Dear listers: I recently received an e-mail from our former co-lister Eloise who wanted me to share a perhaps overlooked detail about one of our most illustrious Velho Cabral ancestors: Diogo Gonçalves de Travassos, husband to Violante Velho Cabral and therefore brother-in-law to Gonçalo Velho Cabral. Many of us descend from this couple. So little is known about him and even less about his genealogy: we know only that he was the son of Martim Gonçalves de Travassos and Catarina Dias de Melo and the maternal grandson of Diogo Domingos and nothing more. He was a royal overseer and scribe. It is claimed that he died as a result of injuries suffered at the battle of Alfarrobeira on 20 May 1449, though that has been disputed. He must have been very special because he lies buried in the Monastery of Batalha, right outside the royal mausoleum. It was a rare privilege to be entombed so close to the king. He lies beneath a magnificent tomb, which is almost impossible to miss. On the wall beside his tomb is an inscription which in English is translated thus:
>From his tomb in Batalha: "In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Amen. In the year of our Lord Jesus Christ, one thousand four hundred.....there was buried beneath this great stone, the body of Diogo Gonçalves Travassos, a knight and servant of the great King D. João of the highest and shining and enduring memory, w hose soul eternally reigns with the Holy Trinity, and of the Council of the most powerful Lord, King Afonso V, and of the Council of the most magnificent and grand lord, of laudatory prudence, the Prince D. Pedro, Duke of Coimbra, overseer of the lands of the said Lord, and tutor of the children of the most excellent prince, the Lord D. Pedro of Aragon, Constable of the Kingdom of Portugal, and of the illustrious Lords D. Jaime and D. João, his brothers..." Anybody visiting mainland Portugal who descends from this couple must stop by Batalha. I always do. As one approaches the doorway to the royal mausoleum (where João I, his wife Phillipa of Lancaster and their royal progeny, including Prince Henry the Navigator are entombed), his tomb is just outside the doorway to the right. There is a rope surrounding the tomb to prevent people stepping on it. Anyone wanting to see pictures can go to http://anauel.blogspot.com/2007/02/diogo-gonalves-de-travassos-parte-2.html Thanks, Eloise! John Miranda Raposo -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership."
