Sarmiento (Dom Tomás Velazques)
Original title: Sarmiento (D. Tomás Velazques)
Commander of the Castilian garrison in Madeira at the Restoration of 1640, who did not oppose the acclamation of D. João IV and then left with his troops.
He was the commander of the Castilian garrison in Madeira, made up of four companies of paid troops, when the revolution of 1 December 1640 broke out and gave the throne of Portugal to the Duke of Bragança. Although he could have opposed the recognition of John IV on this island, he did nothing to thwart the will of the Madeirans. He even attended the meeting at which the acclamation (aclamação, formal public proclamation of a new king) of the new monarch took place, and he left for his own country as soon as the opportunity arose, accompanied by the troops under his command.