Alemão (Henrique)

The surname Alemão, now extinct, says the annotator of 'Saudades da Terra' following the nobility *proceeds from Henrique Allemão, a legendary figure from the early days of the colonization of the island of Madeira. It was said of him that he was a Polish prince, and that, after the defeat of Ladislaus IV in the battle of Varna against Amurato II in 1444, he vowed to pilgrimage to the land and was knighted by the Order of Saint Catherine of Mount Sinai. Coming to the island of Madeira, João Gonçalves Zarco gave him, in the place later called Magdalena do Mar, a large plot of sesmaria, by a charter that was confirmed by Infante D. Henrique on April 29, 1457, and by King Afonso V on May 18 of the same year. Indeed, Henrique Allemão founded a large populated estate there, with a chapel dedicated to Santa Maria Magdalena, from which the place got its name. He married Senhorina Anes, and died tragically crushed by a landslide that fell from Cabo Gyrão onto the boat he was on from the city of Funchal to Magdalena. His wife later married João Rodrigues de Freitas. Even now, above the town of Ponta do Sol, there is the Fajã do Allemão, which the people corruptly call Fajã do Limão.