the Estrela Basilica and the immense Convent of Santa Clara in Vila do Conde. In 1789, the French Revolution caused great social upheaval in Europe. The eventual Portuguese reaction was to land forces in Catalonia, and together with the Spanish forces attack the French in the Pyrenees in the War of Roussillon (1794). The war did not go well, and by 1795, Spain had privately sued for peace, signed an alliance and aligned its external politics against Great Britain. Even as Portugal was politically divided between continuing its old alliance with Britain, its people were also divided. The French Revolution, as seen by intellectuals and progressives, was romanticized: Bocage and the Partido Francês (French Party) believed the French could usher in a liberal revolution in Europe. The French represented a threat to the traditionalist nobility who were returning to prominence and were very willing to fight them externally or internally. It was at about this time that Queen Maria, already possessed of a religious mania, began to show signs of mental illness. When after 1799 she became incapable of handling state affairs, her son, Infante John of Braganza, began to use the title of Prince-Regent. The traditionalist adversaries of France, however, did not look to John, but rather to his wife Carlota Joaquina for support, and at one point attempted a coup against the prince. Continental blockade John VI's regency was a complex political period that saw Portugal attempting to remain neutral in spite of the combative intransigence of its neighbors and contentious forces within the country that favored either liberal or traditional policies. Between 1795 and 1801, his government struggled to maintain a delicate balance of peace in the face of the French Continental blockade against Portugal's traditional ally, Great Britain, and the demands of the merchant classes who were prospering economically and wanted peace. Meanwhile, Spain, a former ally, had signed the Second Treaty of San Ildefonso, and was under pressure from France to coerce Portugal's cooperation, even if it required an invasion. Although Manuel de Godoy was initially hesitant to invade Portugal, due to the royal family having relatives in both countries, the French remained anxious to break the Anglo-Portuguese alliance in order to close Portuguese ports to British shipping. War of the Oranges On 29 January 1801, an ultimatum from Spain and France forced Portugal to decide between France and Britain, even as its government had