Luís of Portugal, Duke of Beja

Infante Luís of Portugal, Duke of Beja (3 March 1506, in Abrantes – 27 November 1555, in Marvila, in Lisbon) was the second son of King Manuel I of Portugal and his second wife Maria of Aragon (the third daughter of the Catholic Monarchs). He participated in the Conquest of Tunis.

Early life

Luís succeeded his father as the Duke of Beja and was also made Constable of the Kingdom (Portuguese: Condestável do Reino) and Prior of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, with its Portuguese headquarters in the town of Crato.

Conquest of Tunis

In the Conquest of Tunis (1535) Luís, brother-in-law of Charles V, commanded the Portuguese army. The Portuguese galleon São João Baptista, also known as Botafogo was specifically requested by Charles V, and it was the most powerful ship in the world at the time, with 366 bronze cannons. It was the Botafogo spur ram that broke up the chains at La Goletta, which defended the port entrance of Tunis, allowing the Christian allied fleet to reach and conquer the city.

Family

He did not marry but had a natural son by Yolande (Violante) Gomes, a Pelicana (the she-pelican), a New Christian, who is said to have died a Nun in Almoster, Santarém, on 16 July 1568, daughter of Pedro Gomes, from Évora. Some say they eventually married perhaps at Évora, thus legitimating their issue for every purpose.

Their son António, Prior of Crato, would be one of the claimants to the throne after the disaster of Alcácer Quibir and subsequent death of King Sebastian of Portugal and the dynastic crisis that followed, and, according to some historians, the King of Portugal for approximately a month in the year 1580. They may have also had other sons named Juan Gomez de Portugal (1536-1610), and Joanes Gomez de Portugal (b.1540). Juan would become one of the founders of Villa de Santa María de los Lagos, Nueva Galicia (later renamed Lagos de Moreno) in present-day Jalisco, Mexico on 31 March 1563.

Ancestry