Gaspar de Figueira de Serpa

Gaspar de Figueira de Serpa († possibly 1656 in Colombo , Ceylon , according to other sources, after 1658 in Goa ), called "the ax", was a Portuguese captain on today's island of Sri Lanka , in the final phase of Portuguese rule there. He gained notoriety not only because of his brutality or military successes, but also because of a contemporary, popular folk ballad.

background

Figueira was the son of a Portuguese soldier and a Sinhalese woman. He grew up in the suburbs of Colombo and was raised Portuguese-Christian.

He got his nickname "the ax" because of the ax that he carried with him wrapped in a white cloth. With this he executed on campaigns, those whom he accused of fraud or who wanted to desert. The delinquents were hung by their heels and Figueira cut them in half with an ax. He cut off the right hand of those accused of lesser offenses.

War against Kandy and the Dutch

In 1642 Figueira led a troop of 150 Portuguese and 2000 Lascarins (local auxiliary troops) who sacked the temple of Kataragama . The villagers who were supposed to show them the way to the pagoda suddenly seemed obsessed. Figueira mercilessly beheaded them all. As a result, at least their riches escaped looting.

In 1652 Figueira carried out a successful mutiny against his stepfather, the Portuguese captain general on Ceylon Emanuel Mascarenhas Homem . Homem did not use the ceasefire with the Dutch to reinforce the defense and even withdrew troops. Figueira led soldiers who, in anger, had deposed their capitão major and were moving from their camp in Menikkadawara to Colombo. On November 30th they were let into the city by the population and the captain general deposed.

When the Portuguese got more and more distressed by the attacks of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Kingdom of Kandy in 1655, the new Portuguese captain general replaced the incompetent capitão major of the fourth and seventh Korales with Figueira, who was already proving himself in combat would have. Figueira defeated the army of Kandy in Malwana and Kananapella with the Portuguese garrison of Colombo and some Lascarins and destroyed ships of the Muslims in the ports of Kalpitiya and Puttalam in the west of Ceylon. On January 30, the Portuguese received further reinforcements and Figueira and his troops advanced inland and in February surprised the Kandy army in their camp in Arambepola . The latter fled into the hills above the Balane Pass while Figueira set up camp in Arandara.

In return, the Dutch besieged Kalutara , near Colombo, on March 19, and then advanced into the lowlands with 40,000 soldiers on May 21, while Kandy slowly advanced on the road from Kandy to Puttalam . As the siege of Kaltutara tightened, the Portuguese captain general Figueira called back in defense of the colonial capital Colombo. Figueira decided, however, that it would be better to stop the Kandy army directly instead of withdrawing to Colombo. While he announced, in order to confuse the enemy, that he would move to the coast, he stayed in Arandura instead. On the night of 10 April Figueira moved with 300 Portuguese soldiers and 1700 Lascarins after Mottapuliya while the convoy in Arandura remained stoked the campfire and pretending with noise, the entire army was still there. On April 12, the force moved north and learned from captured Kandy scouts that King Rajasingha II was camped in Kotikapola . Figueira split up his troops. One part attacked Pilessakanda while the other half advanced against Kotikapola. The troops in Pilessakanda quickly defeated the local soldiers from Kandy, while King Rajasingha II was warned in good time of the approaching Portuguese. 1,100 soldiers were sent against Figueira, but the latter ignored the attack from the side and attacked the attackers' camp himself. The Portuguese succeeded in repelling the Kandy forces. When another force of Kandys advanced from the east, Figueira sent a subordinate with some of his troops to meet them. But since some of the Lascarins deserted and took the side of Kandy, 180 Portuguese suddenly found themselves facing a superior force of 10,000 men. Fortunately for them, Figueira had sent more soldiers to support them when the shots in the distance did not stop. Again Kandy's troops were repulsed and Rajasingha II decided to flee. Only his Dutch bodyguard was left with a unit to cover the king's retreat. Depending on the sources, between 300 and 16,000 soldiers were killed or captured. In the Portuguese, four soldiers were injured, four auxiliary soldiers were killed and 20 were wounded. It should have been the last victory of the Portuguese against a Sinhalese force. Meanwhile, the Dutch broke off the siege of Kalutara on the same day as they no longer counted on Kandy's support.

On October 2, 1655, the Dutch returned under General Gerard Pietersz. Help back and conquer Kalutara on October 15th. Figueira, who knew nothing about it, encountered the Dutch overwhelming power that day and was defeated. He then retired to Colombo.

The Colombo case

At the end of 1655 the Dutch, with the support of Kandy, began the siege of Colombo , which was to last seven months. On May 7th, the VOC managed to storm the city with fresh troops from Batavia and take the northeast bastion, which finally led to the Portuguese surrender on May 12th. According to legend, a Portuguese deserter is said to have shown the Dutch a weak point in the fortification walls so that they could break through with ease. In return, the deserter is said to have demanded an appropriate reward in the event of success. The Dutch commander Adriaan van der Meyden is said to have accepted the condition. According to legend, the deserter is said to have been Figueira. After the conquest of Colombo, Figueira is said to have demanded his reward. The Dutch gave him his "appropriate reward" for betraying his compatriots. Figueira was taken to a sentry box on top of the powder magazine and walled up alive with a loaf of bread and a bottle of wine. The legend lived for a long time as a folk ballad, especially in the lower middle and lower classes of the Portuguese-Sinhalese mixed population, until this ethnic group gradually disappeared with its traditions. At the end of the 19th century, the British documented a few verses of this song for posterity when the old fortifications from the Portuguese period were torn down between 1869 and 1871 and history was brought back to mind. The Portuguese chronicler João Ribeiro confirms that Figueira was in the fortress in its last days and he also reports of many deserters, including officers. However, Ribeiro Figueira is not one of the 73 surviving Portuguese soldiers who surrendered on May 12th. According to Ribeiro, some of the officers who surrendered to the Dutch were taken to Mannar and Jaffna , which were still held by the Portuguese . However, this had to arise again on June 24, 1658, when the Dutch conquered Portugal's last Ceylonese base Jaffna. And here Figueira appears in Ribeiro's chronicle as one of the noblemen who marched out of the gate when the fort was handed over and were brought to the Portuguese Goa in the West Indies. Figueira is said to have died here later under unknown circumstances. Rajasingha II is said to have asked the Dutch to hand over Figueira. Since the king was only too well aware of the Portuguese's military abilities, he wanted to make him his general. But the Dutch refused. It is unclear whether Ribeiro Figueira's desertion in order not to tarnish his memory as a war hero or whether another high-ranking Portuguese captain was possibly the traitor in Colombo. It is curious that precisely that ethnic group carried on the legend from which Figueira itself came.

It is speculated that the traitor in the legend may have instead been the Sinhalese Luís Tissera, who converted to Christianity , reported by British chronicler Robert Knox . He is said to have once sworn that he would force the King of Kandy to eat the worst food on the island. As a prisoner of Kandy, however, Tissera met her own fate in chains. He had to eat Kurakkan Thalapa . This legend was also later found in a song. Another possibility would be that the Dutch spread the story. They knew Figueira's military capabilities and could have bypassed Rajasingha's request after his surrender by making up the story and secretly bringing Figueira to Goa, as Ribeiro and Knox reported.

Others

Figueira became one of the main characters in the 1966 novel Brave Island by Richard Spittel, Christine Frances Wilson, Christine Spittel-Wilson.

literature

• João Ribeiro: The Historic Tragedy of the Island of Ceilão

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} J. Sarath Edirisinghe: The rise and fall of Gaspar de Figueira de Cerpa, the ruthless Portuguese Captain , accessed November 1, 2016.
2. ↑ WI Siriweera: Kataragama: shared heritage of Buddhists and Hindus , In: Daily News, June 18, 2012 , accessed November 1, 2016.
3. ↑ Kataragama - The Ceylon Shrine of God Kadira , accessed November 1, 2016.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Steven Thomas: ' Timeline for Colonial Ceylon , accessed on November 1, 2016.
5. ↑ Simon Gregory Perera: Jesuits in Ceylon (in the XVI and XVII Centuries) , 1941, p. 120 , accessed on November 1, 2016.
6. ^ João Ribeiro: The Historic Tragedy of the Island of Ceilão
7. ^ Arthur Percival Newton: The Cambridge history of the British Empire , Part 2
8. ^ Carl Muller: Book review , accessed November 1, 2016.