CASTRO, JOAO DE (1500-1548)

This article appears in Volume V05, Page 484 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: CAR-CAU

CASTRO, JOAO DE (1500-1548) , called by Camoens Castro Forte, fourth viceroy of the Portuguese Indies, was the son of Alvaro de Castro, civil

governor

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

of Lisbon. A younger son, and destined therefore for the church, he became at an early age a brilliant humanist, and studied mathematics under Pedro Nunez, in company with the infante Dom Luis, son of Emanuel the First, with whom he contracted a life-long friendship. At eighteen he went to Tangier, where he was dubbed knight by Duarte de Menezes the

governor

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

, and there he remained several years. In 1535 he accompanied Dom Luis to the siege of Tunis, where he had the honour of refusing

knighthood

KNIGHTHOOD

and reward at the hands of the great emperor Charles V. Returning to Lisbon, he received from the king the small commandership of Sao Pablo de Salvaterra in 1538. He was exceedingly poor, but his wife Lenor de Coutinho, a noble Portuguese lady, admired and appreciated her husband sufficiently to make light of their poverty. Soon after this he left for the Indies in company with his uncle Garcia de Noronha, and on his arrival at Goa enlisted among the aventureiros, " the bravest of the brave," told off for the relief of Diu. In 1540 he served on an expedition under Estevao da Gama, by whom his son, Alvaro de Castro, a child of thirteen, was knighted, out of compliment to him. Returning to Portugal, Joao de Castro was named

commander

COMMANDER

of a

fleet

FLEET

, in 1543, to clear the European seas of pirates; and in 1545 he was sent, with six sail, to the Indies, in the room of Martin de Sousa, who had been dismissed the viceroyalty. The next three years were the hardest and most brilliant, as they were the last, of his lifeyears of battle and struggle, of

glory

GLORY (through the O. Fr. glorie, modern gloire, from Lat. gloria, cognate with Gr. KXebs, abets)

and sorrow, of suffering and

triumph

TRIUMPH (triumphus)

. Valiantly seconded by his sons (one of whom, Fernao, was killed before Diu) and by Joao Mascarenhas, Joao de Castro achieved such popularity by the over-throw of Mahmud, 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

LOAN (adapted from the Scandinavian form of a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Swed. Mn, Icel. lan, Dut. leen; the O.E. laen appears in " lend," the ultimate source is seen in the root of Gr. Xeiaecv and Lat. linquere, to leave)

with the Goa merchants onthe simple security of his moustache. These great deeds were followed by the capture of Broach, by the complete subjugation of Malacca, and by the passage of Antonio Moniz into Ceylon; and in 1547 the great captain was appointed viceroy by Joan III., who had at last accepted him without mistrust. He did not live long to fill this charge, expiring in the arms of his friend, St Francis Xavier, on the 6th of 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 Bemfica.
See Jacinto Freire de Andrade, Vida de D. Jodo de Castro (Lisbon, 1651), English translation by Sir Peter Wyche (1664); Diogo de Couto, Decadas da Asia, vi. The Roteiros or logbooks of Castro's voyages in the

East

EAST
EAST, ALFRED (1849- )

(Lisbon, 1833, 1843 and 1872) are of great

interest

INTEREST

.

End of Article: CASTRO, JOAO DE (1500-1548)

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/CAR_CAU/CASTRO_JOAO_DE_1500_1548_.html">
CASTRO, JOAO DE (1500-1548)
</a>

(Previous)
CASTRO, INEZ DE (d. 1355)

(Next)
CASTROGIOVANNI (Arab. Kasr-Yani, a corruption o...

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email