Lourenço da Silva Mendouça was a member of the royal family of the

Kingdom of Ndongo The Kingdom of Ndongo (formerly known as Angola or Dongo, also Kimbundu: ) was an early-modern African state located in the highlands between the Lukala and Kwanza Rivers, in what is now Angola. The Kingdom of Ndongo is first recorded in t ...

in what is now

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

. An

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

, he was probably the first person to successfully convince authorities to end slavery in Europe. A

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, his dealings were mostly with Church authorities and those with whom they were associated. His historical achievement had been largely forgotten and obfuscated until work by the historian Richard Gray in the 1980s and 1990s (who initially only had three or so sources to rely on), and the scholar José Lingna Nafafé, who discovered many new sources and details of the history of his life in the 2010s—including confirmation that he was an African prince.

Biography

Lourenço da Silva Mendouça was a member of the Mbundu people from the city of Pedras. His date of birth is unknown, but he may have been 22 or 23 years old when he left Angola in 1671. His grandfather, known as either King Hari or Philipe I, was the second ruler of the Kingdom of Pungo a Ndongo in what is now central Angola from 1626 to 1664, at the time a usurper nation broken off the

ruled by the war queen Nzinga and a vassal kingdom subject to the

Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire was a colonial empire that existed between 1415 and 1999. In conjunction with the Spanish Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It achieved a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, Africa ...

. He was succeeded by Dom João, the uncle of Mendouça. Dom João refused the annual tax of 100 slaves demanded by the colonisers, known as '' baculamento'', and declared war against the Portuguese. This war was subsequently lost, and the victorious Portuguese decided to send Mendonça and much of his family in exile to the

Colonial Brazil Colonial Brazil (), sometimes referred to as Portuguese America, comprises the period from 1500, with the Discovery of Brazil, arrival of the Portuguese, until 1815, when Brazil was elevated to a United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves ...

in 1671. Compared to most Africans here, Mendonça had a much less demanding life. The family first spent 18 months in

Salvador, Bahia Salvador () is a Municipalities of Brazil, Brazilian municipality and capital city of the Federative units of Brazil, state of Bahia. Situated in the Zona da Mata in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of Brazil, Salvador is recognize ...

, before being moved to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

in 1673. The local colonial authorities, however, grew fearful of the possibility the princes might flee their control and join the powerful

Quilombo dos Palmares Palmares, or Quilombo dos Palmares, was a ''quilombo'', a community of escaped slaves and others, in colonial Brazil that developed from 1605 until its suppression in 1694. It was located in the captaincy of Pernambuco, in what is today the Bra ...

, a free nation of

maroons Maroons are descendants of Africans in the Americas and islands of the Indian Ocean who escaped from slavery, through flight or manumission, and formed their own settlements. They often mixed with Indigenous peoples, eventually evolving into ...

which had been established in the interior and was nominally at war with

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. Thus it was decided later that same year to send the Prince and his family to Portugal, and split them up. Mendonça was sent to the Convent of Vilar de Frades, in

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

, where he studied for three or four years, before moving to

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. There were a large number of Africans living in Portugal at the time, both slaves and free people. Lisbon had a population which was 10% black. Many of these people had organised into various different black

confraternities - charitable lay societies which organised education, religious services, medical help and buying freedom for Africans. In 1681 (or 1682) he was appointed the procurator-general of the Confraternity of Our Lady, Star of the Negroes, a group also represented in Brazil and Portuguese Africa. Over the next few years he began to work on his arguments against slavery, travelling to the Royal Court of Madrid in

Toledo, Spain Toledo ( ; ) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain, the capital of the province of Toledo and the ''de jure'' seat of the government and parliament of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castilla� ...

, in late 1682, hosted and supported by Dom Carlos II, King of Spain and the

Archbishop of Toledo The Archdiocese of Toledo () is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in Spain.

, Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero y de Guzman. He spent 18 months here, before journeying across Europe to the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

curia Curia (: curiae) in ancient Rome referred to one of the original groupings of the citizenry, eventually numbering 30, and later every Roman citizen was presumed to belong to one. While they originally probably had wider powers, they came to meet ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, arriving in 1684. Here he launched a criminal case against the (Catholic) European nations involved in the

transatlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of Slavery in Africa, enslaved African people to the Americas. European slave ships regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Pass ...

at the time -in any case Spain, Portugal, the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...

and various nations now part of Italy, accusing them of

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

. He had collected support over the years from the different black confraternities of Europe, and was also supported by a number of missionaries of the

Order of Friars Minor Capuchin The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (; postnominal abbr. OFMCap) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of three " First Orders" that reformed from the Franciscan Friars Minor Observant (OFMObs, now OFM), the ...

.Hastings, Adrian. (1996) ''The Church in Africa: 1450-1950''. p. 125. His petitions presented a first-hand account of the cruelties inflicted by slavery.Gray, Richard. (1997) "The Kongo Kingdom and the Papacy". ''History Today''. 47: 44. . His efforts convinced the

Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP; ) was a congregation of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church in Rome, responsible for missionary work and related activities. It is also known by its former title, the Sacred Congregatio ...

and led directly to the March 20th, 1686 condemnation of slavery by

Pope Innocent XI Pope Innocent XI (; ; 16 May 1611 – 12 August 1689), born Benedetto Odescalchi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 21 September 1676 until his death on 12 August 1689. Political and religious tensions with ...

. He was given a

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

by the Vatican Nuncio in Portugal, Gasper de Mesquita, inscribed with the slogan ''morir es lo mas cierto'', death is certain. This was derived from the Latin saying ''mors certa est, at eius hora incerta est'', which describes the

human condition The human condition can be defined as the characteristics and key events of human life, including birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, reason, morality, conflict, and death. This is a very broad topic that has been and continues to be pondered ...

: gods are immortal, animals are unaware of their mortality, only humans suffer the knowledge of death. Mendouça died in 1698.

Biography

References

Further reading