Publication Date
2009
Categories
Tags period
Related entries
Son of Dom Francisco de Sousa and grandson of Dom Pedro de Sousa, the first count of Prado. In 1546, he was appointed to the captaincy of Sofala, where he remained from 1554 to 1557. Meanwhile, it seems that he was at the service of the State of India, but the only certainty is that he occupied the post of Captain of the armada that the Vice-King Afonso de Noronha took to Ormuz in 1552. He returned to the Kingdom in 1558.

King Sebastian had so much confidence in the military aptitude of Dom Diogo de Sousa that, in 1574, the King nominated him Governor of Algarve, a decision that apparently already pointed to a future incursion to the North of Africa. When this expedition was undertaken four years later, this nobleman was named commodore of transport of the armada. While the Portuguese forces disembarked and entered Moroccan territory, Dom Diogo remained near the squadron in Larache; from there he would return to Lisbon to announce the disastrous defeat at Alcácer Quibir.

Bibliography:
PELÚCIA, Alexandra, Martim Afonso de Sousa e a sua Linhagem - A Elite Dirigente do Império Português nos Reinados de D. João III e D. Sebastião, Lisboa, UNL-FCSH, 2007, dissertação de doutoramento policopiada.


Translation: Rosa Simas