Câmara

Câmara is a very old family surname here in Madeira. The first to bear it on the island was João Gonçalves da Câmara, eldest son of the discoverer and 21. captain-donatary of Funchal. Even so, it can be said that the name derives from João Gonçalves Zarco, although he himself may perhaps never have used it. This claim rests on the royal letter (carta régia) of 4 July 1460, which in more than one place calls the discoverer of Madeira João Gonçalves de Câmara de Lobos (‘seals’ den’), when conferring on him his title of nobility and granting him the corresponding coat of arms. This document of Afonso V, an interesting one, was first published on p. 836 ff. of ‘Longing for the Homeland’ (Saudades da Terra).

Madeiran genealogists generally attribute the origin of this surname to a well-known episode of the discovery of Madeira, which Gaspar Frutuoso describes in the following terms: ‘…here they entered with the boats, and found so many sea wolves that it was a wonder; and it was no small refreshment and pastime for the men, for they killed many of them and took great pleasure and made merry in the slaughter. For this reason Captain João Gonçalves gave this sheltered cove the name Câmara de Lobos, from which he took his surname, it being the last place he discovered on this circuit and journey he made; and from this lugar (settlement ranking between a town and a parish) he took his arms, which the King gave him…’ Earlier still, João de Barros had said in greater detail in the Decadas that ‘a great cave, like a vaulted chamber, lay beneath a lofty stretch of land above the sea, and its floor was much trodden by the feet of the sea wolves that came there to frolic: this place he (Zarco) called Câmara de Lobos, and he took this surname in memory, since that place was the first landing of his settlement; and this surname passed to all his heirs’.

In ‘Longing for the Homeland’, Dr Álvaro Rodrigues de Azevedo transcribes a genealogical work by José Freire Monterroio Mascarenhas, which remains unpublished in the Public Library of Lisbon and contains the words we reproduce below: ‘There is no ground for saying that his descendants took the surname Câmara because of the chamber of sea wolves that João Gonçalves Zarco found on that island; for this was not a deed worthy of being perpetuated in memory and remaining as a surname…’. This statement by Mascarenhas flatly contradicts the origin that the books of nobility and the old chronicles of this archipelago assign to that surname. This statement by Mascarenhas flatly contradicts the origin that the books of nobility and the old chronicles of this archipelago assign to that surname. It is also in plain contradiction with the heraldic indications of the coat of arms itself, and with the words of the royal letter cited above. The way in which that letter calls the discoverer of Madeira João Gonçalves de Câmara de Lobos shows us that these words contain an evident reference to the episode of the sea wolves found at the place that later took the name Câmara de Lobos. It is true that the deeds of João Gonçalves Zarco as a warrior at Ceuta and a distinguished navigator, and above all the discovery of Madeira itself, would have given the kings of arms and the heraldry of the time precious material for a coat of arms of loftier significance and more ostentatious ancestral lineage for Zarco’s descendants. But it is equally beyond doubt that in matters of this kind whim and fancy sometimes won the day, leaving in a very secondary place memorable facts and heroic actions that deserved to be set in brilliant and marked relief.

The royal letter (carta régia) of 4 July 1460 mentioned above sets out the composition of João Gonçalves Zarco’s coat of arms in the following exact words: ‘a black shield, and at its foot a green mountain upon which stands, firmly set, a tower of silver between two wolves of gold’. Gaspar Frutuoso, however, says that John I gave Zarco ‘as his coat of arms, on a shield with a green field, a keep, with a cross of gold on its summit, richer than that on the tomb of Robert Machin, and with two sea wolves leaning against it, which seem to want to climb to the top of the tower, with its mantling and foliage of red and green; and as the crest of the arms a wolf, also a sea wolf, seated on top of the mantling. The annotator of the Saudades describes this information of Frutuoso’s as inaccurate.

It seems that this original coat of arms later underwent some slight modifications. Henrique Henriques de Noronha, the most distinguished and respected of genealogists, describes it as follows: ‘On a green field a tower of silver, with battlements and a spire ending in a cross of gold, and two wolves of their natural colour, rampant against the tower: crest, one of the wolves’.

From what has been set out above, and especially from the letter of Afonso V, it can be seen that the genealogical branch of the Câmaras of Madeira had João Gonçalves Zarco as its origin and stock, and is not connected with the families of the same surname on the mainland of the Kingdom (reino, i.e. mainland Portugal). Luís Gonçalves da Câmara, the second son of João Gonçalves Zarco and 3rd captain-donatary (capitão-donatário) of the island of São Miguel, moved from Madeira to the Azores, where he left a large and illustrious line of descendants. From him descend the Counts of Vila Franca and the Marquises of Ribeira Grande, as well as other distinguished families. On the mainland of the Kingdom, too, there are many noble houses descended from the Câmaras of Madeira.

João Gonçalves da Câmara, 2nd captain-donatary of Funchal and Zarco’s successor, still used the surname Lobos, because it is said that the monarch had threatened to deprive him of the donatary captaincy (donataria) if he did not. It is certain, however, that his successors used only the surname Câmara, and the surname Lobos, which appears in the letter of Afonso V, fell entirely out of use.

This is the moment to point out the evident error of the king of arms in drawing and composing the arms of the Câmaras: he placed a wolf (lupus) on each side of the tower, when it should have been a seal or monk seal (lobo marinho, literally ‘sea wolf’), so as to perpetuate the fact to which the arms are meant to refer. This error was never corrected, and so it was passed down to all of Zarco’s descendants who have used this coat of arms.