Military service in the East and in Europe

He left for India for the first time in 1538, on the fleet's flagship that transported viceroy Dom Garcia de Noronha, his cousin. Later, under the government of Noronha's successor, governor Dom Estevão da Gama, he joined an expedition to the Red Sea, and - after the Battle of El Tor - he was formally knighted by da Gama in Saint Catherine's Monastery, at the foot of Mount Sinai, in April 1541.^[3] This episode would become famous, considered one of the greatest feats of chivalry in history, later celebrated in Europe, with Emperor Charles V saying that he was "envious of those who had been armed as knights at the foot of Mount Sinai".^[4]

After the arrival in Goa of a new governor, Martim Afonso de Sousa, Ataíde returned to Portugal, where he became the heir to his father's estates, as his eldest brother had meanwhile died in combat in the Portuguese possessions in Morocco.

Ambassador to the court of Charles V

In February 1547, King João III appointed him ambassador to the court of Charles V, Emperor of the Holy Empire.

He left Portugal on March 5 and arrived at the emperor's camp, located on the banks of the Elbe River in Saxony, on April 17 - that is, seven days before the battle that was to take place at Mühlberg.

On April 21, he was received by the emperor and went with him to mass. He told him of his desire to participate in the forthcoming battle against the Protestants and Charles V reacted by "expressing contentment ... for his intention to serve on the expedition".

Ataíde thus participated in the battle that resulted in one of the greatest military victories of Charles V - and a resounding defeat for the Lutherans of the Schmalkaldic League, which would lead to its subsequent dissolution. He stood out for his courage in combat, and the emperor rewarded him on the occasion by offering him a plate armour.

This combat experience was also an opportunity for Dom Luís de Ataíde to learn military techniques in land warfare, with the greatest specialists of his time, such as the emperor himself and the 3rd Duke of Alba - applied by a multinational army of about 25,000 men and 8,000 horsemen. Such knowledge, in conjunction with the practice of naval warfare which he had already gained in the East, would help build his reputation for high competence in military matters.^[5]

At the beginning of 1548, he returned to Portugal, and years later, in 1555, he was confirmed by king João III as lord of the town of Atouguia, on the death of his father. He then occupied himself with the defense of his territory, that was a constant target of attacks by French corsairs.^[6] And he was careful to stay away from the political struggles and intrigues that followed the death of king João III, concerning the regencies, first of Catarina of Austria and then of Cardinal Dom Henrique.

Dom Luís de Ataíde, in the Lyvro das Plataformas das Fortalezas da India, by Manuel Godinho de Erédia

In 1567, in a clear sign of rapprochement to the royal court, he was appointed supervisor of the main Hospital in Lisbon. And, shortly after the new king Sebastian I effectively took over the government of Portugal, he was appointed 10th viceroy of India, in March 1568. He was granted enhanced powers in relation to his predecessors, including the right to decree death sentences and to provide entitlements in his own name instead of the King's.

Conquering ports and patrolling the seas

At first he maintained the policies of his predecessor. But, in the following year, he began to show his military side. Acting in order to prevent the sultan of Bijapur from taking possession of the city of Honnavar - which was a haven for pirates - in November 1569, at the head of an armada of 110 ships, he conquered that city, where the Portuguese later on built a fortress.

At the attack on Honavar, Ataíde sailed in a brigantine, accompanied by a famous musician playing a harp.^[7] When the musician stopped playing as shots fell all around, Ataíde insisted that he continue the tune.^[7] When he was requested to take better cover as his death could mean the failure of the expedition, he answered that if he were killed "there are men enough who are fit to succeed me".^[7]

In 1570, writing to King Sebastian, Ataíde claimed success at patrolling the seas, for in that year only 2 ships had managed to escape Portuguese control, while traveling from Calicut to Mecca, compared to 16 or 18 ships in previous years.^[8]

The War of the League of the Indies

Despite these initial military successes, a very serious threat remained, resulting from the fact that the Indian princes and potentates had allied themselves, in a large Islamic coalition, with the intention of expelling the Portuguese from the Indian Ocean (the Portuguese chronicler, António Pinto Pereira, called this coalition the "League of the kings of India", but the resulting conflict is usually referred to as the "War of the League of the Indies").^[9]

The partition of the territories to be conquered had already been decided by the Indian coalition.

The sultan of Bijapur (called "Hidalcão" by the Portuguese) would march on Goa and take that city, and also Honnavar. The sultan of Ahmadnagar, Murtaza Nizam Shah I (whom the Portuguese called "Nizam Melek") would take Chaul, Daman and Vasai; and the Zamorin of Calicut was assigned to conquer the cities of Mangalor, Cananor, Chale, and Cochin.

Military victories over the Sultans of Bijapur and Amadanagar

The viceroy's defense strategy was based, from the very start of the combats, on seeking at all costs to keep the possession of the fortresses under threat of siege, with special emphasis on the strategic city of Chaul - which would prove to be decisive for the outcome, favorable to the Portuguese.

Surrounded in Goa by the large army of the Ali Adil Shah I (35 thousand horsemen, 60 thousand infantrymen and 2 thousand elephants, according to contemporary sources), Dom Luís de Ataíde was able to send military help to Chaul (despite the ecclesiastical opposition in Goa, which advised abandoning that fortress) and to carry out frequent counter-attacks.

In the defense of Goa, the viceroy introduced the unprecedented tactic of defending the city from 19 bases installed on its outer perimeter, with garrisons equipped with "large and smallish" artillery. He also involved the Catholic chapter of Goa in the defense of the city, arming hundreds of members of the Franciscan and Dominican religious orders and determined the formation of military companies of slaves and "indigenous Christians", under Portuguese command.^[1]

Murtaza Nizam Shah I launched a major attack on Chaul on June 29, 1571, which was however successfully defended by Dom Francisco Mascarenhas - and this allowed for the signing of a truce the following month. And, in August 1571, after suffering heavy losses (8 thousand men, 4 thousand horses, 300 elephants and 150 artillery pieces), Ali Adil Shah I lifted the siege of Goa.^[9]

In the final balance, with only 2,500 men-at-arms, Ataíde successfully faced the 5 sieges imposed on the Portuguese fortresses in India, in the period from 1570 to 1571. He had thus managed to overcome the last major political and military challenge faced by the Estado da Índia, before the arrival of new European opponents in the region, at the end of the 16th century.^[3]

Ataíde delayed the signing of a formal peace with Ali Adil Shah I, in an attempt to impose tougher conditions on him. He left to his successor the job of concluding the negotiations and he departed from Goa on January 6, 1572, having completed his viceroyal mandate.

Map of the city of Honnavar, taken by Dom Luís de Ataíde in 1569, with the fortress built by the Portuguese

Donation of the Kingdom of Kotte to the Portuguese monarch (1580)

He also dedicated his attention to the Portuguese interests in the island of Ceylon, giving them priority in the allocation of military resources - which were not enough to help all the vast possessions of the Estado da Índia.

He thus considered Ceylon more central to the Portuguese position in the East than the presence in other places equally in need of military support, such as Aceh. It was during the second term of Ataíde, in 1580, that the King of Kotte, Dom João Dharmapala, bequeathed his kingdom to the King of Portugal,^[13] a fundamental decision that would later serve to legitimize many decades of Portuguese sovereignty and territorial dominion in a large part of Ceylon.^[14]

Nearly before his death, Ataíde received as a gift from Fernão Teles de Meneses (who would succeed him in the government of Goa), the famous posthumous portrait of Luís de Camões, dated from Goa, year 1581.^[15]

The famous posthumous portrait of Luís de Camões, offered to Dom Luís de Ataíde by Fernão Teles de Meneses

Marquess of Santarém

Marquis of Santarém was a title created by a secret decree, in 1580, by King Filipe I, to be granted to Dom Luís de Ataíde, on the assumption that he would accept proclaiming the Habsburg monarch as sovereign, in the Estado da Índia.

The decree was carried by the newly appointed viceroy, Dom Francisco Mascarenhas, but it ultimately didn't produce legal effects - because Mascarenhas, who left Lisbon on April 8, only arrived in India in September 1581, six months after the death of Dom Luís de Ataíde, in Goa.

The concession of this title was very meaningful, for it would place Ataíde in the position of the fifth most important aristocrat of the kingdom of Portugal, after the Dukes of Bragança and Aveiro and the Marquises of Vila Real and Ferreira - which clearly demonstrates the importance that Filipe I attributed to obtaining Ataíde's support for his proclamation as sovereign in Portuguese India.^[16]

Death and stance on the succession crisis of 1580

He died on March 10, 1581, at the age of 65, shortly after having received news of the aftermath of the military disaster at Alcácer Quibir and the death of the Cardinal-king Henry.

But he probably never got to know about the aftermath of the Battle of Alcântara and the proclamation of Philip I as king of Portugal. One of the last letters written by Ataíde, dated October 1580 and addressed to the Council of governors of the kingdom, insists above all on his desire to return to Portugal, where he needed to ensure the succession of the house of the counts of Atouguia; it is thus not possible to corroborate reports from later chroniclers, according to which he tended to sympathize with the pretender Dom António, Prior of Crato.

The fact that some of his closest relatives, such as his nephews Lopo de Brito (who should not be confused with his grandfather and namesake, Lopo de Brito, 2nd captain of Ceylon) and Cristóvão de Brito, supported Dom António (they fought for him and died in the battle of Alcântara), is not enough to conclude that Ataíde's political position was identical.^[17]

A sentence attributed to him shortly before his death ("I die when everything is against Portugal") is not mentioned in 16th century sources, and - if it was actually uttered - could be interpreted as mere resignation in the face of developments in the distant kingdom, not susceptible to be influenced from Goa.

Furthermore, Ataíde was well acquainted with the powerful armies of Charles V, on whose side he had fought as a young man, and he had met the Emperor's son, Philip II of Spain (later to become also Philip I of Portugal) and his military commander, the 3rd Duke of Alba. It thus does not seem very plausible that - under the hypothesis, not proven, that he was aware of the outcome of the battle of Alcântara - he would believe in the likelihood of a military victory by the pretender Dom António, against such formidable opponents.

His tomb is today at the Church of Santa Casa da Misericórdia, in Peniche.^[18]

Succession to his estates and titles

The title of count of Atouguia would later pass to the descendants of a paternal aunt of Dom Luís de Ataíde, Dona Isabel da Silva de Ataíde, who was married to Simão Gonçalves da Câmara, 'the Magnificent', donatary of the island of Madeira.

The son of this marriage was Luís Gonçalves de Ataíde, who married Violante da Silva, daughter of Francisco Carneiro, 2nd donatary of Ilha do Príncipe.

Dom João Gonçalves de Ataíde, who would inherit the title as 4th Count of Atouguia, was their firstborn son.

The succession of the title and house of Atouguia would thus not follow the line closest to the primogeniture - that is, to the descendants of the marriage of a sister of Dom Luís de Ataíde, Helena de Ataíde, with Tristão da Cunha (grandson of his namesake, Tristão da Cunha, the famous navigator), who a few generations later would be granted the titles of Count of Pontével, Count of Povolide and Count of Sintra.

Thus were the personal wishes and preferences of Dom Luís de Ataíde fulfilled. For he many times expressed his desire for the house of Atouguia to eventually pass on to the descendants of a collateral branch of the Câmara family, counts of Calheta, who were then very influential in the royal court, rather than to the Cunha family - who despite representing a more ancient lineage, dating back to the foundation of the Kingdom of Portugal, didn't have any member who held a nobility title in Portugal, at that time (the many titled members of the Cunha family were all from branches who had emigrated from Portugal to Castille, since the Middle Ages).^[20]

In literature

Luís de Camões dedicated a sonnet to him, with the title "A D. Luís de Ataíde, Vizo-Rei", which, curiously, ends with the same word ("inveja", meaning envy) with which the poet concludes his epic poem "Os Lusíadas":^[21]

(...)

what gives you more name in the world,

is to vanquish, my lordship, in the friendly Kingdom,

so much ingratitude, so much envy!

  (Luís de Camões, Sonnets, "A D. Luís de Ataíde, Vizo-Rei")

Other distinguished authors, such as the humanist André de Resende^[22] and José Agostinho de Macedo,^[23] also dedicated works to him.

Namesakes

In Portugal, the cities of Porto,^[24] Barreiro and Peniche, as well as a parish in the municipality of Sintra, have streets named after him. His name was also given to a group of schools in Peniche.^[25]