BRAGANCA, or BRAGANZA, Portugal, the capital of a district (of the same name) in the province of Traz-os-Montes. It was in former times the capital of the province and is a place of considerable importance. It has the ruins of an ancient castle, one of the finest feudal remains in Portugal. It is the see of a bishop and there is an extensive manufactory of velveteens, printed calicoes and woolens. Braganca has given its name to the present royal family of Portugal. Pop. about 5,500.
BRAGANgA, or BRAGANZA, House of the reigning house of Portugal from 1578 to 1910, derived from Affonso, Duke of Braganca, a natural son of Jolla I, King of Portugal. The constitution of Lamego, 1139, declared that no foreign prince could succeed to the throne; consequently in 1578, on the death of the Portuguese hero, Sebastian, in Africa, with out issue, his people had recourse to the ille gitimate line of Braganca. Philip II of Spain, however, claimed the throne and supported his pretensions by an army under the Duke of Alva, who, though in disgrace, was summoned from his retreat for this express purpose. In
1668 the Portuguese shook off the Spanish yoke. In 1801 Napoleon I declared that the line of the Braganca sovereigns had ceased. John, re gent of the kihgdom, withdrew to Brazil in 1807 but returned in 1821. At his death in 1826, his son Dom Pedro, resigned the throne in favor of his daughter, Maria da Gloria, pre ferring to remain Emperor of Brazil, to which office he had been elected by the Brazilians, 18 Nov. 1825. Although the male line became ex tinct both in Portugal and in Brazil, the female line (Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Braganza) was rep resented on the Portuguese throne until the expulsion of Manoel II (q.v.) and the procla mation of the republic of Portugal, 5 Oct. 1910.