Britanniæ speculum, or, A short view of the ancient and modern state of Great Britain, and the adjacent isles, and of all other the dominions and territories, now in the actual possession of His present Sacred Majesty King Charles II the first part, treating of Britain in general.

CHAP. XIV. Of the Present Queen of Great Britain: Her Name, Genealogy, Birth, Mar∣riage, Portion, Jointure, and Arms.

THE present Queen of Great Bri∣tain is Donna CATHARINA In∣fanta of Portugal. Her Name Catharina,* 1.1 originally Greek, signifies a Woman of excelling Purity and Chastity.

She had for Father John the IVth.* 1.2 King of Portugal, and is lineally de∣scended from John of Gaunt, King of Castile and Leon, Duke of Lancaster, and fourth Son to Edward the IIId. King of England, as here appear∣eth.

John of Gaunt, besides several other Children, had a Daughter, named

• Philippa, married to John the Ist. tenth King of Portugal, by whom she had Issue

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  • Edward, the eleventh King of Portugal.
    • Alphonso the Vth. twelfth King of Portugal.
      • Emanuel, second Son, who Succeeded his Elder Brother John the IId. dying Issueless, and was the fourteenth King of Portugal.
        • Edward Infante, sixth Son.
          • Catharina, married to John, Duke of Braganza, and, after the Death of her Uncle Henry the seventeenth King of Portugal, true Heir to the Crown, from which she was barred by the Arms of Philip the IId. King of Spain.
            • Duke of Braganza.
              • John Duke of Braganza, who in the year 1640. recovered his Inheritance,

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  • ...
    • ...
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            • ...
              • and reigned over Portugal by the Name of John the IVth.
                • The Infanta Donna Catharina, Queen Consort of Great Britain.

Her Majesties Mother was Donna Lucia, Daughter of Don Gusman el Bu∣eno, a Spaniard, Duke of Medina Sido∣nia, lineally descended from Ferdinan∣do de la Cerde, and his Wife Blanche, Daughter to St. Lewis, King of France, who relinquished to her his Right and Title to Spain, derived to him by his Mother Blanche, eldest Daughter and Heir of the Spanish King Alphonso. She was a Lady of that admired Magnani∣mity and Prudence, that the King her Husband trusted so much of the Reins of Government to her masculine and politick Spirit, as occasioned a jesting Spaniard to say: That it was not the Portugal Force, but the Spanish Policy, which kept that Kingdom from the Ca∣tholick King.

The Queen of Great Britain is the only Sister of Don Alphonso the VIth. the two and twentieth King of Portu∣gal, born in the year 1642, and hath one Brother more, named Don Pedro

born 1648, and now called Prince Re∣gent of Portugal.

* 1.3She was born the fourteenth of No∣vember. 1638, at Villa Vicosa in Portu∣gal, her Father, who (tho right Heir to the Crown of Portugal) was then only Duke of Braganza, being the most potent Subject in Europe: for a third part of Portugal was even at that time holden of him in vassal∣lage.

* 1.4Having been most carefully and pi∣ously educated by Mother, she was at the Age of two and twenty desired in marriage by Charles the IId. King of Great Britain: And the Marriage, not long after concluded by the Negotia∣tion of Sir Richard Fanshaw, Ambassa∣dor of his Majesty of Great Britain in the Court of Portugal, and of Frances∣co de Melo, Conde de Ponte, Marquis de Sande, Extraordinary Ambassador from the King of Portugal, being so∣lemnized at Lisbon, on the twenty third of April, 1662. being the Festi∣val of St. George, Patron both of Eng∣land and Portugal, she embarkt for England, and was by his Excellency

Edward Earl of Sandwich, Vice-Admi∣ral of England, safely conducted by a Squadron of Ships to Portsmouth, where being met by the King, she was remar∣ried to him.

From Portsmouth she was by his Ma∣jesty brought to Hampton-Court, where she continued till the three and twen∣tieth of August following, when com∣ing up thence by Water, she was with great Pomp and Magnificence received at Chelsey by the Lord Mayor and Al∣dermen of London, who waited on her thence by Water to Whitehal.

The Portion,* 1.5 brought by her Ma∣jesty, was eight hundred Millions of Reas, or two Millions of Crusadoes, amounting to about three hundred thousand Pounds Sterling; the City of Tangier on the Coast of Africk; and the Isle of Bombaim nere Goa in the East-Indies; together with a Priviledg, that any Subjects of the King of Great Britain may trade freely in the East and West-India Plantations, belonging to the Portugueses.

Her Jointure,* 1.6 agreed upon by the Articles of Marriage, is thirty thou∣sand

Pounds Sterling per Annum, to which the King, as a Testimony of his great Affection to her, has added ten thousand Pounds per Annum more.

* 1.7Her Arms, as Daughter of Portugal, are Argent, five Scutcheons Azure Cross∣wise, each Scutcheon charged with five Besants Argent Salterwise, with a Point Sable. The Border Gules, charged with seven Castles, Or. This Coat was first worn by Don Alphonso, the first King of Portugal, as well in memory of a signal Victory, obtained by him over five Kings of the Moores, as in honour of the five Wounds of our blessed Lord and Saviour, who just before the Bat∣tle appeared crucified unto him, a voice being heard, as once to Con∣stantin the Great, In hoc Signo vinces: before which time the Portugal Arms were Argent, a Crosse Azure.

Her Majesty is a Personage, en∣dowed with rare Perfections both of Mind and Body, a Lady of transcen∣dent Piety, Modesty, and Charity, and many other eminent Vertues.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Name.
• * 1.2

  Genea∣logy.
• * 1.3

  Birth.
• * 1.4

  Marri∣age.
• * 1.5

  Portion.
• * 1.6

  Jointure.
• * 1.7

  Arms.