LUIGI I of Braganza, king of PORTOGALLO. - B. in Lisbon on 31 Oct. 1838, d. in Cascais on 19 Oct. 1889. Second son of Queen Maria II and of the prince consort Ferdinando di Coburgo, he succeeded his brother Pietro V in 1861. The following year he married Maria Pia di Savoia, daughter of Vittorio Emanuele II, by whom he had an heir named Carlo, who succeeded him as Carlo I in 1889.
His reign, turbulent because of the rivalries among the Portuguese parties, was marked by important reforms, including
the abolition of primogeniture, the promulgation of the Civil Code, the abolition of the death penalty, and the abolition of slavery in the colonies. A candidate for succession to Isabella II on the throne of Spain, he declined. Sincerely religious, he called the bishop of Vizeu to the presidency of the government; he was succeeded by the duke of Loulé and Marshal Duke of Saldanha. But the statesman preferred by the King was Fontes Pereira de Melo, who headed the ministry from 1871 to 1878, linking his name to the aforementioned reforms.
In 1862, by the Treaty of Tien-Tsin, he obtained the peninsula of Macao from China. An excellent writer, he translated into Portuguese a large part of Shakespeare's dramatic works.