Duke of Goa

The title Duke of Goa (Portuguese: Duque de Goa) was the first Portuguese ducal title given outside the royal family, and the first Portuguese noble title to be granted to a territory overseas, Goa, India.

Duke of Goa
Parent houseVila Verde
CountryPortugal
Founded1515
FounderAfonso de Albuquerque
Final rulerBrás de Albuquerque
Titles
  • Duke of Goa
Deposition1581

History

The title was bestowed upon Afonso de Albuquerque, the second Viceroy of India, by the Portuguese King Manoel I in 1515 as a reward for his outstanding performance for the Portuguese Empire. This was the first ducal title granted outside the Royal family and the first title that refers to land overseas. The Casa Ducal de Goa was the most important and richest of noble houses of its time in the sixteenth century, shortly behind the ducal houses on the Crown and the House of Braganza.[1][2]

Having no legitimate children, Afonso de Albuquerque, before leaving for his term as governor in India, provided for the legitimacy of his only natural son Brás de Albuquerque, which was granted by the Crown in 1506. In India, he wrote to ask King Manuel I that all the honors for himself deserved to be granted to his son Brás de Albuquerque, instituting him as his sole heir. Before the death of Afonso de Albuquerque in 1515, the King showered honors and riches on Brás de Albuquerque, granting him the Duchy of Goa and the title of Don, although determining that Afonso would add to his baptismal name in honor of former Viceroy.

The title and house would soon become extinct with Afonso's son, Brás de Albuquerque, who would die without male heirs. A law at time, the Lei Mental, meant that property of the crown could only be inherited by the first-born male heir.[3]

In the nineteenth century, by the decree of 19 May 1886, King Luís I created the Duchy of Albuquerque in favour of D. João Afonso Macedo de Sousa Costa, 2nd Earl of Mesquitela, naming the ducal title Albuquerque in honor of the family representation of Afonso de Albuquerque held by that noble (as a descendant in a straight line daughter of D. Afonso Brás de Albuquerque).

Title holders
  1. D. Afonso de Albuquerque, o Grande, Vice-Rei da Índia e 1.º duque de Goa (1450-1515)
  2. D. Afonso Brás de Albuquerque, 2.º duque de Goa (1501-1581)
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See also

References
  1. Afonso Brás de Albuquerque (1926). Comentários do grande Afonso de Albuquerque, capitão geral que foi das Indias orientais em tempo do rei D. Manuel I. Imprensa Nacional.
  2. Edgar Prestage (1929). Afonso de Albuquerque, governor of India : his life, conquests and administration. Watford.
  3. João Estevão Pinto (1948). Afonso de Albuquerque. SNI.

Bibliography
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