A sad movie, as are many stories of people who die for their ideals. Here is the story of my Xavier de Carvalho branch, and the tragic end of my 1st cousin 5 times removed, José Peregrino Xavier de Carvalho, who was executed in the Pernambucan Revolt of 1817. His father, Augusto Xavier de Carvalho, and his uncle José Maria Xavier de Carvalho – my 4th great-grandfather, were also arrested for their involvement in it.
José Peregrino joined the military at an early age. His father requested a special dispensation, so he could join a military school, ”assentando praça com pão e soldo”, in 1804. He would be a mere six years old. According to Abilio Bandeira (see below), he was born on 18 Aug 1798 to the Portugal native Augusto Xavier de Carvalho, and his wife Jacintha de Mello Muniz.
The Pernambucan Revolt was a Brazilian nativist movement against the Portuguese crown’s absolutism, based on French Revolution ideals. The Portuguese court had moved to Brazil evading the Napoleonic troops in 1808, and the prosperous Brazilian Northeast, still producing plenty of sugar, was largely responsible for supporting its costly maintenance. The revolt had ample support among the military, whose wages were delayed due to the court’s high expenses, and the clergy. This movement was a precursor and gave momentum to what would come to pass in 1822 when Brazil broke its colonial ties with the metropolis. During the Pernambucan Revolt, the first proclamations of Brazilian independence from Portugal happened. In my family’s hometown of Mamanguape, this was carried out by my fourth great-grandfather.
The movement had the support of the United States and from officers from the disbanded troops who served under Napoleon Bonaparte, that even had a plan to set him free from the island of Saint Helena, to take him to Pernambuco, and ultimately to New Orleans. The stuff of movies! Much of the history of this movement, including the involvement of the Xavier de Carvalho men, is found in the book O Brazil Heroico em 1817, by Alipio Bandeira.
My 4th great-grandfather proclaimed the independence of his town, along with the local priest. His brother Augusto was also enthusiastic about the independence, as was José Peregrino, who traveled to the neighboring province of Rio Grande do Norte to bring news that Brazil was severing ties with Portugal. During his absence, troops loyal to the crown arrived to Mamanguape, making arrests and looking for the conspirators.
The account of Augusto’s attempt to dissuade José Peregrino are dramatic:
Once it became clear that the locals would not prevail and the arrests started, Augusto and José Maria certainly worried about not only their fate, but José Peregrino, who was a soldier and would face harsher consequences, as Alipio Bandeira writes.
The hand of the crown, by the authority of the Count of Arcos (Marcos de Noronha e Brito), was swift, punishing the young officers who committed crime de lesa-majestade, a direct attempt against the crown. José Peregrino, arrested and sent to Fort Cabedello in Recife, Pernambuco, was executed on 21 Aug 1817, along with other members of the military. His body was quartered, his severed head and hands sent back to this home province of Paraíba, displayed at the steps of the Our Lady of Lourdes Church.
Augusto and José Maria Xavier de Carvalho were sent to Salvador, Bahia, where they awaited their trial. Both brothers had their assets seized. A letter by my fourth great-grandmother, Antônia Maria de Padilha, José Maria’s wife, exists in the National Archives, though I have not yet been able to obtain a copy. It makes a plea for her husband’s return, noting she was left in their sugarcane farm with five young daughters, one of them being my third great-grandmother, Francisca de Paula de Vasconcellos e Carvalho, born around November 1815, still a toddler when her father was arrested. She would not meet him again until she was around seven.
Both José Maria and Augusto went through lengthy trials, and were eventually acquitted after four years in prison. Augusto Xavier de Carvalho went on to serve in public office, including member of the national assembly to draft the first constitution of Brazil as a free country, no longer a Portuguese colony. He cosponsored the freedom of the press bill. It is not known where and when he died.
José Maria returned to his home and due to the poor state of the Mamanguape church books I could not establish when he died, either. He returned not too long before, finally, Brazil became independent. Their lives were already changed, in great part, for they had been important agents on the local level to raise a movement that would cost lives, including his nephew’s, but it would propel the country towards the future. This ancestry line is interesting because it is widely mentioned in history books, and primary documents have survived in the Tombo Tower Archives in Portugal, enough to create a rich portrait of the lives of the Xavier de Carvalho family.
On a side note, I have two other ancestors who were imprisoned during the Pernambucan Revolt, for entirely different reasons, but this is a subject for another post, and their eventful lives, too, would make an interesting movie.