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anxious-witch · 1 year ago

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Inertia 2

Summary: Newton's first law expresses the principle of inertia: the natural behavior of a body is to move in a straight line at constant speed. In the absence of outside influences, a body's motion preserves the status quo.

Jan choose a direction of his life the moment he walked out of his parents house and cut all contact with them. He didn't want anything to do with them, or God anymore. Even his soulmark he wished he could leave behind. But when Nace Jordan joins the band, with a mark matching his own, can Jan keep going the same way he did? Or will the force make him change a direction?

Pairings: Jan Peteh/Nace Jordan

Warnings: mentions of previous religious trauma, slight description of blood(a string cuts into a finger), some negarive self talk I guess?

Notes:

AO3 link

So, you guys know how there was a whole prologue chapter describing what Jan went through? Yeah, he will definitely act like an asshole in the next few chapters so be aware. As always, chapter specific warnings are in the end notes

If I missed anything, feel free to correct me!

You're a heap of flesh and guts and blood in a wax museum. The only thing real. Sickeningly real. Crimson and warm where the others are pale and cold. Revoltingly red, nauseatingly alive. You're a child in a graveyard.

-Layana Clouet, 'A Love Letter to a Dead Thing'

Once again, Jan found himself running late. Now under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t have been any different from any other time he arrived at their rehearsal space late, except this time, it was actually important that he was there on time. It was the day Martin was supposed to introduce them to the bassist he recommended as his replacement.

He had to admit to himself that perhaps, on some level, he really didn't want to meet a new bassist. He didn't want Martin to leave. Replacing Matić was adjustment enough, even if Jure fit in with the band perfectly. But Martin was different, and Jan could not think of anyone who could replace the tall, lanky bassist. Martin, who could calm Bojan whenever his anxiety threatened to overwhelm him, who could help Kris with all the planning and relieve some of the pressure the younger man placed upon himself. Whom Jan considered part of his found family. And okay, Jan knew he was weird about people he considered family. He wanted to keep them close and to protect them. It was hard protecting someone and looking after them from another country.

Yet, how could he ever be mad at Martin for going after what he truly wanted and putting his education first? It was the sensible choice, one that even crossed Jan's mind several times.

He supposed that sometimes change was inevitable, whether he was ready for it or not.

Of course, there was a downpour on his way to their rehearsal space, soaking him thoroughly as he ran the short distance between the parking space and the building. In moments like these, he almost regretted having long hair. It plastered itself against his face and neck uncomfortably. It was also during times like these when he remembered his younger self crying as he was taken to the hairdresser to get his hair cut in an unfashionably “decent” style and once again, he was thankful for his long hair.

He arrived dripping wet, his boots leaving a wet trail.

"Sorry I'm late! I hope the new bassist didn't leave al-Oh."

Jan had to do a double take. On the couch sat Martin and another guy who, while he looked similar to him on the first glance, was decidedly not Martin.

The first thing Jan noticed about the stranger was his intricately tattooed arm. His short-sleeved shirt showed off his biceps. Their eyes met and the bassist smiled, and all Jan could think of for a split second was "Fuck, he’s really attractive".

He stood up and Jan noted they were about the same height, perhaps the new guy was slightly taller He extended his hand and Jan shook it, noting that it was warm and strong, with the telltale calluses on his fingers that a bassist would have. Another thing was that Nace seemed to be somewhat tense and tentative, as if he somehow felt like he didn’t quite fit in. Jan agreed with his assesment, although he couldn’t quite figure out why yet. There was just something slightly off.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Nace."

He had a thick Gorenjska accent, which Jan found oddly endearing. Before he could utter his own name, or levy any further judgment towards the man, Jan's eyes shifted towards his arms. The right one drew his attention first, due to its intricate floral tattoo sleeve. He then looked over at the left arm, noticing a few more tattoos as his eyes traveled downwards, until they reached his wrist. At this, Jan froze momentarily.

On that very same arm, on the wrist to be precise, there was a small, black guitar that looked exactly like the one Jan played. More importantly, the older man’s mark matched Jan’s soulmark in style perfectly. Like only a matching mark would.

He snapped his eyes back to meet Nace's immediately.

"Jan," he said, his voice coming off much frostier than he intended.

He saw Nace's smile fall. Jan tried not to wince as the man withdrew his hand quickly, and immediately rubbed his neck nervously. It seemed almost ridiculous that someone so big could shrink into himself in the blink of an eye and seem so…small.

"Jan! You are not going entering our space with those shoes on! And you’re dripping water all over the fucking floor!"

Kris failed to notice the tense atmosphere as he began lecturing him and Jan was glad for the reprieve. He briefly caught Martin's sharp gaze and immediately looked away.

One thing Jan missed about believing in God was being able to blame the fucker for everything. In moments such as this, all he wanted to do was to scream at the sky asking, “Why is this happening?! What did I do to deserve this?!"

He wished he believed that penance consisting of a few prayers while kneeling on a pew would absolve him of all the mistakes he had made.

And yet, those days of believing lies were long gone. All he was left with now was cold, harsh reality, and taking responsibility for his own shitty choices. It wasn't nearly as satisfying as the former, especially when his self-awareness did not always come with the ability to stop himself from doing the dumbest, most impulsive things.

Neither did he want to go back to believing lies, however.

He did want one last chance to show two middle fingers to the fucker and tell him what exactly he thought of his Gift.

Stupid tattooed bassist.

"Do you guys keep any towels here, somewhere? I can bring some for Jan."

Jan rolled his eyes. Oh, he’s trying to appear kind, too? How predictable, he thought.

"Where are Jure and Bojan?" Jan asked, ignoring Nace completely as he unlaced his boots.

Martin pulled Nace aside and pointed him towards the bathroom where they kept the towels, before squeezing his shoulder and lightly pushing him in said direction.

"Jure is driving Bojan here, but they had some bad luck on the road - a flat tire - so they'll be late. Now tell me…what on earth is your problem with Nace?”

Martin was not known to get angry often, so Jan was briefly caught by a surprise. He peered behind him to make sure that Nace had gone to the bathroom, before crossing his arms over his chest defiantly.

"I don't like him, okay?"

Martin pursed his lips.

"You barely said anything to him…you didn't even hear him play! I won't let you be an asshole towards him over whatever the fuck you don't like about him based on thirty seconds of checking him out!"

Jan felt his cheeks warm.

"I wasn't-"

Bojan and Jure chose that precise moment to appear in the main doorway, saving him from further confrontation. Kris shrieked again as Bojan and Jure tried to walk into the room with shoes equally wet from the rain as Jan's.

Jan almost felt bad for Nace, who came with towels and looked slightly overwhelmed with all the chaos. He took one from the top of the pile and attempted to dry his hair. Then, he stepped out of his boots and walked over to one of the couches and sat down. Perhaps luck would find him and Nace would simply give up after seeing how messy they all were.

As if Jan was ever that lucky.

"Wait, didn't we meet before?" Bojan said, peering up at Nace.

"Um, yeah, technically..."

Jure flopped onto his lap and managed to elbow him in the face. Jan hissed in response. Then, Jure curled to his side and Jan wrapped his arm around his waist so he wouldn't fall off the couch.

"Could you at least do that without injuring me every time?"

"No," Jure said simply, before laying his head on Jan's shoulder.

Jan muttered a few choice words about an oversized orange cat under his breath, but did not push Jure off. In the meantime, Bojan seemed to be engaged in deep conversation with Nace, practically jumping up and down as he talked and Nace seemed more relaxed as well. Jan let his eyes roam as they talked, taking in the familiar space.

It was more than bit messy, as always. Cables and wires everywhere, random belongings strewn here and there. Some of Bojan’s fancy hair products were lying around, along with Jure’s body spray and some of Jan’s hair ties (which he seemed to keep losing, no matter how many he bought), while Kris’ notebooks and schedules were put away neatly to the side.

Then, it hit him. He realized why Nace looked so off. Jan eyed him again. He wore a simple beige sweater, with black trousers, a long brown raincoat draped over his arm. All nondescript styles and muted colors. The space they were in was full of color and they all had tendency to wear a lot of colors or distinctive, eye-catching styles. Even Kris, for all his rules, loved to wear interesting sweaters in various lively colors.

But not Nace.

"So, you know some of our songs?" Bojan asked, gesticulating widely. Kris shook his head, but Jan noticed a small, fond smile on his face. Jan wondered if he would ever get over his feelings for Bojan.

A small, nagging voice that sounded a lot like his father’s whispered that this was the destiny of one who was without a soul. Forever to be in love with someone else who already had a soulmate. That soulmate would always come first, even if Bojan still didn't know his.

Jan pushed the voice away. No. Kris simply had the bad luck of crushing on a straight guy, that was all. He would get over it, sooner or later.

"I do know how to play a few, yeah. After Martin told me about this, I also squeezed in a little practice of my own."

Perhaps today was Jan’s lucky day. Nace sounded nervous, and a lack of confidence would clearly come across in one’s playing. It was not that Jan thought anyone could ever perfectly replace Martin, but perhaps there was a way to not have Nace join the band, without Jan coming across as an asshole. Then, he could live the rest of his life as planned, with no soulmate to worry about.

"Perhaps we could play one. See how you'd fit in."

Everyone turned towards him upon hearing the suggestion. Bojan and Jure only mildly curious, as they had not witnessed the previous argument. Martin, unsurprisingly, looked suspicious and Kris was very confused.

It was Nace's nervous, but slightly hopeful look that caught him off guard. The brunet man gave a shy, hesitant smile that was very much at odds with his handsome features. He had no idea Jan was trying to get rid of him, and thought that Jan was actually giving him a chance.

It made Jan feel bad. Almost bad enough to apologize. Almost.

"That’s what I brought him here for. I just thought he could…you know…get to know everyone first," Martin said carefully.

Jan shrugged, trying to casually play it off.

"I mean, yeah. But we can always get to know him after if we are a good fit, no? There is no point wasting his and our time if it won't work, is there?"

Almost immediately after he uttered those words, he felt the atmosphere around them change, as if the temperature in the room dropped several degrees. Even Jure went awfully still next to him. Bojan quieted down in a manner that he only did when he found himself in a very uncomfortable situation.

As for Nace on the other hand, for the first time since Jan saw him, the older man looked angry. He clenched his jaw subtly and narrowed his eyes. He looked straight at Jan. For one long second, nobody dared to say a single word. Jan stared back, refusing to break eye contact and yield.

"You’re right. I wouldn't want to waste anyone's time. How about we play…Plastika?"

Well, someone wanted very badly to show off, that was for sure. Jan did his best not to smirk, schooling his face into a neutral expression.

"Be my guest. If everyone else agrees, that is."

Only then did he break eye contact and looked at his other band members. Bojan nervously chewed on his bottom lip, while Kris’ and Martin’s expressions darkened considerably. Jure cleared his throat and spoke up first, startling him a bit.

"I mean, I'm all for it. If Martin recommended you, I think you'll do great."

Nace looked at Jure and...did he just blush at that? Jan felt the urge to roll his eyes until they reached the back of his head, all the more determined to prove them wrong. He tapped his fingers against his thigh and remembered how his finger had a cut since yesterday. One he didn’t bother to wrap up. Shit.

He could play one song without it reopening. Probably.

Jure's words seemed to have shaken the rest out of their respective states, because they all agreed almost immediately, all while shooting him angry (Kris and Martin) and confused (Bojan) stares.

With that settled, they tuned their instruments and checked whether everything worked as it should, before they opened the song.

"Nisi si všeč če si za modifikacijo

Trenutek je popoln za operacijo

Filter mi ne dela, ko se gledam v ogledalu

Koža ni več sveža in sivijo mi lasje

Pa triindvajset jih mam šele."

Fuck. Nace was good. No, not just good – he was amazing. Jan could not help but sneak glances at him while he played. He was petty enough to not want to admit that Nace was as good as, or even better than Martin. The way he worked those strings was almost unearthly.

Nace caught his stare and for a moment, the world closed in around two of them. Usually, whenever Jan played, everything but him and the music faded. But this time, he was no longer alone with the music - Nace was with him, somehow. In a space that was meant to be only his.

Jan's finger caught on a string, right where the tiny cut was. Of course, the wound promptly ripped open and began bleeding once more.

"Fuck!"

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Goddamn it. He immediately put the finger in his mouth to stop the bleeding and put the guitar down.

"Jan-" Kris began, but Jan cut him off.

"I'm fine, I'll just get a band-aid. Not like I’m fatally bleeding."

He set his guitar down and then stormed towards the bathroom. He turned on the faucet and allowed cold water to pour over the cut. What the hell was wrong with him? He didn't get distracted like that.

And fine - Nace might be very attractive, but Jan met plenty of attractive men. Never in his life had he fucked up like this because of any of them, however. When the bleeding finally slowed, he reached for the box of band-aids and tried to pry one open without bleeding all over it. His fingers kept slipping.

"Do you need any help with that?"

Jan stood straight up at the sudden interruption, then looked over his shoulder. Nace was leaning against the doorway, his gaze no longer shy nor tentative this time. If anything, he seemed to be attempting to take a peek into the depths of Jan's very soul.

"No."

His attention returned to the band-aid, as he attempted to unwrap it once more. His fingers slipped yet again, and he swore when the bleeding from his cut resumed.

"Jesus, Jan just-…turn down the asshole level for thirty damn seconds and let me help you!"

He snatched the band-aid from Jan and carefully unwrapped it. Jan tried and failed not to stare at his hands while he did so. Sturdy hands, with thick, strong fingers.

Nace wrapped the band-aid over the cut surprisingly lightly and gently. His soft touch did not match how sturdy his hands looked for sure. Jan tried not to glare.

"Thanks or whatever."

Nace sighed.

"Look, I really don't know what’s your beef with me, but either you tell me, or act like the adult you are and keep it to yourself."

A chuckle escaped Jan’s lips before he could press them together. Nace's lips twisted in a slight smile.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. We can go back now."

Then he pushed past him and stalked back to the studio, with Nace right behind him. He heard the last bit of a conversation Bojan was presumably having with the others, right before he fully stepped in.

"-someone needs to tell him to chill."

Jan cleared his throat, making Bojan jump with surprise. He looked away guiltily, which was confirmation enough that they were talking about him.

"I think we heard enough from Nace. He’s phenomenal, and I’m very much for him joining," Kris eyed Jan carefully, "at least for the time being, I don't see why there should be any issues. We can all get to know him in due time."

He didn't like the way Kris looked at him. Did he know?

"I agree," Bojan said quickly.

"Me too," Jure added, bobbing his head.

Martin shrugged.

"I recommended him. Of course, I agree."

This was a trap, wasn't it? They all turned to look at him. It was true they made all of their decisions together, but they also were not above telling someone when they crossed the line. In this case, Jan heard it were loud and clear.

He lost.

"Yeah, fine. Alright."

Everyone seemed to exhale a sigh of relief. Bojan grinned brightly at Nace, and spread his arms out.

"Welcome to the band!"

In that moment, Jan really should have already realized he was done for.

—-------------------------------------

"So, what you’re saying is that you want me to drive you home, and then you want me to stay so you can give me a long-ass lecture on manners."

Kris rolled his turquoise eyes.

"I’m inviting you over so we can talk. Who said anything about lecturing?"

Jan glared at Kris, but the younger man seemed unbothered. He leaned on Jan’s car, crossing his long legs as he casually waited for Jan to agree. The dark-haired man sighed and twiddled with his nose ring a couple of times before he unlocked the car and eased himself into the driver’s seat, while Kris rode shotgun and made himself comfortable, laying his head back against the seat. Jan often wondered how Kris, with all his long limbs, managed to even fit let alone get comfortable in the car.

He started the car and began driving. After a few minutes passed, Kris began to tap his fingers against his seat. Now, Kris would usually shuffle through the radio stations by this time, but today, he seemed to be content letting the silence stretch out.

Goddamn Kris to hell, he knew how much he hated small talk. But talking about the elephant in the room sounded even worse.

"So. How come you didn't drive today?"

Kris played with a strand of his hair – he was finally letting it grow out a little more, almost long enough to touch the base of his neck. Jan hoped that meant he was slowly gaining his confidence back.

"My therapist said I could try some...exposure therapy with environments that are somewhat out of my control. Like public transport for instance."

Jan winced. He did not want to imagine how stressful that must have been for his friend. He made an affirmative hum. Pressing Kris about it further could upset him or stress him out more.

After another few moments of awkward silence, Kris finally spoke up.

"Nace is your soulmate, isn't he?"

Jan hit the brakes just a bit too hard as they approached a red light. Kris didn’t comment, but Jan saw the way he pursed his lips, and he knew that Kris was not impressed, both by his non-answer and by his disregard for road safety.

"Maybe you should just talk to him."

Jan glared at him before turning his eyes back to the road.

"Absolutely not."

Kris sighed as he sunk deeper into his seat.

"I’m just saying. I know you’ve said time and time again that you don't want a soulmate, but...you could at least give it a shot. Some of us will never get that chance."

Jan felt his stomach drop to his feet. Fuck. He forgot how personal this could get for Kris, who did not have a soulmate…how he might view it as Jan throwing away something he was dying to have.

He supposed that being honest to Kris was the least he could do.

"You know it's not like that. I just...I can't, okay? I feel sick just thinking about anything related to soulmates."

It was true. Simply thinking about the possibility of telling Nace that their marks matched made him nauseous.

"I’m not saying you have to ride off with him in the sunset or fall into his arms or whatever. But…talk to him, at least. It’s basic decency. I mean, Jure's soulmate is his best friend. He said he couldn't imagine dating her, but she’s still very special to him."

Jan grimaced. Jure’s case was uncommon, and one that was certainly fascinating, but that did not mean Jan would feel safe taking his chances. The second he involved the other person to keep their end of the deal, problems would inevitably follow.

"I don't want him to be special. You guys are special to me. You’re my family now, and have been for years. Why does he deserve to be special just because we share some stupid mark on our skin?"

"Jan..."

Kris voice wavered the way it always did when he wanted to comfort him. Jan parked the car before turning to face him again.

"Don't make me tell him. I don't-I can't do it."

Kris swept him into a tight hug, as awkward as it was in their current positions. He comfortingly rubbed Jan's back. Jan wondered why he even used to believe angels were real, when Kris Guštin was real and right there.

"Okay, okay, I won't. Just...try to at least be civil towards him, please? He is an amazing bass player and he seems really nice."

Jan sighed. He didn't answer for a few moments, simply letting Kris's sweater-clad hug steady him.

"Alright. I’ll try my best. But don't expect me to become his best friend or anything."

Kris chuckled as he ruffled Jan’s hair.

"I would never."

They stayed like that for about a minute longer before Kris drew back. Jan took a deep breath, his heart feeling lighter than it was a while ago.

"Want to come in? I have coffee. And tea. And hot chocolate."

Jan snorted.

"As if anyone but you and Bojan drinks hot chocolate."

"Rude."

Jan grinned cheekily at him before exiting the car. A rare grin, that he saved for the ones he held close and trusted. He took a deep breath of the chilly, crisp autumn air. He could get through the whole soulmate drama, as long as he had his friends – his family - with him.

Nace could be his fated soulmate for all he liked, but Jan never liked to follow the rules or do as he was told anyway.

He followed after Kris into the apartment and as Kris prepared their drinks, checked his Instagram. There was an unread message request from someone he didn't follow.

When he read the username, he froze. It was his father. His thumb hovered over the unread message and knots of fear began to form in his stomach, accompanied by a slowly growing, burning anger.

He swiftly deleted the message without reading it and locked his phone, tossing it aside. His heart was still beating several hundred times a minute when Kris returned, carrying two steaming mugs. Jan did his best to smile as he wrapped his hands around the hot mug that was offered to him. As his anger dissipated, he suddenly felt very, very cold.

It was a common saying that bad things always came in threes, but if these were the first two...Jan certainly did not want to know what the third one would be.

He took a long sip of the tea and tried to push it all away.

Lies, deceit, his father, the concept of a soulmate...he left all those things behind years ago, and he refused to let them ruin the family he found in his time of need.

And he would do anything to hold on to them, no matter the cost. Not even a so-called soulmate would stand in his way.

#jance #my writing #joker out fanfic #jan peteh #nace jordan #joker out #inertia

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ana-chronista · 7 months ago

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💔, ❤️‍🔥, 👀, 🌈, 🎨

Thank you for the questions! 😊

💔 Least favorite ship you have written about? Ah, I don't think I really have a least favourite ship per se! In all the prompts I've been doing lately I've maybe found Jure the hardest to ship with anyone, but I think that's probably more to do with me seeing him primarily as being platonic soulmates with the whole band - how do you then push that into romance territory? But I've found it to be a really interesting challenge, even if it's not something that comes immediately to mind for me. (This is also kind of hilarious because I was sure I was going to ship Jan and Jure at first, but then I stumbled across Nace...)

❤️‍🔥 Favorite ship you have written about? For JO, probably Jance (which I fell into by accident) although Bojere is always the original and very close to my heart! I enjoy different things about them (Bojere can be a very heart-eyes-right-from-the-beginning-meant-to-be kind of set up, but I also enjoy how Jance wind each other up pretty much non-stop) but also the common factor that they're very easy to present as being the kind of couples that once the other one is in the room, they're very much in tune with each other and devoted to each other, if that makes sense?

👀 What’s an idea you had for a fic that you never did anything with? I'd like to think I've just done nothing with this yet (my external hard drive with my writing crashed, was recovered, but seems to be missing a lot - it's a work in progress), but I have two ideas I'd like to explore as one shot follow ups for Say Nothing. It would be a Madrid prequel from Jan's PoV (the whole 'putting his hand on Nace's heart' bit that got caught on camera and was referenced in the main fic) and also a 2023 Nordic Tour snapshot to give some more resolution about Bojan and Jere's situation after some time has passed from the main fic.

🌈 Your favorite tropes to write about? I'm a real sucker for the Getting Together and Found Family tropes. Idiots in Love is always great fun too - so much potential for pining with a happy ending! (And so many potential idiots in this fandom - I feel like poor Bojan shoulders a lot of the obliviousness, but it could be shared around much more! 🤭)

🎨 Show us a sneak peek from a WIP! I have an idea for a Jance fic that I really like but that I'm struggling with because the part between my outline for chapter 2 and the ending is just a huge string of question marks.

“No!” He obviously hasn’t made himself clear. He slides his hands over Nace’s broad shoulders, linking them behind his neck and tugging him closer until he can rest their foreheads together, Nace’s breath ghosting over his lips. “No, just us, alone. We can text them on the way back to let them know we left. We can – ” Nace’s strong hands clasp over his upper arms but it takes Jan a moment to realise that he’s squeezing to push him back, not to pull him in closer. “No, Jan.” Jan isn’t sure he’s heard right. Doesn’t Nace understand that they could be cuddled up like this at the flat? It’d be much better than being jostled by all these strangers milling about, and the sooner they leave, the sooner it can happen. “But – ” He tries to reach back up, but Nace’s grip weighs him down like a millstone. His expression is suddenly thunderous in the pulse of light and shadow. “I said no, Jan. You can’t fucking do this.” It's like the moment where a pleasant dream suddenly becomes a nightmare: one second all he can think of is their room, of Nace’s sharp collarbone pressed against his cheek and the slow, steady beat of his heart under his palm, and the next that’s promptly torn away and the man in front of him is replaced with someone who looks like Nace and sounds like Nace, but can’t possibly be because the person in front of him is angry and Jan can’t figure out why.

If anyone is happy to bounce ideas around at all, I'd be thrilled. 😅

#ana answers #it's all fun and games #writing #writing woes

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lukeskywaker4ever · 5 years ago

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27th King of Portugal (7th of the Bragança Dynasty): King João VI of Portugal, “The Clement”

Reign: 20 March 1816 – 10 March 1826 Predecessor: Maria I

João VI (13 May 1767 in Lisbon – 10 March 1826 in Lisbon), nicknamed "the Clement", was King of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves from 1816 to 1825. Although the United Kingdom over which he ruled ceased to exist de facto beginning in 1822, he remained its monarch de jure between 1822 and 1825. After the recognition of the independence of Brazil under the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro of 1825, he continued as King of Portugal until his death in 1826. Under the same treaty, he also became titular Emperor of Brazil for life, while his son, Pedro I of Brazil, was both de facto and de jure the monarch of the newly-independent country.

Born in Lisbon in 1767, the son of Maria I and Pedro III of Portugal, he was originally an infante (prince, but not heir to the throne) of Portugal. He only became heir to the throne when his older brother José, Prince of Brazil, died of smallpox in 1788 at the age of 27.

Before his accession to the Portuguese throne, João VI bore the titles Duke of Bragança and Duke of Beja, as well as Prince of Brazil. From 1799, he served as prince regent of Portugal (and later, from 1815, as prince regent of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves), due to the mental illness of his mother, Queen Maria I. In 1816, he succeeded his mother as monarch of the Portuguese Empire, with no real change in his authority, since he already possessed absolute powers as regent.

One of the last representatives of absolute monarchy in Europe, he lived during a turbulent period; his reign never saw a lasting peace. Throughout his period of rule, major powers, such as Spain, France and Great Britain, continually intervened in Portuguese affairs. Forced to flee to South America across the Atlantic Ocean into Brazil when troops of the Emperor Napoleon I invaded Portugal, he found himself faced there with liberal revolts; he was compelled to return to Europe amid new conflicts. His marriage was no less conflictual, as his wife, Carlota Joaquina of Spain, repeatedly conspired against her husband in favor of personal interests or those of her native Spain. He lost Brazil when his son Pedro declared independence, and his other son Miguel led a rebellion that sought to depose him. According to recent scholarly research, his death may well have been caused by arsenic poisoning.

Notwithstanding these tribulations he left a lasting mark, especially in Brazil, where he helped to create numerous institutions and services that laid a foundation for national autonomy, and he is considered by many historians to be a true mastermind of the modern Brazilian state. Still, he has been widely (if unjustly) viewed as a cartoonish figure in Portuguese-Brazilian history, accused of laziness, lack of political acumen and constant indecision, and is often portrayed as physically grotesque.

João Maria José Francisco Xavier de Paula Luís António Domingos Rafael was born 13 May 1767, during the reign of his maternal grandfather and paternal uncle José I of Portugal. He was the second son, paternal cousin, and nephew by marriage of the future Queen Maria I, José's daughter (also his sister in law), and her husband (also her paternal uncle), the future King Pedro III. At the time of João's birth they were, respectively, Princess of Brazil and Infante of Portugal.

He was ten years old when his grandfather died and his mother ascended to the throne. His childhood and youth were lived quietly, as he was a mere infante in the shadow of his elder brother José, Prince of Brazil and 14th Duke of Bragança, the heir-apparent to the throne. Folklore has João as a rather uncultured youth, but according to Jorge Pedreira e Costa, he received as rigorous an education as José did. Still, a French ambassador of the time painted him in unfavorable colors, seeing him as hesitant and dim. The record of this period of his life is too vague for historians to form any definitive picture. Little is known of the substance of his education. He surely received instruction in religion, law, French, and etiquette, and would presumably have learned history through reading the works of Duarte Nunes de Leão and João de Barros.

In 1785, Henrique de Meneses, 3rd Marquis of Louriçal,

arranged a marriage between João and the Infanta Carlota Joaquina of Spain, daughter of King Charles IV of Spain and Queen Maria Luisa of Parma. Like her betrothed, Carlota was a junior member of a royal family. Fearing a new Iberian Union, some in the Portuguese court viewed the marriage to a Spanish infanta unfavorably. She endured four days of testing by the Portuguese ambassadors before the marriage pact was confirmed. Because João and Carlota were related, and because of the bride's youth (she was only 10 years old at the time), the marriage required a papal dispensation. After being confirmed, the marriage capitulation was signed in the throne room of the Spanish court with great pomp and with the participation of both kingdoms. It was followed immediately by a proxy marriage. The marriage was consummated five years later.

The infanta was received at the Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa at the beginning of May 1785, and on 9 June, the couple received a nuptial benediction at the palace chapel. At the same time, João's sister, the Infanta Mariana Victoria, was married to the Infante Gabriel, also of the Spanish royal family. An assiduous correspondence between João and Mariana at that time reveals that the absence of his sister weighed upon him and, comparing her to his young wife, he wrote, "She is very smart and has a lot of judgment, whereas you have rather little, and I like her a lot, but for all that I cannot love her equally." João's young bride was little given to docility, requiring at times the correction of Queen Maria herself. Furthermore, the difference in their ages (João being 17 years old) made him uncomfortable and anxious. Because Carlota was so young, the marriage had not been consummated, and João wrote, "Here's to the arrival of the time when I shall play a lot with the Infanta. The way these things go, I think six years from now. Better that she be a bit more grown up than when she came." The consummation waited until 1790. In 1793, Carlota gave birth to the first of nine children: Teresa, Princess of Beira.

By that time, João's hitherto relatively quiet life had been turned upside down by the death of his older brother Dom José on 11 September 1788, which left João as the heir apparent to the throne, with the titles of Prince of Brazil and 15th Duke of Bragança. Great things had been hoped for from Dom José, who associated himself with the progressive ideas of the Enlightenment. Criticized by the clergy, he appeared to have been inclined toward the anti-clerical policies of the Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal.

João, in contrast, was well known for his religiosity and his attachment to absolutism. The crisis of succession was aggravated with the death soon after of Ignacio de São Caetano, Archbishop of Thessalonica, the queen's confessor and a powerful political figure, who had influenced a controversial choice of Maria's ministers that favored João, but not without encountering strong opposition from important fidalgos who had ambitions for those posts. Furthermore, the year after these deaths, João became so ill that his own survival was uncertain. He recovered, but in 1791, he again fell ill "bleeding from the mouth and intestines", according to notes left by the chaplain of the Marquis of Marialva, who added that his spirit was always depressed. This created a tense climate and uncertainty about his future reign.

Meanwhile, the queen showed increasing signs of mental instability. On 10 February 1792, seventeen doctors signed a document declaring her unable to manage the kingdom, with no prospect for her condition to improve. João was reluctant to take the reins of power, rejecting the idea of a formal regency. This opened the way for elements of the nobility to form a de facto government via a Council. Rumors circulated that João exhibited symptoms of the same insanity, and that he might be prevented from ruling. According to longstanding laws that guided the institution of regency, were the regent to die or become incapable for any reason, and having children of less than fourteen years (which was João's situation at the time), government would be exercised by the guardians of those children or, if guardians had not been formally named, by the wife of the regent. In João's case, that would have been a Spanish infanta. Fear, suspicion and intrigue engulfed the entire institutional framework of the nation.

At the same time, the French Revolution perplexed and horrified the reigning houses of Europe. The execution of the French former king Louis XVI

on 21 January 1793 by the revolutionaries precipitated an international response. On 15 July, Portugal signed a treaty with Spain, and on 26 September allied itself with Great Britain. Both treaties pledged mutual aid against revolutionary France and brought six thousand Portuguese soldiers into the War of the Pyrenees (1793–1795), a campaign that began with an advance to Roussillon in France and ended in defeat with the French conquest of northeastern Spain. This created a delicate diplomatic problem, as Portugal could not make peace with France without damaging an alliance with England that involved several overseas interests. The Portuguese thus sought a neutrality that proved fragile and tense.

After the defeat, Spain abandoned its alliance with Portugal and allied with France under the Peace of Basel. With Britain too powerful for France to attack directly, France set its sights on Portugal. In 1799, João officially assumed the reins of government as prince regent in the name of his widowed mother; that same year, Napoleon Bonaparte staged his coup d'état of 18 Brumaire in France and coerced Spain into issuing an ultimatum to force the Portuguese to break with Great Britain and submit the country to the interests of Napoleon. With João's refusal, neutrality became enviable. Spain and France invaded in 1801, setting off the War of the Oranges; a defeated Portugal signed the Treaty of Badajoz and the subsequent Treaty of Madrid, under which it ceded territory to Spain, in particular Olivença, and made concessions to the French over certain colonial territories. With conflicting interests among all the countries involved, the war was marked by ambiguous movements and secret agreements. Portugal, as the weakest player, could not avoid continued struggle. At the same time, João had to face an enemy at home. His wife, Carlota Joaquina, loyal to Spanish interests, initiated an intrigue with the objective of deposing her husband and taking power herself, an attempt that failed in 1805. This resulted in the Princess's exile from court; she resided at Queluz Palace, while the regent took up residency at Mafra Palace.

The prince regent played a desperate game with France for time. For as long as he could, he pretended an apparent submission to France, to the point of suggesting to King George III of the United Kingdom the declaration of a fictitious state of war between their countries, but he did not obey the dictates of Napoleon's Continental System (a blockade against Great Britain). A new secret treaty with the British guaranteed him help in case of an eventual flight of the royal family. The accord greatly favored the British and preserved their influence over the country, as the United Kingdom continued to make vast profits in trade with the Portuguese intercontinental empire. It fell to Portugal only to choose between obedience to France or to England, and the hesitancy to decide firmly placed Portugal at risk of war with not merely one of these powers, but with both. In October 1807, news arrived that a French army was approaching, and on 16 November, a British squadron arrived in the port of Lisbon with a force of seven thousand men with orders either to escort the royal family to Brazil or, if the government surrendered to France, to attack and conquer the Portuguese capital. The court was divided between Francophiles and Anglophiles, and after anguished consideration under pressure from both sides, João decided to accept British protection and leave for Brazil.

The invading army led by Jean-Andoche Junot advanced with some difficulty, arriving at the gates of Lisbon only on 30 November 1807. By this time, the prince regent, accompanied by the entire royal family and a large following of nobles, state functionaries and servants, had already embarked, leaving the government under a regency with the recommendation that the army not engage in hostilities with the invader. The hasty departure during a rainstorm caused havoc in Lisbon as an astonished population could not believe that their prince had abandoned them. According to the account of José Acúrsio das Neves, the departure brought forth deep emotion on the part of the prince regent:

“He wanted to speak and could not; he wanted to move and, convulsed, did not succeed in taking a step; he walked over an abyss, and envisioned a future dark and as uncertain as the ocean to which he was about to deliver himself. Country, capital, kingdom, vassals, he was about to leave all of these suddenly, with little hope of setting eyes on them again, and all were thorns that pierced his heart.”

To explain himself to the people, João ordered that posters be put up along the streets stating that his departure was unavoidable despite all efforts made to assure the integrity and peace of the kingdom. The posters recommended that everyone remain calm, orderly and not resist the invaders, so that blood not be shed in vain. Because of the rush to depart, the Prince Regent João, Queen Maria, Prince Pedro, Prince of Beira (later Pedro I of Brazil and Pedro IV of Portugal), and the Infante Miguel were all in a single ship. This was an imprudent decision given the dangers of a transatlantic voyage in that era, since it placed at risk the succession of the crown in case of shipwreck. Carlota Joaquina and the infantas were on two other ships. The number of people who embarked with João remains a matter of controversy; in the 19th century there was talk of up to 30 thousand emigrants; more recent estimates vary between five hundred and fifteen thousand, the latter being close to the maximum capacity of the squadron of fifteen ships, including their crews. Still, the ships were overcrowded. According to Pedreira e Costa, taking into account all of the variables, the most likely numbers fall between four and seven thousand passengers plus the crews. Many families were separated, and even high officials failed to secure a place on the ships and were left behind. The voyage was not a tranquil one. Several ships were in precarious condition, and overcrowding created humiliating conditions for the nobility, the majority of whom had to sleep huddled in the open in the poops. Hygienic conditions were bad, including an epidemic of head lice. Many had failed to bring changes of clothing. Several people fell ill. Supplies were scarce, causing rationing. Furthermore, the flotilla spent ten days nearly becalmed in the equatorial zone under a scorching heat that caused moods to turn quite sour. The flotilla also faced two storms and was eventually dispersed near Madeira. In the middle of the voyage, Prince João changed his plans and decided to head for Salvador, Bahia, probably for political reasons. He wanted to please the inhabitants of the colony's first capital, which had given many signs of discontent with the loss of its old status. The ships carrying his wife and the infantas held to the original destination of Rio de Janeiro.

On 22 January 1808, the ship of the prince regent and two others arrived in Baía de Todos os Santos, Brazil.

The streets of Salvador were deserted, because the governor, the Count of Ponte, preferred to await the prince's orders before permitting the people to receive him. Finding this attitude odd, João ordered that all could come as they wished. However, to allow the nobility to compose themselves after such an arduous journey, the landing was postponed until the next day, when they were received joyfully amidst a procession, the ringing of bells and a celebration of a Te Deum at the Cathedral of Salvador.

In the following days, the prince received all who wished to give homage, granting the ceremony of the beija-mão (the kissing of the monarch's hand) and conceding various mercies.

Among the latter, he decreed the creation of a public lecture series on economics and a school of surgery, but his most decisive action at this moment was the Decree of Opening the Ports to Friendly Nations (Decreto de Abertura dos Portos às Nações Amigas),

a measure of vast political and economic importance and the first of many that went to improve conditions in the colony. Britain, however, whose economy depended in great part on maritime commerce, and for whom the Portuguese and Brazilian monarchy was now something of a protectorate, was the most direct beneficiary.

Salvador spent a month in commemorations of the presence of the court and tried to seduce the court into making it the new seat of the kingdom. The residents offered to construct a luxurious palace as a home for the royal family, but João declined and continued his voyage, having already announced to various nations his intention to make his capital at Rio de Janeiro. His ship entered Guanabara Bay on 7 March, where he met the infantas and other members of his entourage whose ships had arrived earlier. On the 8th, the whole court finally disembarked to encounter a city adorned to receive them with nine days of uninterrupted celebrations. A well-known chronicler of the era, Father Perereca, eyewitness to the arrival, while lamenting the news of the invasion of metropolitan Portugal, also intuited the significance of the arrival of the court on Brazilian soil:

If so great were the motives of sorrow and distress, no less were the causes of comfort and pleasure: a new order of things was going to begin this part of the southern hemisphere. The design of the Empire of Brazil could already be considered in place, and eagerly wished the powerful hand of our lord the Prince Regent to cast the first stone of future greatness, prosperity and power of the new empire.

With a court, the essential apparatus of a sovereign state became inevitable: the senior civil, religious, and military officials, aristocrats and liberal professionals, skilled artisans, and public servants. For many scholars, the transfer of the court to Rio began the establishment of the modern Brazilian state and constituted Brazil's first step toward true independence. While Brazil at this time remained formally and juridically a Portuguese colony, in the words of Caio Prado, Jr.

"Establishing in Brazil the seat of a monarchy, the regent ipso facto abolished the colonial regime under which the country had lived until then. All the characteristics of that [colonial] regime disappeared, the only remaining part of the colonial situation was to be under a foreign government. One after another, the old workings of colonial administration were abolished and replaced by those of a sovereign nation. Economic restrictions fell and thoughts of the country's interests moved to the front of government policy."

But first it was necessary to provide accommodations for the newcomers, a difficult problem to resolve given the cramped proportions of the city of Rio at that time. In particular, there were few homes suitable for the nobility, especially in the case of the royal family, who were installed in the viceregal palace, known today as the Paço Imperial (Imperial Palace).

Though large, it was comfortless and nothing like Portuguese palaces. As large as it was, it was not enough to accommodate everyone, so neighboring buildings were also requisitioned, such as the Carmelite Convent, the town hall, and even the jail. To meet the needs of other nobles, and to install new government offices, innumerable small residences were hastily expropriated, their proprietors arbitrarily ejected, at times violently in the face of resistance. Despite the efforts of Viceroy Marcos de Noronha e Brito and of Joaquim José de Azevedo, the regent was still poorly accommodated. Merchant Elias Antônio Lopes offered his country house, the Quinta da Boa Vista,

a sumptuous villa in excellent location that immediately met with the prince's satisfaction. Renovations and expansion transformed this into the Paço de São Cristóvão ("Palace of Saint Christopher"). Carlota Joaquina, for her part, preferred to settle on a farm near the beach of Botafogo, continuing her habit of living apart from her husband.

The city, which at that time had about 70,000 inhabitants, saw itself transformed overnight. The additional populace, full of new requirements, imposed a new organization in the supply of food and other consumer goods, including luxury items. It took years for the Portuguese to settle in, causing years of chaos in the daily life of Rio; rents doubled, taxes rose, and food was in short supply, requisitioned by the imported nobility. This soon dispelled popular enthusiasm over the prince regent's arrival. The very shape of the city began to change, with the construction of innumerable new residences, villas and other buildings, and various improvements to services and infrastructure. Likewise, the presence of the court introduced new standards of etiquette, new fashions and new customs, including a new social stratification.

Among the customs, João continued in Brazil the ancient Portuguese ceremony of the beija-mão, which he esteemed greatly and which fascinated the Brazilians and became part of their folklore. He received his subjects daily, except for Sundays and holidays. The long lines waiting to pay their respects and receive favors were a mix of nobles and commoners.

According to painter Henry L’Evêque, "the Prince, accompanied by a Secretary of State, a Chamberlain and some household officials, received all the petitions that were presented to him; listened attentively to all the complaints, all the requests of the applicants; consoled one, encouraged others.... The vulgarity of the manners, the familiarity of speech, the insistence of some, the prolixity of others, none of this bored him. He seemed to forget that he was their master, and remember only that he was their father." Oliveira Lim wrote that he "never confused the faces or the pleas, and the applicants marveled at how well he know their lives, their families, even small incidents that had occurred in the past and which they could not believe had risen to the notice of the king."

Throughout his stay in Brazil, João formalized the creation of a huge number of institutions and public services and boosted the economy, culture and other areas of national life. All these measures were taken principally because of the practical needs of administering a large empire in a territory previously lacking of these resources, because the predominant idea continued to be that Brazil would remain a colony, given that it was expected that the court would return to its old metropolis once the European political situation returned to normal. However, these advances became the basis for Brazil's future autonomy. This is not to say that all was amenities and progress. A series of political crises began shortly after his arrival with the invasion of Cayenne in French Guiana in 1809 in retaliation for the French invasion of Portugal, serious economic problems, and a painful trade agreement imposed in 1810 by the British, which in practice flooded the small internal market with useless trinkets and disadvantaged exports and the creation of new national industries. The national debt multiplied by twenty and corruption was rife at large institutions, including the first Bank of Brazil, which ended up bankrupt. Also, the court was extravagant and wasteful, accumulated privileges on privileges and maintained a legion of sycophants and adventurers. British consul James Henderson observed that few European courts were as large as that of Portugal. Laurentino Gomes writes that John granted more hereditary titles in his first eight years in Brazil than had been granted in the previous three hundred years of the Portuguese monarchy, not even counting more than five thousand insignia and commendations of the honorific orders of Portugal.

When Napoleon was defeated in 1815, the European powers held the Congress of Vienna to reorganize the political map of the continent. Portugal participated in these negotiations, but given British machinations contrary to the interests of the House of Braganza, Portugal's ambassador to the Congress, the Count of Palmela, counseled the regent to remain in Brazil, as did the powerful Prince Talleyrand,

in order to strengthen the ties between metropolis and colony, including the suggestion to elevate Brazil to the condition of a kingdom united to Portugal. The representative of the United Kingdom also ended up supporting the idea, which resulted in the effective foundation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves on 16 December 1815, a juridical institution rapidly recognized by other nations.

João's mother Queen Maria died 20 March 1816, opening the road for the regent to assume the throne. Though he began to govern as king on that date, he was not immediately consecrated as king; he was acclaimed only on 6 February 1818, with grand festivities.

Meanwhile, several political matters came to the fore. The ambitious Queen Carlota Joaquina had begun to conspire against Portuguese interests while still in Europe, and shortly after her arrival in Brazil, she established understandings with both Spaniards and with nationalists of the Río de la Plata region (now Argentina and Uruguay) to try to secure a monarchy of her own, perhaps as a regent of Spain, perhaps as queen of a new monarchy created from Spanish colonies in South America, perhaps by deposing her husband. This made any meaningful marriage to João impossible, despite his show of patience, and only the force of convention had them appear together in public. While Dona Carlota gained many sympathizers, her plots uniformly failed. Despite that, she managed to influence her husband to involve himself more directly in Spanish colonial politics. These efforts led to the capture of Montevideo in 1817 and the annexation of Cisplatina Province in 1821.

During the same period, problems arose in finding a wife for João's heir apparent, the future Pedro I of Brazil. Europe at the time considered Brazil distant, backward and unsafe, so it was not a simple task to find suitable candidates. After a year of seeking, the ambassador Pedro José Joaquim Vito de Meneses Coutinho, 6th Marquis of Marialva, finally secured an alliance with one of Europe's most powerful royal houses, the Habsburgs, emperors of Austria, after seducing the Austrian court with numerous lies, a display of pomp, and the distribution of gold bars and diamonds among the nobility. Dom Pedro married archduchess Maria Leopoldina of Austria, daughter of emperor Francis I, in 1817.The emperor and his minister Metternich considered the alliance "an advantageous pact between Europe and the New World," strengthening the monarchical regime in both hemispheres and granting Austria a new sphere of influence.

Meanwhile, the situation in Portugal was by no means tranquil. Absent its monarch and devastated by the Peninsular War and the consequent mass hunger and enormous exodus of emigrants, the country in practice had become a British protectorate upon the final expulsion of the French. It was administered by Marshall William Carr Beresford,

who governed with an iron fist. From the time João ascended the throne, the Portuguese pressed for his return, initiated liberal rebellions, and formed secret societies with the objective of bringing into session the Portuguese Cortes, which had not met since 1698. Similar liberal agitation occurred in Brazil. In 1817, the Pernambucan Revolt broke out in Recife, a republican movement that established a provisional government in Pernambuco and spread into other Brazilian states; it was put down severely. Back in Portugal, the Liberal Revolution of 1820 broke out in Porto on 24 August 1820. A governing junta was set up, with repercussions in Lisbon. It met as the General Extraordinary and Constituent Cortes (Cortes Gerais Extraordinárias e Constituintes), formed a government and convened elections for deputies without bothering to consult King João. The movement gained support from the Island of Madeira, the Azores and reached the captaincy of Grão-Pará and Bahia in Brazil. It led even to an uprising by the military garrison of Rio de Janeiro itself.

On 30 January 1821, the Cortes met in Lisbon and decreed the formation of a Council of Regency to exercise power in the name of King João. It freed many political prisoners and demanded the king's immediate return. On 20 April, King João convoked a meeting in Rio to choose deputies to the Constituent Cortes, but the following day, protests in the plaza were put down violently. In Brazil, the general opinion was that the king's return to Portugal could mean loss of the autonomy Brazil had gained and a return to its prior colonial status. Under pressure, João tried to find a middle way by sending his son Prince Pedro to Lisbon to grant a constitution and establish the basis of a new government. The prince, however, already leaning toward liberal ideas, refused. The crisis had gone too far and there was no turning back. João named Pedro regent for Brazil in his name and left for Lisbon on 25 April 1821 after a stay of thirteen years in Brazil, a country he would always miss.

The ships bringing João and his court arrived in Lisbon on 3 July.

His return was orchestrated in such a manner as not to imply that the king had been coerced, but in fact a new political environment had already been established. A constitution had been drafted, and the king was required to swear loyalty to it on 1 October 1822. It called for him to surrender various prerogatives. Dona Carlota refused to follow her husband in agreeing to this, and thus was dispossessed of her political rights and deposed of her title as queen. Meanwhile, the king lost out in Brazil as well. His son Pedro, opting to stay in that country, led a revolt that proclaimed Brazilian independence on 1822-09-07; as part of this action, he assumed the title of emperor of Brazil. Tradition says that before journeying to Portugal, João had anticipated future events and had said to his son: "Pedro, Brazil will soon be separated from Portugal: if so, put the crown on your head before some adventurer grabs it." According to the memoirs of the Count of Palmela, Brazilian independence had come about through common accord between the king and the prince. In any event, later correspondence between the two shows the prince's concern not to disturb his father. However, Portugal did not officially recognize Brazilian independence at this time.

The liberal constitution to which the king had sworn loyalty was in effect only for a few months. Not everyone in Portugal supported liberalism, and an absolutist movement arose. On 23 February 1823, in Trás-os-Montes, Francisco Silveira, Count of Amarante, proclaimed an absolute monarchy; this did not immediately have an effect, and new agitations followed. On 27 May, the infante Dom Miguel, instigated by his mother Dona Carlota, led another revolt known as the Vilafrancada, with the intent of restoring absolutism. João changed the game by supporting his son to avoid his own deposition (which was desired by the party of the queen) and appeared in public on his birthday alongside his son, who wore a uniform of the National Guard, a military corps that had been disbanded by the liberals, receiving the applause of the militia. The king personally went to Vila Franca to better administer the uprising, ultimately returning to Lisbon in triumph. The political climate was undecided, and even the staunchest defenders of liberalism feared to take a strong stand on its behalf. Before its dissolution, the Cortes protested against any change in the recently approved constitution, but the absolute regime was restored, the queen's rights re-established, and the king acclaimed for a second time on 5 June. João repressed demonstrations against this restoration, deported some of the liberals and arrested others, ordered the restoration of judiciary and institutions more in line with the new political orientation and created a commission to draft a basis for a new charter to replace the constitution.

The alliance with the infante Miguel did not bear fruit. Influenced as always by his mother, Miguel led the April Revolt or Abrilada by the Lisbon military garrison on 29 April 1824. The revolt started on the pretext of crushing the Freemasons and defending the king from threats of death that the Masons has supposedly made against him, but João was taken into custody at the Bemposta Palace, while several of Miguel's political enemies of Miguel's were also imprisoned elsewhere. The infante's intent was to force his father to abdicate. Alerted to the situation, the diplomatic corps managed to enter Bemposta Palace. Those who held the king could not resist such authorities and restored a measure of freedom to the king. On 9 May, on the advice of friendly ambassadors, João pretended to travel to Caxias but, in fact, sought refuge with a British fleet anchored in the port. From aboard the ship HMS Windsor Castle, he reprimanded his son, deposed him from command of the army, and ordered him to release his political prisoners. Miguel was exiled. With the defeat of the rebellion, both liberals and absolutists came out into the streets to celebrate the survival of the legitimate government. On 14 May, the king returned to Bemposta, reconstituted the council of ministers and showed generosity to the others who had rebelled. Still, this did not dissuade the queen from further conspiracies. The police discovered another rebellion planned for 26 October, on the basis of which João placed his wife under house arrest in Queluz Palace.

At the end of his reign, King João ordered the creation of a free port in Lisbon, but the measure was not implemented. He ordered further inquiry into the death of his former friend the Marquis of Loulé, but final judgment was never rendered. On 5 June he granted amnesty to those involved in the Porto uprising, except for nine officers who were exiled. On the same day, the old constitution of the kingdom came back into force, and the Cortes reconvened to prepare a new text. The change of constitution faced several obstacles, mainly from Spain and from supporters of the queen.

Portugal's biggest problems at this time, however, related to the independence of Brazil, which had been the country's largest source of wealth. The loss of Brazil had a great negative impact on the Portuguese economy. An expedition to reconquer the former colony was even considered, but the idea was soon abandoned. Difficult negotiations and consultations undertaken in Europe in Rio de Janeiro with British mediation and pressure resulted in the final recognition of the independence on 29 August 1825. At the same time, the king freed all the Brazilians who were prisoners and authorized trade between both nations. It was agreed that Pedro govern Brazil as a sovereign with the title of Emperor, while João kept for himself the honor of Titular Emperor of Brazil; from this time, he signed official documents as "His Majesty the Emperor and King John VI" ("Sua Majestade o Imperador e Rei Dom João VI"). Brazil was required to pay certain funds that it had borrowed from Portugal. Nothing in the treaty spoke of the succession of the two crowns, but Pedro, still acting as the Prince Royal of Portugal and Algarve, implicitly remained heir to the Portuguese throne.

On 4 March 1826, João returned from the Hieronymites Monastery

where he had lunched and retired to Bemposta Palace feeling poorly. He was racked for several days by symptoms including vomiting and convulsions. He appeared to be getting better, but by way of prudence designated his daughter, the infanta Isabel Maria, as regent. On the night of 9 March, he took a turn for the worse and died at approximately 5 a.m. on 10 March. The infanta immediately assumed the internal government of Portugal, and Pedro was recognized as the legitimate heir as Dom Pedro IV of Portugal. Doctors could not definitively determine a cause of death, but it was suspected that he had been poisoned. His body was embalmed and buried in the mausoleum of the kings of Portugal, the Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza, in the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora.

In the 1990′s, a team of investigators exhumed the Chinese ceramic pot that contained his bowels. Fragments of his heart were rehydrated and submitted to an analysis that detected enough arsenic to kill two people, confirming longstanding suspicions of assassination by poison.

As a youth, João was a retiring figure, heavily influenced by the clergy, and lived surrounded by priests and attending daily Mass in the church. Nonetheless, Oliveira Lima affirms that rather than being an expression of personal piety, this merely reflected Portuguese culture at that time, and that the king...

"...understood that the Church, with its body of traditions and its moral discipline, could only be useful for a good government in his manner, paternal and exclusive, of populations whose dominion was inherited with the scepter. Because of this, he was repeatedly the guest of monks and patron to composers of sacred music, but none of these Epicurean or artistic demonstrations compromised his free thought or denatured his skeptical tolerance. ... He made more use of the refectory of the monastery than of its chapel, because [the latter] was about observance and in [the former] one thought of gastronomy, and in terms of observance the pragmatic one was enough for him. In the Royal Chapel he more took pleasure with the senses than he prayed with the spirit: andantes took the place of meditations."

He had a great appreciation of sacred music and was a great reader of works about art, but he detested physical activity. He appeared to have suffered periodic crises of depression. An aversion to changes in his routine extended to his clothing: he wore the same coat until it tore, forcing his chamberlains to sew it on his body while he slept in it. He suffered from panic attacks when he heard thunder, staying in his rooms with the windows shut and receiving no one.

João's marriage was never a happy one. Rumors circulated that at the age of 25 he fell in love with Eugênia José de Menezes, his wife's chaperone. She became pregnant, and João was suspected of being the father. The case was hushed up, and the young woman was sent to Spain to bear the child. She gave birth to a daughter, whose name is unknown. The mother lived the rest of her life in nunneries and João supported her economically.

In the precarious and spare environment of Rio, the king's personal habits were simple. In contrast to his relative isolation in Portugal, he became more personally dynamic and interested in nature. He moved frequently between the Paço de São Cristóvão and the viceregal palace in the city, staying also at times at Paquetá Island, Governador Island, at Praia Grande (the beach at Niterói), and at the House of Santa Cruz. He went hunting and happily slept in a tent or under a tree. He liked the countryside, despite the swarms of mosquitoes and other pests and the scorching heat of the tropics that were detested by the majority of the Portuguese and other foreigners.

In the course of his few years living in Brazil, João ordered the creation of a series of institutions, projects and services that brought the country immense economic, administrative, juridical, scientific, cultural, artistic and other benefits, although not all went successfully, and some were downright dysfunctional or unnecessary, as Hipólito José da Costa mordantly observed. Among these, he was responsible for establishing the Imprensa Régia (the country's first publishing house), the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden the Arsenal de Marinha, the Fábrica de Pólvora (gunpowder factory), Rio's fire department, Brazil's merchant marine, and the charity hospital known as the Casa dos Expostos. He also established various educational programs in Rio, Pernambuco, Bahia and other places, teaching such subjects as dogmatic and moral theology, integral calculus, mechanics, hydrodynamics, chemistry, arithmetic, geometry, French, English, botany and agriculture, among others. He instigated the foundation of various societies and academies for scientific, literary and artistic studies, such as the Junta Vacínica (administering the smallpox vaccine), the Royal Bahiense Society of Men of Letters, the Academic Institute of Sciences and Fine Arts, the Fluminense Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Escola Anatômica, Cirúrgica e Médica do Rio de Janeiro,the Royal Academy of Artillery, Fortification and Design, the Academia dos Guardas-Marinhas, the Academia Militar, the National Library of Brazil,

the Royal Museum (now National Museum of Brazil), the Teatro Real de São João (now Teatro João Caetano), as well as recruiting internationally famous soloists and patronizing other musicians of the Royal Chapel, including Father José Maurício,

the leading Brazilian composer of his time, supporting also the coming of the Missão Artística Francesa, which resulted in the establishment of the Escola Real de Ciências, Artes e Ofícios, predecessor of the present-day Escola Nacional de Belas Artes of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, of fundamental importance the renewal of teaching and art production in Brazil.

João's policies led to far-reaching economic changes, beginning with the opening of the ports and the abolition of the Portuguese commercial monopolies, with the United Kingdom being the great beneficiary. On the one hand, traders based in Brazil had to face strong foreign competition; on the other, it encouraged the creation of new manufacturing and other economic activities that were previously banned, poor or nonexistent in Brazil. At the same time, he created such high-level administrative bodies as the War Ministry, the Foreign Ministry, and the Ministry of Marine and Overseas; the Councils of State and of Finance, the Supreme Military Council, the Military Archive, the Bureaus of Justice and of Conscience and Orders, the Casa de Suplicação (Supreme Court), the Intendency General of Police, the first Bank of Brazil the Royal Board of Commerce, Agriculture, Factories and Navigation, and the General Postal Administration, as well as bringing Brazilians into administrative and staff positions, which helped diminish tensions between the natives and the Portuguese. He also encouraged agricultural production, especially cotton, rice and sugar cane, opened roads and encouraged the development of inland waterways, stimulating the movement of people, goods and products between regions.

According to Pedreira and Costa, few Portuguese monarchs have as large a place in the popular imagination as Dom João VI. That image is very varied, "but rarely for good reason. ... It is not strange that the tribulations of his marriage and family life and the references to his personality and personal customs, inviting easy caricature and circulation of an unflattering, if not comic, tradition." The king is popularly shown as indolent, silly and clumsy, subjugated by a shrewish wife, a disgusting glutton who always had baked chicken in his coat pockets to eat them at any time with greasy hands, a version typified by the Brazilian film Carlota Joaquina – Princesa do Brasil (1995), a parody mixed with sharp social criticism. That work had enormous repercussions, but, according to the critical commentary of Ronaldo Vainfas, "it is a story full of errors of all types, misrepresentations, imprecisions, inventions"; for historian Luiz Carlos Villalta, "it constitutes a broad attack on historical knowledge", in contrast to director Carla Camurati's stated intent "to produce a cinematic narrative that would constitute a type of historical novel with pedagogic function and, at the same time, would offer the viewer knowledge of the past and would help, as a people, to think about the present. It does not offer new historical knowledge to the viewer, even if one were to treat history as a novel: it reinforces, in truth, the ideas that the viewers bring, being zero in terms of increased knowledge... In this way, it leads the viewer more to debauchery than to critical reflection on the history of Brazil".

Diverse visual representations of John range from an overweight, oversized, sloppy appearance to a dignified and elegant character. As for historians' portrayals, researcher Ismênia de Lima Martins writes, "If there is agreement among all authors who relied on the testimony of those who knew him closely for his kindness and affability, all the rest is controversy. While some pointed to his countenance of a statesman, others considered him a coward and completely unprepared to govern. In any event, Dom João VI left his indelible mark on Portuguese-Brazilian history, a fact that resonates to the present, through a historiography that insists on judging the king, despite the transformations that discipline experienced over the course of the twentieth century".

In governing, João always depended on strong auxiliaries. Prominent among these were Rodrigo de Sousa Coutinho, 1st Count of Linhares,

António de Araújo e Azevedo, 1st Count of Barca,

and Tomás Antônio de Vila Nova Portugal, who may be considered the mentors of many of John's most important undertakings, but according to João Luccock: "The prince regent has been various times accused of apathy; to me, he seemed to have greater sensitivity and strength of character than was generally attributed to him by both friends and opponents. He was placed in new circumstances by which he was tested, bowing before them with patience; if incited, he acted with vigor and promptness". He also praised the character of the king, reaffirming his kindness and attention. Oliveira Lima, with his classic Dom João VI no Brasil (1908), was one of the major figures responsible for the beginning of João's large-scale rehabilitation. He researched innumerable documents of the era without finding unfavorable descriptions of the king by Brazilians or by ambassadors and other diplomats accredited to the court. On the contrary, he found many accounts that painted him in favorable colors, such as the testimonies left by the British consul Henderson and the U.S. minister Sumter, who "greatly preferred to address himself directly to the monarch, always willing to do justice, than to confer with his ministers.... deeming him in this matter much more advanced than his courtiers". Diplomatic documents also confirm the breadth of his political vision, aiming to give Brazil an importance in the Americas comparable to the United States, adopting a discourse similar the U.S. doctrine of Manifest Destiny. He asserted his authority without violence, more in a persuasive and affable manner; his conduct of international affairs, although sometimes unsuccessful and somewhat given to imperialist ambitions, in many other ways was far-seeing and harmonious,as indicated by the many actions described above that improved the living conditions of the Brazilian colony.

Nonetheless, the French general Jean-Andoche Junot described him as "a weak man, suspicious of everyone and everything, jealous of his authority but incapable of making it respected. He is dominated by the fathers [that is, priests] and can act only under the duress of fear", and several Brazilian historians such as João Pandiá Calógeras, Tobias Monteiro and Luiz Norton draw him in comparably dark colors. Among the Portuguese, such as Oliveira Martins and Raul Brandão, he was invariably portrayed as a burlesque figure until the conservative resurgence of 1926, when he began to find defenders, such as Fortunato de Almeida, Alfredo Pimenta and Valentim Alexandre. It is also certain that many were disaffected with him, that he raised taxes and aggravated the debt, multiplied titles and hereditary privilege, that he could not allay the vast array of internal dissensions or eliminate entrenched administrative corruption, and that he left Brazil on the brink of bankruptcy when he emptied the treasury to return to Portugal.

Whatever the king's character may have been, the importance of his reign for a remarkable spurt of development for Brazil and, indeed, for the very unity of that nation is incontestable. Gilberto Freyre affirms that "Dom João VI was one of the personalities who had the greatest influence over the formation of the nation.... he was an ideal mediator.... between tradition – which he incarnated – and innovation – which he welcomed and promoted – during that decisive period for the Brazilian future". As Laurentino Gomes puts it, "no other period of Brazilian history testifies to such profound decisive and rapid changes as the thirteen years in which the Portuguese court lived in Rio de Janeiro". Scholars such as Oliveira Lima, Maria Odila da Silva Dias, Roderick Barman and the aforementioned Laurentino believe that had João not come to the Americas and installed a strong central government, probably the large territory of Brazil, with important regional differences, would have fragmented into several distinct nations, as occurred with the vast neighboring Spanish colony. This opinion was shared by the British admiral Sir Sidney Smith, commander of the squadron that escorted the Portuguese ships as the fled to Brazil.

Recent biographies try to separate fact from legend and counter the folklore of ridicule that had formed around King João and which lacks documentary basis. Lúcia Bastos warns that even today we need to be careful to place certain matters in their historical context, such as the question of corruption, noting that although there were enormous costs and clear abuses, at that time there was no clear separation between the public treasury and the monarch's private accounts, and in the logic of the Old Regime "the king is the owner of the state... of which the distribution of spoils forms part: the king is the dispenser of justice and spoils". In the words of Leandro Loyola, "from the new research a ruler emerges who had his limitations, but who encountered a totally adverse situation and survived it, despite governing a small, poor, decadent country such as Portugal at the beginning of the 19th century." Before dying on Saint Helena, his most powerful enemy, Napoleon, said of him: "He was the only one who deceived me." José Joaquim Carneiro de Campos, Marquis of Caravelas, praised him in the Brazilian Senate on the occasion of João's death, saying, "All of us who are here have many reasons to praise the memory of King João VI, we all ought to be grateful, for the benefits he gave us: he raised Brazil to a kingdom, provided well for all of us, treated us always with great affection, and all Brazilians are obligated to him."

João married Carlota Joaquina of Spain (25 April 1775 – 7 December 1830) in 1785 and had several children:

Maria Teresa, Princess of Beira (29 April 1793 - 17 January 1874) Married first her cousin Pedro Carlos de Borbón y Bragança, Infante of Spain and Portugal and second to Carlos, Infante of Spain, widower of her sister Maria Francisca.

Francisco António, Prince of Beira (21 March 1795 - 11 June 1801) Died at the age of 6, making his younger brother, Pedro, the heir-apparent to the throne of Portugal.

Infanta Maria Isabel (19 May 1797 - 26 December 1818) Married Fernando VII, King of Spain.

Pedro IV of Portugal & I of Brazil (12 October 1798 - 24 September 1834) Stayed in Brazil after the Peninsular War in Portugal. Proclaimed the Independence of Brazil in 1822 and became its first monarch as Emperor Pedro I. He was also King of Portugal as Pedro IV in 1826.

Infanta Maria Francisca (22 April 1800 - 4 September 1834) Married Carlos, Infante of Spain (his first marriage).

Infanta Isabel Maria (4 July 1801 - 22 April 1876) Served as regent of Portugal from 1826 to 1828; died unmarried

Miguel of Portugal (26 October 1802 - 14 November 1866) Known by the Liberals as the Usurper.

Infanta Maria da Assunção (25 June 1805 - 7 January 1834) Died unmarried

Infanta Ana de Jesus Maria (23 October 1806 - 22 June 1857) Married Nuno José Severo de Mendoça Rolim de Moura Barreto, Marquis of Loulé and Count of Vale de Reis. After her death, his uncle King Luis I of Portugal elevated him as first Duke of Loulé. He served as Prime Minister of Portugal. They had issue.

#king joao vi of portugal #kings of portugal #bragança dynasty #portugal histor

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sansimeonsims · 5 years ago

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Happy Republic Day, everyone.

Republic Day, alternately Filipino-American Friendship Day, is a minor holiday in the Philippines. It was once celebrated as the de jure Independence Day until it was moved to the 12th of June by then-president Diosdado Macapagal. This marked the formal end of occupied rule in the Philippines.

Republic Day is usually given an occasional nod in government publications, while Filipino-American Friendship Day is mainly observed by commercial businesses that sell American cultural fare.

Critics considered this move ahistorical (some insist on calling it “the real independence day”) and excessively nationalistic, but I personally think this is justifiable. There are several instances of days commemorating independence to be on a significant date of national awakening against an occupying power (a declaration of independence) rather than marking the date it was actually legally accomplished. The respective independence days of the United States and Mexico were not on the same dates as the end of their revolts.

#Midcentury Philippines #Republic Day #Filipino-American Friendship Day #non-Sims

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schraubd · 6 years ago

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Vectors of Threat for Academic Freedom

The prospect that Temple Professor Marc Lamont Hill might be dismissed from his tenured university position -- the Chair of the Temple University's Board of Trustees said he would "look at what remedies we have", but suggested that many on the board and the administration would like to fire Hill -- has sparked a renewed round of the ever-popular "who's the real threat to academic freedom" game. For all the belly-aching conservatives have issued over liberal universities which can't tolerate opposing viewpoints, there sure are a lot of cases where conservatives have successfully censored progressive academics!

I doubt that Hill will end up being fired, and it's been good to say many conservative academics make clear that any such university sanction would be an egregious violation of academic freedom (see, e.g., Robert George, Jonathan Marks, and Keith Whittington -- FIRE, which sometimes is viewed as conservative though I don't think that reputation is deserved, also has come out swinging backing Hill's academic freedom rights).

But this case did help crystallize in my mind the different vectors of threats to academic freedom, which may help explain how both the left and the right think it's self-evident that the "other side" is the real danger (beyond the usual self-serving reasons I mean). To generalize:

When threats to academic freedom bubble "up" from below -- come from students or faculty -- they tend to come from the left;

When threats to academic freedom percolate "down" from above -- come from politicians or the Board of Trustees -- they tend to come from the right.

Front-line administrators (like Deans), who can encounter pressure from both sources, are "swing votes". No doubt there are exceptions. And I hasten to add that this typology only holds on a political axis -- along other axes of campus identity (e.g., racial, sexual, or religious lines), there are different stories to be told about who and what prevents certain groups from engaging as equals in campus discourse. But on the purely political side of things, and based on my admittedly non-scientific recollection of cases, this distinction seems to hold up pretty well. Start with the threats progressives face: It is the Temple Board of Trustees threatening Hill's job. Steven Salaita was "unhired" by the Univeristy of Illinois' Board, validating a decision by the Chancellor. It was UNC's board which voted to shut down centers and clinics which clashed with conservative political priorities, for nakedly political reasons. If you move over to cases of conservative academics being targeted, examples like Bret Weinstein at Evergreen State or Charles Murray at Middlebury are primarily cases of student behavior. Academic BDS campaigns almost exclusively emanate from students or faculty, while facing strong administrative resistance (see Pitzer or Michigan). And the more general claims that conservative views are "unwelcome" or that college is an "unsafe space" to be a conservative are typically directed at the conduct and outlook of students and faculty. No doubt this divergence is in large part attributable to the relative political make-up of college faculties and students versus governing boards or political overseers (in retrospect, it also explained the instincts behind my "Do Jews Need a Protest Politic" post, which posited that campus groups who protect their rights via administrative action rather than student protests will automatically code as conservative). But the differences between these threat-vectors has significant practical ramifications, that go far in explaining why both conservatives and liberals think they're the primary victims of academic freedom violations. On the one hand, it perhaps shouldn't surprise -- though many people were surprised -- that there have been more "political" firings of left-wing professors on campus than right-wing professors, and the gap has gotten bigger over the past few years. And if you think of who has the capacity to issue blunt, sweeping, heavy-handed assaults on academic freedom -- terminating employment, shuttering a program, passing a law -- then that figure makes sense. For the most part, students and faculty can't do that (or at least, not with much greater expenditures effort). So the liberals can justly point out to the conservatives that, if they're the political orientation threatened by the elements within academia that have the de jure authority to end a career or eliminate a program with the stroke of a pen, then they are the group more threatened by academic freedom violations -- period. But there's another way of viewing the problem. It's true that boards and politicians have greater blunt dominative authority which, when exercised, poses a greater threat to academic freedom than any power faculty or students hold. But it's also true that board and politicians "touch" the day-to-day operations of academia far more infrequently than faculty and students do. What the latter lack in bluntness, they make up for in terms of omnipresence -- the conservative complaint regarding the state of academic freedom tends to rely less on direct cases of censorship by administrators and more about an atmosphere or mood where certain views are shunned or difficult to air (see this profile of conservative women at UNC, or this account from NYU). It is not a single act of censorial pronouncement that silences conservatives on campus, but the constant prick and needle of dismissiveness, eye rolls, "jokes", and shunning that together creates a landscape where conservative views are effectively unable to be aired.

So the conservatives could reply by saying that a few stray bolts of administrative lightning might be flashy, but they hardly overwhelm the suffocating blanket of ubiquitous liberalism which they see as draped over their academic communities. It is nuts, they would argue, to suggest that in general academic squelches liberal ideas and facilitates conservative ones.

One reason that I suspect progressives would find this argument frustrating is that it adopts a view of power that conservatives tend not to find attractive in other contexts. When speaking of racism, for example, conservatives are not generally sympathetic to any understanding of the term other than deliberate de jure action by an official authority. The complaints about eye rolls and dismissals are -- dare I say it -- best characterized as "microaggressions", and we all know how conservatives feel about those.

This framework also has some difficulty distinguishing between bad de facto "censorship" and simple widespread negative reactions to ideas. After all, thinking "this idea is wrong" -- or even "this idea is racist" -- is not censorship, it's judgment. That one's speeches are met with protests, one's classroom contributions are met with snickers, and that nobody wants to date you after that column you wrote calling abortion murder -- none of these would be viewed as a form of oppression by conservatives but for the fact that conservatives are experiencing them.

Hence, the conservative appeal to this framework in the academic context reasonably comes off as opportunistic. It also opens the door to a more expansive liberal retort, identifying a still-further basic threat to, if not "academic freedom", then at least the diverse and pluralistic exchange of ideas. If academia is built for a particular type of student -- one who is, on average, wealthier and Whiter than America writ large, then it follows that certain types of views and arguments will most likely be systematically underrepresented and underconsidered. If, for example, campuses are poorly equipped to engage with and include undocumented immigrant students, that likely has an impact on the way campus debates about immigration will proceed. This argument relies on a similar (albeit not identical) understanding of power as does the conservative case; if they admit one, they really should have to admit the other.

Be that as it may, I do think that a focus on the vectors of threats to academic freedom -- the different ways in which those threats manifest when they stem from politicians and boards (right targeting left) versus when they stem from faculty and students (left targeting right) -- can help explain the sense of talking past each other that is so prevalent in these conversations.

Brazen acts of censorship, firings, or political interference are more likely to stem from the right. Day-to-day discomfort, including microaggressions, and an overall atmosphere of having to "walk on eggshells" are more likely to be the product of the left -- though any consistent theory of academic freedom then has to also admit that these same dynamics might also "censor" or "chill" other campus outgroups (such as racial, religious, or sexual minorities). The former is more nakedly wrong and more individually dangerous, but also rarer. The latter is more omnipresent, but also primarily an issue in aggregate and in any event more complicated at the case level.

And then even below those, there's a whole additional layer of ideas and perspectives which are not aired on campus because their proponents never make it to campus, because campus isn't built for them. Different vectors, all threatening the pluralistic exchange of ideas in different ways.

via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/2rikS9M

#academia #academic freedom #conservatives #Liberals

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architectnews · 4 years ago

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Lukoran Residential Villas, Croatia

Lukoran Residential Villas, Croatian Architecture, Modern Residential Resort Architecture, Photos

Lukoran Residential Villas in Croatia

8 Feb 2021

Lukoran Residential Villas

Architects: 10 Design Location: Ugljan, Croatia

International architecture practice 10 Design is leading on the masterplan and architectural design for the residences and beach house within the luxury Lukoran Resort set on the island of Ugljan, Croatia. The team has been commissioned by SITNO Holding Real Estate to produce the first phase of the 77,000sqm site, following an international design competition.

The scheme incorporates a series of premium villas with private infinity pools, townhouses with shared pool amenity and 4 apartment blocks. The residential scheme is underpinned by a publicly accessible beach club located adjacent to a proposed new marina, which is set to be complete with food and beverage outlets, leisure facilities including gym and spa, small retail units and a large external hospitality space with a pool terrace.

The various different residency options share a common architectural vocabulary and materiality, creating a uniformed brand for the product range. With contrasting shades of the local stone and contrasting dark grey paint, the residences are finished with robust steel detailing. This architectural language has been inspired by the dramatic landscape and marine tradition. The beach club bears a corresponding design palette to the residences and will act as both a waterfront gateway and a central destination for the scheme.

Accessible by boat from Zadar, Ugljan is set in the Adriatic Sea and holds a long tradition of fishing and historical maritime trade. The plot for the scheme is currently an undeveloped part of the island which enjoys a rich and varied topography, providing the proposed residences with unique and characterful aspects and generous garden amenity.

Respecting the islands natural topography, maximising sea and landscape views and retaining indigenous planting were key drivers behind the design process.

Paul Rodgers, Design Partner at 10 Design says: “As the design lead for the first phase of this masterplan, we have realised a scheme which embraces the site’s landscape and celebrates its origins. The brief was to produce a suite of premium products which together create a sense of destination unique to Lukoran. The scheme’s design will set a new benchmark for quality resorts in Croatia.”

Chris Jones, Partner – Europe adds: “Marking our continued expansion in continental Europe, the Lukoran Resort for SITNO Holding Real Estate in Croatia reflects our ability to create intuitive, contextual and interesting design concepts across the globe for a range of clients.”

Lukoran Residential Villas, Croatia – Building Information

Location: Ugljan, Croatia Client: SITNO Holding Real Estate Scope by 10 Design – Architecture, Masterplanning Type: Residential Villas Site Area: 77,000sqm GFA: 23,600sqm

10 Design Team Design Partner: Paul Rodgers Project Partner: Chris Jones Project Leader: Phil Gray

Architectural Team Jon Derrin, Piotr Gryko, Jessica Barton, Armand Agraviador

Visualisations by Frontop

Lukoran Residential Villas, Croatia images / information received 080221

Location: Ugljan, Croatia, south eastern Europe

Croatia Architecture

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Another recent Croatian building by 3LHD Architects on e-architect

ResoLution Signature Restaurant, Rovinj photo : Jure Živković ResoLution Signature Restaurant Interior

Croatian hotel building by 3LHD Architects

Croatian Architect Firms

One Suite Hotel in Srebreno, Mlini, Srebreno Architect: 3LHD photograph : Marko Ercegović One Suite Hotel Srebreno

Solta Island Resort, rotating hotel building Design: Studio RHE image from architects Solta Island Resort Rotating Hotel

Croatian Architecture

Comments / photos for the Lukoran Residential Villas, Croatia page welcome

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anxious-witch · 1 year ago

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Inertia 5

Pairings: Jan Peteh/Nace Jordan

Warnings: Warnings for mentions of alcohol and drinking, talk about religion, religious trauma mentioned(as in every chapter let's be real), character hinting at past religious trauma and homophobia, crying, character having a panic attack near the end

If I forgot something, feel free to tell me as always

Notes: AO3 link

This one is rough again folks, make sure to check the warnings. But that said, there is finally a reveal so! Buckle up, we are in for emotional damage

My rot is as hungry as me. & when God asks me about love, I always respond with cruelty.

Yves Olade, from Beloved

They were in the tram, the first time Jan noticed it. They passed the church on their way and Nace crossed himself, almost absent mindedly. Jan immediately felt his jaw clench.

The knowledge that Jure gave him sat heavily in Jan's stomach. Nothing changed about Nace's behavior, except the way Jan viewed him.

Once he noticed, he couldn’t stop looking for it. Jure would get a call from Nika and talk to her with a soft smile on his face and Nace got this faraway, wistful look. Guilt churred in Jan’s stomach, but the knowledge weighted him down. Made his jaw lock up. If he told him, Nace would surely expect them to act like most soulmates do. Jan just couldn't do it.

So, he didn't say anything of the sort. They made small talk a couple of times, but nothing more. Jan figured that was for the best.

Until one of their gigs.

They tried not to put too many gigs before the competition, but they still had to do them. And with gigs often came alcohol.

Now, Jan wasn't blackout drunk. He never was when he had to preform. Adrenaline and post gig high did its thing, though.

Especially because Bojan kept buying them new rounds-well, other than Nace and Kris who decided not to drink for the night.

"Does alcohol have gluten?" Jan asked at one point, knocking his shoulder with Nace's.

He overestimated the amount of force necessary for it, making them both stumble. Nace grabbed the table and then caught and steadied him so he wouldn't topple over.

Perhaps he has one shot too many.

"Not usually, no. I just don't take alcohol well."

Jan looked up to him and-fuck. When did they get so close? His brain was fuzzy. Nace was close enough for Jan to smell his cologne. It smelled of orange, cinnamon and cloves. There was also a sharper undertone. Something alcoholic? Jan couldn't quite tell.

"Jan?" Nace asked, his brow furrowing.

Shit. How long was he staring? He blinked, trying to clear his head.

"Don't take it well?"

Nace sighed. He opened his mouth when there was a loud sound of glass breaking. They both turned to look and saw that one of the glasses broke, spilling all over the table.

Jure and Bojan exchanged a glance and burst out laughing. Kris sighed.

"Perhaps it's time to go home," he said sharply.

Jan could safely assume that either the drink was his, or it partially spilled on him, judging by his sour expression. Jan felt bad for him, but he couldn't help but chuckle a bit at that, too.

Bojan and Jure left unattended, especially with alcohol, never meant anything good.

"I can take Jure and Jan. They live close to each other anyway. You can drive Bojan."

Kris shot Nace a grateful look. He definitely looked ready to go home as soon as possible, while Jan and Jure both lived further away.

Jan watched in amusement as Kris and Nace tried to separate Bojan and Jure who kept making faces and giggling at each other.

Cold evening air sobered him up a bit as they walked towards the car. Nace helped still giggling Jure to even walk without falling down.

Jan took a moment to appreciate how soft Nace looked under the soft light of the nearby lamps. He wore a warm, brown sweater and black pants. His eyes were crinkled at the corners as he smiled at something Jure said.

He reminded Jan of a bulb of warm light in the dark.

Finally, they got to the car and Nace helped Jure get in the backseat. He'd doze off in a minute, as he often did after drinking this much. Jan took the shotgun.

Only when Nace turned on the heating did Jan realize how cold it was outside. He shivered.

"Are you cold? I can give you my scarf."

Jan shook his head, but he shivered again, so Nace sighed and wrapped his scarf around him anyway. It was soft and warm. It smelled of Nace's cologne. It seemed to be rust colored. Not quite red, but not quite brown, either. Warm, like Nace.

Nace started the car and Jan sneaked a glance to the backseat. Jure was already asleep, leaning against a window. He was such a cat, able to fall asleep anywhere.

"Nace? Can I ask you something?"

Nace sighed. He didn't take his eyes away from the road.

"I have a feeling you will regardless, so. Go ahead."

"Do you not drink alcohol for the same reason you don't eat snacks with us?"

Nace looked genuinely confused at the question.

"Which would be?"

"Calories."

If he were sober, Jan would try and package it a bit better. Lead into it, maybe get Nace to admit it himself. But he wasn't. And he had never been good at being mindful and careful.

Nace paled a bit and Jan saw the way his fingers twitched on the wheel. Then he slowly relaxed them.

"I see you've done your research."

Jan shrugged. There was no use denying it.

"I did. But that doesn't answer my question."

Nace's hands tightened on the wheel. He still stubbornly kept his eyes on the road, not even glancing in Jan's direction.

"No. I don't drink alcohol because the last time I did, I started stripping in front of my ex's new boyfriend. Does that answer your question?"

Jan blinked, taking in that information. That was...unexpected. He really thought he figured him out. Then again, just because it wasn't tied to the alcohol, didn't mean Nace wasn't insecure.

"It does. Did you have sex with me because you are insecure and think someone being mean to you is fine as long as they find you attractive?"

"What?!"

Jure stirred in the backseat and they both feel silent. When he didn't awaken fully, Nace took in a deep breath. When he spoke, his voice was quieter.

"How the fuck did you come to that conclusion?"

Jan inclined his head to the side. Nace's eyes were narrowed, and there was slight flush to his cheeks. Was he angry? Jan knew it was slightly insensitive to ask, but really?

"Why else would you? I mean, yeah, I'm attractive but you could have picked a random attractive guy at the club. Or hell, Kris or Jure, if it's a musician thing. Everyone else was nice to you."

Nace stopped at the red light and too that time to rub at his forehead.

"I don't even know how to begin unpacking all that."

Jan impatiently drummed his fingers against the car seat.

"Is that a yes?"

"No! Jesus Christ Jan, I may have issues, but I don't have that many issues."

Jan huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. That made no sense. Why else would he do it?

"But then why-"

"Listen. How about we continue this conversation when you are sober?"

Jan scowled and turned to look out of the window. He wasn't sure why it bothered him, exactly. He just wanted to know. If he understood Nace better, maybe the morbid curiosity he had would go away.

"Why do you want to know, anyway?"

"I don't...know. I guess I am just trying to figure you out."

Nace's brows furrowed, and he seemingly had nothing to say to that. He drove in silence while Jan mulled their conversation over.

"Why do you believe in God?"

Nacesighed.

"No. I’m sorry, but I am not having this conversation with you right now. You are drunk and this is a complex topic. We can come back to it when you are sober."

Jan didn't pout. He just made an extremely disappointed face. Then he noticed how close they were to his apartment and went to grab his bag.

Except if wasn't there. Jan looked at the seat, where only his phone laid and tried to remember where he left his bag. Was it at the club?

No. Kris would have picked it up after him. That sparked a memory. It was in Kris' car. Jan told him he put enough money in his phone case and that he'd be the one to drive him home anyway.

He never expected he'd end up in Nace's car. Without his keys.

"Fuck. I left my bag in Kris' car."

He tried to think. If he called Kris, maybe he was still awake. Jan could order an Uber there and back. As much as he wanted to collapse from exhaustion, he saw no other option.

"You can just drop me off here. I can order a taxi back to Kris' place. Let's hope he is still awake."

Nace shook his head.

"Don't be ridiculous. I live five minutes away from Kris. And if he isn't awake, you can sleep over at my place and pick up your bag from him in the morning."

Jan stared at him. His thoughts came to a halt. Here Nace was, being kind again. Jan wanted to shake him until he stopped being so goddamn nice.

"You are seriously going to offer me to sleep over?"

Nace shrugged, making a turn towards Jure's place. Like they already decided on his plan.

"I mean, we are bandmates. I'd say we could even say we are friends, if we were being generous and considered your interrogation an attempt in getting to know me."

Jan narrowed his eyes. He had no good reply to that. Except maybe...

"Is it like, a Christian thing? To be kind to everyone?"

Nace groaned, his face twisting in a grimace.

"You are not going to let this go, are you?"

It was always hard to let things go. Especially things he was curious about. And a part of him wanted a real reason to dislike Nace. To dislike his seemingly endless patience and kindness.

No one was that kind and patient for no reason.

"I mean, maybe partially it is? But I think being kind is a given. I think we are all given initial goodness when we are born. It’s our decision on whenever we are gonna keep it or not. Why wouldn't I be kind, if I can be? Who does it help if I am cruel?"

"It keeps you safe," Jan said, so quietly he wasn't sure Nace heard him at all.

He didn't say anything back until he parked the car and then turned towards Jan. His eyes stated directly into his soul and for one brief moment, Jan thought he had given himself away.

"Does it keep you safe?"

Jan's body felt like lead all of a sudden. He was pinned under Nace's gaze and unable to look away. He tried to swallow, to find words in his too-dry mouth, but there was nothing.

"Does it keep you safe?" Kris asked him once, as he lightly touched the crucifix around his neck. Jan remembered being equally startled at the question as he was now.

"The best it can," he said, echoing his previous answer.

They stared at one another for another long moment. He saw out of the corner of his eye that Nace's hand twitched, as if he wanted to reach out and touch him.

There was a groan from the backseat and they both flinched. Jure blinked his eyes open and stretched, like a cat.

"Oh, are we here yet?"

Nace recovered first and smiled at Jure as if nothing happened.

"Yeah, I was just about to wake you."

Jan sat, feeling as if he was frozen still. His head was starting to pound and he could feel just how drunk he actually was. How unwise it was, talking to Nace on this state.

"Thank you for the ride Nace! Goodnight!"

Jure got up with strange precision. He didn't even seem to wobble as he made his way out of the car and towards his building. It occurred to Jan too late that he could have asked to sleep over at his apartment.

By that time, Jure was already inside the building, and Nace was starting the car again.

Jan grasped at something to say, but no words came. The silence was overbearing, weighting on Jan. With all the recent reminiscing, he didn't feel safe with his own thoughts. Not near Nace.

If he closed his eyes, he could almost replace the sound of silence in a car for silent prayers in a church, where it felt like everyone was barely breathing as they went over a prayer.

He shivered, even if it wasn't from the cold at all.As if he heard his thoughts, Nace finally spoke, breaking the silence.

“Can I ask you a question?”

Jan began peeling his nailpolish again. There were only a few spots left on his thumb. He'd need to repaint them tomorrow.

"Shoot, I guess.”

Nace drummed his fingers on the wheel. Was he hesitating? Or did he not expect Jan to actually agree?

"Why do you only pain nails on one hand?"

Jan blinked at him and then burst out laughing. It caused his head to pound even worse, but he didn't care. Out of everything he could ask, Nace asked that? He really was ridiculous.

"Wow. And here I expected something deep and profound," Jan said, wiping the corners of his eyes.

Nace rolled his eyes.

"That's for question two."

Jan rolled his shoulder, forcing them to relax. Kris always said he held too much tension in them. Like he had any room to talk.

"I bite my nails. Nail polish helps, but I am also awful at painting them with my left hand. So, I am saving the left one at least."

Nace hummed thoughtfully. Jan braced himself for another question.

"How do you feel about religion?"

He winced at the question, although he supposed he dug that grave for himself when he asked Nace about that just minutes ago.

Still, his answer came raw and unbidden and entirely too honest.

"I think it's bullshit. I think religion is a way to control people and make them think and behave in a way that benefits the church and people who are already what they consider 'exactly as they should be'. It's-horrifying, how they take people who are scared or loss or just vulnerable and use fear of eternal damnation to control them."

Nace was silent. Jan was fuming, years of swallowed rage suddenly bubbling up.

"I also hate the way they make them fear anything different. And if God forbid, you are different they make you scared if yourself. Of things you like, of things you want. So my opinion on religion is that it should be fucking banned."

He was breathing heavily, like he just ran a marathon. Too emotional, he criticized himself, you showed that you care too much.

"I'm sorry you had such an awful experience with religion."

Jan laughed bitterly.

"So you are saying there are different experiences? For people like me?"

A beat passed. Two beats. Then-

"People like us."

He bit his tongue. Surely not people like them, if Nace still followed the faith that hated them. Surely not people like them, when Nace still wanted to find his soulmate and tighten the final knot on Jan's noose.

"I understand where you are coming from with this. I really do. Many people do automatically reject anything that they found odd. We are all scared if the unknown and sometimes the church-and by extension religion, gives them a place to stay safe in. And people take that place and misuse it. You cannot stay safe all the time. You have to take a step into the unknown sometimes or you will never learn anything new."

Red light pained Nace's features in almost a menacing manner. Like he was a devil, tempting him to see things from his perspective.

Except instead of tempting him to sin, he was tempting him to reconsider things he made up his mind on years ago.

"So, what? I should just accept and obey a religion that hates me?"

Jan was biting nails of his right hand now. They were already way too short and it was likely he'd draw blood, but he didn't care.

"Of course not. But there are asshole people everywhere. Do you not watch sports because there are bigots? I am not saying you have to do anything, I am just saying you'd have to discard almost anything by that logic. I mean, personally, religion is more private for me, anyway. Sure, a mass in the church can be nice, but true prayer you do alone. Not because you are forced, but because you find comfort in it. That’s what it’s supposed to be like.”

It felt as if Nace hit him on the head with a hammer. Jan tasted copper as he bit of a part of his nail with too much force.

"That's not the same! And just because it works that way for you, doesn’t mean that’s how the overall system works!”

Nace shrugged.

"I never said it was. I am just trying to tell you that people can have different experiences. And how isn't it the same? No one can eternally damn you for liking men if you don't let them. You are the only one damning yourself."

Jan slapped his hands over his ear. His head hurt and he was shaking with anger and childlike helplessness. He didn't want to hear it.

"Shut up!"

He wasn't going to cry. He wasn't. Especially not in front of Nace. Especially not in front of goddamn soulmate he was cursed fo have.

He didn't realize Nace parked the car. Not until he touched him and Jan recoiled from him like from a live wire.

"Jan, I'm sorry, I was just trying to explain my perspective."

Jan shook his head, almost violently. He didn't want to listen anymore. He felt too warm. He pulled his hair up, trying to elevate some of the heat from his neck. He turned his face away as he felt the tears bubble up.

Nace's gasp brought him out of his haze. That and him lightly touching right behind his right ear. Exactly where his soulmark burned like a brand. Well it did, up until Nace touched it and then the burning stopped, as if soothed by his touch. Jan unconsciously leaned into the touch for a moment, until his brain registered what was happening.

He jerked away once again, his panicked eyes meeting Nace's shocked ones.

"Your mark. It matches-"

Jan did the only thing he could think of. He grabbed his phone, unbuckled his belt and made a run for it. He stumbled a bit, but blind panic and adrenaline kicked in.

He heard Nace calling his name but he didn't turn. He was close enough to Kris' building to know the way, even through the tears and the haze of alcohol.

His muscles burned and he was panting by the time he reached Kris' door. Then he rang the doorbell and insistently knocked.

It took about a minute before Kris opened the door, clearly half asleep and in his pajamas. As soon as he saw the state Jan was in, he went pale.

"Jan? What happened? Are you okay?"

Tears came unbidden then and he half stumbled into his best friend. Kris barely managed to hold him upright and close the door behind them.

"I fucked up. I fucked up so bad, he knows. He knows, Kris. I need to call Matej to remove the soulmark as soon as possible. I need to-"

"Hey, hey, hey. Breathe. I got you."

Jan sobbed into his chest. He wasn't sure when was the last time he cried in front of someone like this. He cried for all the times he didn't. He cried for his younger self and the unfairness of fate.

Maybe if he and Nace met earlier, they could have stood a chance. Before Jan became the way he was. While he could still return Nace's feelings.

Kris managed to maneuver them to the living room and sat them both down on the couch. He didn't even complain about Jan not taking his shoes off. He just held him tightly until Jan's tears stopped.

God, was his head pounding. He felt thirsty, too. But too tired to get up.

"I'll get you some water."

How did Kris always manage to know what Jan needed? How did he keep saving him, over and over?

Kris handed him the glass of water and didn't say anything until he stopped drinking. Only when Jan put the empty glass on the table did he speak.

"What was that about Matej and removing your soulmark?"

Jan was so tired. Too tired to lie, or brush him off. Truth spilled from his lips easily.

"He knows someone who got their soulmark removed. And with that the connection. I asked him to do it, but he said I have to wait six months. But now, surely he'll realize I have to do it sooner. Now that Nace knows I-I can't."

Kris took in a sharp breath. His face had gone pale and he stared at Jan with an almost betrayed expression.

"You-you can't. Jan that's not something you can decide on your own! Nace will be affected too!"

For the second time that night, Jan covered his ears.

"I don't care, I don't care, stop it! Can everyone just fucking stop?!"

His friend stared at him in shock. Jan tried to recall if he ever had such a breakdown. The closest must have been after he cut contact with his family. And even then, it was simply a few controlled tears.

This wasn't controlled in any way. Jan felt so far away from any sort of sense and control it scared him, but he just couldn't stop it.

Kris hugged him again, and it felt almost as if he was trying to protect him. To shield him from his own pain.

"I kept hearing the church bells when I couldn't sleep. Like they were taunting me. And my father keeps trying to send me messages and I-I feel like I am going mad, Kris. I tried to be his friend but I can't be anything else."

Kris' hands tightened against him. He slowly breathed out.

“Let’s leave this discussion for tomorrow, okay? Just…breathe. Try to fall asleep. I got you.”

Jan was tired. And with how warm he suddenly was, he felt almost drowsy. Kris slowly pulled away and then unlaced his boots. Then once he removed them, he pushed Jan to lie down and covered him with a blanket.

It was far from the first time Jan slept on Kris couch, so he let himself sink into the familiar cushion. Kris rummaged around a bit, but Jan closed his eyes, uncaring about what exactly he did.

Only when the lights turned off and he left him alone did Jan began to drift to sleep. At the back of his mind, something was nagging him. Like there was an unfamiliar scent among all the familiar ones.

It wouldn't be until the morning that he noticed Nace's scarf still wrapped around his neck.

#jance #joker out #my writing #inertia

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