Dom Constantino of Braganza ( pt, Constantino de Bragança; 1528–1575) was a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

nobleman, ''

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, ...

'', and administrator of the

Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the ...

. Born a member of the powerful House of Braganza, he is best known for having served as

Viceroy of Portuguese India , insignia = , insigniasize = , insigniacaption = , image = Lesser coat of arms of Portuguese India.svg , imagesize = 120px , imagecaption = Coat of arms of Portuguese India , style ...

and for initiating the Portuguese conquest of Sri Lanka.

Biography

He was the son of Dom James, 4th Duke of Braganza from his second marriage to Joana of Mendoça, daughter of Diogo of Mendonça, High-Alcaide of Mourão. When he was 19 years old, he was appointed by King Dom John III of Portugal as his special ambassador to the baptism ceremony of King Henry II of France's son. In 1558, he was appointed by the regent Dona Catherine of Habsburg (King Dom John III's widow) as the 20th Governor of Portuguese India, using also the title of 7th

Viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...

. He left Lisbon on 7 April 1558 and arrived in Goa on 3 September. He was a remarkable organiser of the local State, and he conquered

Daman Daman may refer to: place Places *Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, a union territory in India **Daman and Diu, former union territory of India, now part of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu **Daman district, India ***Daman, India ...

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

(nowadays known as Sri Lanka) and the island of Manar. A first expedition, led by Viceroy Dom Constantino de Bragança in 1560, failed to subdue Jaffna, but captured

Mannar Island Mannar Island ( ; ta, மன்னார் தீவு, Maṉṉār tīvu; si, මන්නාරම් දූපත, Mannāram dūpata), formerly spelt Manar Island, which lies off the north-western coast of Sri Lanka, is part of Mannar D ...

.Abeysinghe, T. ''Jaffna Under the Portuguese'', p.3 By June 1619, despite sharp resistance from

Cankili II Cankili II ( ta, சங்கிலி குமாரன், translit=Caṅkili Kumāraṉ; died 1619) was the last king of the Jaffna kingdom and was a usurper who came to throne with a palace massacre of the royal prince and the regent Ara ...

of Jaffna, there were two Portuguese expeditions; a naval expedition that was repulsed by the Malabari corsairs and another expedition by Dom

Filipe de Oliveira Phillippe de Oliveira or Filipe de Oliveira (died 1627) was the conqueror of the Jaffna Kingdom in northern modern day Sri Lanka on behalf of the Portuguese Empire in 1619. He stayed behind as the captain-major of the conquered kingdom until his d ...

and his land army of 5,000, which defeated Cankili and conquered Jaffna, strengthening Portuguese control of shipping routes through the Palk Strait. His government in India took three years and eight days, and during that period he made important reforms. He was considered by the historian

C. R. Boxer Sir Charles Ralph Boxer FBA GCIH (8 March 1904 – 27 April 2000) was a British historian of Dutch and Portuguese maritime and colonial history, especially in relation to South Asia and the Far East. In Hong Kong he was the chief spy for the ...

one of the most fanatic Portuguese governors of India together with Dom

Francisco Barreto Francisco Barreto (occasionally Francisco de Barreto, 1520 – 9 July 1573) was a Portuguese soldier and explorer. An officer in Morocco during his early life, Barreto sailed to Portuguese India and was eventually appointed viceroy of the colony ...

(1555–1558). He protected the poet Luis Vaz de Camões, during his stay in India. He was later governor of Ribeira Grande, in the island of Santo Antão, Portuguese Cape Verde, from 1562. Dom Constantino afterwards returned to the

Kingdom Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

. There he married his cousin, D. Maria de Melo, daughter of the 1st Marquess of Ferreira and 1st Count of Tentúgal, D. Rodrigo de Melo, and Dona Brites de Menezes (daughter of Dom Antão de Almada, 3rd

Count of Avranches This is a list of the counts of Avranches, a French fief in the Middle Ages. House of Almada *1445–1449 Álvaro Vaz de Almada, 1st Count of Avranches, KG (created by Henry VI of England); Avranches was lost to France soon after *1476&nda ...

). The couple had no issue.

King Sebastian of Portugal Sebastian ( pt, Sebastião I ; 20 January 1554 – 4 August 1578) was King of Portugal from 11 June 1557 to 4 August 1578 and the penultimate Portuguese monarch of the House of Aviz. He was the son of João Manuel, Prince of Portugal, and h ...

thought, in 1571, to appoint him as perpetual viceroy of India, but he refused.

Tooth relic

According to Mutu Coomara Swamy, Constantino claimed to play a part in capturing and destroying the Tooth-Relic of

Gotama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...

, during the wars of the Portuguese. The native authorities however, maintained the relic was kept safe from harm.

Ancestry

References

*''Nobreza de Portugal e do Brasil'' – Vol. II, page 443. Published by Zairol Lda., Lisbon 1989.

External links

Genealogy of Constantino of Braganza, in Portuguese
* "Constantino de Bragança" in Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History, vol. 7, eds. David Thomas and John Chesworth, Leiden - Boston, Brill, 2015, pp. 841-84

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Constantino Of Braganza 1528 births 1575 deaths Colonial heads of Cape Verde Viceroys of Portuguese India Portuguese colonial governors and administrators House of Braganza 16th-century Portuguese people

Biography

Tooth relic

Ancestry

See also

References

External links