Count of Vidigueira

Count of Vidigueira (in Portuguese Conde da Vidigueira) was a Portuguese comital title of nobility awarded by King Manuel I of Portugal to Dom Vasco da Gama, who discovered the maritime route from Europe to India. The title was created by a royal decree issued in Évora on December 29, 1519, after an agreement signed in the 7th November between Vasco da Gama and Dom Jaime, Duke of Braganza, who ceded him the towns of Vidigueira and Vila de Frades, granting Vasco da Gama and his heirs and successors all the revenues and privileges related.

Vasco da Gama was then the 1st Admiral of the Seas of India and in 1524 would become the 6th Governor of Portuguese India under the title of 2nd Viceroy.

Following the expulsion of the Philippine Dynasty from the throne of Portugal in 1640, the new King John IV of Portugal granted this family the new title of Marquis of Nisa (Portuguese: Marquês de Nisa) by a royal decree dated October 18, 1646.

When the 8th Marchioness and 8th Countess, Maria Josefa da Gama, married the 3rd Count of Unhão, the three titles were later inherited by their son, Rodrigo Xavier Teles de Castro da Gama (1744–1784), who became 14th Count of Vidigueira, 7th Marquis of Nisa and 5th Count of Unhão.

”Nobreza de Portugal e do Brasil" – Vol. III, pages 48/52 and 481/490. Published by Zairol Lda., Lisbon 1989.

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