Fortifications

The first master of fortifications (fortificador) was João de Carceres, a well-regarded mason living in Funchal. The royal letter (carta régia) of 13 May 1513 directs that ‘no person of whatever estate or condition shall do him any harm, injury or wrong, but that he shall receive honour and favour from all’, for he was in charge of building the bastion and the first defensive walls.

In 1595 the architect Jerónimo Jorge, a nobleman of the Royal Household (fidalgo da Casa Real), was appointed master of fortifications of the Ilha da Madeira, with a salary of 100$ a year.

The two sons of Jerónimo Jorge – Bartolomeu João and João Falcato – practised their father’s craft during Philippine rule (Spanish Habsburg rule over Portugal, 1580–1640). The former distinguished himself at the Fortress of the Pico (Fortaleza do Pico), and his merits were sung by Manuel Tomás in ‘The Island Epic’ (Insulana), book X, stanza 57.

In 1602 Mateus Fernandes held a letter of appointment as master of fortifications, with the grandiose title of engineer and master of the royal works. In 1617 Bartolomeu Arias was sent to fortify Madeira because of the damage done by corsairs to the small settlements along the coast.

At the time of the Restoration we find Bartolomeu João as master of fortifications, and a son of his, Bartolomeu João de Abreu, inherited the office from him, receiving it as a royal grant in 1660. It is a family of masters of fortifications.

Most curious of all, a lady, Dona Mariana da Câmara, obtained the office in 1664 because she was the widow of a master of fortifications (fortificador), on behalf of whoever should marry her daughter. The future son-in-law, as acting holder, was to receive only a third of the income until a son, who was then away in Brazil and was due to inherit the office on his father’s death, returned to take it up.

The works suffered as a result. Manuel Gomes Ferreira, master of fortifications at Setúbal, was therefore brought over from mainland Portugal in 1699, on the same salary that he had received there.

In 1711 Inácio Gomes Fragoso held a patent as engineer of fortifications, and no work of the Royal Treasury (Fazenda Real) could be carried out without his involvement; his monthly pay was 8,000 réis.

In 1744 the Treasury Council (Conselho da Fazenda) engaged João Moniz de Abreu, for 100,000 réis a year, to hold the same office; he was followed in 1748 by Domingos Rodrigues Martins.

From 1756 onwards the post was held by military officers with special training in engineering, among whom Francisco Tossi Columbina, Francisco de Alincourt, Faustino Sebastiano da Costa and Brigadier Reinaldo Oudinot stand out.

Fortification and military engineering work is at present the responsibility of a section of the Military Command (Comando Militar) of Madeira. S.