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History in a 425-year Old Tombstone

  • Writer: Alan Machado
    Alan Machado
  • Aug 31, 2024
  • 4 min read

Updated: Mar 22

Antonio Teixeira de Macedo died in Mangalore 425 years ago. His flesh and bones became part of Bolar’s sands as his coffin rotted away, long, long before any of us were born. He was soon forgotten until the chance discovery of an old granite tombstone of the Portuguese era, near the Fisheries College, Hoige Bazaar, once part of the settlement around Sao Sebastiao. Over the centuries, the cemetery had disappeared, and the stone had been shifted and used for other purposes. The inscriptions had blurred and what remained was in a language no more spoken in Mangalore.


Tombstone
Tombstone

The tombstone brings back to life Antonio’s connections to Mangalore. Its inscription reads: ESTA SEPVLTVRA E DE ANTº TEIXRª DE MACEDO FIDALGO DA CAZA DEL REI N.S.CAPITAO Q. FOI DESTA FORTALEZA O QVAL. MATARAO.OS. MOVROS. NO. CERQO DE I599 ANNOS DIA 28 DABRIL.


Translation: “This tomb is of Antonio Teixeira de Macedo, nobleman of the house of the King our lord, captain, who was of this fortress, who was killed by the Moors in siege year 1599, day 28 April." Also inscribed is a shield divided into four. The first quarter bears the coat of arms of the Teixeiras , the next two of the Macedos , and the fourth of the Pintos (Duarte). It is not clear how Antonio’s connection to the Pintos arise. However, there may be another possible explanation for this fourth herald which arises from Antonio’s relation, through his sister, with the royal family of the Maldives.


Sultan Hassan IX of the Maldives (1551-1552), seized the throne after deposing his brother. Facing unrest at home and threats from Ali Raja of Cananore, he sailed to Cochin to secure the support of the Portuguese. In return, he converted to Christianity, and married a Portuguese noblewoman, Dona Leonor de Ataíde. Assuming the name Dom Manoel, he then moved to Goa to pursue his quest for support.


Coat of arms on the Tombstone
Coat of arms on the Tombstone

Coat of Arms of Texeiras, Macedo, Pinto


As proof of his devotion to his new religion, he changed his deviza (emblem) to "the cross with the crown of thorns and the wounds through which I hope to be saved." The five crescents in the fourth quarter of the shield, four in the corners and one in the centre, may represent these five wounds, rather than the Pinto court of arms, and Antonio’s connections to the Maldives royal family.


In Goa, D. Manoel, fathered at least four children. Failing in his plans to return to the Maldives, the exiled king sent his eldest son Francisco to Lisbon to ask for concrete help. Francisco appears to have stayed at Matias Leite Pereira's house in Lisbon. He died in a street fight.


Matias Leite Pereira arrived in India at the end of 1584 as captain of a ship with his niece, Francisca de Vasconcelos. In Goa, she married D. Manoel’s second son, Dom Joao. D Manoel died in 1583, and D Joao assumed the role of the new Sultan of Maldives (in exile). D Joao, while complaining that the Moors of Cannanore (Ali Raja) were in total command of Maldives and its trade, was apparently ill-mannered, for in a letter of February 6, 1589, the King of Portugal complained about it. The king, however, granted Francisca pension of 500 pardaos for life.


Francisca de Vasconcelos was António Teixeira de Macedo’s sister. She was known earlier as Francisca Teixeira, her father being Jerónimo Teixeira de Macedo, and had another brother, Francisco. Her son D Felipe (1603-32), assumed the role of king after D Joao died circa 1604. Piero della Valle writes he saw him in Goa, on June 24, 1623, stating that he lived at that time in a beautiful house on Rua de São Paulo.


Antonio had sailed from Lisbon on April 4, 1591 and reached Goa in September. A document in the Archivo Nacional Torre do Tombo reveals that he was captain of the ship Santa Cruz (800 tonnes). The vessel was part of the convoy of six ships that returned from India in 1592. The convoy included the Madre de Deus, a massive vessel of 1,600 tonnes. The Santa Cruz ran aground on Corvo Island in a storm as it tried to avoid capture by the English navy. Much of the cargo was unloaded and the vessel set alight so that it would not fall in English hands. The Madre de Deus was captured in the Battle of Flores 1592 and taken to England. Its cargo was worth about half of Queen Elizabeth’s annual revenue.


On April 7, 1593, Antonio sailed again for India as captain of the Sao Christovao. On the return trip in 1594, his ship was shipwrecked in Mozambique. He was saved with his crew by another ship. On January 15, 1595, he sailed from Goa as captain of the Madre de Deus, built in Bacaim. He was shipwrecked again in Mozambique a month later. Apparently, as his tombstone attests, he survived this shipwreck as well.


As to how he arrived in Mangalore is revealed in a letter written by Dom Felipe to Portugal’s King. He writes that his mother, Francisca, had requested the king to favour her two brothers Antonio Teixeira de Macedo and Francisco Teixeira. He adds Antonio was appointed captain of Mangalore fort for five years but died after serving three while defending it. Francisco was killed while serving in the navy. Their father, Jeronimo, also served the crown in India. Antonio is described as an excellent knight.


The tombstone confirms Dom Fillipe’s letter that he was killed while defending Mangalore fort against the Moors in 1599. This means he was appointed to his position in Mangalore in 1596.


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