentence.

He has been whipped from Aldgate to Tyburn.

In 1664, after more than a century of anarchy, the throne of Morocco passed into the hands of the present Alawite dynasty, and Moulay Rachid became the first sultan of that line.

By 1680 the Rif seems to have entirely passed under the rule of the new dynasty, and furnished the main part of the troops with which Moulay Rachid in 1684 occupied Tangier after the departure of the British, who had been for twenty-two years in possession of the place which formed part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza on her marriage to King Charles II.

Larache was wrested from the Portuguese in 1689 and Azila in 1690, and Moulay Rachid's authority was sufficiently established to allow him to turn his attention to other parts of Morocco.

A revolt of the Rif occurred during the lifetime of his successor, Moulay Abdallah ben Ismail, and was not repressed until 1743, when the rebel leader, the Pasha Ahmed ben Ali, who had succeeded in raising all the northern Jabala tribes, was defeated and killed at Alcazar.

And still further support of which the following may be noted.

In 1662, Charles II married the Portuguese princess, Catherine of Braganza, who, it is said, was very fond of tea, having been accustomed to it in her own country.

Waller, in a poem celebrating the event, ascribes its first introduction to her country in the appended lines.

"Venus her myrtle has, Phoebus her bays, Tea both excels, which she vouchsafes to praise.