Torre Bela (Viscount of)
Original title: Tôrre Bela (Visconde de)
Entry on the holders of the Madeiran noble title of Visconde (later Conde) de Torre Bela, from the diplomat Fernando José Correia Brandão Bettencourt de Noronha Henriques, created 1st viscount in 1812, to his descendants.
The viscounts and counts of Torre Bela
The 1st Viscount of Torre Bela was Fernando José Correia Brandão Bettencourt de Noronha Henriques, son of the holder of the entail (morgado) António João Correia Brandão Bettencourt Noronha Henriques and of Dona Ana Rosa de Vilhena. He was born on this island on 21 February 1768 and died in the city of Naples on 31 October 1821. He followed a diplomatic career and served as our country’s envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary in Hamburg, Stockholm, Berlin, Vienna and Naples. He was colonel of the Calheta (‘small cove’) regiment, Councillor (conselheiro, honorary title of the royal council) to John VI and commander of the Order of the Tower and Sword. He came of noble ancestry and represented the ancient house founded by João Afonso, a companion of Zargo, who held extensive lands on this island as a sesmaria (royal land grant to settlers on condition of cultivation) and served here as almoxarife (royal revenue officer and storekeeper) to Prince Henry the Navigator. Sanches de Baena states that the Viscount of Torre Bela was the 5th-generation grandson of António Correia Bettencourt and his wife Dona Joana Henriques, who were lords of Alcáçovas and descended from King Henry II of Castile.
The 1st Viscount of Torre Bela and his wife Dona Emília Henriqueta Pinto de Sousa, daughter of the Viscounts of Balsemão, had a son, João Correia Brandão de Bettencourt Henriques de Noronha, born in 1794. He was the second Viscount of Torre Bela and aide-de-camp to Miguel I, and died in 1875.
He married Dona Isabel Joaquina Correia de Atouguia e Vasconcelos, and from this marriage Dona Filomena Gabriela Correia Brandão Henriques de Noronha was born in Berlin in 1839. She married Russel Meneres Gordon, and they were the third Viscounts and first Counts of Torre Bela. The Countess of Torre Bela is the present representative of this family. (1921)
The son of these third Viscounts of Torre Bela was Diogo Murray Kenmure Correia, who served as attaché at the Portuguese legation in Berlin and held the title of 4th Viscount and 2nd Count of Torre Bela. He died a few years ago in Germany. (1921)
The title of first Viscount of Torre Bela was granted by decree of 17 December 1812.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 06-
Birth in Madeira of the 1st Viscount of Torre Bela.
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The 2nd Viscount of Torre Bela was born.
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A decree created Fernando José Correia Brandão Bettencourt de Noronha Henriques Viscount of Torre Bela.
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The 1st Viscount of Torre Bela died in Naples.
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D. Filomena, later 1st Countess of Torre Bela, was born in Berlin.
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The 2nd Viscount of Torre Bela died.
Place
Places mentioned · 08
Abroad
- Alcáçovas
Portugal. Lordship held by the viscount's ancestors.
Alcáçovas is a place outside Madeira. The Elucidário records it as a lordship held by Henrique Henriques and by the ancestors of the Viscount of Tôrre Bela.
- Berlin
Germany. Diplomatic posting; birthplace of D. Filomena.
The German capital, where several works on Madeira were published, including Krohn's 1906 guide, Langerhans's Handbuch für Madeira and Albers's Malacographia maderensis. Leopoldo von Buch died there, and Portuguese diplomats including Pedro de Castelo Branco and Agostinho de Ornelas de Vasconcelos served there.
- Calheta
The viscount was colonel of the Calheta regiment.
Calheta is a town, parish and municipality on Madeira's south-west coast and one of the island's oldest settlements. The Elucidário covers its name, early settlers such as Pedro Berenguer, its church and many chapels, including one of a former Franciscan convent, and the 1834 riot.
- Germany
Where the 2nd count died.
Germany, home of embroidery export houses from about 1890 and a market for Madeira embroidery. It is also recorded as the country where Dr João António Monteiro studied mineralogy, where Carlos Olavo was held as a prisoner of war and where the 2nd count of Tôrre Bela died.
- Hamburg
Germany. Diplomatic posting of the 1st viscount.
Hamburg is a Hanseatic city where José Anselmo Correia Henriques and the first Viscount of Torre Bela held diplomatic posts. Madeiran wines were analysed in laboratories there in 1914, and donations came from it during the famine of 1846–47. Works, including George Tams's book, were printed there.
- Naples
Italy. Where the 1st viscount served and died.
Nápoles (Naples) is a foreign city, the birthplace of William Hinton and the place where the 1st Viscount of Tôrre Bela served and died. Funchal's setting is compared to the Bay of Naples.
- Stockholm
Sweden. Diplomatic posting of the 1st viscount.
Estocolmo (Stockholm) was the seat of a legation to which João de Oliveira Sá Camelo Lampreia was attached in 1883. It was also a diplomatic posting of the 1st Viscount of Tôrre Bela.
- Vienna
Austria. Diplomatic posting of the 1st viscount.
Viena (Vienna) was the seat of the congress that resolved Britain should evacuate Madeira, and the city from which D. Miguel returned to Lisbon. Several works concerning Madeira were published there, including the Novara voyage account (1861) and the journal Ornis. It was a diplomatic posting of the 1st Viscount of Tôrre Bela and of Agostinho de Ornelas de Vasconcelos (1865).
People
People mentioned · 18-
Madeiran-born diplomat, Portuguese envoy in Hamburg, Stockholm, Berlin, Vienna and Naples, created 1st Viscount of Torre Bela in 1812.
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Mother of the 1st Viscount of Torre Bela.
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Lord of Alcáçovas and ancestor of the 1st viscount.
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Morgado and father of the 1st Viscount of Torre Bela.
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Son of the 3rd viscounts, attaché at the Portuguese legation in Berlin; died in Germany a few years before 1921.
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Wife of the 1st viscount, daughter of the Viscounts of Balsemão.
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Born in Berlin, 3rd viscountess and 1st countess of Torre Bela, representative of the family in 1921.
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King of Castile from whom the family claimed descent.
- Henry the Navigator1394–1460
Prince Henry the Navigator, lord of Madeira, whom João Afonso served as almoxarife.
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Wife of the 2nd Viscount of Torre Bela.
+ 8 more
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Wife of António Correia Bettencourt, lady of Alcáçovas and ancestor of the viscount.
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Companion of Zargo, holder of many sesmaria lands and almoxarife of Prince Henry in Madeira, founder of the family house.
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Son of the 1st viscount, 2nd Viscount of Torre Bela and aide-de-camp to D. Miguel.
- João Gonçalves Zarcod. 1467
Discoverer and first captain of Funchal, whose companion founded the family.
- John VId. 1826
King of Portugal, whose councillor the 1st viscount was.
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Portuguese king whom the 2nd viscount served as aide-de-camp.
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Husband of D. Filomena, 3rd viscount and 1st count of Torre Bela.
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Genealogist cited for the viscount's descent.