- João de Castro
Dom João de Castro (
February 7 ,1500 -June 6 ,1548 ) was a Portuguese naval officer and fourthviceroy of Portuguese India . He was called "Castro Forte" ("Strong Castro") by poetLuís de Camões . Castro was the son ofÁlvaro de Castro , civil governor ofLisbon . His wife wasLeonor de Coutinho .A younger son, and destined therefore for the church, he became at an early age a brilliant humanist, and studied
mathematics underPedro Nunes , in company withLouis, Duke of Beja , son of kingManuel I of Portugal , with whom he contracted a life-long friendship. At eighteen he went toTangier , where he was dubbed knight byDuarte de Menezes the governor, and there he remained several years. In 1535 he accompanied Dom Louis to thesiege of Tunis , where he had the honor of refusing knighthood and reward at the hands of the great emperor Charles V. Returning to Lisbon, he received from the king the small commandership of São Paulo de Salvaterra in 1538.Soon after this he left for India in company with his uncle
Garcia de Noronha , and on his arrival atGoa went off for the relief ofDiu . In 1540 he served on an expedition under Estêvão da Gama (the son ofVasco da Gama and them viceroy of Portuguese India), by whom his son, Álvaro de Castro, a child of thirteen, was knighted, out of compliment to him.Returning to Portugal, João de Castro was named commander of a fleet, in 1543, to clear the
Atlantic Europe an seas of pirates; and in 1545 he was sent, with six sail, to India, to assistMartim de Sousa , who had been dismissed of the viceroyalty. Seconded by his sons (one of whom, Fernão, was killed before Diu) and byJoão Mascarenhas , João de Castro achieved such popularity by the overthrow ofMahmud, king of Gujarat , by the relief of Diu, and by the defeat of the great army of the Adil Khan, that he could contract a very large loan with the Goa merchants. These deeds were followed by the capture of Broach, by the complete subjugation ofMalacca , and by the passage ofAntónio Moniz intoCeylon ; and, in 1547, by the appointement as viceroy by kingJohn III of Portugal . He did not live long to fill this charge, dying in the arms of his friend, SaintFrancis Xavier , on6 June 1548 . He was buried at Goa, but his remains were afterwards exhumed and conveyed to Portugal, to be reinterred under a splendid monument in the convent of Benfica.References
*Jacinto Freire de Andrade, "Vida de D. João de Castro", Lisbon, 1651 (English translation by Sir Peter Wyche in 1664).
*Diogo de Couto, "Décadas da Ásia, VI".
*The "Roteiros", or logbooks of Castro's voyages in the East (Lisbon, 1833, 1843 and 1872) are of great interest.
*1911
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