Câmara (Rui Gonçalves da)

He appears to have been the first of João Gonçalves Zarco’s children to be born in Madeira, and he was the second son of the illustrious discoverer of this archipelago. He must have been born at the end of the first or the beginning of the second quarter of the 15th century. He is therefore the earliest of all the Madeirans whose names shine in the chronicles of this island. Rui Gonçalves da Câmara accompanied his brother João Gonçalves, the 2nd donatary of Funchal, to Africa, where he greatly distinguished himself as a valiant knight in the various skirmishes and encounters in which he took part. Accompanying Henry the Navigator and the Infante Ferdinand at the sieges of Asilah and Tangier, he likewise proved his valour, becoming widely known for his many acts of bravery and courage.

Rui Gonçalves da Câmara owned one of the largest properties on this island, if not the largest: the Lombada da Ponta do Sol (see that entry), which ran from the sea to the uplands and stretched from the Ribeira da Caixa (‘box stream’) to the Ribeira da Ponta do Sol (‘point of the sun’). In 1473 he leased this property to João Esmeraldo for six hundred thousand réis (old Portuguese money of account; 1$000 = 1,000 réis, 1:000$000 = one conto = 1,000,000 réis) in cash and a perpetual quit-rent (foro) of one hundred and fifty thousand réis a year.

João Soares de Albergaria, 2nd captain-donatary (capitão-donatário) of the island of São Miguel, accompanied his wife to Madeira, where she died. According to Father António Cordeiro, he wished to thank João Gonçalves Zarco and his son Rui Gonçalves da Câmara for the generous hospitality they had shown him, and so resolved to sell his donatary captaincy (donataria) to Rui Gonçalves. He sold it so cheaply, Frutuoso adds, that he let it go for ‘eight hundred thousand réis in money and four thousand arrobas of sugar’.

It appears that the sale of the Lombada was intended to fund the purchase of the captaincy of São Miguel, where Rui Gonçalves da Câmara took up residence in 1474.

Rui Gonçalves, says the author of ‘Island History’ (Historia Insulana), ‘was a tall man, stout of body, yet discreet, and most diligent in having the land settled and cared for, going out in person to visit it... and he divided the greater part of the lands under the pact or title of sesmaria (royal land grant to settlers on condition of cultivation)’. After twenty-two years governing his donatary captaincy, he made his will in 1497, naming as his successor his natural son João Gonçalves da Câmara. He died shortly afterwards and was buried in the mother church (igreja matriz) of Vila Franca.

Rui Gonçalves da Câmara married Dona Maria de Bettencourt in Madeira. She founded the entailed estate (morgadio) of Água de Mel (see Our Lady of Protection (Nossa Senhora do Amparo)), and he had no children by her. He took to São Miguel three natural sons he had fathered in Madeira. The eldest, who succeeded to the donatary captaincy, was the founder of the families of the counts of Vila Franca and of the counts and marquises of Ribeira Grande.