title: The Madness of Queen Maria: The Remarkable Life of Maria I of Portugal
author:  Jenifer Roberts 
description: The story of a fragile woman caught up in an epic battle between church and state, between a powerful religious establishment and a tyrannous dictatorship. From her long-awaited birth in the most opulent city in Europe to her death in much humbler surroundings in Brazil, this gripping biography reads like a novel and puts flesh on the bones of a woman whose misfortune was to inherit the throne at a turning-point in European history. The Madness of Queen Maria provides an intimate glimpse into the world of absolute monarchy, of court life in the old Europe, before the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon brought the Braganza dynasty to the brink of ruin.
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  THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE QUEEN
  
  
  ––––––––
  
  
  Kingdom of Naples, 1342 – 1345 A.D.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Table of Contents
  
  
  [Title Page](part0000.html#0-3917b69df81b4856bd3bd508c322679a)
  
  
  [The Girl Who Would Be Queen (The Kingdom of Naples,
  #1)](part0002_split_000.html#1T140-3917b69df81b4856bd3bd508c322679a)
  
  
  [The Angevin Line in the Kingdom of Naples from Charles I to Joanna and
  Maria](part0003_split_000.html#2RHM0-3917b69df81b4856bd3bd508c322679a)
  
  
  [CONTENTS](part0004_split_000.html#3Q280-3917b69df81b4856bd3bd508c322679a)
  
  
  [Chapter One: A Christmas
  Masque](part0005_split_000.html#4OIQ0-3917b69df81b4856bd3bd508c322679a)
  
  
  [Chapter Two: The
  Sorceress](part0006_split_000.html#5N3C0-3917b69df81b4856bd3bd508c322679a)
  
  
  [Chapter Three: A Broken
  Vow](part0007_split_000.html#6LJU0-3917b69df81b4856bd3bd508c322679a)
  
  
  [Chapter Four: A Dangerous
  Will](part0008_split_000.html#7K4G0-3917b69df81b4856bd3bd508c322679a)
  
  
  [Chapter Five: A
  Tryst](part0009_split_000.html#8IL20-3917b69df81b4856bd3b