Raimundo de Lencastre
4th Duque de Aveiro
(1631–66)

Biographical

4th Duque de Aveiro 1637–66†
8th Duque de Maqueda, Grandee of Spain 1657–66†
2nd Duque de Torres Novas 1632 (inv. 1633)
1st Duque de Ciudad Real [Cittareale], Grandee of Spain 1664–66†
Duque de Baños, Grandee of Spain, 1st class 1661
9th Marqués de Elche 1657–66†
Senhor de Penella
Señor de Aspe
Señor de Planas
Señor de Patraix
Señor de San Silvestre
Señor de Torrijos
Senhor de Abiul
Señor de Alcabón
Señor de El Campillo
9th Señor de Riaza
Señor de Monasterio
Senhor de Condeixa
Senhor de Cezimbra
Senhor de Santiago do Cacém
Senhor de Sines
Señor de Montemor-o-Velho
Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece 1662
Adelantado Mayor of Granada 1657–66†
Alcaide Mayor of Toledo 1657–66†
Alcaide of Almería
Alcaide of Chincilla
Alcaide of Sax
Alcaide of la Mota de Medina
Captain General of the Galleys [Spain]
Captain General of the Armada of the Ocean Sea Fleet [Spain]

In 1637, Raimundo won a legal dispute brought by his uncle, the Marquis of Porto Seguro, who sought recognition as the legitimate heir to Raimundo’s late mother, the Duchess. During the reign of João IV, Raimundo was too young to play a significant political role. In 1659, the regent, Luísa de Gusmão, appointed him commander of the forces in Alentejo, but he soon abandoned his post and secretly travelled to Brest before proceeding to Madrid, having agreed with Fernando Teles de Faro to go to Castile. The Portuguese ambassador in Paris, the Count of Soure, suspected his intentions and tried to prevent his departure, warning him that his actions would betray Portugal, which had regained its independence and placed a legitimate king on the throne. Raimundo rejected the ambassador’s appeals and went to Madrid, where the Spanish king received him favourably and granted him the title of Duke of Ciudad Real (said to have been replaced with that of Baños). However, he soon encountered disdain at the Spanish court and was refused permission to serve in the military campaign of 1661. In Portugal, he was sentenced to death symbolically and his estates were confiscated in 1663. His widowed mother, the Duchess of Torres Novas, and his sister, Maria Guadalupe, had also been ordered to leave Portugal and joined him in Madrid. In 1665, Raimundo advised the Spanish Crown to launch a naval expedition against Portuguese ports, including Setúbal or Lisbon. He was authorised to prepare a fleet of thirty ships and twenty galleys at Cádiz to transport 8,000 men. Delays in the arrival of the Spanish treasure fleet from the Americas postponed the expedition until the following year, when Raimundo sailed from Cádiz with fifteen ships. He captured the small fort of Baleeira but was repelled by the artillery at Sagres. He then captured Berlenga Island before returning to Cádiz without undertaking further operations. Raimundo was the heir to his cousin, Teresa de Mendoza Manrique de Cárdenas, 7th Duchess of Maqueda, who died in 1657.

Place of birth: Azeitão
Place of death: Guadix
Place of burial: Convent of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Cádiz

Son of Jorge de Lencastre and Ana María Manrique de Cárdenas, he was married in 1664 to Claire de Ligne, with no issue. He had illegitimate issue by Joana N:
• Pedro, †1676; left for Castile and joined the military there; killed in battle in Sicily