Câmara (Simão Gonçalves da)

Simão Gonçalves da Câmara was the 5th captain-donatary (capitão-donatário) of Funchal. He was born in that town (vila) on 2 September 1512, the son of the 4th donatary, João Gonçalves, and of Dona Leonor de Vilhena, daughter of Dom João de Meneses, Count of Tarouca.

Before taking over the government of his captaincy, he performed various feats of arms, which the chronicles of the time record with praise. Special mention is due to the relief he brought in 1533 to our fortress of Santa Cruz (‘Holy Cross’), at Cape Ghir in Africa.

The fortress was besieged by the Moors and in danger of being taken, and its defenders asked for prompt help to be sent to them from Madeira. Simão Gonçalves, with his father’s permission, at once invited the leading noblemen of the island and organised an expeditionary force of 600 men. He embarked without delay in six ships with all the munitions of war and provisions he could quickly gather, and he did all this at his own expense, without asking for any reward. The stronghold was in its last extremity when Simão Gonçalves da Câmara arrived there, and he succeeded in routing the Moors and inflicting a complete defeat on them. His stay in the fortress did not end there, for he also had the walls repaired and other important defensive works carried out, to guard against future assaults by the Moors. King John III wrote a most honourable letter to Simão Gonçalves, thanking him for the notable services he had rendered and praising him for the feat of arms he had performed in the defence of the castle of Santa Cruz.

Shortly after the death of his father, and after inheriting the donatary captaincy (donataria), Simão Gonçalves da Câmara left for Lisbon, where he stayed for some years. He returned to Madeira already married and with his eldest son, still of tender age, who was to succeed him in the captaincy. On the subject of the marriage, Gaspar Frutuoso relates that he wished to marry only with the monarch’s approval, and that he did so with Dona Isabel de Mendonça, of the household of Queen Catherine. He adds ‘that on the last day of September the contracts were drawn up, and with her went a great dowry estimated at eighty thousand cruzados, which the king gave him in annuities, in ready money and in offices; and besides this the captain’s house was twice exempted from the Mental Law (Lei Mental, restricting inheritance of crown grants to male heirs), a thing rarely granted; and on the fourth day of the month of October the captain was married to her, and he brought her to his house accompanied by the whole court, with Prince Dom Luís on her right and the Archbishop of Lisbon on her left, together with all the noblemen of the Kingdom (reino, i.e. mainland Portugal) who were present’. In 1555 he returned to the Kingdom with his whole family ‘for certain reasons that moved him to it’, in the words of the chronicler already cited, leaving his uncle Francisco Gonçalves da Câmara as captain-donatary (capitão-donatário) of Funchal.

It was during the interim government of this captain-donatary that French corsairs attacked and sacked the city of Funchal in 1566, perpetrating the terrible slaughter of which the old Madeiran chronicles speak with such horror. Simão Gonçalves da Câmara at once sent his son and successor to Madeira with prompt relief, accompanying the fleet that the government in Lisbon dispatched in pursuit of the French. By the time they reached Funchal, however, the corsairs had already left, taking with them sixteen ships laden with the richest treasures they had found here.

Simão Gonçalves spent most of his time at court, where he was held in great esteem, and in 1574 he accompanied King Sebastian on his first expedition to Africa. By a royal decree (alvará) of 20 August 1576 he was granted the title of Count of Calheta (‘small cove’), not only in recognition of his own services but chiefly of those rendered by his forebears, and also because he was the head of so great and important a house. He styled himself: Count Simão Gonçalves da Câmara, of the Council of the King Our Lord, Captain and Governor of Justice in the island of Madeira and in the jurisdiction of Funchal, Overseer of His Majesty’s revenues throughout that island and in Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’), Lord of the Desertas Islands, etc. ‘Longing for the Homeland’ (Saudades da Terra) states that, besides various rights and exemptions, he had an income of four contos (1 conto = 1,000,000 réis, from 1911 1,000 escudos), which, four centuries later, would today correspond to a very considerable sum.

He returned to Madeira, in what year is not known, and was in Funchal in 1578 when he suffered a stroke; he died on 4 March 1580. He was buried in the chancel of the church of the Convent of St Clare (Santa Clara), as the tombstone recently discovered shows: ‘Tomb of Simão Gonçalves da Câmara.......3rd captain of this island. Here lies Simão Gonçalves da Câmara, Count of Calheta and fifth captain of this island.’

João Gonçalves da Câmara, whom his father had sent to Madeira at the time of the sack by the French corsairs, was the 2nd Count of Calheta. He enjoyed this honour only briefly, however, for he died three months after his father. The countship and the rights of donatary of Funchal passed to his son, Simão Gonçalves da Câmara, seventh captain-donatary (capitão-donatário) and 3rd Count of Calheta. He married Dona Maria de Vasconcelos e Meneses, lady-in-waiting to the queen and heiress daughter of Rui Mendes de Vasconcelos, 1st Count of Castelo Melhor. In this way the countship of Calheta was incorporated into the house of Castelo Melhor.