Publication Date
2009
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Governor of Goa (1500?-1554)
Son of Dom Diogo de Lima, governor of Kochi, and of Dona Catarina da Rosa; nephew of D. Francisco de Lima, 3rd Viscount of Vila Nova de Cerveira. There are no records testifying to him ever being married or having left descendents. Being the second son of a second son, it is believed that he left for India at a very early age, in search of favourable conditions for social improvement. There are no actual records of his two first overseas journeys; however, we can trace them back aided by information concerning two donations that he received, the first in 1520 and the other in 1532, as a reward for his service in India. We know, therefore, his whereabouts at the time, but have no clue as to the nature of his activities. As his father was appointed governor of Kochi in 1520, it is likely that he joined his father in the trip to India, having enjoyed thus the opportunity of an early contact with Indian ways and culture. The first records of his presence there date from 1534, in the context of the injury he suffered when the Portuguese forces, led by Dom Estêvão and Dom Paulo da Gama, opposed the Sultan of Ugentana. Dom Paulo died in combat, and Dom Estêvão, seeking to avenge his brother's death, assembled a group of men and vessels, and left for Ugentana. Dom Francisco de Lima was in the party that besieged, attacked and destroyed the place; some time after, in 1537, we find him again among the men who, under the command of Dom Estêvão da Gama, protected, on two different occasions, the fortress of Malacca against the Aceh troops. In 1541, he is referred to as captain of a galleon, the Bufara, in the armada of Dom Estêvão da Gama, who was at the time governor of India. The governor was set to destroy the prospective Turkish armada anchored in the Suez, but the plan did not succeed, and Dom Francisco de Lima was sent to Lisbon by Dom Estêvão da Gama, with the mission to inform Dom João III of the latest events concerning political and military affairs. He arrived in April, 1542, and when he returned to India five years later, on his third and last journey, he was commodore of the 1547's armada, and had been invested to take office of Goa's captaincy, a post he held from 1547 to 1550. As governor of Goa, Dom Francisco de Lima assisted Dom João de Castro in the task of building the fortress in Diu, and for that service he received the Viceroy's favour. He also performed advisory, political, bureaucratic and diplomatic functions, namely a written pronouncement about the Sultan of Guzerate and the restoration work on the fortress of Diu (1548). He assisted the Viceroy on administrative matters, in the management of human resources and raw-materials, and in the defence of the trading post. The captaincy post also enabled him to govern the Estado da India, in partnership with the Bishop Dom João de Albuquerque and the general justice official António Barbudo, after the death of Garcia de Sá and his successor's arrival, Jorge Cabral. He died in Mozambique, in 1554, in mysterious circumstances.
Bibliography:
DINIZ, Sofia e CARVALHO, Patrícia, "Os Limas e a Política de D. Manuel I", in A Alta Nobreza e a Fundação do Estado da Índia, org. João Paulo Oliveira e Costa e Vítor Luís Gaspar Rodrigues, Lisboa, CHAM/IICT/UNL, 2004, pp. 259-277. DINIZ, Sofia, "D. Francisco de Lima, Capitão de Goa", in A Nobreza e a Expansão: estudos biográficos, coord. João Paulo Oliveira e Costa, Cascais, Patrimónia, 2000, pp. 298-315.
Trandlated by: Leonor Sampaio da Silva
Son of Dom Diogo de Lima, governor of Kochi, and of Dona Catarina da Rosa; nephew of D. Francisco de Lima, 3rd Viscount of Vila Nova de Cerveira. There are no records testifying to him ever being married or having left descendents. Being the second son of a second son, it is believed that he left for India at a very early age, in search of favourable conditions for social improvement. There are no actual records of his two first overseas journeys; however, we can trace them back aided by information concerning two donations that he received, the first in 1520 and the other in 1532, as a reward for his service in India. We know, therefore, his whereabouts at the time, but have no clue as to the nature of his activities. As his father was appointed governor of Kochi in 1520, it is likely that he joined his father in the trip to India, having enjoyed thus the opportunity of an early contact with Indian ways and culture. The first records of his presence there date from 1534, in the context of the injury he suffered when the Portuguese forces, led by Dom Estêvão and Dom Paulo da Gama, opposed the Sultan of Ugentana. Dom Paulo died in combat, and Dom Estêvão, seeking to avenge his brother's death, assembled a group of men and vessels, and left for Ugentana. Dom Francisco de Lima was in the party that besieged, attacked and destroyed the place; some time after, in 1537, we find him again among the men who, under the command of Dom Estêvão da Gama, protected, on two different occasions, the fortress of Malacca against the Aceh troops. In 1541, he is referred to as captain of a galleon, the Bufara, in the armada of Dom Estêvão da Gama, who was at the time governor of India. The governor was set to destroy the prospective Turkish armada anchored in the Suez, but the plan did not succeed, and Dom Francisco de Lima was sent to Lisbon by Dom Estêvão da Gama, with the mission to inform Dom João III of the latest events concerning political and military affairs. He arrived in April, 1542, and when he returned to India five years later, on his third and last journey, he was commodore of the 1547's armada, and had been invested to take office of Goa's captaincy, a post he held from 1547 to 1550. As governor of Goa, Dom Francisco de Lima assisted Dom João de Castro in the task of building the fortress in Diu, and for that service he received the Viceroy's favour. He also performed advisory, political, bureaucratic and diplomatic functions, namely a written pronouncement about the Sultan of Guzerate and the restoration work on the fortress of Diu (1548). He assisted the Viceroy on administrative matters, in the management of human resources and raw-materials, and in the defence of the trading post. The captaincy post also enabled him to govern the Estado da India, in partnership with the Bishop Dom João de Albuquerque and the general justice official António Barbudo, after the death of Garcia de Sá and his successor's arrival, Jorge Cabral. He died in Mozambique, in 1554, in mysterious circumstances.
Bibliography:
DINIZ, Sofia e CARVALHO, Patrícia, "Os Limas e a Política de D. Manuel I", in A Alta Nobreza e a Fundação do Estado da Índia, org. João Paulo Oliveira e Costa e Vítor Luís Gaspar Rodrigues, Lisboa, CHAM/IICT/UNL, 2004, pp. 259-277. DINIZ, Sofia, "D. Francisco de Lima, Capitão de Goa", in A Nobreza e a Expansão: estudos biográficos, coord. João Paulo Oliveira e Costa, Cascais, Patrimónia, 2000, pp. 298-315.
Trandlated by: Leonor Sampaio da Silva