José Travassos Valdez
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José Lúcio Travassos Valdez (1787-1862), sole Baron and first Count of Bonfim (pron. IPA [bõ'fĩ]), Portuguese soldier and statesman.
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[edit] Early life
He was born in Elvas on 23 February 1787 and originally intended for a career in the church, but following the invasion of Portugal by Napoleon's armies under General Junot, he became active in the resistance to the occupation. When Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) landed in Portugal to eject the French, he served him as a Portuguese aide-de-camp at the Battle of Roliça and his first major victory, the Battle of Vimeiro. During the Peninsular War he became a Major Assistant in the General Staff of the Portuguese army under Marshal Beresford and is said to have fought in nine major battles. He was decorated for his services at the Battle of Albuera, 16 May 1811 (when Beresford, operating independently from Wellington, was the allied commander) and also the Battle of Salamanca, 22 July 1812, the Battle of Orthéz, 27 February 1814, and the Battle of Toulouse, 5 April 1814.
[edit] Civil Strife
After the revolution of 1820 when the British were expelled, in the struggle between Constitutionalists (the new parliamentary constitution was supported by King Joao VI) and Absolutists (supporting his younger son the Infante Miguel, a sworn enemy of democracy), Travassos Valdez was strongly on the Constitutionalist side and was engaged in putting down revolts by the Absolutists.
When Miguel became titular head of the army he had Travassos Valdez removed from his post, but after the prince overreached himself in April 1825 with an attempted coup (known as the 'Abrilada') and was sent into exile, Travassos Valdez was reinstated and was made Governor of Madeira in 1827. When, after the death of Dom Joao VI, Miguel seized power from the rightful heir, his niece Maria II, and proclaimed himself 'Absolute King', Travassos Valdez held out in Madeira until his defence of the island was overwhelmed by crushing force and he was forced to flee to England under the protection of the Royal Navy (September 1828). He joined the many refugees from Dom Miguel's tyranny and took part in the expedition of Dom Pedro, ex-Emperor of Brazil and father of Maria II, to restore his daughter to her throne and constitutional rule to Portugal. Pedro's expeditionary force landed in Portugal in 1832 and was besieged for a year in Oporto. After the Battle of Ponte Ferreira, when Dom Pedro instituted changes in his high command, Travassos Valdez exercised the functions of Adjutant-General and chief of the General Staff of the Army of Liberation. In September Travassos Valdez was severely wounded at the defence of a redoubt at the Bonfim Church, from which he later took his title of nobility. A year later he was again wounded at the siege of Lisbon, which the Constitutionalists had wrested from Dom Miguel, who was finally defeated in 1834 and sent into exile, this time permanently.
[edit] Insurrections and Political Office
Pedro died immediately after his victory and a long period of politicial unrest between competing factions began under the young queen Maria II. Governments came and went, mostly lasting only a few months. On 17 September 1835 Travassos Valdez was elevated to the peerage as Baron Bonfim. He commanded forces in the Alentejo against the Carlist general, Gómez, who was threatening the frontier. In 1837 he was invested with the command of the forces ordered against the Chartist Marshals who had rebelled, and on 28 August of that year he defeated them at the Battle of Chão de Feira. On 9 September 1837 he was appointed Minister of War and interim Foreign Minister and Minister of Marine in the second government of Sá de Bandeira. Among his acts in this office was disarming the National Guard, which had been converted into a permanent force for insurrection. On 13 March 1838 he used troops to put down a revolt by rebels who had occupied the Lisbon Arsenal, a decisive act that probably prevented the fall of the liberal government. By a Decree of D. Maria II of 4 April 1838 he was elevated to the Nobility, as Conde do Bonfim. (The family tended to use the older spelling 'Bomfim'.) He was a senator in the legislature of 1839-40, and deputy for the constituents of the district of Leiria. On 26 September 1839 he assumed the leadership of the government as Prime Minister, and provided the first period of relative stability by presiding over the eleventh government, a coalition which succeeded in remaining in office for nearly two years, until 1841. He retained the office of Foreign Minister until 28 December. Bonfim’s administration, in which he combined the posts of Prime Minister and Minister of War, lasted to 9 July 1841. Among those taking office in his ministry were Costa Cabral, Rodrigo da Fonseca and others. It was during the period of his government that various European powers (among them, the Holy See) resumed diplomatic relations with Portugal, having broken them off after the arrival of the constitutional regime. He was responsible for the foundation of the fortress of Moçâmedes in southern Angola and he promoted internal pacification in Portugal. On 26 December 1840, Portugal and the United States of America signed a Mutual Treaty of Commerce and Navigation.
[edit] Later Years and progeny
In the rebellion of Maria da Fonte, which led to the so-called Little Civil War or Patuleia, in 1846 Travassos Valdez supported the revolutionary Junta of Oporto against the more conservative forces around the Queen. As one of its military leaders, he and his army were besieged in the fortress of Torres Vedras by the Duke of Saldanha and defeated, 22-23 December 1846. Bonfim and various political associates were exiled to Angola. He escaped but was recaptured; the safe return of the exiles by the British Navy and their honourable reinstatement was a condition of the Peace negotiated by the Four Powers at the Convention of Gramido, 1847. After 1851 he was appointed head of the Supreme Council of Military Justice, and on his death in Lisbon in 1862 was accorded a state funeral.
He had married (21 February 1813) D. Jerónima Emília Godinho Valdez, daughter of José Ricardo Godinho Valdez, 14th lord Quinta de Flandres, Pombal, and administrator of N. Sr.ª das Neves and Marco, and his wife D. Maria Joana Travassos da Silveira. (Travassos Valdez's wife was his first cousin twice over, being the daughter of his father's sister and his mother's brother.) Among the most notable of his children, the eldest son José Bento Travassos Valdez became 2nd Count of Bonfim; the second son Luís Travassos Valdez (1816-1900) attained the rank of General and was a distinguished writer on military affairs; the third son Antonio Travassos Valdez (1818-1855) entered the diplomatic service, edited the first annual report of the conduct of affairs published by the Foreign Ministry and died as Portuguese ambassador to Denmark; and the fourth son was the noted travel writer Francisco Travassos Valdez (1825-1892). A sixth son, Pedro de Alcantara Travassos Valdez (1827-1887), settled in the English village of Dalwood in Devon and is buried in the graveyard of St Peter's Church there, with an elaborate headstone summarizing his father's career.
[edit] References
Principal source for this entry is Anuario da Nobreza de Portugal (Cascais: Instituto Português de Heráldica, 1964), pp.424-426.
| Preceded by: Rodrigo de Aleida Carvalhais, Baron of Robeira de Sabroso |
Prime Minister of Portugal (President of the Council of Ministers) 1839–1841 |
Succeeded by: Joaquim António de Aguiar |
| Prime Ministers of Portugal during the Constitutional Monarchy (1834-1910) |  |
|---|---|
| Marquess of Palmela - Count of Linhares - Marquess of Saldanha - José Jorge Loureiro - Duke of Terceira - Count of Lumiares - Marquess of Valença - Viscount of Sá da Bandeira - Dias de Oliveira - Viscount of Sá da Bandeira (2nd) - Baron of Ribeira de Sabrosa - Count of Bonfim - Joaquim António de Aguiar - Marquess of Palmela (2nd) - Duke of Terceira (2nd) - Marquess of Palmela (3rd) - Duke of Saldanha (2nd) - Count of Tomar - Duke of Terceira (3rd) - Duke of Saldanha (3rd) - Marquess of Loulé - Duke of Terceira (4th) - Joaquim António de Aguiar (2nd) - Duke of Loulé (2nd) - Marquess of Sá da Bandeira (3nd) - Joaquim António de Aguiar (3rd) - Count of Ávila - Marquess of Sá da Bandeira (4th) - Duke of Loulé (3rd) - Duke of Saldanha (4th) - Marquess of Sá da Bandeira (5th) - Marquess of Ávila (2nd) - Fontes Pereira de Melo - Marquess of Ávila (3rd) - Fontes Pereira de Melo (2nd) - Anselmo José Braamcamp - Rodrigues Sampaio - Fontes Pereira de Melo (3rd) - José Luciano - António Serpa - João Crisóstomo - Dias Ferreira - Hintze Ribeiro - José Luciano (2nd) - Hintze Ribeiro (2nd) - José Luciano (3rd) - Hintze Ribeiro (3rd) - João Franco - Ferreira do Amaral - Campos Henriques - Sebastião Teles - Wenceslau de Lima - Veiga Beirão - Teixeira de Sousa |
