Lombada dos Esmeraldos

It is also known as the Lombada da Ponta do Sol (‘ridge of Ponta do Sol’), because it lies in the parish (freguesia) of that name. This must have been its original name. Only when it passed to João Esmeraldo and his descendants, as administrators of the entailed estate (morgadio) founded there, did it take the name Lombada dos Esmeraldos (‘the Esmeraldos’ ridge’). To avoid needless repetition, we refer the reader to the article devoted to João Esmeraldo (vol. 1, p. 410), where we have already given a detailed account of this great property, which was and still is the largest on the whole island. We shall add only a few details not mentioned there. In the earliest days of the colonisation, the discoverer João Gonçalves Zarco reserved for himself and his sons several lombadas (long ridges between valleys) and extensive tracts of land, almost all of which became important and flourishing entailed houses. Rui Gonçalves da Câmara (see vol. 1, p. 206), the second or third son of Zarco, received the great lombada that ran from the sea to the uplands and stretched from the Ribeira da Caixa to the Ribeira da Ponta do Sol. We do not know how long he held this property or what farming he may have carried out on it. Contrary to what is stated in the article on João Esmeraldo, it was in 1473 that Esmeraldo bought, or rather leased, that vast and highly fertile land from Rui Gonçalves da Câmara for the sum of 600,000 réis (old Portuguese money of account; 1$000 = 1,000 réis, 1:000$000 = one conto = 1,000,000 réis) and a life annuity of 150,000 réis. This was the year before Rui Gonçalves went to settle in the Azores, for the chronicles of that archipelago give as certain his departure for the island of São Miguel in 1474.

João Soares de Albergaria, 2nd captain and donatary of São Miguel, accompanied his wife to Madeira, where she died. Father António Cordeiro, in the ‘Island History’ (Historia Insulana), says that, wishing to thank Rui Gonçalves da Câmara for ‘the great hospitality he had shown him’, he decided to sell him his donatary captaincy (donataria), and at so low a price, adds Gaspar Frutuoso, ‘that he ceded it for eight hundred thousand réis in cash and four thousand arrobas of sugar’. It is said that the sale, or rather the emphyteutic lease (aforamento, perpetual lease for an annual quit-rent), of the lombada of Ponta do Sol was intended to fund the purchase of the donatary captaincy of the island of São Miguel, which seems very likely.

As already outlined in the articles cited, João Esmeraldo married twice, and in 1522 he founded two entailed estates (morgadio) in favour of the two sons born of these marriages. The entailed estate of Vale da Bica (‘spout valley’) comprised the eastern half of the lombada (long ridge between valleys); that of Santo Espírito (‘Holy Spirit’) comprised the western half. The dividing line ran from Pico das Pedras (‘peak of the stones’), near the Paul da Serra (‘upland marsh’), down the municipality (concelho) road to the crown of Pico da Amendoeira (‘almond-tree peak’), and from there to the sea. Once the division had been made, lots were drawn: the entail (morgado) of Vale da Bica fell to João Esmeraldo de Vasconcelos, son of the first marriage, and that of Santo Espírito to Cristóvão Esmeraldo, son of the second. Doubts arose over this division, and long lawsuits followed which, with intervals, were renewed over the years; these seemingly interminable legal disputes lasted for more than a century. They gave rise to curious episodes and incidents, which Councillor (conselheiro, honorary title of the royal council) Agostinho de Ornelas, the last holder of the entailed estate of Vale da Bica, briefly describes in an interesting article published in no. 237 of the newspaper A Verdade (‘Truth’) of 16 October 1897.

There Esmeraldo built a chapel dedicated to the Espírito Santo (Holy Spirit), also called the chapel of the Conceição (‘Conception’), which was consecrated by Bishop João Lobo in 1508 and became the seat of this entailed estate. The present church is a rebuilding from the first half of the 18th century, and it is the largest, most elegant and richest chapel in the whole diocese. Worthy of admiration and esteem is the dado of azulejos (painted glazed tiles) lining the lower part of the chapel’s interior walls, which depicts in symbolic figures the Gifts and the Fruits of the Holy Spirit. It has five altars and contains several exquisitely carved images. Nearby stands the vast, ruined manor house, once the most splendid country house in Madeira, rebuilt around 1679 by Luís Esmeraldo de Atouguia, holder of the entail. The last representative of this entailed foundation (instituição vincular, a morgado or capela) was the 2nd Count of Carvalhal (‘oak grove’), who displayed there the brilliance and magnificence with which he used to adorn his dazzling and lavish festivities. In this locality (sítio), at the place called Passo (‘pass’), are one of the two parish cemeteries and the ruins of an old chapel dedicated to St Maurus (Santo Amaro), whose construction is likewise attributed to João Esmeraldo. See A Lombada dos Esmeraldos na Ilha da Madeira by Father Fernando A. Silva.