Afonso de Albuquerque - Lisboa, Portugal - Coats of Arms on Waymarking.com

Afonso de Albuquerque Coat of Arms show a quarted shield with the 5 shields of Portugal (5 Quinas) and 5 Fleur de Lis. The coat of arms is placed in a magestic fountain in Belem (Fonte Luminosa)in front of Jerónimos Monastery together with 49 other coat of arms of important personalities from the time of Portuguese Discoveries. The fountain was designed by Cottinelli Telmo and built in 1940 for the Portuguese World Exhibition. There´s very little information about the fountain and the Coat of Arms and most available information pretend that there is a total of 32 Coat of arms of Portuguese inland and Overseas provinces wich is wrong.

"Afonso de Albuquerque (1453 – December 16, 1515) was a Portuguese fidalgo, or nobleman, an admiral whose military and administrative activities as second governor of Portuguese (Formerly he was the 3rd, but, the 1st, Tristão da Cunha was nominated and never assumed his position) India conquered and established the Portuguese colonial empire in the Indian Ocean. He is generally considered a world conquest military genius, given his successful strategy: he attempted to close all the Indian ocean naval passages to the Atlantic, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and to the Pacific, transforming it into a Portuguese mare clausum established over the Turkish power and their Muslim and Hindu allies. He was responsible for building numerous fortresses to defend key strategic positions and establishing a net of diplomatic relations. Shortly before his death he was appointed viceroy and "Duke of Goa" by king Manuel I of Portugal, becoming the first Portuguese duke not from the royal family, and the first Portuguese title landed overseas. For some time he was known as The Terrible, The Great, The Caesar of the East, Lion of the Seas and as The Portuguese Mars.

Afonso de Albuquerque was born in 1453 in Alhandra, near Lisbon.He was the second son of Gonçalo de Albuquerque, Lord of Vila Verde dos Francos and Dona Leonor de Menezes. His father held an important position at court and was connected by remote illegitimate descent with the Portuguese monarchy. He was educated in mathematics and Latin at the court of Afonso V of Portugal, where he befriended Prince John, future king John II of Portugal. He served ten years in North Africa, where he acquired military experience. In 1471, under the command of Afonso V, he was present at the conquest of Tangier and Arzila in Morocco, serving there as an officer for some years. In 1476 he accompanied Prince John in wars against Castile, such as the Battle of Toro. He was in the squadron sent to the Italian Peninsula in 1480 to rescue Ferdinand II of Aragon from the Ottoman invasion of Otranto that ended in a Christian victory. On his return in 1481, when Prince John was crowned, Albuquerque was appointed chief equerry (estribeiro-mor) to the king. In 1489 he returned to service in North Africa, as commander of defence in the fortress of Graciosa, an island in the river Luco near the city of Larache, and in 1490 was part of the guard of King John II, returning to Arzila in 1495 where his younger brother Martim died fighting by his side.

When king Manuel I of Portugal was enthroned he showed some reticence towards Albuquerque, a close friend of his dreaded predecessor John II, and seventeen years his senior. Eight years later, on April 6 of 1503, after a long military career and at a mature age, Afonso de Albuquerque was sent on his first expedition to India with his cousin Francisco de Albuquerque. Each commanded three ships, sailing along with Duarte Pacheco Pereira and Nicolau Coelho. They participated in several battles against the forces of the Zamorin of Calicut (Calecute,Kozhikode) and succeeded in establishing the king of Cohin (Cohim, Kochi) securely on his throne. In return, the King gave them permission to build a Portuguese fort at Cochin and establish trade relations with Quilon (Coulão, Kollam). This laid the foundation of Portugal's empire in the East.

Albuquerque returned home in July 1504, and was well received by King Manuel I of Portugal. After Albuquerque assisted with the creation of a strategy for the Portuguese efforts in the east, King Manuel entrusted him with the command of a squadron of five vessels in the fleet of sixteen sailing for India in early 1506 headed by Tristão da Cunha. Their aim was to conquer Socotra and build a fortress there, hoping to close the trade in the Red Sea. Albuquerque went as "chief-captain for the Coast of Arabia" sailing under da Cunha's orders until reaching Mozambique. He carried a sealed letter with a secret mission ordered by the king: after fulfilling the first mission he should replace the first Viceroy of India, Francisco de Almeida, whose term ended two years later.

The fleet left Lisbon on April 6, 1506. After a series of successful attacks on Arab cities on east Africa coasts, they conquered Socotra, and built a fortress at Suq, hoping it would be a base to stop the Red Sea commerce to the Indian Ocean.
From Socotra their ways parted: Tristão da Cunha sailed for India, where he would relieve the Portuguese besieged at Cannanore, and Albuquerque sailed with a fleet of seven ships and five hundred men in an unrequested advance towards Ormuz in the Persian Gulf, one of the eastern chief centers of commerce. On this route he conquered the cities of Curiati (Kuryat), Muscat in July 1507 and Khor Fakkan, accepting the submission of the cities of Kalhat and Sohar. On September 25 they arrived with a fearsome reputation at Ormuz and soon captured the city, which agreed to become a tributary state for the Portuguese king.

In 4 November 1509 Albuquerque became the second Governor of the State of India, a position he would hold until his death. Almeida having returned home in 1510, he speedily showed the energy and determination of his character.

Albuquerque intended to dominate the Muslim world and control the Spice trade. Initially king Manuel I and his council in Lisbon tried to distribute the power, outlining three areas of jurisdiction in the Indian Ocean:[25] in 1509 the nobleman Diogo Lopes de Sequeira was fitted with a fleet and sent to Southeast Asia, with the task of seeking an agreement with Sultan Mahmud Shah of Malacca, but failed and returned to the kingdom. To Jorge de Aguiar was given the area between the Cape of Good Hope and Gujarat, he was succeeded by Duarte de Lemos but left to Cochin and then for the kingdom, leaving his fleet to Albuquerque.

Albuquerque's career had a painful and ignominious close. He had several enemies at the Portuguese court who lost no opportunity of stirring up the jealousy of King Manuel against him, insinuating that he intended to strike power in Portuguese India, and his own injudicious and arbitrary conduct on several occasions served their end only too well.

On his return from Ormuz, at the entrance of the harbour of Goa, he got news about a fleet arriving from Europe bearing dispatches announcing that he was superseded by his personal enemy Lopo Soares de Albergaria. The blow was too much for him and he died at sea on December 16, 1515. Before his death Albuquerque dictated a letter to King Manuel I in dignified and affecting terms, vindicating his conduct and claiming for his natural son the honours and rewards that were justly due to himself."
From Wikipedia

Bearer of Coat of Arms: Noble (aristocratic) family Full name of the bearer: Afonso de Albuquerque Where is Coat of Arms installed (short description) ?: Fonte Luminosa @ Praça do Império (Fountain ) Material / Design: Stone Blazon (heraldic description): See above. Address: Praça do Império Web page about the structure where is Coat of Arms installed (if exists): [Web Link] Web page about the bearer of Coat of Arms (if exists): [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log   11/19/2019 Castor007 visited it