Afonso de Albuquerque born

Happened: 1453

Description

Afonso de Albuquerque was born in 1453 in Alhandra, near Lisbon. He was the second son of Gonçalo de Albuquerque, Lord of Vila Verde dos Francos, and Dona Leonor de Menezes. His father held an important position at court and was connected by remote illegitimate descent with the Portuguese monarchy. He was educated in mathematics and Latin at the court of Afonso V of Portugal, where he befriended Prince John, the future King John II of Portugal.

Afonso’s early training is described by Diogo Barbosa Machado: “D. Alfonso de Albuquerque, surnamed the Great, by reason of the heroic deeds wherewith he filled Europe with admiration, and Asia with fear and trembling, was born in the year 1453, in the Estate called, for the loveliness of its situation, the Paradise of the Town of Alhandra, six leagues distant from Lisbon. He was the second son of Gonçalo de Albuquerque, Lord of Villaverde, and of D. Leonor de Menezes, daughter of D. Álvaro Gonçalves de Athayde, Count of Atouguia, and of his wife D. Guiomar de Castro, and corrected this injustice of nature by climbing to the summit of every virtue, both political and moral. He was educated in the Palace of the King D. Afonso V, in whose palaestra he strove emulously to become the rival of that African Mars”.

Participants

Name	Date of Birth	Date of Death	Short Biography
Afonso de Albuquerque	1453	1515	a Portuguese general, a "great conqueror", a statesman, and an empire builder.

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