Leitão (João)

When Portugal fell under Spanish rule, the captain-donataries of Madeira lost the power and importance they had enjoyed. The privileges and functions attached to their high offices, which had already been considerably reduced by 1580, as stated in the article Donataries, became almost purely honorary.

To administer our colonial possessions, the Spanish government created the post of governor-general, which carried extensive powers and whose authority extended to every branch of public administration.

Although Dom Felipe was proclaimed king of Portugal in September 1580, the first governor-general of the Madeira archipelago appointed by the usurping government did not reach Funchal until long after that proclamation. The man chosen for the post was the high court judge (desembargador) João Leitão, who enjoyed the full confidence of the Governor of the Kingdom. He was also charged with conducting a judicial inquiry (devassa) into the political events that had taken place on this island at the time of the proclamation of Philip II. His powers covered the administration of the royal treasury and the trial of criminal cases, as well as general oversight of civil and military affairs. A writ of lodging (provisão de aposentadoria) recorded in volume 2 of the General Register of the Funchal Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal do Funchal) shows that he was sent to Madeira on 5 January 1582.

In 1582, since it was feared that the French fleet supporting the claims of António, Prior of Crato, might invade Madeira, Dom Agostinho de Herrera was sent to the island as military commander. The high court judge João Leitão continued in charge of the civil administration, and in 1584, when Dom Agostinho de Herrera left the archipelago, he resumed full civil and military jurisdiction. João Leitão served until 1585 and was succeeded in the government by Tristão Vaz da Veiga.

On this subject, the following words were printed in the ‘Addenda and Corrigenda’ of the second volume of the 1st edition of this work, and they are worth recording here: ‘In the present year of 1924 Dr Damião Peres, former rector of our lyceum (state secondary school) and now a professor at the University of Porto, published a short pamphlet entitled O desembargador João Leitão, primeiro governador geral da Madeira. Its sole purpose is to show that the high court judge (desembargador) Leitão was governor-general of this archipelago not by law but only in fact, and that he came to Madeira in 1582 and not in 1581, as we read in ‘Longing for the Homeland’ (Saudades da Terra) and in vol. 1 of this Elucidário. As for the correction of that date, it should be noted here that it was made more than a year ago, on p. 44 of this volume. As for the fact that the document appointing that magistrate to the post of governor-general is not known, this does not prove that he did not hold that office on an interim basis and in fact, as Dr Damião Peres seems to acknowledge. When Spanish rule was established in Portugal, would the government in Madrid have left an important colony such as Madeira for a long time without an official representative of its own to oversee the various affairs of public administration? That representative was João Leitão. Indeed, the proven fact that he “was invested with a multiplicity of powers and privileges”, to which must be added that he was charged with conducting a judicial inquiry (devassa) of a political nature, sufficiently explains why his appointment to that post was not made definitive.’ (1921)