ABSTRACT
On 15 December 1636 a battered Portuguese Indiaman, the Nossa Senhora de Saúde, limped into the port of Málaga after a long and difficult voyage from Goa. On board was D. Miguel de Noronha, fourth Count of Linhares, who was returning to Europe after an absence of almost eight years as Viceroy of Portuguese India. By the winter of 1636–37 there was an intense struggle in progress within the Council of Portugal over the extent to which centralization should be accepted, with some members deeply suspicious of the implied erosion of Portuguese liberties. Soon about half of settled Brazil had fallen to the Dutch company. The damage to the Portuguese economy was considerable, while the monarchy as a whole experienced a humiliating loss of reputation. Linhares’s strategy on the Pernambuco command was to prolong negotiations, and try to hold out for the largest force possible.
