Beneden (Baron Charles Van)
Original title: Beneden (Barão Charles Van)
Belgian writer Baron Charles Van Beneden (1854–1929), long resident in Madeira and Porto Santo, who wrote on Madeira and the Selvagens.
This Belgian subject took up residence in this archipelago long ago. For many years he lived at the Quinta dos Cedros in Santo António, and more recently on the island of Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’). He is regarded in his own country as a distinguished writer, with a notable body of literary work already to his name. Among his works that may interest Madeirans is the study entitled Au Nord Ouest de l'Afrique/Madère, les iles Canaries, le Maroc, published in Brussels in 1882. In the Belgian review La Jeune Wallonie he published the interesting narrative Voyage aux iles Salvages, which fills 50 pages of that review and is accompanied by excellent engravings. Some claim that in this author’s comedies Les Titularisés and Le Mariagicide several of the characters embody certain well-known figures of Funchal society.
He was born in Belgium on 4 July 1854 and died in the same country in December 1929.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 03Place
Places mentioned · 05
1 Abroad
- Brussels
Belgium. Where his 1882 book was published.
Bruxelas (Brussels) is a foreign city. Dr Jacinto António de Sousa visited it for its scientific establishments, and Baron Charles Van Beneden's 1882 book was published there.
- Porto Santo
His later residence.
An island of the archipelago, settled alongside Madeira and forming one of the three captaincies. It has always constituted a single parish, dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Piedade, whose church was repeatedly sacked. The Elucidário records the Moorish pirate raid of 1617, its own Misericórdia and a rainwater channel built on this drought-prone island.
- Santo António
Funchal. Parish of the quinta.
Santo António is a parish in the municipality of Funchal, Madeira, where the São João stream rises and the Jesuits had their Pico do Cardo residence. Its church bears a 1783 Latin inscription, and the parish contains the Madalena, São João e Santana and Pópulo chapels; it also gives its name to a hill of about 400 metres near its church.
- Savage Islands
Funchal · Selvagens. Subject of his travel narrative.
A small uninhabited island group, politically part of the Madeira archipelago. The Elucidário covers its geography, geology, fauna, ownership history and legends of hidden treasure, including Shackleton's treasure plans, and notes the annual hunting of shearwaters and rabbits. It is the only remaining home of the limpet Patella vulgata and was studied by naturalists such as Lowe and Garreta.
People
People mentioned · 01- Baron Charles Van Beneden1854–1929
Belgian writer who lived at Quinta dos Cedros and later Porto Santo, author of works on Madeira and the Selvagens.