The long regency cycle and the transition to the constitutional regime (1786-1834)

Abstract

Among the most striking aspects of the birth of the constitutional regime were, on the one hand, the instability of the succession to the throne in the House of Braganza, reflected in successive regencies, and, on the other hand, the use of military force (Évora-Monte, 1834) to resolve the problem once the political struggle had failed to impose a solution. This text seeks to emphasise and analyse the continuing crisis of the regencies, a precariousness of the throne that may have contributed to the persistence of a change of regime. For five decades (1786-1834), the Kingdom only had one king in office, for around five years (1821-1826) and another, a ‘usurper of the throne’, for another six years (1828-1834) who cohabited with the regencies in exile.