D. Antão de Almada, 12th Count of Avranches, 9th Lord of Pombalinho and 14th Majorat of Lagares d'El-Rei (19 April 1718 – 26 January 1797) was the Grand Master of Ceremonies for the Royal House and, owing to his positions, made administrator of a few Portuguese colonies, including the first Captain-General of the Azores.

Biography

Antão de Almada was born in 1718 in

Condeixa-a-Nova Condeixa-a-Nova (), officially the Town of Condeixa-a-Nova (), and often called simply Condeixa, is a town and a municipality in the district of Coimbra, Portugal. The population in 2011 was 17,078, in an area of 138.67 km2. It is located 1 ...

, in paternal family palace: He was the son of Luís José de Almada, 10th Count of Avranches, 13th Majorat of Lagares d' El-Rei, and 8th Master of Pombalinho, and his spouse D. Violante of Portugal. He obtained the status of ''

fidalgo ''Fidalgo'' (, ), from Galician and Portuguese —equivalent to a nobleman, but sometimes literally translated into English as "nobleman" —is a traditional title of Portuguese nobility and Brazilian nobility that refers to a member of the ...

'' by charter on 21 June 1734, and knight on 1 November of the same year. He married on 24 October 1756, D. Violante Josefa de Almada Henriques (11th Countess of Avranches and 10th Mistress of Pombalinho), who was his niece. He obtained the position of deputy in the Estates General, and was part of the Royal Council, by order of

Joseph I of Portugal '' Dom'' Joseph I (; 6 June 1714 – 24 February 1777), known as the Reformer (Portuguese: ''o Reformador''), was King of Portugal from 31 July 1750 until his death in 1777. Among other activities, Joseph was devoted to hunting and the opera. ...

(22 August 1766).Affonso de Ornellas, 1942, p.25 and nominated in 1750 to the position of ''alcaide'' and commander of Proença-a-Velha.

Captaincy-General

Circled by military, social and religious figures he arrived in Angra on 28 September 1766 to preside as the first ''Presidente da Junta da Administração e Arrecadação da Real Fazenda e Governador e Capitão-General das Ilhas dos Açores'' (''President of the Administrative Junta, Collector of the Royal Treasury and Governor/Captain-General of the Azores''), a sequence of a charter dated 2 August 1766. He took office on 7 October.Carlos Melo Bento (2008), p.71 During his tenure, Almada faced various problems, one of which was issues associated with local currency. At the time the

Portuguese real The ''real'' (, meaning "royal", plural: ''réis'' or rchaic''reais'') was the unit of currency of Portugal and the Portuguese Empire from around 1430 until 1911. It replaced the '' dinheiro'' at the rate of 1 real = libras = 70 soldos = 840 din ...

was not the only currency in circulation, and many of the currencies circulating were counterfeit. Spanish coins, for example, circulated since the governorship of Rui da Câmara, expanded during the short reign of King Sebastian and, ultimately, expanded through returning emigres who worked in the

colony of Brazil Colonial Brazil (), sometimes referred to as Portuguese America, comprises the period from 1500, with the arrival of the Portuguese, until 1815, when Brazil was elevated to a kingdom in union with Portugal. During the 300 years of Brazilian col ...

in the 17th century. He ordered this currency collected and sent to Lisbon. Agricultural reforms included ordering vacant municipal lands be rented out, clearing of bushlands and reduction of goats, due to their impacts on terrains.Carlos Melo Bento (2008), p.72 On

Terceira Island Terceira () is a volcanic island in the Azores archipelago, about a third of the way across the North Atlantic Ocean at a similar latitude to Portugal's capital Lisbon, with the island group forming an insular part of Portugal. It is one of the ...

(where he resided), he rebuilt the Angra customs-house, created a public yard to store wheat, installed new cranes in the port of Angra, revitalized the woad industry and repaired many of the island forts. As a result of the Pombaline reforms, Almada was responsible for imposing the new directives, resulting in some violent conflicts following municipal elections: he was forced to intervene personally and, in the aftermath, even had a judge imprisoned. With the closing of the Jesuit College in 1759, there was a need to create schools to teach letters, Latin, philosophy, rhetoric and grammar. These reforms also included changes to local judiciary requiring ''juízes de fora'' (''external judges'') to operate by the municipal authority. On 26 January 1771, by charter, the Azores became a "province" of Portugal, then later colony, before becoming a dependency of the Secretary of War.Carlos Melo Bento (2008), p.74 Almada governed with two Azorean counsels (João Cabral de Melo and Jose Vieira) until 1774 (although it is unclear when he returned to Lisbon). His governorship was best considered a regime of "good intentions", rather than long term successes. After a century, Antão was described, in the following terms: :"''we hear that the King is very well served by him, honoring him, and elevating him for his position in office with dignity and science. He lived with his family, served by carriages, beautiful animals, pages and servants. He was very affable, a

Courtier A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the officia ...

and

almoner An almoner () is a chaplain or church officer who originally was in charge of distributing money to the deserving poor. The title ''almoner'' has to some extent fallen out of use in English, but its equivalents in other languages are often used f ...

: mostly very gentle, attentive and listened to the vigilante parties; he did not meddle in other people's jurisdiction; and even as he arrived during the reforms, he was not really sported for the strength of his authority; but, he never needed to employ violent means to achieve his proposed goals. So much was the respect that even today his name is revered in these islands zores and uttered with true reverence''". Many Azoreans were unmotivated by his policies and he only had effective power in Terceira Island.

Later life

He died on 26 January 1797, and was buried in his family

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

, in the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

of the Graça Convent, in Lisbon.

References

;Notes ;Sources * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Almada, Antao de, 12th Count of Avranches Captains-General of the Azores 1718 births 1797 deaths People from Condeixa-a-Nova 18th-century Portuguese people Portuguese nobility