Joseph I of Portugal

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Joseph I
Portrait by Miguel António do Amaral, c. 1773
King of Portugal
Reign	31 July 1750 – 24 February 1777
Acclamation	8 September 1750, Lisbon
Predecessor	John V
Successors	Maria I and Peter III
Chief minister	Marquis of Pombal (1756–1777)
Born	6 June 1714 Ribeira Palace, Lisbon, Portugal
Died	24 February 1777(1777-02-24) (aged 62) Sintra Palace, Sintra, Portugal
Burial	Pantheon of the House of Braganza
Spouse	Mariana Victoria of Spain ​ ​ (m. 1729)​
Issue	Maria I of Portugal Infanta Mariana Infanta Doroteia Benedita, Princess of Brazil
Names Portuguese: José Francisco António Inácio Norberto Agostinho English: Joseph Francis Anthony Ignatius Norbert Augustine
House	Braganza
Father	John V of Portugal
Mother	Maria Anna of Austria
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature

Dom Joseph I (Portuguese: José Francisco António Inácio Norberto Agostinho, Portuguese pronunciation: [ʒuˈzɛ]; 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.^[1] His government was controlled by Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal.^[2]

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.^[3] In 1729 he married Infanta Mariana Victoria, the eldest daughter of Philip V of Spain.^[4] 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.