João Pinheiro Chagas (1 September 1863 – 28 May 1925; ) was a Portuguese politician, literary critic, propagandist, editor, and journalist. He was heavily involved in several rebellions condemning the monarchy and disseminating materials via pamphlets and newspaper in support of the Portuguese Republican Party. He was among the leaders of the

5 October 1910 revolution The 5 October 1910 revolution was the overthrow of the centuries-old Portuguese monarchy and its replacement by the First Portuguese Republic. It was the result of a ''coup d'état'' organized by the Portuguese Republican Party. By 1910, the K ...

and the

Lisbon Regicide The Lisbon Regicide or Regicide of 1908 ( pt, Regicídio de 1908) was the assassination of King Carlos I of Portugal and the Algarves and his heir-apparent, Luís Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal, by assassins sympathetic to Republican interests ...

, and later served as Ambassador to Paris for 14 years and twice as interim prime minister of the Portuguese First Republic.

Biography

Early years

Chagas was born 4 September 1863 in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Empire of Brazil The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and (until 1828) Uruguay. Its government was a representative parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the rule of Emperors Dom Pe ...

to João Pinheiro Chagas and Maria Amélia Rosa Pereira. His father was a Portuguese emigrant with ancestral ties to Portuguese refugees from

Beiras Beira () was one of the six traditional provinces or ''comarcas'' of Portugal. The territorial extension is different from that of the area called ''the Beiras'', which refers to three provinces of 1936, Beira Alta, Beira Baixa and Beira Lit ...

who fled to Brazil during the Liberal Wars. On his paternal side,

Manuel Pinheiro Chagas Manuel may refer to: People * Manuel (name) * Manuel (Fawlty Towers), a fictional character from the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' * Charlie Manuel, manager of the Philadelphia Phillies * Manuel I Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire * Manu ...

was his cousin and his son Mário was his first cousin once removed. His mother was an Indigenous American. The family relocated to Lisbon when Chagas was a child and he was orphaned at a young age.

Writing career

Chagas could not afford to attend university, so he moved to

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

at age 16 and began his writing career. At times, he wrote under the pseudonym João Rimanso or Ivan. His first publication was in ''

O Primeiro de Janeiro ''O Primeiro de Janeiro'' (lit. ''the first of January'') was a Portuguese daily newspaper published in Porto, Portugal. History and profile ''O Primeiro de Janeiro'' was based in Porto where it was founded in 1868. Its title is a reference to ...

'' in Porto; he later moved back to Lisbon to collaborate with ''Temps,'' '' Correio da Manhã'', and ''O Diá''. At the end of the 19th century, Chagas founded '' La Marseillaise'' (1896—1898), ''O Berro'' (1896), ''Branco e Negro'' (1896—1898), ''A Paródia'' (1900—1907), and ''

A República Portuguesa A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'', and became director of Brazilian newspaper '' O Paiz'' (1898) and the Portuguese publications '' A Lanterna'' (1899) and ''Batalha'' (1900). While incarcerated in

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, he headed the prison's newspaper (1896—1897). '' La Marseillaise'' closed in 1898 due to censorship laws and Chagas' known allegiance to the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

. When he returned from exile, he founded ''A Portuguesa'' (1893), which he considered a revival of ''La Marseillaise''. All of the newspapers he founded, directed, and contributed to were anti-monarchy propaganda tools; his articles were extremely controversial and led to him being arrested several times.

Political activism

During his early years in Porto, he met and befriended several members of

Life's Vanquished Life's Vanquished ( pt, Vencidos da Vida) is the name by which became known an informal group of intellectuals of great relevance to Portuguese cultural life in the last three decades of the 19th century. Among the Vanquished were some of the writ ...

. He became more critical and more deeply involved with the Republican Party as a result. In 1891, he published an article in ''A República Portuguesa'' that was controversial enough to get him arrested and jailed for 10 days. Within days, he participated in and helped plan a rebellion, and his sentence was increased to 4 years in prison or 6 years in exile. Chagas was originally bound for

Luanda Luanda () is the capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Angola's administrative centre, its chief seaport ...

but was transferred to Moçâmedes after one day. He escaped within a few months and traveled to Paris before returning to Portugal in 1892, where he was arrested again. While in prison, he continued petition against governmental oppression of rights and wrote extensively about his experiences, making him the only primary source from a Portuguese prisoner from that period. He was freed from prison in 1893 due to an amnesty resulting from the

1890 British Ultimatum The 1890 British Ultimatum was an ultimatum by the British government delivered on 11 January 1890 to the Kingdom of Portugal. The ultimatum forced the retreat of Portuguese military forces from areas which had been claimed by Portugal on the bas ...

. He lived in Porto, Brazil, and

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

for varying lengths of time before being arrested again in 1896, and again in 1908 for his involvement in the

. He participated in the

not long after. João Chagas, postal

Political career

The Portuguese First Republic was established in 1910, and Chagas' governmental career began. His first role was an

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

to Paris; he did, however, resign twice due to political disagreements with his supervisors. He served as both prime minister and

Interior Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

for 70 days in late 1911 and again in 1915. While in Paris, he continued to keep a critical eye on Portugal's political decision-making. During the Republic's early days, Chagas met with Sir

Lancelot Carnegie Sir Lancelot Douglas Carnegie (Edinburgh, 26 December 1861 – London, 15 October 1933), was a British diplomat. He was the second son of the 9th Earl of Southesk, and the eldest son by his second marriage (1860) to Lady Susan Murray (died 191 ...

of Britain, Portuguese War Minister Freire de Andrade, and French diplomat Émile Daeschner to keep himself informed. He was very critical of Portugal's lack of involvement when

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

broke out and was one of the delegates who led the Republic to join the war in 1916.

Final years and death

Following the 1915

May 14 Revolt The May 14 Revolt (1915) was a politico-military uprising led by Álvaro de Castro and General Sá Cardoso which started in Lisbon, Portugal, with the objective of taking power from the dictatorship of General Pimenta de Castro during the Portu ...

, Chagas was nominated to succeed Manuel de Arriaga's role as president of Portugal. Senator João José de Freitas disagreed with this decision and attempted to assassinated him. He shot several times at a car Chagas was traveling in with his wife in

Entroncamento Entroncamento () is a Portuguese municipality in district of Santarém in the Médio Tejo Subregion (''Middle Tagus'') of the Centro Region. The population in 2011 was 20,206, in an area of 13.73 km². Situated in the Ribatejo, it benefits f ...

. Chagas' head was shaved and he lost an eye in the attack. He withdrew from politics during his recovery and turned down the presidential nomination, preferring instead to continue working as an ambassador in Paris. He kept this role until he retired in 1924, with the exception of 1917—1918 during the period of Sidónism. Chagas died on 28 May 1925 in Estoril,

Cascais Cascais () is a town and municipality in the Lisbon District of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The municipality has a total of 214,158 inhabitants in an area of 97.40 km2. Cascais is an important tourism in Portugal, tourist de ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. He died of

aortitis Aortitis is the inflammation of the aortic wall. The disorder is potentially life-threatening and rare. It is reported that there are only 1–3 new cases of aortitis per year per million people in the United States and Europe. Aortitis is most com ...

and is buried in the

Alto de São João Cemetery Alto de São João Cemetery (Portuguese: ''Cemitério do Alto de São João'') is the largest cemetery in Lisbon, Portugal, located in the ''freguesia'' (civil parish) of Penha de França, in eastern Lisbon (formerly, within the parish of São J ...

Honours

Chagas served as part of the Portuguese delegation at the Versailles Peace Conference and the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

. He was also a co-founder of the Portuguese Association of Journalists and the Porto Men of Letters, and became a

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

in 1896. In 1919, he was awarded a Gold Cross from the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword. He is the namesake for a road in Lisbon and a garden in Porto.

Bibliography

During his lifetime, Chagas wrote at least 15 books and many more journal articles and pamphlets: In 1929, four years after his death, ''Diario de João Chagas'' was published. He wrote the prefaces for Guedes d'Oliveira's 1890 ''Gazetilhas''; and Luciano Fataça's 1895 ''A revolução de Cuba''. He co-wrote ''Historia da revolta do Porto de 31 de Janeiro de 1891 (depoimento de dois cúmplices)'' with Ex-Tenente Coelho. He was also a translator; works included prose from Jacques Offenbach's operetta ''Os Bandidos'' and Adolphe d'Ennery's play ''Martyr''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chagas, Joao Pinheiro 1863 births 1925 deaths Ambassadors of Portugal to France People from Rio de Janeiro (city) Portuguese Republican Party politicians Prime Ministers of Portugal Foreign ministers of Portugal Government ministers of Portugal Portuguese diplomats Portuguese journalists Male journalists 19th-century Portuguese writers 19th-century male writers Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint James of the Sword Political prisoners Mestizo people Political activists People from Porto Portuguese escapees Escapees from Portuguese detention Portuguese prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Portugal People from Lisbon People from Paris League of Nations people Portuguese Freemasons