Freitas
Account of two old Madeiran families bearing the surname Freitas, one descended from Gonçalo de Freitas of Santa Cruz and the other from João Rodrigues de Freitas of Madalena.
This is a very old surname among us. One of the first to bear it was Gonçalo de Freitas, who settled in the village (lugar, settlement rank below a town) of Santa Cruz (‘Holy Cross’) and had his residence there, on the quinta (country estate) called da Torre (‘tower’). He was a nobleman of the Royal Household (fidalgo da Casa Real) and Master of the Royal Hunt to Infante Ferdinand. His daughter Catarina de Freitas founded an entailed estate (morgadio) on the land she inherited from her father, in the locality (sítio) that later took the name of Santa Catarina (‘St Catherine’). Gonçalo de Freitas’s son was João de Freitas, who enjoyed the privileges of nobility inherited from his father. An old nobiliary (book of noble genealogies) says that he built the church of Salvador (the Saviour) in Santa Cruz by order of the king, and for this received the royal grant of the chantry (capela) of that church as his family vault, in recognition of his services and of the expenses he had incurred on the church. One of his sons, named Jordão de Freitas, distinguished himself valiantly in India, where he was lord of an island and captain of the Moluccas. A member of this family was João de Freitas da Silva, who in 1631 raised on this island a company of 100 men at his own expense and went with it to serve in Pernambuco, where the Dutch killed him.
There was another family of the same surname on this island, also very old, descended from João Rodrigues de Freitas, a native of the Algarve. He held land by sesmaria (royal land grant to settlers on condition of cultivation) in Madalena (‘Magdalene’) and died there in 1523. He was buried in the church that Henry the German had founded there, whose widow, named Isabel Lopes, he had married. They founded an entailed estate there, which later became an important house; its last representative was the holder of the entail Nuno de Freitas Lomelino.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 02Place
Places mentioned · 08
Abroad
- Algarve
Portugal. Birthplace of João Rodrigues de Freitas.
The Algarve is a region of mainland Portugal that supplied many early Madeiran settlers, notably from Boliqueime, and probably cattle. Zarco guarded its coast as captain, and Bartolomeu Perestrelo died there. Simão Gonçalves da Câmara put in there on his aborted voyage to Spain.
- Church of the Holy Saviour
Santa Cruz. Church built by João de Freitas, who had a burial chapel there.
Church built by João de Freitas, who had a burial chapel there.
- Madalena do Mar
Ponta do Sol. Where João Rodrigues de Freitas held land, died and was buried.
Madalena do Mar is a parish on the south-west coast of Madeira, in the municipality of Ponta do Sol, founded on the estate of the legendary Henrique Alemão and made an independent parish in 1582. The Elucidário records its chapels, sugar and banana farming, its capitania-mor, damage in the 1876 floods and the 1939 flood of the Ribeira da Madalena, and it was the birthplace of António Policarpo dos Passos Sousa.
- Moluccas
Indonesia. Where Jordão de Freitas served as captain.
The Molucas are the Spice Islands, discovered and explored by António de Abreu. Jordão de Freitas served there as captain.
- Pernambuco
Brazil. Where João de Freitas da Silva fought and was killed by the Dutch.
A Brazilian captaincy invaded by the Dutch and restored by the Madeiran João Fernandes Vieira, with other Madeirans fighting there. From 1637 Madeira paid a war levy for its recovery. It was also a diocese whose first bishop was D. Estevão Brioso.
- Quinta da Torre
Câmara de Lobos. Residence of Gonçalo de Freitas at Santa Cruz.
Quinta da Torre is an estate that bounded the lands entailed to the Convento de São Bernardino. The Freitas note records it as the residence of Gonçalo de Freitas at Santa Cruz, although the estate is assigned to Câmara de Lobos.
- Santa Catarina
Funchal. Locality named after Catarina de Freitas's entailed land.
Santa Catarina is a height in São Pedro parish, west of Funchal, where Zarco made his first settlement and wooden dwelling. Its fields were named with Caniçal as the best royal hunting grounds, and the Hospital de São Lázaro stood there.
- Santa Cruz
Where Gonçalo de Freitas settled.
Santa Cruz is a parish and one of Madeira's oldest settlements, named after a cross Zarco had raised there at the discovery. The Elucidário covers its early ecclesiastical history, collegiate church, chapels, noble settlers and localities.
People
People mentioned · 10-
Daughter of Gonçalo de Freitas who founded an entail on land later called Santa Catarina.
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Early settler at Santa Cruz, royal household nobleman and chief huntsman of Infante D. Fernando, founder of the first Freitas line.
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Founder of the church at Madalena, whose widow married João Rodrigues de Freitas.
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Portuguese prince whom Gonçalo de Freitas served as chief huntsman.
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Widow of Henrique Alemão and wife of João Rodrigues de Freitas, co-founder of the Madalena entail.
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Son of Gonçalo de Freitas who built the church of the Salvador in Santa Cruz and was granted a burial chapel there.
- João Rodrigues de Freitasd. 1523
Algarve-born settler with sesmaria lands at Madalena, founder of the second Freitas line.
- Jordão Apolinário de Freitasb. 1866
Son of João de Freitas who distinguished himself in India and became captain of the Moluccas.
- Jordão de Freitas da Silvad. 1631
Family member who in 1631 raised a 100-man company at his own cost and was killed by the Dutch in Pernambuco.
- Nuno de Freitas Lomelinod. 1882
Last holder of the Freitas entail at Madalena.