Luís de Meneses, 3rd Count of Ericeira


Luís de Meneses, 3rd Count of Ericeira was a Portuguese nobleman and military man.

Biography

He was the second son of D. Henrique de Meneses, 5th Lord of Louriçal and D. Margarida de Lima, daughter of João Gonçalves de Ataíde, 5th Count of Atouguia,
He was commander of São Cipriano de Angueira, São Martinho de Frazão and São Bartolomeu da Covilhã he was also commander the Order of Christ.
He was eight years old when the Portuguese Restoration War started in 1640, he served under the eldest son of King John IV, Theodosius of Braganza who was later Prince of Brazil; during the war, he was artillery general and later a member of the Council of State. He took part in the Battle of São Miguel in 1658, Battle of the Lines of Elvas in 1659, Battle of Ameixial in 1663 and Battle of Montes Claros in 1665. After the end as a reward for defeating Spanish troops at the countryside of rio Degebe, he received the Lordship of the town of Ansião. After the end of the war, he became Governor-at-Arms of the Province of Trás-os-Montes in 1673. Later he wrote a couple of works related to the war.
Later he was a supporter of the Duke of Beja and the crisis of the aristocracy which led to the abdication of Afonso VI of Portugal on 1667. In 1675, he returned to Lisbon where he was chosen for deputy of the Board of the Three States.
He was a victim of depression, described at the time as "bouts of melancholy" and later committed suicide at the palace in Lisbon in 1690. He was succeeded by Francisco Xavier Menezes as the Count of Ericeira.

Selected works

He also had a few manuscripts mainly written in the Castilian language, two of them were comedies in verse.