Antonio de Albuquerque Coelho

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António de Albuquerque Coelho [ ɐ̃ˈtɔnju dɨ alβu'kerke koˈeʎu ] (* 1682 in Santa Cruz de Macuttá , Maranhão , Brazil ; † 1745 in Madre de Deus , Portuguese India ) was a Portuguese colonial administrator. In the course of time he lived in almost all regions of the Portuguese colonial empire . Unusually for the time, he held several high positions despite his mixed European, African and Indian origins, such as governor of Macau , Timor and godfather .

family

António de Albuquerque Coelho was the illegitimate son of António de Albuquerque Coelho de Carvalho , who held various administrative positions in Portugal, Brazil and most recently in Angola , and Angola de Bairros ou de Azevedo , their parents and grandparents from Portugal, Africa and from the Indians of Brazil descended from. Thus the son was considered a mestizo .

Life

Ascent

The Portuguese colonial empire around 1700

Albuquerque Coelho received his first education from the priest of his home parish. As a teenager, Albuquerque Coelho was sent to Portugal to study. Presumably through the influence of his father, he received the title Fidalgo cavaleiro da Casa Real including a fixed income on March 10, 1700 and was accepted into the Order of Christ . For this, the son had to go to the Portuguese possessions in Asia. The dangerous six-month crossing claimed a relatively large number of victims among the passengers on board.

On September 12, 1700 he reached the city of Goa in India on board the São Pedro Gonçalves . Here Albuquerque Coelho was tenente de mar e guerra (lieutenant at sea), later Capitão-tenente (captain lieutenant). These were mostly nominal items. Since it had proven itself on the crossing, it was now used on warships in the Strait of Hormuz and in the Indian Ocean . On his return he was honored again for his services at sea. However, problems arose when Albuquerque Coelho returned to Lisbon for health reasons without the permission of the Viceroy of India . Here he met his father again, who was also in Portugal and got married. When Albuquerque Coelho wanted to return to India, he applied to the king to be appointed Capitão de infantaria of a Naus fleet . He was denied this because he had left India without permission.

In 1706 Albuquerque Coelho was stationed in Macau as the captain de infantaria of a frigate . Here he met the then seven-year-old orphan Maria de Moura e Vasconcellos and wanted to marry her, probably for reasons of status and the property of her family. Adequate, single women were a rarity in the colonies. The girl's grandmother, Maria de Vasconcelos , opposed it; once because the late father Francis de Moura de Bastos had decreed in his last will that his daughter should not marry until the age of twelve and probably also because Albuquerque Coelho was a mestizo. Unsuccessful in this matter, he initially returned to Goa.

Santo António Church in Macau

In 1708 Albuquerque Coelho was sent back to Macau as Capitão de infantaria of the frigate Nossa Senhora das Neves , under the command of Captain Jeronimo de Mello Pereira . The ship reached Macau on August 23. It was so badly damaged by a typhoon on the way that it took two years to repair, so Albuquerque Coelho first took up quarters with the Franciscans . Also on board were the nobles Dom Henrique de Noronha , first lieutenant of the ship, and Francisco Xavier Doutel , an established merchant in Macau, with whom Albuquerque Coelho would later associate a momentous hostility. According to the sources, he had a lot of temperament and quickly entered into confrontations, which is why he made enemies easily. So when he again applied for Maria de Moura in Macau, because there were other interested parties, such as Henrique de Noronha, who was also campaigning for the girl. Noronha had become friends with Doutel, a brother-in-law of Maria's uncle Francisco Leite Pereira . The dispute over the choice of the groom divided the entire Portuguese population in the colony, which at that time consisted of around 3,000 to 4,000 people. In addition to her uncle and grandmother, Noronha could count on the support of the Dominicans and the French Cardinal Charles Thomas Maillard de Tournon (1668 to 1710), the Patriarch of Antioch and papal envoy in Macau. Since the bishop, who had made himself the girl's guardian, the Jesuits , Captain Mello Pereira and most of his soldiers, and later Macau's Governor Diogo de Pinho Teixeira , sided with Albuquerque Coelho. On June 30, 1709, he forced access to the grandmother's house and took Maria de Moura to the church of Santo António, where the engagement was decided by Vicar General Lourenço Gomes .

When Albuquerque Coelho rode through Rua Formosa on August 2 , he was missed by a shot from a blunderbuss . While pursuing the rifleman, an African slave, Albuquerque Coelho hit another shot a few streets away above the right elbow. Dom Henrique de Noronha had fired it from a window. Albuquerque Coelho fled to the São Francisco Monastery. A third shot from another slave Noronha missed him again, so that he was able to save himself to the monastery, where he had to be helped from his horse because he was already too weak. The arm was treated by the Portuguese ship doctor, but had to be partially removed by an English surgeon 16 days later because it had become gangrenous . To escape prison, Dom Henrique de Noronha fled to the house of the Patriarch of Antioch in the Dominican convent, which the governor then had soldiers surround. It was not until the patriarch died that Dom Henrique de Noronha was taken to a prison on February 18, 1711 by ship to Goa. Maria's grandmother protested violently against the connection and even wrote letters on December 26, 1709 to the Leal Senado (the Senate of Macau) and to the Overseas Council (Conselho Ultramarino) in Portugal . But the decision was always in favor of Albuquerque Coelho, even if he temporarily planned to flee with Maria de Moura on his ship to Goa in an emergency. The judge Manuel Vicente Rosa , who had ruled in favor of the grandmother, was suspended. The result was a lifelong hostility to Albuquerque Coelho.

The wedding between Albuquerque Coelho and Maria de Moura took place on August 22, 1710 in the Casa de Campo de São Francisco. The wedding was performed by the chaplain of Nossa Senhora das Neves . It had to take place that night and under the protection of Albuquerque Coelho's marines, as Francisco Leite Pereira threatened to kill the groom while he was still in church. But the murderers waited at the Church of Santo António because they were waiting for the wedding there. Albuquerque Coelho also received Macau civil rights through the wedding. The circumstances of the marriage earned him many enemies, but Albuquerque Coelho also gained allies such as the governor, the bishop and various clergymen. From what happened, a local poet wrote a few lines that survived as a folk song for years:

"Não he tão formosa,
Nem tão bem parecida,
Que, por seu dinheiro Maria arma tanta briga."

"She is not so beautiful.
There was no telling
that Maria would cause such a fight with her money."

Albuquerque Coelho initially left the civil service and for a few years lived only on his fortune, or more on that of his wife. His mediation in the dispute over the "Chinese rites" is seen as positive. The question arose to what extent Confucian customs were compatible with Catholicism. The local Jesuits had a very liberal stance here, which was criticized by the Franciscans and Dominicans . Pope Clement XI. had sent Maillard De Tournon to settle the dispute, but ultimately the papal delegate died without having made a decision on the matter. In 1712 the Leal Senado appointed Albuquerque Coelho as its chairman. In the same year, his wife gave birth to a daughter named Ignez, who however died only seven days later. A son was born on July 20, 1714, and was baptized on July 27. On July 31, Maria de Moura died of postpartum fever .

Only a few months after the death of Mary there was another conflict with one of Albuquerque Coelho's opponents. Vicente Rosa wrote in his capacity as Associate Judge (Ouvidor) on September 22, 1714: “I have considered myself your appointed enemy for five years.” Albuquerque Coelho had arranged for Vicente Rosa to be arrested. As guardian of the children of his late brother-in-law, he had refused to pay his debts. Only when these were repaid was Vicente Rosa released. Vicente Rosa and his party friends complained to Viceroy Vasco Fernandes César de Menezes in Goa. This forwarded the letter to Lisbon on January 10, 1715 and ordered Albuquerque Coelho to Goa so that he could comment on the allegations. But it never came to that because Manuel Vicente Rosa had him arrested. From prison, Albuquerque Coelho wrote two letters, first to the Senate and ten days later to the township. He argued that an ordinary judge had no power over the senators because they were under the Goa District Court. The community approved him and Albuquerque Coelho was released. Around the New Year 1714/1715, Albuquerque Coelho sold all of his property and left Macau, presumably for Goa. He left his son, who was still a baby, behind. Only later did the viceroy allow his father to pick him up. Shortly before the end of his tenure, Menezes wrote:

“António de Albuquerque Coelho now has the right to live in this city. This is to avoid the conflicts that Macau residents have complained about. Since they suffer from some social incapacity, António de Albuquerque's absence is unlikely to do very much. António de Albuquerque lives here so peacefully that it seems that the complaints of the people of Macau were greatly exaggerated. "

Governor of Macau

The "Leal Senado" in Macau around 1751

In May 1717, the Archbishop of Goa and representative of the Viceroy Sebastião de Andrade Pessanha appointed António de Albuquerque Coelho governor of Macau. But when he was about to return to Macau on May 22, the ship had secretly sailed out of port at night. Its captain and owner had been Francisco Xavier Doutel of all people, Noronha's old friend. The newly appointed governor then decided to travel across India with a small force to look for another ship on the east coast. The Portuguese lost their horses and even their boots when crossing a river near Mangalore . It was pouring rain. After crossing the mountains and the jungle near Bangalore , they received horses and two elephants as riding animals again in Velure .

On July 16, they reached the Portuguese base of São Tomé de Meliapor (today's Chennai ), 2,600 km away . It was not until August 5 that they were able to continue their voyage on a ship bought there. In Malacca , the navigator fled the ship, so you now had to steer the ship yourself. It was damaged by storms and in Malacca, the Netherlands , they were refused repairs, so they drove on to Johor . After two months the Portuguese reached Johor, where they became involved in the power struggles of the empire. They supported the ruler against the rebellion and when the empire was pacified again, the victorious sultan allowed the Portuguese to build a church in Johor in March 1718. On April 18, they continued their journey. Everyone on board fell ill with beriberi and reached the island of São João ( Shangchuan ), which is 270 km from Macau , in a sorry state . Here the Portuguese were nursed back to health by the Chinese inhabitants and finally brought to Macau, which they reached on May 29, 1718. Albuquerque Coelho took office as governor on May 30, 1718.

At this point there was already a new viceroy in Goa. But Luís de Meneses confirmed Albuquerque Coelho as governor in a letter dated May 6, but warned him at the same time not to take revenge on Doutel or Leite Pereira. Apparently, Albuquerque Coelho followed this instruction because there are no reports of further conflicts from this period. The term of office went to the satisfaction of the residents, even his previous enemies praised him, but it ended after a year, on September 9, 1719. The normal term of office of a governor was then three years. Albuquerque Coelho had lost a year on his return trip from Goa and his predecessor Francisco de Alarcão Sotto-Maior had already delayed the handover by a year. The new governor was António da Silva Telo e Meneses . Through the audition of his uncle, Father Feliciano Coelho , Albuquerque Coelho was raised to the rank of Cavaleiro (knight) in 1719 , a rare honor for a “colored” at the time. He left Macau on January 18, 1720 and went to Goa, where he arrived on May 20.

Governor of Timor and Solor

In the colony of Timor and Solor , there was a power struggle between the governor, the church and the actual rulers of the region, the Topasse . In addition, the Portuguese had to fight back against the Cailaco rebellion of the Timorese and Topasse since 1719 . 1722 warriors from Luca attacked a group of Moradores on the way from Lifau to Cailaco , who collected the Fintas, the tribute payments of the Liurais (Timorese petty kings) for Portugal . The rebels destroyed churches and murdered missionaries and converted Timorese. Albuquerque Coelho was appointed governor of Portuguese Timor and Solor by Viceroy Francisco José de Sampaio e Castro . In 1722 Albuquerque Coelho arrived in what was then the colonial capital of Lifau . Previously, the colonial administration was led by the Bishop of Malacca Manuel de Santo António , who was considered a difficult character and had ousted the previous governor Francisco de Melo e Castro . In the first year, Albuquerque Coelho expelled the bishop from the colony. In 1723 traders from Macau complained to the Viceroy in Goa that taxes Albuquerque Coelho had introduced on the sandalwood trade would make the trip to the islands unprofitable. The complaint was forwarded to the King in Portugal, who in August 1725, through his Secretary of State, referred it to the Council of Ministers in the Overseas Ministry for examination. After the latter assessed the taxes as excessive, the viceroy in Goa was instructed on March 23, 1726 to abolish the taxes.

Albuquerque Coelho was besieged in Lifau for three years by the Topasse under Francisco da Hornay . The governor was accused of having no ideas to end the rebellion. He is also said to have been disproportionately hard on the Timorese. It is reported that Albuquerque Coelho had them tied to the muzzle of cannons and then fired them. In 1725 he was replaced as governor by António Moniz de Macedo . This did not change anything about the siege by Hornay.

The tombstone in the Church of
Santo Agostinho (Macau)

Albuquerque Coelho returned to Macau on September 29th. He always attached great importance to the appropriate ceremony. On November 23rd, the end of his term of office was announced with cannon volleys from Fortaleza do Monte , the bells of all churches rang and he had a mass read for his deceased wife. The bones of his wife, daughter and amputated arm were laid to rest in an urn in the Church of São Francisco. When the church was demolished in 1865, the urn was brought to the Santo Agostinho church, where it is walled into the south wall. A grave slab made of coarse-grained granite bears the inscription:

"Nesta urna estão os ossos de D. Maria de Moura e Vasconcellos e sua filha D. Ignez, e os do braço direito de seu marido Antonio d'Albuquerque Coelho, que aqui a fez depositar, vindo de Governador e Capitão Geral das Ilhas de Solôr e Timôr no anno de 1725 "

"In this urn rest the bones of D. Maria de Moura e Vasconcellos and her daughter D. Ignez and the right arm of her husband Antonio d'Albuquerque Coelho, who returned as governor and captain-general of the islands of Solor and Timor in 1725"

After a few months, Albuquerque Coelho returned to Goa in early 1726, where he arrived in April. As soon as he arrived he was arrested. The reason was the expulsion of the Bishop of Malacca from Timor. Apparently he was able to defend himself adequately as he was soon released. In November he reported to Viceroy João de Saldanha da Gama about his service in Timor.

Governor of Godfather

The now Kenyan island of Godfather, near Mombasa , had been under Portuguese rule until it was conquered by Oman in 1698. In 1727, however, the Sultan of Pate asked the Portuguese viceroy of Goa for protection and the latter dispatched a fleet of six ships under the command of Luis de Melo de Sampaio . Mombasa also capitulated on March 15, 1728, the Forte Jesus became Portuguese again. A peace treaty was signed on August 24th and Portugal built a fortress on Pate with a crew of 150. City commander and governor was António de Albuquerque Coelho. He met Godfather on February 3, 1729 and landed on February 9 amid great military pomp. There were 141 soldiers, 104 white and 37 indigenous people, and Albuquerque Coelho's son.

However, Álvaro Caetano de Melo e Castro, the commandant of Mombasa, refused to provide for godparents. He even forbade ships in his area of ​​responsibility to go to godfather. The construction of the fortress did not progress because there was a lack of manpower. The soldiers fell ill due to the poor diet. In addition, Albuquerque Coelho lacked tact in dealing with the local population. There were attacks. Ultimately, two factions formed for and against the Portuguese. A riot broke out and the Portuguese had to take refuge in the half-finished walls. Albuquerque Coelho should have placed himself under the suzerainty of his rival in Mombasa to save the situation, but the governor of Pate, along with most of his officers, decided to return to Goa. They were back in India on September 2nd.

Perhaps Albuquerque Coelho had hoped he could return to Mombasa with a force, but Viceroy Saldanha da Gama had him incarcerated instead. He was later released after appealing his sentence. The Viceroy complained to King João V on January 16, 1731 , but the Overseas Council confirmed the dismissal on April 4, 1732. Further investigations were finally stopped by the Overseas Council on February 14, 1734.

Álvaro Caetano de Melo e Castro lost the Forte Jesus in Mombasa in October 1729 and fled to Mozambique . On January 23, 1730, another fleet of five ships under the command of Luis Melo de Sampaio was sent to Mombasa, but they returned to Mozambique without attempting to attack. On the way back several ships with 557 men were lost in a storm. Sampaio was among the victims.

Next life

The trial does not appear to have harmed Albuquerque Coelho's reputation any further. In the following years he held several positions in which, among other things, he was responsible for the trade and finances of Goa. In 1735 he became a city councilor and Procurator for the Senate of Macau in Goa . His son died in the same decade, possibly in battle with the Indian Marathas who took parts of north Goa during that time. On April 7, 1737, the son was raised to Fidalgo Cavaleiro at the instigation of the father. Albuquerque Coelho also took part in the fighting and commanded several positions. He was also an active member and from 1738 even chairman of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Goa ("Holy House of Mercy of Goa"), an institution for the needy. In 1742 he became captain general of the province of Bardes in north Goa. Little is known about the final years of his life. In 1744 he gave up the post of general captain. At this point he was completely impoverished and was living on a reward from the Overseas Council that he had received for his services. Albuquerque Coelho retired to the Franciscan monastery in the province of Madre de Deus, where he lived a "devout and holy" life until he died in 1745.

literature

João Tavares de Velez Guerreiro wrote the book Jornada, que Antonio de Albuquerque Coelho, Governador e Capitão General da Cidade do Nome de Deos de Macao na China, fez de Goa até chegar à dita cidade no anno de 1718 about his trip with Albuquerque Coelho from Goa to Macau. The book is part of the Bibliotheca de classicos portuguezes . The most recent of the three editions dates from 1905.

  • CR Boxer : António de Albuquerque Coelho, esboço biográfico . Tip. da Imaculada Conceição, Macau 1939.
  • CR Boxer: A Fidalgo in the Far East, 1708–1726: Antonio de Albuquerque Coelho in Macao . In: Journal of Asian Studies 5 (1946), pp. 387-410, doi: 10.2307 / 2049788 .
  • Paulo Miguel Martins: Percorrendo o Oriente: a vida de António Albuquerque Coelho (1682–1745) . Livros Horizons, Lisbon 1998, ISBN 972-24-1046-6 .
  • Frazão de Vasconcelos: António de Albuquerque Coelho - notas genealogico-biograficas . In: Arqueologia e História 1 (1922), pp. 95-118.

See also

Web links

supporting documents

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y António de Albuquerque Coelho (Portuguese)
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h Lindsay and May Ride: The Voices of Macao Stones , 1999 (PDF; 7.5 MB)
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Vida de António de Albuquerque Coelho ( Memento from June 4, 2002 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Maria de Vasconcelos: Queixa contra o Bispo sobre o casamento de orfã menor , December 26th, 1709, AHU online  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / siarq.iict.pt  
  5. ↑ History of Timor - Technical University of Lisbon ( Memento of the original from March 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 824 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / pascal.iseg.utl.pt
  6. ↑ AHU-online (Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical): Queixa da imposição de novos direitos do comércio and attachments, December 26, 1723  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Portuguese)@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / siarq.iict.pt  
  7. ↑ a b James Fox: Out of the Ashes: Destruction and Reconstruction of East Timor , Australian National University (English; PDF; 1.1 MB)
  8. ↑ Chronologie de l'histoire du Timor (1512-1945) suivie des événements récents (1975-1999) (French; PDF; 887 kB)
predecessor Office successor
Francisco de Alarcão Sotto-Maior Governor of Macau
1717–1719 		António da Silva Telo e Meneses
Manuel de Santo António Governor of Portuguese Timor
1722–1725 		Antonio Moniz de Macedo
This article was added to the list of articles worth reading on September 13, 2011 in this version .
personal data
SURNAME Coelho, Antonio de Albuquerque
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Portuguese colonial administrator
DATE OF BIRTH 1682
PLACE OF BIRTH Santa Cruz de Macuttá , Maranhão , Brazil
DATE OF DEATH 1745
Place of death Madre de Deus , Portuguese India