Porto Santo (prophets and nobles)
Original title: Porto Santo (Profetas e Nobres do)
Short entry pointing to the article 'Profetas' on the prophets episode and the nickname of Porto Santo's inhabitants, and noting the 1522 royal privilege allowing the donatary Bartolomeu Perestrelo's wife and daughters-in-law to use the title 'dom', later widely abused.
In the article Prophets, the reader will find a detailed account of this curious episode in the life of Porto Santo and of the ‘nickname’ by which the inhabitants of that island are known.
The royal decree (alvará régio) of 6 November 1522, issued in favour of the donatary (donatário) Bartolomeu Perestrelo, grants that ‘his wife and daughters-in-law may be called and call themselves Dom (noble honorific) according to our ordinance…’. What was a privilege became a manifest abuse, and countless people committed it.
- Bartolomeu Perestrelo d. 1457