Dom Miguel Pereira Forjaz Coutinho, 10th
Count of Feira (1 November 1769 – 6 November 1827), was a Portuguese general and War Secretary in the
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
.
[Otto Von Pivka The Portuguese Army of the Napoleonic Wars 1977 -- Page 17 "The chivalrous ardour of the marechal-de-camp, Marquis d'Alorne, the activity and firmness of Gomez Freire de Andrada, the analytical and cool mind of Colonel Don Miguel Pereira Forjaz, were highly extolled. There were but few veterans left ..."]
Life
He was the son of Diogo Pereira Forjaz Coutinho (23 May 1726) and the great grandson of the 9th Count of Feira,
D. Álvaro Pereira Forjaz Coutinho (c.1656-?) and his wife Inês Antónia Barreto de Sá (c.1670-?). He was married twice, to Joana Eulália Freire de Andrade and to Maria do Patrocínio Freire de Andrade e Castro who died at childbirth.
He entered the army in 1785, as a cadet in the Regiment of
Peniche, in which he met many members of his family. In 1787 he was promoted to alferes (lieutenant) and served as chief of staff to the Count of Oeynhausen, inspector-general of the Infantry, fighting alongside him at Porcalhota in 1790. He was promoted to captain in 1791 and to major (sargento-mor) in 1793, and was made adjutant to general Forbes, commander of the Portuguese division then
fighting in Roussillon and
Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...
.
Already with the rank of colonel, in March 1800 he was made governor and captain-general of
Pará
Pará is a state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest are the borders of Guyana ...
, but did not set out for
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. In the
War of the Oranges
The War of the Oranges ( pt, Guerra das Laranjas; french: Guerre des Oranges; es, Guerra de las Naranjas) was a brief conflict in 1801 in which Spanish forces, instigated by the government of France, and ultimately supported by the French mil ...
of the following year, at
Alentejo, he served as quartermaster-general (chief of staff) to
General Forbes. In 1806 he was promoted to brigadier and made inspector general of the army. On the
royal family's flight to the Portuguese colony of Brazil in 1807, he was made deputy secretary of the government, to if necessary replace the Count of Sampaio.
When General
Junot took over the government of the country, Forjaz retired to the provinces. In
Coimbra
Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of .
The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto, and Braga, it is the largest cit ...
he began the revolt against the French and went 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 ...
, where he reorganised the army, under the orders of his cousin
Bernardim Freire de Andrade
Bernardino Freire de Andrade (Lisbon, 18 February 1759 – Braga, 17 March 1809), was a Portuguese Army general officer who was assigned to command the forces of the Porto Junta in 1808 during the Peninsular War.
In March 1809, Freire comman ...
. Accompanying Andrade as adjutant general of the army of the north in their march on Porto-Lisbon, and was made secretary of the regency, after the
Convention of Sintra
The Convention of Cintra (or Sintra) was an agreement signed on 30 August 1808, during the Peninsular War. By the agreement, the defeated French were allowed to evacuate their troops from Portugal without further conflict. The Convention was sig ...
, and was given the war and foreign affairs portfolios. In this capacity he took part in the further reorganisation of the army under
William Carr Beresford (who had been appointed commander-in-chief by the Portuguese Royal family), completing the 1803 proposals' implementation in 1807. One of his initiatives was the creation of ''
Caçadores'' units and supporting general Beresford in a friendly but critical way, in adapting the Portuguese army to British training and tactics to better help the
Anglo-Portuguese Army's campaign. In 1815 he successfully opposed sending a Portuguese division to fight in the Low Countries against Napoleon during the
Hundred Days.
The
Liberal Revolution of 1820
The Liberal Revolution of 1820 ( pt, Revolução Liberal) was a Portuguese political revolution that erupted in 1820. It began with a military insurrection in the city of Porto, in northern Portugal, that quickly and peacefully spread to the rest ...
led him to leave his post as regent and his retirement from public life. By a decree of 13 May 1820 he received the title of Count of Feira and was elected a Peer of the Kingdom on the occasion of the giving of the Constitutional Charter by
Peter IV of Portugal
Don (honorific), Dom Pedro I (English: Peter I; 12 October 1798 – 24 September 1834), nicknamed "the Liberator", was the founder and List of monarchs of Brazil, first ruler of the Empire of Brazil. As King Dom Pedro IV, he List of ...
.
Promotions and Units
Sources
* FURTADO, Gregório de Mendonça, ''Ordenança de Campanha destinada às Tropas Ligeiras e aos Officiaes que servem nos pòstos avançados'', Impressão Régia, Lisbon, 1809
* MARTELO, David, ''Caçadores. Os Galos de Combate do Exército de Wellington'', Tribuna (editor), Lisbon, 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forjaz, Miguel Pereira
1769 births
1827 deaths
Portuguese military commanders of the Napoleonic Wars
People of the Peninsular War
Portuguese nobility
18th-century Portuguese people
19th-century Portuguese people
People from Ponte de Lima