Escudo - Maria I Lisboa mint

Maria I came to the Portuguese throne in 1777 following the death of her father José I, but effective royal authority had for years been held by the Marquis of Pombal. Once she dismissed him, the court's religious conservatism reasserted itself sharply — a shift that influenced state iconography and the resumption of traditional minting conventions at Lisbon. The escudo denomination had roots in the earlier *cruzado* system, and gold coinage of this type circulated actively in both metropolitan Portugal and its Brazilian and African territories.

Maria suffered a severe mental breakdown in 1792, after which her son João effectively governed as regent, though she remained nominal sovereign until her death in 1816. Coins struck across this issue's date range therefore span a politically fractured reign.