Gonçalo Pinto da Fonseca

Governor of India (1629). Born on an uncertain date, he was the son of Pedro Seixas and of Dona Joana Pinto da Fonseca, and had one sister, Dona Isabel Rebelo. He married Dona Juliana Teixeira and had only one son, João da Fonseca Ribeiro, who would then get married to Dona Juliana Machado, who bore him children. Little is known about Gonçalo Pinto da Fonseca. He was a member of the Council of the Kingdom, but it is unknown how he reached the status of Judge of the High Court in Lisbon. In India he was promoted to High Purveyor of the Deceased, Chancellor for Relations with Goa and was a member of the Council of the Estado da India. When the governor Dom Frei Luís de Brito e Meneses passed away, he was confirmed, in August 1629, by the Goa Senate and the State Council, as one of the three governors of India, after the opening of the succession line. He only became a member of the government because the then Archebishop of Goa refused the post, and only after the first succession line was opened, at which time, when also appeared, for the first time, the name of the deceased bishop of Cochim. Whilst in government, which he shared with Dom Lourenço da Cunha and Nuno Álvares Botelho, he was in charge of judicial matters, although it is not known if he intervened in any high profile matter. This is possible because it is known that the Senate and the people of Goa had given to Nuno Álvares Botelho exceptional powers. He attended, together with Dom Lourenço da Cunha, the official handover of the government to the 4th Count of Linhares, Dom Miguel de Noronha, on 21st October 1629. The date of his death is also not known.

Bibliography:
SOUSA, Manuel de Faria e, Ásia Portuguesa, volume VI, tradução de Maria Vitória Garcia Santos Ferreira, vol. VI, 4º Parte, caps. VI-VII, Porto, Livraria Civilização, 1947; ZÚQUETE, Afonso, Tratado de Todos os Vice-Reis e Governadores da Índia, Lisboa, Editorial Enciclopédia, 1962. Translated by: Joaquina Rooke