| Notes |
- Lanzarote de Agrela belonged to the important family of Agrelas de Alenquer, and must be the son of another Lanzarote, who was very active in the region of Machico in the first two decades of the 17th century. The name Lançarote is atypical, however, portraying the adventurous spirit of its time, full of sea voyages and discoveries, as correctly stated by Joaquim Teophilo Braga in his work História da Literattura Portugueza (1871). If the hypothesis of my ancestor's affiliation is correct, then I believe that Lanzarote was born in Machico, where he was educated in his father's business dealings. Around 1540, he moved to Calheta, where he managed a property in the village of Prazeres. It was possibly there that he met Ana Morante, whose affiliation remains unknown. Out of this love, three girls were born before they got married. Surely, under pressure from the family, they were forced to marry in 1552 in Calheta. Soon after this marriage, they moved to Funchal, settling in Carreira Velha dos Cavalos, where Lançote's aunt, Catarina de Agrela (+ 31.III.1553) lived. In Funchal they had three more children. With the death of his aunt Catarina, Lanzarote became his heir and executor. Despite this patrimonial gain, the family's wealth declined in the following years, perhaps due to financial losses (Additions: 455-459 by Ernesto Gonçalves in Menezes Vaz 1964) in the sugar culture, so common on the island. In 1563 he was already an Ordinary Judge of the Funchal City Council, being re-elected on 13.I.1570 (Vereações, f8, no ADF) (Menezes Vaz, 1960, pg 457). Lanzarote died in Funchal on 21.I.1581, but left no will, but a mention in his death seat in the Funchal Cathedral, where he says he was buried in the Monastery of the Nuns:
(L5 f94) # On January 23, 1581 the habitual death in this city of Funchal LANÇAROTE DAGRELLA moved into the Musteiro das Freiras with the constitutions of this bishopric and his water ANNA MORANTE obliged to make him three officers according to his charity and the said cure I wrote it \\ Vicente Affonso.
His impoverished widow, Ana Morante, was exempt from paying the sum of 200 $ 000 reais to put two daughters in the Santa Clara convent. This was done thanks to the intervention made by her cousin Joana Rodrigues de Mondragão, sister of her eponymous cousin, as attested by an excerpt from Joana's will dated 28.II.1594:
(....) I declare that I took Zenóbio Achiole, my son-in-law, two hundred thousand reais owed to him by the nuns and for the purpose of Lanzarote de Agrella and his wife, my cousin, to put two daughters in the monastery, the koalas two hundred thousand reais , if there is a farm of the dittos Lanzarote de Agrella and his wife to pay themselves, I order that they do not speak to him and pay them (....) (source: Additions: 455-459 in Menezes Vaz 1964)
In the text above, it is clear that Joana transformed the amount that Zenóbio would receive from the Nuns of Santa Clara, in the amount that the widow Ana would have to pay to put her daughters in the same convent. Passing the debt to Joana. In 1598, possibly, with Ana already deceased, the debt proved to be unpayable for also widow Joana, who wrote in her codex the following term:
(....) to the heirs of Lanzarote de Agrella, because they owed them according to the script made for the said Lanzarote de Agrella (....) (source: Additions: 455-459 in Menezes Vaz 1964)
If the family were not in a position to honor such debt, Joana's codicle stipulated that the amount should be deducted from the larger amount of assets she left and paid to her son-in-law.
- Parents names do not appear to be listed on marriage record - handwriting is very hard to read. Unable to find anyone who can confidently translate it.
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- 1581
