Portugal Banknotes 50 Escudos banknote 1968 Infanta Dona Maria
Bank of Portugal - Banco de Portugal
Obverse: Infanta Dona Maria by Gregório Lopes (c.1536) Condé Museum, France. (The Condé Museum – is a museum located inside the château de Chantilly in Chantilly, Oise, 40 km north of Paris. Gregório Lopes (c. 1490 – 1550) was one of the most important Renaissance painters from Portugal.)
Reverse: Drawing of Sintra Royal Palace in 1507 (Palace of Sintra drawn by Duarte D'Armas around 1509. The Manueline Wing was not yet built. Unlike today, the front courtyard of the Palace was enclosed by a wall and several buildings. Clearly visible are the main façade of John's Wing with the entrance gallery as well as the conical kitchen chimneys).
Watermark: Infanta Dona Maria.
Date of Issue: 28 May 1968. Author: João de Sousa Araújo.
Printer: Thomas De La Rue and Company, Limited.
Total Emission: Nearly 80 million banknotes.
Original Size: 142 x 70 mm
Texts: Banco de Portugal; Cinquenta Escudos ouro; Fifty Escudos; Lisboa, 28 de Maio de 1968.
Portugal banknotes - Portugal paper money
1968-1985 Issue
20 Escudos 50 Escudos 100 Escudos 500 Escudos 1000 Escudos
Infanta Maria, Duchess of Viseu
Maria of Portugal, Duchess of Viseu (18 June 1521 – 10 October 1577 in Lisbon) was a Portuguese infanta (princess) daughter of King Manuel I and his wife Eleanor of Austria.
Maria was born on June 18, 1521 in Lisbon. In December the same year, her father died and her half-brother John III became king. Shortly afterwards, Maria's mother, the dowager queen Eleanor, returned to her brother's court in Vienna, taking Maria with her.
In 1530, Eleanor married King Francis I of France and moved to France. Maria would not see her mother for nearly 28 years. Meanwhile, in 1525, Eleanor's younger sister (Maria's aunt) Catherine had married Maria's half-brother John III of Portugal. At some point, Maria moved from Vienna to Lisbon. She was to live in Portugal, at the court of her half-brother and his family, for the rest of her life.
In 1537 Maria was briefly considered, along with her cousin Christina, Dowager Duchess of Milan, as a bride for Henry VIII. However, Christina was considered more suitable, and England dropped any pursuit of Maria.
In 1556, Eleanor (now again widowed and with no other living children) retired to Jarandilla de la Vera in Spain with her sister Mary. In 1558, both mother and daughter traveled from their respective residences to the town of Badajoz on the Luso-Hispanic border and met after a gap of 28 years. Eleanor asked the unwed Maria to come and live with her. Maria refused the request and only remained with her mother for three weeks before returning to Lisbon. Eleanor died very shortly afterwards, on her return journey to Jarandilla de la Vera from Badajoz.
Maria died unmarried and childless in Lisbon on October 10, 1577. She is buried in the Church of Our Lady of Luz.