Where did warrior woman Ursula e Lancastre live in Panjim?
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Cecil Pinto
Jun 30, 2024, 2:10:06 AMJun 30
to goa-rese...@googlegroups.com
Warrior woman Ursula e Lancastre existed
But was she really at the Corjuem Fort for a long time?
For many years, in my avatar as an amateur Aldona Tour Guide, when taking people to the Corjuem Fort I have made reference to Madame Ursula e Lancastre.
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"The fort also has an interesting incident in which an ambitious Portuguese woman named Ursula e Lancastre, who determined to see the man's world, dressed as a male and took up navigation and military roles. She landed up at Corjuem as a soldier and many years later, voluntarily revealed her gender as she wished to marry a man."
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But the Wiki entry for Ursula says nothing about the Corjuem Fort but there is a reference to 'fortress Madre de Deus'. Now considering the Corjuem Chapel is dedicated to Mae de Deus, is that an old name for the Corjuem Fort?
"Maria Úrsula de Abreu e Lencastre (1682–1730) was a Portuguese Brazilian adventuress and corporal in the Portuguese army. She was born in Rio de Janeiro, Portuguese Brazil and died in Goa. She joined the Portuguese navy dressed as a man under the name Balthazar do Conto Cardoso, sailed for Portugal, joined the army, and took part in battles in India.
In 1700, the year in which she completed eighteen years old, she left the house of her father and headed to Lisbon, the capital of the Portuguese Empire. Her idea was to live the adventures of Cavalry and Crusades that she had read from books, adventures that were forbidden to the women of her time. When she arrived at Lisbon, she enlisted herself as a soldier, with the false name of Baltasar do Couto Cardoso.
She served in the Portuguese army in Portuguese India dressed as a man in 1700–1712. She participated in the conquest of the fortress at Amona, Goa, against the Prabhu-Desais of Sanquelim, where she was promoted to captain and given charge of the fortress Madre de Deus 1703. She was decorated for her service by the king John V of Portugal in 1714. She revealed her sex voluntarily in 1714 because she wished to marry a man, Alfonso Arras Teixeira de Mello."
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Thanks to film-maker, and recent Aldona resident, Suhel Banerjee, I have been reading more about this interesting woman.
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Corjuem is mentioned here.
"On 12th May 1714, she retired from military service and obtained permission from the King of Portugal to marry the man she had fallen in love with in the meantime, none other than the very man she rescued, Capt Affonso Teixeria Arraes de Mello. She was 32. They got married and lived a happy life, and had a child named Joao. It is said that even as a wife she continued proudly wearing her uniform.
Later on 8th March 1718, the King Dom Joao V granted this brave Soldado the free use of the palace of Panjim for 6 years and a pension of One seraphim per diem (300 reis per day) paid by the customs department of Goa with the condition that she could will it to anybody she chose or her descendants upon her death……….
Since then she was known in Goa as the Senhora de Panjim, well admired and respected in the various circles of Goa. Strangely her story can be found in very few books, and her deeds are not glorified in any official documents. She died in 1730.
The Portuguese continued to hang on to their powers in Goa until around 1736, but that part of the story is no longer of interest here.
I have held a dim view about the Portuguese in India, but I do have admiration for Marie Ursula since Goa in those days was not the Goa you see today, it was filthy, bureaucratic, corrupt, with Portuguese men desperately searching for women to cohabit with and this brave girl survived the filth and the lust, excelling in a man’s world, fighting side by side. They fittingly called her an adventuress.
She was one hell of an adventuress; that I can assure you, this ‘Senhora de Panjim’"
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Again, here too, no mention of Corjuem Fort.
"The Brazilian author Gustavo Barroso (1888 -1959) wrote the historical novel fictioning the life of the Brazilian woman soldier Maria Úrsula de Abreu e Lencastre. This lady, a descendent of the English House of Lancaster, was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1682.
She left Brazil to Lisbon where she was enrolled in the Portuguese army as “man”, named Balthazar do Couto Cardoso, and was sent to Portuguese India around 1700. Here the lady participated in several battles, including in Chaul (India), serving under the Portuguese captain Afonso Teixeira Arraes de Melo e Mendonça, to whom she got married in Goa in 1714, after removing here man’s disguise. She never returned to Brazil and died in Goa surrounded by honours."
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Ilhas de Corjuem is mentioned here, but the document is in Portuguese so I am lost.
Google Translate is too indistinct.
Can someone help?
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And where in Panjim did she live, and die? Where is she buried? Do any descendants exist?
What a fascinating person!
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