Pedro Correia da Cunha (1440 – 1497, Lisbon) was a Portuguese nobleman who was the Second Donatary-Captain of
Porto Santo, and the 1st Donatary-Captain of the island of
Graciosa
Graciosa Island () (literally "graceful" or "enchanting" in Portuguese) is referred to as the ''White Island'', the northernmost of the Central Group of islands in the Azores. The ovular Portuguese island has an area of , a length of and a width ...
, in the
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 ...
archipelago of the
Azores
)
, motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace")
, anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores")
, image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg
, map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union
, map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
.
Biography
Pedro Correia was a descendant of D.
Paio Peres Correia
D. Paio Peres Correia was a Portuguese warrior who played an important role in the thirteenth-century Reconquista. He was born c. 1205, in Monte de Fralães, a civil parish in the municipality of Barcelos.
He went to Uclés, then the seat of t ...
, 17th Grandmaster of the Portuguese Military
Order of Saint James of the Sword. he was the son of Gonçalo Correia, master of the ancient House of Farelães, and his wife Branca Rodrigues Botelho. Many of his siblings and close relatives came to live in the Azores, including Margarida Correia, Jácome Dias Correia and João Correia "the Elder".
Donatary-Captain
Pedro Correia purchased the Donatary-Captaincy of Porto Santo in 1458 for 300,000
reais
The Brazilian real ( pl. '; sign: R$; code: BRL) is the official currency of Brazil. It is subdivided into 100 centavos. The Central Bank of Brazil is the central bank and the issuing authority. The real replaced the cruzeiro real in 1994.
...
plus a perpetual yearly interest payment of 30,000 reais. Yet, in 1473 he was forced to return the Captaincy due to a lawsuit brought by his brother-law, Bartolomeu Perestrelo "o Moço", who was under-age at the time that his mother sold the Captaincy.
[Chancelaria de D. Afonso V, liv. 36, fl 216v, transcrito em Monumenta Henricina, Volume XIII]
Pedro Correia da Cunha arrived in Graciosa around 1475, after being nominated to the position of Donatary-Captain of the northern part of the island. At the time Graciosa was divided into two captaincies: the southern part of the island (with its seat in Vila da Praia) was under the governorship of
Vasco Gil Sodré
Vasco Gil Sodré (c. 1450 – c. 1500) was a Portuguese navigator and one of the first settlers of the island of Graciosa. Although he attempted to obtain the Donatary captaincy of the island, he and his progenitors were the origin of many of the ...
; the northern captaincy, seated in Santa Cruz, was offered to Pedro Correia da Cunha. After 1485, his wife and children came to live on Graciosa, when Cunha became the principal Donatary-Captain, when the territory was unified.
Later life
He died in Lisbon in 1497, and was buried in the Chapel of St. John, erected in the Church of Nossa Senhora do Carmo (of whom he was patron). His wife's remains were later buried in the same chapel, after she died on the island of Graciosa.
Descendants
His wife was Izeu Peresterelo de Mendonça, daughter of
Bartolomeu Perestrelo
Bartolomeu Perestrello (, in Italian ''Bartolomeo Perestrello''), 1st Capitão Donatário, Lord and Governor of the Island of Porto Santo ( 1395 – 1457) was a Portuguese navigator and explorer that is claimed to have discovered and populated P ...
and thus sister to Columbus's wife
Filipa Moniz. Izeu Perestrelo was cousin to
Ana de Mendonça
Ana de Mendonça (1460-1542) was a maid of the Queen regnant of Castile, Joanna la Beltraneja, and a mistress of King John II of Portugal, who was also Master of the Order of Saint James 1470-1492. They had one son, Jorge de Lencastre, Duke of Co ...
(the mistress of King
John II John II may refer to:
People
* John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg (1455–1499)
* John II Casimir Vasa of Poland (1609–1672)
* John II Comyn, Lord of Badenoch (died 1302)
* John II Doukas of Thessaly (1303–1318)
* John II Komnenos (1087–1 ...
).
From his marriage to Izeu Perestrelo de Mendonça, his children were:
#Jorge Correia da Cunha, who married Leonor de Melo, but died before inheriting the Donatary-Captaincy of Graciosa;
#
Duarte Correia da Cunha, who succeeded his father as Donatary-Captain of Graciosa, and married twice;
#Branca (or Briolanja) Correia da Cunha, who became wife of Diogo Vaz Sodré;
#Filipa Correia da Cunha, who married Simão da Cunha;
#Maria Correia da Cunha;
#Catarina Correia de Lacerda, who married Heitor Mendes de Vasconcelos;
References
External links
Santa Cruz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunha, Pedro Correia Da
Cunha Pedro Correia
1497 deaths
1440 births
15th-century Portuguese people