Margarida Cabral de Melo

Margarida Luísa Cabral de Melo
Fidalga of the Royal House of Portugal.[1]
Born 1570
Azores, Kingdom of Portugal
Died 1631
Buenos Aires, Viceroyalty of Peru
Noble family Cabral-Melo Coutinho
Spouse(s) Amador Vaz de Alpoim
Father Matias Nunes Cabral
Mother Maria Simões de Melo
Religion Roman Catholic

Margarida Cabral de Melo (1570–1631) was a Portuguese noble lady related to the discoverer of Brazil Pedro Álvares Cabral.[2] In 1599 she settled with her husband and children in Buenos Aires.[3] She was one of the most distinguished women in the Río de la Plata, in the early 17th century, owns of luxury homes, farms and vineyards.[4]

Among his illustrious ancestors was his maternal great-great-grandmother Dona Beatriz de Meneses, 2nd Countess of Loulé, a noble lady belonging to the family of the Portuguese Royal House, granddaughter of Fernando I, Duke of Braganza and Joana de Castro.[5]

Biography

Azores Islands

Margarida was born in Santa Maria Island, the daughter of Matias Nunes Cabral and Maria Simões de Melo, a family belonging to the Portuguese nobility.[6] She was married to Amador Vaz de Alpoim, son of Estevan de Alpoim and Isabel Velha, belonging to aristocratic Azorean families.

Margarida and her husband, sons and sister Inês Nunes Cabral (wife of Gil Gonçalves de Moura), arrived in the Río de la Plata from Rio de Janeiro, where they had lived for five years.[7] Several of his children were born in Buenos Aires, including Amador Báez de Alpoim, who had an outstanding performance during the Viceroyalty of Peru serving as Mayor of Buenos Aires, Lieutenant Governor of Santa Fe and Corrientes.[8]

Amador Vaz de Alpoim had been a General of the Royal Army in the service of Spain and Portugal. After settling in Buenos Aires, he received parcels in the city, and participated in military expeditions led by Hernando Arias de Saavedra, against the Charrúas.[9] Shortly after the death of her husband occurred in 1617, Margarida Cabral de Melo inherited the ranch in the town of Luján. His ranch was administered by his son Manuel Cabral de Alpoim, an expert rider, who was Lieutenant Governor of Corrientes in 1629.

Margarida Cabral de Melo possessed one of the most luxurious houses in the city, with mahogany furniture, carved silverware, tapestry and among its jewelery, a gold parrot.[10] The house of the family Cabral de Alpoim was located at the intersection of the streets Victoria and Balcarce, current neighborhood of Monserrat.[11] They became the most powerful family in colonial Argentina during the 17th century, dedicated to the exploitation of cattle, owners of numerous hectares in the Province of Buenos Aires, Corrientes and Santa Fe Province.[12]

All the male children of Amador Vaz de Alpoim and Margarita Cabral de Melo were prominent political and religious of Argentina. His son Matías Cabral de Melo y Alpoim (1593-1645) was a well-known Presbyter of Buenos Aires, who in 1621 had the title of nobility, which had been granted by the King of Arms of Portugal to his brother Manuel Cabral de Melo.[13] He died in 1645 in Santa Fe province, being buried on September 27 of that year, in the Iglesia de la Merced.[14]

Ancestors and descendants

Belmonte Castle, belonging to the Cabral lineage

Three of his four grandfathers were descendants of the Kings of Portugal, and through these of all the Royal Houses of Europe. Margarita Cabral de Melo and his sister Inés Núñez Cabral were descendants of Mem Soares de Melo and Nuno Velho Cabral, nephew of Gonçalo Velho Cabral.[15] Other ancestors include Álvaro Martins Homem 3°Captain of Praia,[16] and Beatriz de Noronha,[17] maternal granddaughter of João Fernandes de Andrade.

Through the Vaz Martins family, the sisters Cabral de Mello were remote descendants of Alfonso Enríquez, belonging to the royal house of Castile. And also of Ferdinand of Portugal, Lord of Eça, and his wife Leonor de Teive, a Portuguese noblewoman, direct descendant of Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, belonging to the house Plantagenet.[18]

By direct paternal line the Cabral de Melo Coutinho sisters, belonged to the first settlers of the Azores Islands,[19] whose descendants were related to family of Cabral and Melo Coutinho,[20] a direct descendants of the same King of Portugal Afonso III and his Mistress Madragana.[21]

The great granddaughter of Margarita Cabral de Melo, Antonia Cabral de Melo y Morales, was married to Miguel Gerónimo de Esparza, perpetual alderman of Buenos Aires between 1718 and 1766. Her grandson Juan Báez de Alpoim, served as alcalde of Buenos Aires in 1667. Margarida and Inês Cabral de Melo were also descendants of the noble House of Guzman, through of Sancha Pérez de Guzmán, wife of Gonçalo Anes de Briteiros.[22]

With their respective husbands, the two sisters formed one of the most important families in the Rio de la Plata, and are the ancestors of several personalities as Juan Miguel de Esparza, José Gervasio Artigas,[23] Domingo French,[24] Mariano Billinghurst, Enrique Mosconi and Jorge Luis Borges, descendant of Ines.[25]

Juan Manuel de Rosas (1793-1877), Governor of the province of Buenos Aires between 1835 and 1852,[26] and Justo José de Urquiza, first President of the Argentine Confederation, were descendants of this family.[27]

References

  1. ↑ Studies in Genealogy and Family History in Tribute to Charles Evans on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday, Charles F. H. Evans
  2. ↑ The Genealogist, Volumes 3-4. The Association, 1982.
  3. ↑ Los portugueses en Buenos Aires (siglo XVII), Tipografía de Archivos, 1931
  4. ↑ Patricios correntinos: biografías, Volumen 1, Miguel Fernando González Azcoaga
  5. ↑ Historia genealógica argentina, Narciso Binayán
  6. ↑ Revista patriótica del pasado argentino, Volumen 1, Impr. Europea, 1888
  7. ↑ Historiografía rioplatense, Volumen 6, Instituto Bibliográfico Antonio Zinny., 2002
  8. ↑ Actas capitulares de Corrientes: 1647 a 1658, Corrientes (Argentina). Cabildo, Hernán Félix Gómez
  9. ↑ Boletín de la Academia Nacional de la Historia, Volumes 42-43, Academia Nacional de la Historia
  10. ↑ Boletín de la Academia Nacional de la Historia. Academia Nacional de la Historia (Argentina).
  11. ↑ El primer banquero de Buenos Aires, Talleres Gráficos D'Accurzio, 1958
  12. ↑ Historiografía rioplatense, Volume 6, Instituto Bibliográfico Antonio Zinny
  13. ↑ Revista del Instituto de Estudios Genealógicos del Uruguay, Números 7-11, El Instituto, 1988
  14. ↑ Santa Fe la Vieja, Agustín Zapata Gollán
  15. ↑ Revista del Centro de Estudios Genealógicos de Buenos Aires Issue 1. Centro de Estudios Genealógicos de Buenos Aires.
  16. ↑ Historia Genealógica Argentina, Emecé, 01/01/1999
  17. ↑ Arquivos da Universidade de Lisboa, Volume 4. A Universidade, 1917.
  18. ↑ Pedatura lusitana (nobiliário de famílias de Portugal) ..., Cristovão Alão de Morais, Eugénio de Andrea da Cunha e Freitas
  19. ↑ Apontamentos de história insular, Cabral do Nascimento
  20. ↑ Génesis de la familia uruguaya: los habitantes de Montevideo en sus primeros 40 años, filiaciones, ascendencias, entronques, descendencias, Volume 4. Juan Alejandro Apolant.
  21. ↑ Actas, Volumen 2, Facultad de Filosofia y Letras, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo Centro Universitario, 1992
  22. ↑ Revista del Instituto de Estudios Genealógicos del Uruguay. El Instituto, 1988.
  23. ↑ Revista do Instituto Historico e Geografico do Rio Grande do Sul, Issues 124-127, Instituto Histórico e Geográfico do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
  24. ↑ Genealogía, hombres de mayo. Instituto Argentino de Ciencias Genealógicas.
  25. ↑ Oeuvres complètes, Volume 1, by Jorge Luis Borges, Jean-Pierre Bernès
  26. ↑ Congreso Internacional de Historia de América: actas / Academia Nacional de la Historia, Part 6. La Academia, 1966.
  27. ↑ Historia Genealógica Argentina. Narciso Binayán.
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