Pedro de Menezes, 1st Count of Vila Real
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Don (honorific)
Don, from Latin dominus, is an honorific in Spanish , Portuguese , and Italian . The female equivalent is Doña , Dona , and Donna , abbreviated "Dª" or simply "D."-Usage:...
Pedro de Menezes Portocarrero, (1370 – Ceuta
Ceuta
Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain and an exclave located on the north coast of North Africa surrounded by Morocco. Separated from the Iberian peninsula by the Strait of Gibraltar, Ceuta lies on the border of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta along with the other Spanish...
, September 22, 1437) was a 15th C. Portuguese
Kingdom of Portugal
The Kingdom of Portugal was Portugal's general designation under the monarchy. The kingdom was located in the west of the Iberian Peninsula, Europe and existed from 1139 to 1910...
nobleman and military figure. Pedro de Menezes (sometimes modernized as 'de Meneses') was the 2nd Count of Viana do Alentejo, 1st. Count of Vila Real
Count of Vila Real
Count of Vila Real was a Portuguese title of nobility created by a royal decree, in 1424, by King John I of Portugal, and granted to Dom Pedro de Menezes, also known as Peter I of Menezes, 1st Count of Viana .The Menezes, a high nobility family quite close to the first Dynasty Kings in Portugal,...
and the first Portuguese governor of Ceuta.
Pedro de Menezes was the son of the powerful 14th C. nobleman João Afonso Telo de Menezes, 1st Count of Ourém
Count of Ourém
Count of Ourém is a Portuguese title granted, in 1370 by King Fernando I of Portugal, to Dom João Afonso Telo de Meneses, uncle of Queen Leonor Telles de Menezes...
, 1st Count of Viana do Alentejo, and Mayor Portocarrero y Silva, lady of Vila Real
Vila Real, Portugal
Vila Real is a city in Vila Real Municipality, Trás-os-Montes, northern Portugal.According to the 2001 census, the city had a total of 24,481 inhabitants.- History :...
. Pedro was the cousin of Leonor Telles de Menezes
Leonor Telles de Menezes
Leonor Telles de Menezes was a queen consort of Portugal and regent during the years 1383–1385. She was the wife of a Portuguese nobleman from whom she was forcibly divorced by King Ferdinand I, who afterward married her...
, the scandalous but powerful consort of King Ferdinand I of Portugal
Ferdinand I of Portugal
Ferdinand I , sometimes referred to as the Handsome or rarely as the Inconstant , was the ninth King of Portugal and the Algarve, the second son of Peter I and his wife, Constance of Castile...
.
During the 1383–1385 Crisis
1383–1385 Crisis
The 1383–1385 Crisis was a period of civil war in Portuguese history that began with the death of King Ferdinand I of Portugal, who left no male heirs, and ended with the accession to the throne of King John I in 1385, in the wake of the Battle of Aljubarrota.In Portugal, this period is also known...
, Pedro's father had supported Beatrice of Portugal
Beatrice of Portugal
Beatrice was the only surviving child of King Ferdinand I of Portugal and his wife, Leonor Telles de Menezes. She married King John I of Castile. In the absence of a male heir, she claimed the throne of Portugal, supported by her husband. This led to the 1383–1385 Crisis, in which the Portuguese...
against the pretender John, Master of Aviz
John I of Portugal
John I KG , called the Good or of Happy Memory, more rarely and outside Portugal the Bastard, was the tenth King of Portugal and the Algarve and the first to use the title Lord of Ceuta...
(the future John I). Nonetheless, unlike many other nobles, Pedro de Menezes had been allowed to inherit his father's title of Count of Viana do Alentejo and proved himself a faithful loyalist of the usurper king John I He also inherited the Castilian
Crown of Castile
The Crown of Castile was a medieval and modern state in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accession of the then King Ferdinand III of Castile to the vacant Leonese throne...
lordships of Ayllón
Ayllón
Ayllón is a municipality located in the province of Segovia, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2007 census , the municipality has a population of 1,243 inhabitants....
and Aguilar
Aguilar
-People:*Antonio Aguilar Barraza , Mexican singer*António Maria de Aguilar , Portuguese rugby player*Baron Diego Pereira d'Aguilar , Spanish Marrano*Christina Aguilar , Thai pop singer...
from relatives, but these titles were not recognized in Portugal.
Pedro de Menezes participated and distinguished himself in the 1415 Conquest of Ceuta
Battle of Ceuta
The Battle of Ceuta and the subsequent conquest of the Wattasid city of Ceuta by the Portuguese had its roots in the earliest years of the House of Aviz dynasty of Portugal...
, and, in the aftermath, was appointed by King John I of Portugal
John I of Portugal
John I KG , called the Good or of Happy Memory, more rarely and outside Portugal the Bastard, was the tenth King of Portugal and the Algarve and the first to use the title Lord of Ceuta...
as the first Portuguese governor of Ceuta. Allegedly, he was the only Portuguese noble willing to remain in charge of the Portuguese garrison, which was sure to be attacked by the full force of Marinid
Marinid
The Marinid dynasty or Benemerine dynasty was a Zenata Berber dynasty of Morocco. The Marinid dynasty overtook the Almohads in controlling Morocco in 1244. They controlled most of the Maghreb from the mid-14th century to the 15th century and supported the Kingdom of Granada in Al-Andalus in the...
Morocco in due time. Pedro de Menezes was left with a garrison of 1600 soldiers. In 1416, Prince Henry the Navigator was placed in charge of supplying provisions to the Ceuta garrison from Portugal.
(Legendarily, while John I was canvassing for governors, the young Pedro was nearby, distractedly playing choca (a kind of Medieval hockey) with a stick of zambujeiro (wild olive tree). Hearing all the high nobles making excuses to avoid the job, the young Pedro de Menezes stepped forward and approached the king with his gaming stick (aleo) in hand and told him that, with only that stick, he could defend Ceuta from all the power of Morocco. As a result of this story, all future Portuguese governors of Ceuta would be presented with a zambujeiro staff as a symbol of their office upon their investiture.)
In 1418 (or 1419), the armies of the Marinid
Marinid
The Marinid dynasty or Benemerine dynasty was a Zenata Berber dynasty of Morocco. The Marinid dynasty overtook the Almohads in controlling Morocco in 1244. They controlled most of the Maghreb from the mid-14th century to the 15th century and supported the Kingdom of Granada in Al-Andalus in the...
rulers of Morocco, assisted by auxiliary forces from the Nasrid Emirate of Granada
Emirate of Granada
The Emirate of Granada , also known as the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada , was an emirate established in 1238 following the defeat of Muhammad an-Nasir of the Almohad dynasty by an alliance of Christian kingdoms at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212...
, finally gathered and laid siege to the citadel. Pedro de Menezes managed the defenses of the citadel, while princes Henry the Navigator and John of Reguengos were dispatched with a relief fleet from Portugal. According to the chroniclers, the relief fleet turned out to be quite unnecessary. In a bold gambit, D. Pedro de Menezes led the Portuguese garrison in a sally against the Marinid
Marinid
The Marinid dynasty or Benemerine dynasty was a Zenata Berber dynasty of Morocco. The Marinid dynasty overtook the Almohads in controlling Morocco in 1244. They controlled most of the Maghreb from the mid-14th century to the 15th century and supported the Kingdom of Granada in Al-Andalus in the...
siege camp and forced the lifting of the siege before the relief fleet even arrived.
Blamed for losing Ceuta, the Marinid
Marinid
The Marinid dynasty or Benemerine dynasty was a Zenata Berber dynasty of Morocco. The Marinid dynasty overtook the Almohads in controlling Morocco in 1244. They controlled most of the Maghreb from the mid-14th century to the 15th century and supported the Kingdom of Granada in Al-Andalus in the...
sultan was assassinated in a coup in Fez
Fes, Morocco
Fes or Fez is the second largest city of Morocco, after Casablanca, with a population of approximately 1 million . It is the capital of the Fès-Boulemane region....
in 1420, leaving only a child as his heir. Morocco descended into anarchic chaos, as rival pretenders vied for the throne and local governors carved out regional fiefs for themselves, selling their support to the highest bidder. The political crisis in Morocco released the pressure on Ceuta for the next few years, leaving Pedro de Menezes and the Portuguese garrison with little to do, but entrench themselves in the largely empty fortress-citadel. They were only occasionally pestered by small parties of Moroccan nobles, who came to challenge Portuguese knights to feats of arms and personal combat, or scrappy columns of Sufi-inspired religious radicals looking for Holy War
Holy war
Holy war may refer to:* A religious war led with an exceptionally high grade of religious feeling* The Crusades, 11th, 12th, and 13th-century religiously sanctioned military campaigns waged by much of Christian Europe against the Muslim Middle East....
. Although the Portuguese crown was losing substantial amounts of money maintaining the expensive garrison, Pedro de Menezes is said to have accumulated a small personal fortune from ransoming Moroccan knights captured in skirmishes and from kickbacks from the corsair
Corsair
Corsairs were privateers, authorized to conduct raids on shipping of a nation at war with France, on behalf of the French Crown. Seized vessels and cargo were sold at auction, with the corsair captain entitled to a portion of the proceeds...
s he allowed to operate out of Ceuta. He is said to have lent substantial sums to the perennially-indebted Henry the Navigator.
In 1423, Pedro de Menezes briefly returned to Portugal to settle some domestic affairs. In 1424, Pedro de Menezes was invested with his mother's dominions as the first Count of Vila Real
Count of Vila Real
Count of Vila Real was a Portuguese title of nobility created by a royal decree, in 1424, by King John I of Portugal, and granted to Dom Pedro de Menezes, also known as Peter I of Menezes, 1st Count of Viana .The Menezes, a high nobility family quite close to the first Dynasty Kings in Portugal,...
by King John I of Portugal
John I of Portugal
John I KG , called the Good or of Happy Memory, more rarely and outside Portugal the Bastard, was the tenth King of Portugal and the Algarve and the first to use the title Lord of Ceuta...
and appointed the alferes-mor (standard-bearer) of the royal prince and heir Infante Edward. That same year, he secured from the king a royal letter legitimizing his natural son, Duarte de Menezes
Duarte de Menezes, 3rd Count of Viana
Dom Duarte de Menezes, was a 15th C. Portuguese nobleman and military figure. Duarte de Menezes was the 3rd Count of Viana do Alentejo, 2nd Count of Viana , Lord of Caminha and the first Portuguese captain of Alcácer-Ceguer.- Family :Duarte de Menezes was an illegitimate...
. Around 1430 Pedro de Menezes once again returned to Portugal, leaving Ceuta under the command of the 16-year-old son Duarte de Menezes and his lieutenant (and son-in-law) Ruy Gomes da Silva. During this second sojourn, Pedro de Menezes received the title of Admiral of Portugal
Admiral of Portugal
The high office of Admiral of the Kingdom of Portugal as the head of the Portuguese navy was created by King Denis of Portugal in 1317 for the Genoese nobleman and naval officer Manuel Pessanha . Although there is evidence that such a title existed before The high office of Admiral of the...
in 1433, as dowry
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
for his marriage to Genebra Pereira (daughter of the admiral Carlos II Pessanha). Pedro de Menezes returned to Ceuta soon after (c.1434), but his bride did not survive the journey.
In 1436-37, preparations were underway in Portugal for a renewed campaign against Morocco
Battle of Tangier (1437)
The 1437 Battle of Tangier, sometimes referred to as the Siege of Tangiers, refers to the attempt by a Portuguese expeditionary force to seize the Moroccan citadel of Tangier, and their subsequent defeat by the armies of the Marinid sultanate of Morocco....
, seeking to capture Tangier
Tangier
Tangier, also Tangiers is a city in northern Morocco with a population of about 700,000 . It lies on the North African coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel...
and several other coastal citadels. In anticipation, in 1436, Pedro de Menezes ordered the Ceuta garrison, led by young Duarte, to attack and raze the citadel of Tétouan
Tétouan
Tetouan is a city in northern Morocco. The Berber name means literally "the eyes" and figuratively "the water springs". Tetouan is one of the two major ports of Morocco on the Mediterranean Sea. It lies a few miles south of the Strait of Gibraltar, and about 40 mi E.S.E. of Tangier...
, to prevent it from becoming a threat to the Portuguese operations. The Portuguese expeditionary force, led by Henry the Navigator, arrived in Ceuta in August 1437, and were greeted with great pomp by D. Pedro de Menezes, who offered to join the force and personally lead the Ceuta garrison in the campaign. As the ageing governor was already evidently ill, Henry turned down the offer and took his son Duarte de Menezes instead. Pedro de Menezes condition took a turn for the worse shortly after and he died within the first week of the siege of Tangier. His son Duarte managed to rush back in time to receive his father's blessing on his deathbed.
Despite having married four times, Pedro de Menezes did not have any direct male heirs. His legitimized bastard son Duarte de Menezes
Duarte de Menezes, 3rd Count of Viana
Dom Duarte de Menezes, was a 15th C. Portuguese nobleman and military figure. Duarte de Menezes was the 3rd Count of Viana do Alentejo, 2nd Count of Viana , Lord of Caminha and the first Portuguese captain of Alcácer-Ceguer.- Family :Duarte de Menezes was an illegitimate...
inherited his father's old dominion of Count of Viana do Alentejo, but the crown-granted title of Count of Vila Real
Count of Vila Real
Count of Vila Real was a Portuguese title of nobility created by a royal decree, in 1424, by King John I of Portugal, and granted to Dom Pedro de Menezes, also known as Peter I of Menezes, 1st Count of Viana .The Menezes, a high nobility family quite close to the first Dynasty Kings in Portugal,...
went to his eldest daughter Brites de Menezes
Brites de Menezes, 2nd Countess of Vila Real
Dona Brites de Menezes was a Portuguese noblewoman. She was the 2nd Countess of Vila Real from 1437, a title she shared with her consort, Fernando de Noronha....
and her consort, Fernando de Noronha
Fernando de Noronha, 2nd Count of Vila Real
Dom Fernando de Noronha was a 15th C. Castilian-Portuguese nobleman. He was the 2nd Count of Vila Real, a title which he acquired and shared by his marriage to Brites de Menezes, 2nd Countess of Vila Real and the third Portuguese governor of Ceuta from 1437.Fernando de Noronha united two...
. The title of Admiral of Portugal
Admiral of Portugal
The high office of Admiral of the Kingdom of Portugal as the head of the Portuguese navy was created by King Denis of Portugal in 1317 for the Genoese nobleman and naval officer Manuel Pessanha . Although there is evidence that such a title existed before The high office of Admiral of the...
was inherited by his nephew, Lançarote da Cunha.
An account of the life and career of Pedro de Menezes was written down in 1463 by Portuguese chronicler Gomes Eanes de Zurara, Chronica do Conde D. Pedro de Menezes, which helped cement his reputation. Among the many legendary stories that have circulated is that Pedro de Menezes wore a coat of mail continuously for sixteen years, wearing it out before ever taking it off.
Pedro de Menezes is sometimes denoted as Peter I, to distinguish him from his namesake grandson Peter II, the first Marquis of Vila Real
Marquis of Vila Real
Marquis of Vila Real was a Portuguese title of nobility created by a royal decree, dated from March 1, 1489, by King John II of Portugal, and granted to Dom Pedro de Menezes, also known as Peter II of Menezes, 3rd Count of Vila Real.The House of Vila Real was the most powerful aristocratic House...
, who was to serve as a later governor of Ceuta.
Pedro de Menezes was originally buried in the cathedral of Ceuta
Cathedral of St Mary of the Assumption (Ceuta)
The Cathedral of St Mary of the Assumption is the Roman Catholic cathedral of the Spanish city of Ceuta located in a small exclave on the north coast of Africa.The cathedral is a 15th century structure, built on the site of a sixth century Christian temple...
(a converted mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
), but his remains were later translated by his daughter to the Augustinian monastery church of Igreja da Graça
Igreja da Graça (Santarém)
Igreja da Graça is a church in Portugal. It is classified as a National Monument....
in Santarém
Santarém, Portugal
Santarém is a city in the Santarém Municipality in Portugal. The city itself has a population of 28,760 and the entire municipality has 64,124 inhabitants.It is the capital of Santarém District....
. His remains are still found there, in an effighy tomb alongside his third wife, Brites Coutinho. The Menezes tomb is decorated with carved wild olive tree branches, and repeatedly embossed with the word aleo, a reference to the gaming stick which Pedro de Menezes made famous. The same motif and slogan, "aleu", is found in the coat of arms of the town of Vila Real, the seat of Pedro de Menezes's fief.
16th C. poet Luís de Camões
Luís de Camões
Luís Vaz de Camões is considered Portugal's and the Portuguese language's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that of Shakespeare, Vondel, Homer, Virgil and Dante. He wrote a considerable amount of lyrical poetry and drama but is best remembered for his epic work Os Lusíadas...
is believed to be referring to D. Pedro de Menezes's aleo episode in his first Ecloga, where the poet writes: "So long as from sturdy, wild olive trees, the shepherds of Luso can find gaming sticks (cajados) and the ancient valor that first made them so famous in the world, do not fear, Frondelio, my companion, that they shall be subdued at any time."
Descendency
Pedro de Menezes was married four times.- first marriage to Margarida de Miranda, the natural daughter of Martinho Afonso Pires de Charneca, Bishop of CoimbraRoman Catholic Diocese of CoimbraThe Diocese of Coimbra is a Roman Catholic diocese in Coimbra, Portugal. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Braga.-History:The first known bishop was Lucentius, who assisted at the first council of Braga, the metropolitan See of Coimbra, until the latter was attached to the ecclesiastical...
(and soon Archbishop of BragaRoman Catholic Archdiocese of BragaThe Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Braga is an Archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Portugal.Its suffragans are the diocese of Aveiro, diocese of Bragança-Miranda, diocese of Coimbra, diocese of Lamego, diocese of Porto, diocese of Viana do Castelo, diocese of Vila Real,...
), produced two daughters:- Dona Brites de MenezesBrites de Menezes, 2nd Countess of Vila RealDona Brites de Menezes was a Portuguese noblewoman. She was the 2nd Countess of Vila Real from 1437, a title she shared with her consort, Fernando de Noronha....
, 2nd Countess of Vila RealCount of Vila RealCount of Vila Real was a Portuguese title of nobility created by a royal decree, in 1424, by King John I of Portugal, and granted to Dom Pedro de Menezes, also known as Peter I of Menezes, 1st Count of Viana .The Menezes, a high nobility family quite close to the first Dynasty Kings in Portugal,...
, who married Fernando de NoronhaFernando de Noronha, 2nd Count of Vila RealDom Fernando de Noronha was a 15th C. Castilian-Portuguese nobleman. He was the 2nd Count of Vila Real, a title which he acquired and shared by his marriage to Brites de Menezes, 2nd Countess of Vila Real and the third Portuguese governor of Ceuta from 1437.Fernando de Noronha united two...
(co-count) - Dona Leonor de Meneses, who married Fernando II, 3rd Duke of Braganza.
- Dona Brites de Menezes
- second marriage with Dona Filipa Coutinho, daughter of Gonçalo Vasques Coutinho, 2nd Marshal of PortugalMarshal of PortugalThe office of Marshal of the Kingdom of Portugal was created by King Ferdinand I of Portugal in 1382, in the course of the reorganization of the higher offices of the army of the Kingdom of Portugal...
, did not produce offspring. - third marriage to Brites Coutinho, daughter of Fernando Martins Coutinho, Lord of Castelo RodrigoCastelo Rodrigo CastleThe Castelo Rodrigo Castle is a castle in Castelo Rodrigo Parish in Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo, Guarda District, Portugal. It has been listed as a National monument since 1922.-External links:* at IPPAR...
, produced one daughter:- Dona Isabel Coutinho, lady of MafraMafra, PortugalMafra is a town in Mafra Municipality in Portugal.The town is 28 km north-west from the center of Lisbon. It is mostly known for the sumptuous Palácio de Mafra , which also makes it a popular tourist destination in the Lisbon area...
;
- Dona Isabel Coutinho, lady of Mafra
- fourth marriage with Genebra Pereira, daughter of Carlos II Pessanha, Admiral of PortugalAdmiral of PortugalThe high office of Admiral of the Kingdom of Portugal as the head of the Portuguese navy was created by King Denis of Portugal in 1317 for the Genoese nobleman and naval officer Manuel Pessanha . Although there is evidence that such a title existed before The high office of Admiral of the...
produced no offspring.
Illegitimate children of Pedro de Menezes include the following:
- from ?
- Inês de Meneses, who married Gonçalo Nunes Barreto, 1st Lord of Morgado da Quarteira;
- from Isabel Domingues, a Pixegueira:
- Duarte de Menezes, 3rd Count of VianaDuarte de Menezes, 3rd Count of VianaDom Duarte de Menezes, was a 15th C. Portuguese nobleman and military figure. Duarte de Menezes was the 3rd Count of Viana do Alentejo, 2nd Count of Viana , Lord of Caminha and the first Portuguese captain of Alcácer-Ceguer.- Family :Duarte de Menezes was an illegitimate...
, first captain-governor of Alcácer-CeguerKsar es-SeghirKsar es-Seghir or Ksar Sghir or al-Qasr al-Seghir , is a small town on the Mediterranean coast in the Jebala region of northwest Morocco, between Tangier and Ceuta, on the right bank of the river of the same name. Administratively, it belongs to the prefecture of Fahs-Anjra and the region of...
; - Aldonça de Meneses;
- Isabel de Meneses, who had 11 children with Rui Gomes da Silva, first MagistrateAlcaldeAlcalde , or Alcalde ordinario, is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An alcalde was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian cabildo and judge of first instance of a town...
of Campo MaiorCampo MaiorCampo Maior , is a municipality in the Portalegre District, Alentejo Region, Portugal.The municipality has an area of 247,26 km² and a population of 8359 . It is divided into 3 parishes . It is bordered by Spain on the North and East, by Elvas Municipality on the Southeast, and by Arronches...
, who served as Menezes' lieutenant in Ceuta; two are venerated in the Roman Catholic ChurchRoman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
:- Blessed Amadeus of Portugal, O.F.M., a Franciscan friar who established a reformed branch of the Order of Friars Minor which existed independently for about a century;
- Saint Beatrice of Silva, O.I.C., who founded the ConceptionistConceptionistsThe Order of the Immaculate Conception , also known as the Conceptionists, are a contemplative Order of nuns. For five hundred years, they followed the Poor Clare Rule, but were recognized as a separate Order, ....
Order of contemplative nuns in Toledo, SpainToledo, SpainToledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
- Duarte de Menezes, 3rd Count of Viana