A House on Madeira and a Convent in Lisbon

Abstract

In relation to Columbus’s stays in Madeira, a new personage appears on the scene — João Esmeraldo — who has been inexplicably ignored by Columbian historians. It is on record that João Esmeraldo came to Portugal in the reign of King Manuel I, but we know that only because he asked that King for permission to use the arms that he already possessed. He received authorisation in May 1520. João Esmeraldo was a lord of Flemish origin. He was born at Artois and was descended from the D’Alvargne families of Fimes and Noduchel. The studies by Álvaro Rodrigues de Azevedo (published in a bulletin issued by Funchal City Hall archives), who was the first to give details about João Esmeraldo’s house in Madeira, and Afonso Dornelas have shown that Esmeraldo may have gone to Madeira in 1480, which probably means that he had been in Lisbon before this.¹ He had his house enlarged in 1494, there being a window with that date on it, and four years later he baptised his son with the name of Cristóvam Esmeraldo, which suggests that the boy was named after Columbus.