Background
João de Castro was the son of Alvaro de Castro, civil governor of Lisbon. He was born on February 27, 1500 in Lisbon, Portugal.
João de Castro was the son of Alvaro de Castro, civil governor of Lisbon. He was born on February 27, 1500 in Lisbon, Portugal.
João de Castro became at an early age a brilliant humanist, and studied mathematics under Pedro Nunez, in company with the infante Dom Luis, son of Emanuel the First, with whom he contracted a life-long friendship.
At eighteen João de Castro went to Tangier, where he was dubbed knight by Duarte de Menezes the governor, and there he remained several years.
In 1535 he accompanied Dom Luis to the siege of Tunis, where he had the honour of refusing knighthood and reward at the hands of the great emperor Charles V. Returning to Lisbon, he received from the king the small commandership of Sao Pablo de Salvaterra in 1538.
Returning to Portugal, Joao de Castro was named commander of a fleet, in 1543, to clear the European seas of pirates; and in 1545 he was sent, with six sail, to the Indies, in the room of Martin de Sousa, who had been dismissed the viceroyalty.
The next three years were the hardest and most brilliant, as they were the last, of his life-years of battle and struggle, of glory and sorrow, of suffering and triumph.
João de Castro married Leonor de Coutinho.
