John spent lavishly on ambitious architectural works, most notably Mafra Palace, and on commissions and additions for his sizable art and literary collections.

Owing to his craving for international diplomatic recognition, John also spent large sums on the embassies he sent to the courts of Europe, the most famous being those he sent to Paris in 1715 and Rome in 1716.

In keeping with a traditional policy pursued by previous monarchs of the House of Braganza which stressed the importance of good relations with Europe, John's reign was marked by numerous interventions into the affairs of other European states, most notably as part of the War of the Spanish Succession.

He rewarded his long-awaited recognition as a lawful monarch by Pope Benedict XIV with a fervent devotion to the Catholic Church and some very large donations to the Holy See.

He was baptized on 19 November at the Royal Palace Chapel and given the full name John Francis Anthony Joseph Benedict Bernard (João Francisco António José Bento Bernardo).

[7] When John reached the age of seven, his father determined that his eldest sons were sufficiently educated in basic subjects and decided to take over supervision of their instruction himself, though his interest in mentoring them quickly faded.

[12] Wearing his Cross of the Order of Christ, and with the Portuguese Crown Jewels beside him, and not on him, as was the Portuguese royal custom, John was acclaimed "His Majesty, by the Grace of God, King of Portugal and the Algarves, before and beyond the sea in Africa, Lord of Guinea and of Conquest, Navigation, and Commerce of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India, our Lord, John, the fifth of that name in the table of the Kings of Portugal."

This new level of Portuguese involvement allowed John's general, António Luís de Sousa, Marquis of Minas, to capture Madrid on 28 June 1706.

[12] During his life, Peter II had worked a long time to secure John a marriage with an Austrian archduchess in order to guarantee Portugal's alliance with the Habsburgs.

[13] The flagship, in which Maria Anna travelled, berthed at the docks of the private garden of Ribeira Palace, where John and a party of the kingdom's richest and most powerful nobles met the new queen for the first time.

[26] However, John did not act by himself when making decisions; rather, he frequently consulted a close circle of well-informed advisers and held weekly intimate audiences with members of all three estates, which he preferred to larger institutions, such as the Cortes and the Council of State, which he viewed as incompetent and bloated.

[28] However, John's dislike of institutions and consultative bodies led him to cease convening the council formally, leading the prominent politician and diplomat Luís da Cunha to refer to the king as a despot and his government as absolutist.

Disney writes of John that he "was an absolutist by conviction and believed secular power and authority emanated by right solely from the king, to whom all other persons and jurisdictions were completely subordinate.

[32] Having engaged in multiple conflicts throughout his reign, both in Europe and his empire, John V understood the necessity of the junta and carefully picked its members, only selecting those deemed the most knowledgeable and competent.

"[41] Although King Louis would die only weeks after the Portuguese embassy's arrival to France, the richness and extravagance of its entry to Paris was noted at the French court and across Europe and gained a new level of prestige for John and his kingdom.

Having left the country in 1715 without the King's permission (as was required for royalty and high nobility), Manuel traveled throughout Europe, staying with Portuguese ambassadors and nobles across the continent, causing quite a fanfare.

[48] In the same year, John ordered a formal, triumphal entry for his ambassador in Rome, Rodrigo Anes de Sá Almeida e Meneses, 3rd Marquis of Fontes.

[48] John's good fortune with the papacy and Italy would continue to raise the next year, in 1717, when the aid of a Portuguese squadron of ships helped win the Battle of Matapan, in the ongoing Ottoman-Venetian War.

[51] Clement XI's successor, Innocent XIII, had served as Apostolic Nuncio to Portugal from 1697 to 1710, at the court of John and his father King Peter II.

[52] An issue of significance to John concerned the rank and appointment of the Apostolic Nuncio in Portugal, which the King wished to be raised to the dignity of a crown-cardinal and demanded input in the selection process.

[56] Only during the fourth papacy of John's reign was the issue resolved, when Pope Clement XII acquiesced to the king's demands, in 1730, elevating the Portuguese nunciature to the dignity shared only with France, Austria, and Spain.

[58] The American colonies of Brazil and Maranhão had become vital sources of wealth to the royal treasury, making the protection, expansion, and good governance of Portuguese America crucial to imperial policy in the Joanine era.

However, exploitation of the resources primarily began in John's reign, with the establishment of mining companies, taxation systems, and a mercantilist supply chain, which ushered in a period known as the Brazilian Gold Rush.

[51] Asia had been the traditional base of the Portuguese Empire's wealth and power, but its declining returns became especially noticeable during John's reign as gold and diamonds from the Americas flowed to Lisbon.

[65] Notable, tensions were also raised with Britain in 1722 when British forces established a fortification in Cabinda (in modern-day Angola), which had been claimed and evangelized by the Portuguese since the 15th century.

He met with Dom Nuno da Cunha e Ataíde, High-Inquisitor of Portugal, who assured the King that if he promised to build a convent for Franciscans in Mafra, in the Lisbon countryside, Maria Anna would bear him a child by the end of 1711.

Noting the vast size and scope of the project, Charles de Merveilleux, a Swiss nobleman living in Portugal in 1726, remarked that "King John has decided to build a second Escorial.

"[68] With the new plans for a palatial complex, the project at Mafra, entrusted to royal architect João Frederico Ludovice, became much more than a fulfillment of a religious promise, but rather a demonstration of monarchical power and wealth.

[68] In regard to the exuberant cost of the palatial complex, Merveilleux remarked that "three quarters of the royal treasury and nearly all of the gold brought on the fleets from Brazil were here, at Mafra, turned into stone.

[71] John commissioned numerous operas, comedies, and serenades to be celebrated at the palace with great pomp, and its enormous property became the favoured hunting grounds of the royal family for centuries to come.