Fernando II, Duke of Braganza

A posthumous engraving of D. Fernando II.

Fernando, born in 1430, was a successful young man and quickly grew popular amongst the Portuguese nobility. He was most appreciated by King Afonso V of Portugal, and always escorted the King on his different incursions into Morocco, where he participated in several conquests and expeditions. The King, having favoured Fernando, rewarded him the title Count of Guimarães, in 1464. This title would soon be upgraded to Duke of Guimarães.

Fernando took part in the War of the Castilian Succession. Following King Henry IV of Castile's death, his daughter and heir, Joanna La Beltraneja, married to Afonso V of Portugal, was proclaimed Queen of Castile but she had the opposition of her aunt (the future queen Isabella I). The Portuguese invaded Castile and, during the Battle of Toro, Fernando II of Braganza was responsible for the Queen’s safety.

When his father, Fernando I, died in 1478, Fernando inherited the various titles of his father, the most important and noteworthy being the title of Duke of Braganza. At this time, the House of Braganza was the most powerful noble house in the Kingdom of Portugal and one of the most powerful ones in all of the Iberian Kingdoms.

When King João II succeeded his father, King Afonso V, João II sought to bring down the power of the Portuguese nobility, which had greatly flourished under Afonso V's reign. The King heavily focused on diminishing the powers of the two most powerful noble houses in the kingdom, House of Beja and Viseu and the House of Braganza.

The King accused his cousin, Diogo I of Beja and Viseu, of high treason and had him brutally executed. Soon after, King João II also accused his half second cousin Fernando II of Braganza of high treason and had him executed in Évora in 1483. Afterwards, the assets of the House of Braganza were confiscated and the family fled to Castile. The family returned in 1498 and had all their property returned.

Fernando II of Braganza married twice. His first marriage was to D. Leonor de Menezes; they had no issue. He later married to Isabella of Viseu, in 1472, with whom he had four children, though only two lived past infancy.