Governor of Macau
Since 1557,the Cantonese mandarins of the Ming dynasty had allowed the Portuguese to settle in what became known as the city of Macau. In time,the city grew into an important staging ground for the lucrative Japan voyage,a trade route terminating in Nagasaki monopolized by the Portuguese from the late 16th to early 17th century. The new city had no governor at the beginning,instead,power was shared between the Captain-major of the Japan Voyage—who had supreme authority while he was in the city—and the Macau Senate representing local Portuguese interests. Due to the Dutch invasion of Macau in 1622,the Senate,who had long resisted challenges to their local authority,became convinced that Macau needed a permanent paramount military figure and petitioned the Viceroy of India for a captain-general to be installed in Macau. The viceroy agreed,and Mascarenhas was to become Macau's first captain-general and governor with full powers over Macau. [3]
Francisco Mascarenhas took office in Macau on 17 July 1623. The Senate was aghast to find out that the viceroy had invested in him supreme authority over the city,including the power to fill all vacant official posts himself and the power to arrest and send to Goa everyone he finds "riotous,mutinous,or disturbers of the peace." [4] The Senate petitioned to deprive Mascarenhas of these powers to no avail,and Mascarenhas,for his part,set about imposing his authority on the city in opposition to the local headmen in Macau. [4]
The first significant conflict between Mascarenhas and the Macanese elites concerned the appointment of the replacement for João Pinto da Piedade as Bishop of Macau. Mascarenhas supported the Dominican candidate António do Rosário while the Senate and the local Jesuits backed Diogo Correia Valente. The diocesan feud between the two parties turned increasingly violent,with priests being beaten on the streets and muskets being fired on both sides,ultimately escalating to a point where the Jesuits shot three cannonballs through the St. Augustine's Church where Mascarenhas had been staying. [5] Mascarenhas reportedly had the cannonballs gilded and sent one each to the viceroy and the king,keeping the last one for himself. [4] The ecclesiastical authorities in Goa eventually ruled in favour of Rosário as acting bishop in 1624. [6]
Mascarenhas initiated many reforms. He introduced measures to curb the influence of the merchants by banning them from earning silver from high interest sea loans,with the knock-on effect being that Macao merchants slowed their investments to the Japanese in Nagasaki,much to the latter's chagrin. [7] He instituted a system that made sure the revenue collected from the Japan voyages went to the king of Portugal. [8] He also ran a census on the city in 1625,revealing that the male Portuguese population numbered 437 and male creoles numbered 403. (The number of women and other races were not recorded.) [9]
To better defend the city against further Dutch attacks,he built walls and fortifications around the city. However,Chinese authorities intervened,objecting to the fortifications facing the Chinese mainland. [9] After some negotiation,it was decided that 22,000 taels of silver were to be paid annually from the Portuguese to the provincial authorities in Guangdong for the constructions to be allowed to continue, [10] and that the fortress at Patane aimed at the mainland had to be dismantled. [11] Mascarenhas also established the city's gun foundry in 1623,which became world-renowned for the quality of its cannons under the supervision of Manuel Tavares Bocarro,future governor of Macau. [12]
Discontent against Mascarenhas reached a point that the city rose up in rebellion against him on 10 October 1624. Local tradition have it that Mascarenhas was killed by an angry mob on this occasion,or that he fled back to India on a ship,but the reality is that he quickly quashed the rebellion and stayed as governor until the end of his term in July 1626. [13] He granted an amnesty to the mutineers 4 days later,which was confirmed by the viceroy in an unconditional pardon in 1626. [14]
Three months after the revolt, [6] Mascarenhas,dissatisfied with his dwellings which he felt to be unbefitting of his station,took control of the Jesuit mountaintop fortress Fortaleza do Monte. He did this through a ruse, [6] first by asking the Jesuit priests to let him into the citadel to have a general view of the city,then he had his personal retinue of soldiers filter into the fort gradually. At nightfall,when the Jesuits informed Mascarenhas that the gates were about to close for the night,Mascarenhas instead evicted them,declaring that the gates would be open again the next morning in the king's name. [15] In this manner the Fortaleza do Monte became the governor's residence,an arrangement that lasted until 1749. [16]
It is believed that Francisco Mascarenhas commissioned the set of seven tapestries known as The Story of Troy from local Chinese workshops while he was the Governor of Macau. The tapestries,representing a classic Western theme (The Trojan War) with Chinese characteristics,are now in the collections of museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York,the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon,and the Poly MGM Museum in Macau. [17] [18]
