He was the second-born son of Diogo Lopes de Sousa,10th Lord of the town of Bordonhos (near São Pedro do Sul,Portugal) and of the Patronage of its Churches and of his wife and cousin,Dona Isabel de Sousa.[2]
The exact date of his birth is unknown,but as he had at least two older brothers,the first of whom was born in the mid-1530s,it is likely that it occurred around 1540.[3]
He made his career in the Portuguese Estado da India,where he served as captain of Malacca.
In 1594,following political developments in Ceylon –which the Portuguese crown interpreted as an opportunity to extend Portuguese rule to the entire territory of the island,namely through the subjugation of the Kingdom of Kandy,which until then had successfully resisted the expansion of the Portuguese –Pedro Lopes de Sousa was appointed to the new post of capitão-geral da conquista do Ceilão ("captain-general of the conquest of Ceylon" –the maximum representatives of the Portuguese crown in Ceylon,based in Kotte,had used the designation of "Captain" between 1518 and 1551 and that of "Captain-major" after that date).[4]
He arrived in Colombo from Goa,with fresh troops to reinforce the Portuguese military potential,in May 1594.
A few months later,he commanded an army composed of Portuguese and local auxiliaries,known by the name of Lascarins,which invaded the Kingdom of Kandy,with the aim of placing on the throne the legitimate queen,Dona Catarina –a child in her early teens,who was under Portuguese protection and had changed her birth name from Kusumasani Devi when she was baptized.[4]
The first phase of this ambitious military and political operation was largely successful:the king of Kandy,Vimaladharmasurya,who had recently usurped the throne,fled to the mountains around the capital[4] and Pedro Lopes de Sousa was thus able to install his Protégé,the princess Dona Catarina,on the Kingdom's throne.
This initial success,however,would not last long. The Portuguese made it difficult for the population of Kandy to have access to the queen –and this caused rumors to circulate,accusing the Portuguese of planning to have Dona Catarina marry a Portuguese nobleman (perhaps the governor himself). This created a climate of general anxiety and dissatisfaction among the people and the ruling elite of Kandy. In addition,Pedro Lopes de Sousa had the main commander of the Lascarins executed,on suspicion of being in collusion with Vimaladharmasurya. This execution led to the immediate mass desertion of the Lascarin auxiliaries of the Portuguese army.[4]
Faced with a new reality in the correlation of military force,which had become highly unfavorable for the Portuguese,Lopes de Sousa decided that the only viable option would be to withdraw as quickly as possible from the capital of Kandy. But Vimaladharmasurya's army followed his withdrawal closely,cut off his retreat at Danture,near the capital,and annihilated the Portuguese army,including its commander,on 9 October 1594.[5]
The Battle of Danture was an important turning point in the History of the Kingdom of Kandy. It ensured an independence that Kandy would be able to keep for more than two centuries –despite repeated attempts at annexation by Portugal,and later by the Netherlands and the British Empire –until the year 1815.
The Portuguese crown reacted to the defeat at Danture with the appointment of a new captain-general (D. Jerónimo de Azevedo) who arrived in Colombo,with military reinforcements,in December 1594.
His first wife was Bárbara de Melo,daughter of Gaspar de Melo São Payo (or Sampaio) and great-niece of Fernão Vaz de Sampaio,lord of the house of Vila Flor. Their son,Diogo Lopes de Sousa,was wounded in the battle of Danture and later died of these wounds. He left no issue.[2]
His second wife was Dona Brites de Ataíde,daughter of Dom Diogo de Ataíde,captain of Baçaim (who was the paternal grandson of Dom Álvaro de Ataíde,lord of the towns of Castanheira,Povos and Cheleiros and great-grandson of the 1st Count of Atouguia) and his wife Maria Antunes,with the following offspring:
Peter I,known as the Just or the Cruel,was King of Portugal from 1357 until his death.
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The Camões family were descendants of the 14th-century Portuguese nobleman Vasco Pires de Camões.
Vimaladharmasūriya I was a king of Kandy from 1590 to 1604. His reputation was built when he successfully repulsed two major Portuguese offensives on Kandy,the Battle of Danture in 1594 and the Battle of Balana in 1602,in both of which the Portuguese were humiliatingly defeated.
João Pedro Mouzinho de Albuquerque was a Portuguese nobleman.
The kingdom of Sitawaka was a kingdom located in south-central Sri Lanka. It emerged from the division of the kingdom of Kotte following the Spoiling of Vijayabahu in 1521. Over the course of the next seventy years it came to dominate much of the island. Sitawaka also offered fierce resistance to the Portuguese,who had arrived on the island in 1505. Despite its military successes,Sitawaka remained unstable,having to contend with repeated uprisings in its restive Kandyan territories,as well as a wide-ranging and often devastating conflict with the Portuguese. Sitawaka disintegrated soon after the death of its last king Rajasimha I in 1593.
The Battle of Gannoruwa was a battle of the Sinhalese–Portuguese War fought in 1638 between the occupying Portuguese forces and the Sinhalese King's army at Gannoruwa in the District of Kandy,Sri Lanka. The Portuguese had attempted three times without success to capture the Kingdom of Kandy,in order to bring the entire island under their rule. In 1635,Rajasinghe II became the king of Kandy and started negotiations with the Dutch to obtain their help in driving out the Portuguese. The Portuguese hastened their efforts to take Kandy because of this,and Diogo de Melo de Castro,the Portuguese Captain General,tried to provoke the Sinhalese on several occasions.
Lascarins is a term used in Sri Lanka to identify indigenous soldiers who fought for the Portuguese during the Portuguese era (1505–1658) and continued to serve as colonial soldiers until the 1930s. The lascarins played a crucial role not only in the colonial armies,but also in the success of the campaigns of the local kingdoms.
Dom Jerónimo de Azevedo was a Portuguese fidalgo,Governor (captain-general) of Portuguese Ceylon and viceroy of Portuguese India. He proclaimed in Colombo,in 1597,the King of Portugal,Philip I,as the legitimate heir to the throne of Kotte,thus substantiating the Portuguese claims of sovereignty over the island of Ceylon.
Pero de Ataíde or Pedro d'Ataíde,nicknamed O Inferno (Hell),"for the damage he did to the Moors in Africa",was a Portuguese sea captain in the Indian Ocean active in the early 1500s. He was briefly captain of the first permanent Portuguese fleet in the Indian Ocean,taking over from Vicente Sodré,and the author of a famous letter giving an account of its fate.
Lopo de Brito was the second Captain of Portuguese Ceylon. Brito succeeded João da Silveira and was appointed in 1518 under Manuel I of Portugal,he was Captain until 1522. He was succeeded by Fernão Gomes de Lemos.
Diogo de Melo Coutinho was the second and eleventh Captain-major of Portuguese Ceylon. Coutinho was first appointed in 1552 under John III of Portugal,he was Captain-major until 1552. His second term lasted from 1570 to 1572. He was succeeded by Duarte de Eça and António de Noronha respectively.
Baltasar Guedes de Sousa, born Baltasar Vaz Guedes, was the 7th Captain-major of Portuguese Ceylon. Guedes de Sousa was appointed in 1560 under Sebastian of Portugal,he was Captain-major until 1564. He was succeeded by Pedro de Ataíde Inferno.
Pedro de Ataíde "Inferno" was the 8th Captain-major of Portuguese Ceylon. Ataíde Inferno was appointed in 1564 under Sebastian of Portugal,he was Captain-major until 1565.
The siege of Kotte was an offensive which took place during the Sinhalese–Portuguese War between 1557 and 1558. A 50,000-strong Sitawaka army led by King Mayadunne besieged Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte,the capital of Kotte Kingdom,for 12 months against a combined force of Portuguese and Lascarins led by Captain-major Dom Afonso Pereira de Lacerda. After receiving reinforcements from Mannar,Portuguese made a sally and succeeded in forcing the besiegers to withdraw. This siege marked the beginning of a series of battles between Portuguese and Sitawaka forces,and ultimately ended as Portuguese abandoned Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte in 1565.
The Danture campaign comprised a series of encounters between the Portuguese and the Kingdom of Kandy in 1594,part of the Sinhalese–Portuguese War. It is considered a turning point in the indigenous resistance to Portuguese expansion. For the first time in Sri Lanka a Portuguese army was essentially annihilated,when they were on the verge of the total conquest of the island. A 20,000-strong Portuguese army,led by Governor Pedro Lopes de Sousa,invaded Kandy on 5 July 1594. After three months,severely depleted by guerilla warfare and mass desertions,what remained of the Portuguese army was annihilated at Danture by the Kandyans under King Vimaladharmasuriya. With this victory,the Kingdom of Kandy emerged as a major military power;it was to retain its independence,against Portuguese,Dutch,and British armies,until 1815.
Sinhalese–Portuguese conflicts refers to the series of armed engagements that took place from 1518 AD to 1658 AD in Sri Lanka between the native Sinhalese and Tamil kingdoms and the Portuguese Empire. It spanned from the Transitional to the Kandyan periods of Sri Lankan history. A combination of political and military moves gained the Portuguese control over most of the island,but their invasion of the final independent kingdom was a disaster,leading to a stalemate in the wider war and a truce from 1621. In 1638 the war restarted when the Dutch East India Company intervened in the conflict,initially as an ally of the Sinhalese against the Portuguese,but later as an enemy of both sides. The war concluded in 1658,with the Dutch in control of about half the island,the Kingdom of Kandy the other half,and the Portuguese expelled.
Kuruvita Rala was a Sri Lankan rebel leader and prince of Uva,who served as regent in the kingdom of Kandy. He was also a relation of Dona Catherina,Queen of Kandy and the guardian of her children.
References
↑ Cahoon, Ben. "Governors". Sri Lanka. Worldstatesmen. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
↑ Soveral, Manuel Abranches de (2017-01-01). "CRISTÓVÃO MENDES DE CARVALHO História de um alto magistrado quinhentista e de sua família". "Fragmenta Historica" - Revista do Centro de Estudos Históricos da Universidade Nova de Lisboa (in Portuguese): 54–55. Rui Lopes de Sousa, morgado de Bordonhos, nascido cerca de 1534 ... filho sucessor de Diogo Lopes de Souza e sua mulher D. Isabel de Souza [Rui Lopes de Sousa, majorat of Bordonhos, born around 1534... successor son of Diogo Lopes de Souza and his wife D. Isabel de Souza]
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