Bartolomeu Perestrello (Portuguese pronunciation: [baɾtuluˈmeu pɨɾɨʃˈtɾelu]), 1st Capitão Donatário, Lord and Governor of the Island of Porto Santo (c. 1395-1457) (also called Pedro Moniz Perestrello - his true name was Bartolomeu Perestrello, the name Moniz being later added because of his third wife Isabel Moniz) was a Portuguese navigator and explorer that, together with João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira, discovered and populated the Madeira Islands (1419-1420).
He was a son of Micer Filippo Pallastrelli (called Filipe Perestrello in Portugal), a Lombard Knight who came to Portugal some say erroneously in the train of Queen Leonor of Aragon and here he was a Nobleman of John I of Portugal, who recognized his Coat of Arms and made him a Nobleman of Coat of Arms in 1433; he married Caterina Visconti, with whom he came to Portugal in 1385, and made mercy in 1437 of two houses at the Sub-Ripas Street in the City of Coimbra. He was the son of Micer Gabriele Pallastrelli, a Lombard nobleman from and in Piacenza, Lombardy, and second wife (m. 1347) Madama Bertolina Bracciforti (married firstly to Benigna Borgognoni, by whom he had Bartolommeo Pallastrelli), paternal grandson of Gherardo Pallastrelli and wife Franceschina Forno and great-grandson of Matteo Pallastrelli and wife Benigna Scotti.[1][2][3]
Nobleman of Genoese origin and Fidalgo-Esquire of the House of Infante João, Lord of Reguengos, he was granted, as hereditary fief (capitania), the island of Porto Santo and, together with his fellow fleet commanders, started the colonization of the islands.
One of his daughters, Filipa Moniz (born c. 1455), around 1479 married Christopher Columbus, who lived in Madeira and Porto Santo. As part of the dowry, Columbus received all of Perestrello's charts of the winds and currents of the Portuguese possessions on the Atlantic, and these charts may have assisted with Columbus' discovery of the New World.
A legend attributes the responsibility for the poor vegetation of Porto Santo to him. On his first disembarkation in the island he brought one pregnant doe-rabbit that escaped and its progeny overran the island in a few years. In fact, the island was poor in water, and what seemed to be a good enterprise for him became the cause of his family financial ruin.
He married three times, firstly to Margarida Martins, without issue, secondly in 1446 to Brites Furtado de Mendonça and had issue, and thirdly to Isabel Moniz, and had issue.
He was the brother of Rafael Perestrello, who married and had issue, ancestor of the Perestrellos of Torres Vedras. He also had two sisters: Catarina Perestrello, married to Aires Anes de Beja, Escrivão da Puridade (a Secretary) of John I of Portugal, and Branca Dias Perestrello, Dame of Queen Eleanor of Aragon, Queen of Portugal, who was the mistress of Dom Pedro de Noronha (Castle of Gijón, 1379 - August 20, 1452), 4th Archbishop of Lisbon (1424-1452), by whom she had issue.
See also
References
- Perestrello family tree
- Genealogy of Bartolomeu Perestrello
- Renault, The Caravels of Christ
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