Teixeira (Tristão)

Tristão Teixeira or Tristão Teixeira das Damas, as mentioned in the chronicles, was the eldest son of Tristão Vaz and the second captain-donor of Machico. He must have been born on the Mainland of the Kingdom, as Frutuoso says that the discoverer Tristão Vaz came to this island with his wife and children at the beginning of the colonization. He was called Tristão das Damas, says the historian of the islands, "because he was very courteous, a great speaker, and made many verses for the ladies, and was very eloquent in speech." The same chronicler says that a very serious accusation was made against Tristão Teixeira, which forced the monarch to summon him to court, but he "having a lot of trouble, spending a lot of his own, nevertheless acquitted himself very well and with great honor, clearing his name." He died in Machico and is buried in the chapel of São João in the respective parish church (volume II page 284). Tristão Teixeira is one of the main characters in the novel A Filha de Tristão das Damas, by the Madeiran writer J. Reis Gomes.