View source for Infante Francisco, Duke of Beja

{{Short description|Portuguese infante (1691–1742)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Infante Francisco
| title        = [[Duke of Beja]]
| image        = Infante D. Francisco filho Rei D. Pedro II.jpg
| caption      = Portrait by [[Domenico Duprà]], 1729–1730
| house        = [[House of Braganza]]
| father       = [[Pedro II of Portugal]]
| mother       = [[Maria Sofia of the Palatinate]]
| birth_date   = {{Birth date|1691|5|25|df=y}}
| birth_place  = [[Lisbon]], [[Kingdom of Portugal]]
| death_date   = {{Death date and age|1742|7|21|1691|5|25|df=y}}
| death_place  = [[Óbidos, Portugal|Óbidos]], [[Kingdom of Portugal]]
| issue        = Pedro of Braganza<br />[[João da Bemposta]]
| burial_place = [[Royal Pantheon of the Braganza Dynasty]]
| full name = Francisco Xavier José António Bento Urbano}}

'''Infante Francisco, Duke of Beja'''<ref name=women>{{cite web|title=Infante Francisco of Portugal de Bragança|url=http://macgregor-sadolin.com/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I24196&tree=tree1|access-date=19 July 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407071812/http://macgregor-sadolin.com/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I24196&tree=tree1|archive-date=7 April 2014}}</ref> ({{IPA|pt|fɾɐ̃ˈsiʃku}}) (Lisbon, 25 May 1691 – Lisbon, 21 July 1742) was a [[Portugal|Portuguese]] ''[[infante]]'' (prince) son of [[Peter II of Portugal|Peter II]], [[List of Portuguese monarchs|King]] of [[Portugal]], and his second wife, [[Maria Sofia of the Palatinate]].

== Early life ==
[[File:Musée Fabre expo. Jean Ranc52 Ranc Jean dom Francisco de Bragance,duc de Beja,infant de Portugal.jpg|thumb|left|''Infante Francisco de Bragança'' by [[Jean Ranc]], 1729.]]
Francisco Xavier José António Bento Urbano was born on 25 May 1691 in [[Lisbon]]. He was given the Duchy of [[Beja (Portugal)|Beja]] and was made Grand-Prior of [[Crato, Portugal|Crato]] and [[Casa do Infantado|Lord of the Infantado]]. Plans for him to marry [[Archduchess Maria Magdalena of Austria (1689–1743)|Archduchess Maria Magdalena of Austria]] sister of [[Maria Anna of Austria|Queen Maria Anna]] failed in the early stages.

== Career ==
Responding to a request by [[Pope Clement XI]] to aid in the fight against the Turks, in 1716, King [[John V of Portugal]] (Infante Francisco's brother) sent a [[Naval fleet|fleet]] of Portuguese ships to aid [[Republic of Venice|Venice]] and [[Habsburg monarchy|Austria]] in their fights against the Turks, led by the [[Lopo Furtado de Mendonça, 1st Count of Rio Grande|Count of Rio Grande]], the Count of São Vicente and by the Duke of Beja.{{sfn|Nizza da Silva|p=336}}

== Affairs and issue ==
He died unmarried and without legitimate issue on 21 July 1742 at the Quinta das Gaeiras in [[Óbidos, Portugal|Óbidos]]. He is buried at the [[Royal Pantheon of the Braganza Dynasty]] in [[Lisbon]].

He had two natural children with Mariana Silveira, a nun, who died during the [[1755 Lisbon earthquake]]:

* Pedro of Braganza (¿? – 1741)
* [[João da Bemposta]] (1725–1780) Captain General of the Portuguese Navy and Chief Steward of the Royal Household. Married [[Maria Margarida de Lorena, 2nd Duchess of Abrantes]].

==Ancestry==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
|1= 1. '''Francisco, Duke of Beja'''
|2= 2. [[Peter II of Portugal]]
|3= 3. [[Maria Sophia of Neuburg]]
|4= 4. [[John IV of Portugal]]
|5= 5. [[Luisa de Guzmán]]
|6= 6. [[Philip William, Elector Palatine]]
|7= 7. [[Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt]]
|8= 8. [[Teodósio II, Duke of Braganza]]
|9= 9. [[Ana de Velasco y Girón]]
|10= 10. [[Manuel Pérez de Guzmán y Silva, 8th Duke of Medina Sidonia|Manuel, 8th Duke of Medina Sidonia]]
|11= 11. [[Juana Gómez de Sandoval y de la Cerda|Juana de Sandoval y de la Cerda]]
|12= 12. [[Wolfgang William, Count Palatine of Neuburg]]
|13= 13. [[Magdalene of Bavaria]]
|14= 14. [[George II, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt]]
|15= 15. [[Sophia Eleonore of Saxony]]
}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book
  | last = Nizza da Silva
  | first = Maria Beatriz
  | year = 2009
  | language = pt
  | title = Reis de Portugal: D. João V
  | publisher = Temas & Debates
  | location = Lisbon
  | ref = {{sfnRef|Nizza da Silva}}
  }}

{{House of Braganza}}
{{Portuguese infantes}}


{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Francisco, Duke Of Beja, Infante}}
[[Category:1691 births]]
[[Category:1742 deaths]]
[[Category:Nobility from Lisbon]]
[[Category:Portuguese infantes]]
[[Category:Dukes of Beja|107]]
[[Category:Burials at the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora]]
[[Category:House of Braganza]]
[[Category:17th-century Portuguese people]]
[[Category:18th-century Portuguese people]]
[[Category:Constables of Portugal]]
[[Category:Sons of kings]]

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