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 families of the island.
Early life
Born in
Montemor-o-Novo
Montemor-o-Novo (), officially the City of Montemor-o-Novo (), is a city and municipality in the District of Évora (district), Évora in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 17,437, in an area of 1232.97 km2. The city itself had a population ...
, the son of Gil Sodré and nephew of the English nobleman John de Sudley (transliterated to ''João de Sodré'', where ''Sodré'' was corrupted from the English ''Sudeley'' or ''Sudley''. John Sudley was a descendant of William le Boteler, which explains the commonality of his coat-of-arms in England and Portugal, between the Boteler (Butler) and Sodré families.
Marriage
Vasco Gil Sodré was married twice: first to Iria Vaz do Couto, daughter of Duarte Barreto do Couto, the first Donatary captain of Graciosa; and the second to Beatriz Gonçalves da Silva, who accompanied him to the island. He had one daughter named Isabel (Sodre).
Beatriz Gonçalves da Silva was referred to, by
Gaspar Frutuoso
Gaspar Frutuoso ( 1522 – 1591) was a Portuguese priest, historian and humanist from the island of São Miguel, in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. His major contribution to Portuguese history was his detailed descriptions of the histo ...
, as ''Beatriz Gonçalves de Bectaforte, native of the castle of Bectaforte in England'', which is a confusion arising from later descendants of Vasco Gil Sodré. From this marriage, he had Diogo Vaz Sodré, Fernão Vaz Sodré, Mécia Vaz, Leonor Vaz and Inês Vaz, as well as others, comprising ten children, that were the progenitors of the island of Graciosa.Gaspar Frutuoso ''Saudadades da Terra'', Livro 6, Capítulo 42Duarte Barreto do Couto, brother of his first wife, was married to Antónia Sodré, making them double in-laws. Although there are few record, Duarte Barreto do Couto, more commonly known as Duarte Barreto, ''noble of the Algarve'', was Donatary captain of the southern part of the island, which was later incorporated into the territory of the captaincy of Graciosa.
Graciosa
Vasco Gil Sodré came to Graciosa following the mysterious disappearance of Duarte Barreto do Couto, who died during a Castilian incursion into Graciosa (probably in 1475, during the
War of the Castilian Succession
The War of the Castilian Succession was the military conflict contested from 1475 to 1479 for the succession of the Crown of Castile fought between the supporters of Joanna 'la Beltraneja', reputed daughter of the late monarch Henry IV of Castil ...
). Becoming a widow, and alone on the island, Antónia Sodré wrote to her brother, so that he could come to stay with her.
Responding to her invitation, Vasco Gil Sodré came to Graciosa, after a stopping at several north African settlements, arriving at a time in which Portugal was at war with the Crown of Castile, owing to the pretensions
Joanna la Beltraneja
Joanna of Castile, known as ''la Beltraneja'' (28 February 1462 – 12 April 1530), was a claimant to the throne of Castile, and Queen of Portugal as the wife of King Afonso V, her uncle.
Early life
King Henry IV of Castile married Joan o ...
, between 1475 and 1479.
Gil Sodré was accompanied by Beatriz Gonçalves da Silva, and a group of servants, arriving in Graciosa after staying in
Terceira
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 ...
.Luís Conde Pimentel (1986) The family erected a house in Carapacho, a place near to their lands in the southwest of the island, in what is today Praia.
Vasco Gil Sodré attempted to obtain the Donatary captaincy of the island, including the construction of a customs-house on his part, the captaincy of the north (centered on Santa Cruz da Graciosa) was given to Pedro Correia da Cunha (brother-in-law of
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...
, who arrived on the island from Porto Santo, after losing the captaincy, in 1474.
Despite the efforts of the Sodré family, in 1485 Pedro Correia da Cunha was confirmed as Donatary Captain for the entire island, because the ''"land was too small for two divisions"'', effectively impeding Vasco Gil Sodré and his descendants from obtaining the captaincy they claimed. This decision definitively unified the captaincy of Graciosa, until the Donatary system was abolished. The division resulted in the two municipalities on the island (