Afonso VI of Portugal
Afonso VI ruled Portugal from 1656 to 1683 in name, and was deposed by his own brother and wife. Born in 1643, the second son of João IV, he suffered an illness at about three — probably meningitis — that left him paralysed down his left side and, by all contemporary accounts, of very limited mental capacity. He became heir when his elder brother died in 1653. His mother Luisa de Guzmán governed as regent. In 1662 the courtier Luís de Vasconcelos e Sousa, Count of Castelo Melhor, persuaded the young king to assert himself, removed the queen mother to a convent, and ruled in his name as escrivão da puridade. That government was effective in the one thing that mattered. The war of restoration against Spain, running since 1640, was won decisively during it: victories at Ameixial in 1663, Castelo Rodrigo in 1664 and Montes Claros in 1665, largely under the command of the Count of Vila Flor and the French marshal Schomberg. Spain recognised Portuguese independence by the Treaty of Lisbon in 1668. In 1666 he married Marie Françoise of Savoy. She left him within two years, entered a convent, and sought an annulment on grounds of non-consummation, which was granted. His younger brother Pedro took power as regent in 1667, exiled Castelo Melhor, and married Marie Françoise himself in 1668, three months after the annulment. Afonso was held on Terceira in the Azores for seven years and then at Sintra, where he was confined to a single room and where the floor is said to have been worn by his pacing. He died there in 1683.
- Lived: 1643 CE – 1683 CE
- Nationality: Portuguese
- Roles: king, head_of_state
