Henriques de Noronha (Henrique)

He was born in the parish (freguesia) of Câmara de Lobos (‘seals’ den’) on 1 March 1667, the son of Pedro Bettencourt Henriques and Dona Maria de Meneses, and succeeded to the entailed house (casa vinculada) of his uncle, the holder of the entail (morgado) Inácio de Bettencourt e Câmara. He was a highly cultivated mind and devoted himself especially to historical and genealogical studies, in which he had acquired a great wealth of knowledge, and he was regarded as a true authority on matters of Madeiran history. He sent several manuscript works to the Royal Academy of Portuguese History, and was consequently admitted to its membership. Diogo Barbosa Machado in the Biliotheca Lusitana and António Caetano de Sousa in the Historia Genealogica da Casa Real Portuguesa write approvingly of Henriques de Noronha’s works and refer to him in highly complimentary terms. He is credited with the Memorias seculares e eclesiásticas para a composição da historia da diocese do Funchal, mentioned in the ‘Longing for the Homeland’ (Saudades da Terra) on page 786, which we have also discussed at some length on pp. 389 and 390 of vol. I of this Elucidário. He wrote a Nobiliário Genealógico of Madeiran families, a nobiliary (book of noble genealogies) of which a three-volume copy exists in the library of the Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal) of this municipality (concelho), and which is held to be one of the most authoritative writings on the subject (see Nobiliaries).

Henrique Henriques de Noronha died on 26 April 1730. An oil portrait of him exists in the mansion of the Counts of Torre Bela.