Isabel of Braganza, Duchess of Guimarães
Dona Isabel of Braganza (1514 – 16 September 1576) was a member of the House of Braganza, daughter of Jaime, Duke of Braganza (a nephew of Manuel I of Portugal) and Leonor Pérez de Guzmán.
John IV of Portugal
John IV (19 March 1604 – 6 November 1656), nicknamed John the Restorer , was the King of Portugal whose reign, lasting from 1640 until his death, led to the Portuguese "restoration" of independence from Spanish rule.
His accession established the house of Braganza on the Portuguese throne, and marked the end of the 60-year-old Iberian Union, by which Portugal and Spain shared the same monarch.
Before becoming king, he was John II, 8th Duke of Braganza.
He was the grandson of Catherine, Duchess of Braganza, a claimant to the crown during the Portuguese succession crisis of 1580.
On the eve of his death in 1656, the Portuguese Empire reached its territorial zenith, spanning the globe.
Duarte of Portugal, 4th Duke of Guimarães
Duarte of Portugal, 4th Duke of Guimarães (October 7, 1515 in Lisbon – September 20, 1540 in Lisbon) was a Portuguese "infante" (prince); the sixth son of King Manuel I of Portugal and his wife Maria of Aragon.
Infanta Maria Adelaide of Portugal
Doña Maria Adelaide of Braganza, Infanta of Portugal,( 31 January 191224 February 2012) was a member of the royal house of Braganza, daughter of Miguel, Duke of Braganza and Princess Maria Theresa of Löwenstein- Wertheim- Rosenberg.
Maria Francisca of Orléans-Braganza, Duchess of Braganza
" Dona" Maria Francisca of Orléans- Braganza, Duchess of Braganza( 8 September 1914 – 15 January 1968) was the wife of Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza, a pretender to the Portuguese throne, and the daughter of Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão- Pará, pretender to the throne of the Empire of Brazil.
The Duke and Duchess had three sons, the eldest of whom, Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza, is the current pretender to the throne of Portugal.
João of Braganza, Marquis of Montemor-o-Novo
João of Braganza, born ca. 1430, was the second son of Fernando I, Duke of Braganza and of his wife, the duchess Joan of Castro.
Teodósio I, Duke of Braganza
Dom Teodósio I of Braganza (1510 – 22 September 1563) was the 5th Duke of Braganza, among other titles.
He is known for ceding the title of Duke of Guimarães to Infante Duarte of Aviz, alongside some of the wealth and properties of the House of Braganza.
Catarina, Duchess of Braganza
Infanta Catherine of Guimarães, Duchess of Braganza by marriage (18 January 1540 – 15 November 1614) was a Portuguese "infanta" (princess) claimant to the throne following the death of King Henry of Portugal in 1580.
She was the second daughter of Infante Edward, 4th Duke of Guimarães (sixth son of Manuel I of Portugal) and Isabella of Braganza, she was married to John, 6th Duke of Braganza, a descendant of earlier Portuguese monarchs, and head of the most important aristocratic House in Portugal.
The duchess had several children, of whom Teodósio of Braganza, was her eldest surviving son.
When King Henry died (1580), Edward's issue were the only surviving legitimate heirs of any of the sons of King Manuel I of Portugal.
As the male line is preferred in Portuguese succession before the female one, descendants of Manuel
I's daughters (such as king Philip II of Spain) had, in principle, only a weaker claim to the throne than Edward's descendants, to whom Catherine belonged.
Following this principle, the first in line to the throne would have been Catherine's nephew Ranuccio I Farnese of Parma, as that 11-year-old Italian boy was the heir of her elder sister Maria of Guimarães.
Catherine was an ambitious, cunning and power-hungry woman who participated in court intrigues, hoping to become the ruler of Portugal and reinforce the position of the House of Braganza as the most powerful noble family in the Iberian Peninsula.
Her cousin, King Philip II of Spain, used his descent as son of Infanta Isabella, eldest daughter of king Manuel I.
Her other cousin Anthony, Prior of Crato was a male, though illegitimate.
Anthony had already in 1578 claimed the throne.
Catherine had married the Duke of Braganza, John, who himself as a grandson of the late James, Duke of Braganza, was a legitimate heir of Portugal.
The Duchess' son, Teodósio of Braganza, would have been their royal heir and successor to the throne.
The duchess's claim was relatively strong, as it was reinforced by her husband's position as one of the legitimate heirs; thus they would both be entitled to hold the kingship.
Her claim was also strengthened by the fact that she was living in Portugal, and was a mature woman of forty.
However, Portugal had not yet had a generally recognized queen regnant, but only males on the throne.
Moreover, she was a younger daughter, thus there was a genealogically senior claimant, her nephew Ranuccio.
Philip II of Spain tried to bribe Catherine's husband, the Duke of Braganza, to abandon his wife's pretensions, offering him the Vice-Kingdom of Brazil, the post of Grand-Master of the Order of Christ, a license to send a personal ship to India every year, and the marriage of one of his daughters to Diego, Prince of Asturias, Philip's heir at that time.
The Duke of Braganza, influenced by Catherine, refused the proposal.
She failed in the struggle: the strongest claimant was her cousin Philip II of Spain who wanted to unite Portugal in a personal union with the other Spanish kingdoms under himself.
The nationalist party, those who desired Portugal to remain independent, supported her illegitimate cousin Anthony of Crato, not Catherine.
Anthony lost the final competition to Philip in the Battle of Alcântara in 1580.
In a couple of years, she lost her husband John of Braganza (1543–1583).
She lived on as a widowed lady under the rule of her Castilian cousin and worked hard to pave the way for her descendants to take the Portuguese throne, which finally happened in 1640.
In 1640, Catherine's grandson and direct heir, the then Duke of Braganza, became King John IV of Portugal.
The Duchess was then retrospectively acknowledged as the legitimate heir, as result of her descendants obtaining the throne, although in her own lifetime she was only one of several possible heirs.
By the unanimous voice of the people John was raised to the throne of Portugal during the revolution effected on December 1, 1640 against the Spanish king, Philip IV.
João I, Duke of Braganza
Dom João I of Braganza (1543 – 22 February 1583) was the 6th Duke of Braganza and 1st Duke of Barcelos, among other titles.
He is known for pushing the claims of his wife, Infanta Catherine of Guimarães, to the throne of Portugal.
Jaime, Duke of Braganza
Jaime of Braganza( 1479 – 20 September 1532) was the 4th Duke of Braganza and the 2nd Duke of Guimarães, among other titles.
He is known for reviving the wealth and power of the House of Braganza which had been confiscated by King John II of Portugal.

Question: Where was the place of death of Catarina, Duchess Of Braganza's father?