LORDS OF MAFRA

D. Maria Anes de Aboim
Married to João Fernandes de Lima. Mafra was given to them on 9 January 1289 by King Dinis in exchange for Portel. They had no descendants and were succeeded by her great-nephew, D. Diogo Afonso de Sousa.

D. Diogo de Sousa († 18.11.1344)
D. Diogo died in Coimbra on 18 November 1344, and his body was later moved to the Church of Santo André (St Andrew). His mausoleum was originally in the chancel, against the right-hand wall (of the Epistle), and in the mid-19th century, it was moved under the choir, next to the south wall (of the Epistle). After the work in the 1940s, it was placed where you can still see it, in the south nave, on the right-hand side of the central portico. The chest has a parallelepiped shape (l. 2060 mm x w. 540 mm x d. 670 mm), topped by a band of stylised foliage and covered by a lid without any carving. It is garnished on three sides by heraldic shields embossed with the arms of the Sousas de Arronches: quartered: on I and IV the quincunx of the kingdom with shields on the flanks pointing to the centre; on II and III the crescent chain. António Joaquim Moreira, who saw the tomb in the chancel, records the existence of a sign (obituary inscription) on the wall above it, of which Estácio da Veiga found no trace in 1879. According to the antiquarian, the headstone read as follows: "Here lies D. Diogo de Souza, lord who was from this town, and died in Coimbra on the 18th day of November in the 1382 era [that is, in the year 1344]".

D. Violante Lopes Pacheco († 1365)
D. Violante was the daughter of Lopo Fernandes Pacheco and his wife, Maria Gomes Taveira. It was her second marriage - as she was already the widow of Martim Vasques da Cunha, 6th lord of Tábua - to Diogo Afonso de Sousa. She succeeded him in the lordship of Mafra and Ericeira, from which she was dispossessed (1357) because she was the sister of one of Inês de Castro's murderers and reinstated by Pedro I (27 August 1362). Her tomb is in every way similar to that of her husband. The only difference is in the heraldic shields: at the head are the arms of the Sousas de Arronches, and at the foot are the variegated cauldrons of the Pachecos. Laterally, in the centre, again, the shield of the Sousas de Arronches flanked by two of the Pachecos: gold, two black cauldrons, with three bands with red and gold varies, with the wings garnished alike and serpent-shaped, placed one above the other.

D. Branca de Sousa
Daughter of D. Violante Lopes Pacheco and D. Diogo Afonso de Sousa. Married Afonso, Count of Barcelos. She inherited the Lordship (17.4.1365) because its legitimate heir, Álvaro Dias de Sousa, had fled to Castile for complicity in the murder of Inês de Castro.

D. Lopo Dias de Sousa
Brother of the previous one. Son of Álvaro Dias de Sousa and Maria Teles de Meneses, sister of Queen Leonor Teles. The lordship was confirmed to him by King Fernando I in 1371. He succeeded D. Nuno Rodrigues in the Order of Christ when he was just 12 years old.

Leonor Lopes de Sousa
D. Lopo Dias de Sousa had many illegitimate children, including one, D. Leonor Lopes de Sousa, to whom, as a dowry for her marriage to Fernão Martins Coutinho, he gave Mafra, Ericeira and Enxara dos Cavaleiros, a donation made on 2 March 1393, later confirmed in 1396 by letter from D. João I. Brites, or Beatriz, Coutinho was born of this marriage.

Afonso Vasques de Sousa
Until he died (6 March 1426), he retained the Lordship of Mafra. This circumstance led to a protracted dispute that was only resolved in 1436 when the partition that the stepdaughters had demanded since 1425 was finally implemented.

D. Brites Coutinho
Daughter of D. Leonor Lopes de Sousa and D. Fernão Martins de Coutinho. She was married by proxy in the Palace of Sintra to Pedro de Meneses, 1st Count of Vila Real and 2nd of Viana, 1st Captain Major and Governor of Ceuta, with the Bishop of Mallorca, Friar Lourenço, as celebrant and the Infants Duarte, Henry and Ferdinand as witnesses. She travelled to Ceuta to meet her spouse, where she disembarked between October and December the same year. From her brief but happy marriage to Pedro de Meneses, Isabel Coutinho was born. She died in Ceuta and was buried in the church of Graça in Santarém. Badly shaken by the death of his third wife in 1430, Pedro de Meneses stopped shaving and neglected his duties as governor of Ceuta, requiring the intervention of King Duarte to bring him to his senses. The corpse of the captain’s wife was found incorruptible.

D. Isabel Coutinho (1410-?)
Lady of Mafra and Enxara dos Cavaleiros. She married D. Fernando de Vasconcelos, Lord of the Morgado de Soalhães.

D. Afonso de Vasconcelos e Meneses (1441-1480)
1st Count of Penela, son of the previous counts. He married D. Isabel da Silva (?-1498), daughter of the 1st Count of Abrantes.

D. João de Vasconcelos e Meneses (?-1543)
2nd Count of Penela, by letter of 16.4.1481 [Chancellery of King Afonso V: book 26, page 73]. The lordship of Penela was successively confirmed to him on 22/2/1482, 6/11/1497 and 24/9/1528. He was made Vedor da Fazenda (a treasurer) by a letter dated 30 September 1527. He married D. Catarina de Noronha, or d'Eça. In 1513, he shared the Lordship of Mafra with João Fernandes de Sousa.

D. Afonso de Vasconcelos e Meneses (1575-?)
Son of the above. He married D. Sebastiana de Sá, or de Macedo. Afonso de Meneses was the first and only person mentioned by name among the "greats of the Kingdom" at the acclamation of King Sebastião in 1557. His hatred towards Queen Catarina (then regent during Sebastião's minority) brought him closer to Prince Luís and the latter's son, António, Prior of Crato, favouring his at least tacit adherence to the resistance against Philip II's pretensions and, consequently, to the patriotic episode of the False Sebastian of Ericeira.