Brites de Menezes, 2nd Countess of Vila Real
Dona Brites de Menezes (1400 – c.1460) (sometimes modernized as 'Beatriz de Meneses') was a Portuguese noblewoman.
She was the 2nd Countess of Vila Real from 1437, a title she shared with her consort, Fernando de Noronha.
Brites de Meneses was the eldest legitimate daughter of D. Pedro de Menezes, 1st Count of Vila Real and Margarida de Miranda.
On October 30, 1430, Brites married the Castilian-Portuguese nobleman Fernando de Noronha, the son of two bastard lines of the royal houses of Portugal and Castile (i.e. Fernando de Noronha was a grandson of Henry II of Castile and Ferdinand I of Portugal).
Brites de Meneses competed with her half-brother Duarte de Menezes (born illegitimate, but legitimized by royal letter) to secure the inheritance of her father's titles for herself and her husband.
Upon her father Pedro de Meneses' death in 1437, the titles were distributed - the crown-granted title of Count of Vila Real went to Brites and Fernando, while the older family title of Count of Viana do Alentejo went to Duarte.
Brites de Menezes had two legitimate sons from her marriage to Fernando de Noronha:
Sérgio Menezes
Sérgio Franco de Menezes is a retired Brazilian sprinter.
Duke of Vila Real
Duke of Vila Real( in Portuguese" Duque de Vila Real") was a Portuguese title of nobility created by royal decree, dated from February 28, 1585, by King Philip I of Portugal( also known as Philip II of Spain), and granted to" Dom" Manuel de Menezes, 5th Marquis of Vila Real and 7th Count of Vila Real.
The title was granted by the King in one life, to the 5th Marquis of Vila Real, due his personal support to the Spanish Habsburgs during the 1580 Portuguese succession crisis.
S.C. Vila Real
Sport Clube Vila Real"( abbreviated as SC Vila Real)" is a Portuguese football club based in Vila Real in the district of Vila Real.
Isabella FitzRoy, Duchess of Grafton
Isabella Bennet FitzRoy, Duchess of Grafton and later 2nd Countess of Arlington" suo jure"( c. 1668 – 7 February 1723), was a British peer and heiress.
Fernando de Noronha, 2nd Count of Vila Real
Dom Fernando de Noronha( Burgos, c. 1380 — Ceuta, 2 or 3 June 1445) was a 15th- century Castilian- Portuguese nobleman.
He was the 2nd Count of Vila Real, a title which he acquired and shared by his marriage to Brites de Menezes, 2nd Countess of Vila Real and the third Portuguese governor of Ceuta from 1437.
Fernando de Noronha united two prominent bastard lines of the crowns of Castile and Portugal.
He was the second son from the marriage of Alfonso Enríquez, Count of Gijón and Noreña( a natural son of King Henry II of Castile) and Isabel of Portugal, Lady of Viseu( a natural daughter of King Ferdinand I of Portugal).
After the death of Alfonso Enríquez in 1398, Isabel fled to the court of her uncle, King John I of Portugal.
Her children were raised in the Portuguese court, where they were known by their appellation" Noronha"( Portuguese translation of Noreña).
Fernando's elder brother, Pedro de Noronha, would become an Archbishop of Lisbon.
On 18 October 1430, Fernando de Noronha married Brites de Menezes, the daughter of the prominent Portuguese nobleman Pedro de Menezes, 1st Count of Vila Real and first Portuguese governor of Ceuta.
Brites competed with her half- brother Duarte de Menezes for her father's titles for herself and her consort.
Fernando de Noronha secured the office of counciller and chamberlain in the household of the royal prince and heir Infante Edward.
By a royal letter issued September 1434 by the now- enthroned King Edward of Portugal, Fernando and Brites succeeded in securing the inheritance of her father's title of Count of Vila Real, leaving Duarte with the old family title of Count of Viana do Alentejo.
Despite Duarte's notable military record as his father's lieutenant in Ceuta, Brites managed once again to pip out Duarte and secure the appointment( October 1437) of her husband Fernando de Noronha as the next Portuguese governor of Ceuta, succeeding the late Pedro de Menezes.
Fernando de Noronha was appointed to Ceuta only days before a Portuguese expeditionary force, led by Henry the Navigator, was defeated by the army of Marinid Morocco( see Battle of Tangier( 1437)).
To save his army from destruction, Henry agreed to a treaty, signed on 17 October 1437, by which Portugal committed itself to deliver Ceuta back to the Marinids, in return for which the Portuguese prince Ferdinand the Saint Prince would remain as a hostage in Moroccan captivity until its fulfillment.
As a result, upon his arrival in Ceuta, Noronha was surprised to hear that a treaty had been signed to evacuate the garrison he had just been appointed to command.
Moreover, Prince Henry had sailed directly from Tangier to Ceuta and barricaded himself in his lodgings, sunk in a deep depression and refusing to talk with anyone.
Noronha was not sure how to proceed.
By several accounts, Fernando de Noronha was determined not to lose this lucrative perch( his predecessor had made a substantial personal fortune from ransoms and pirate kickbacks.)
Noronha probably had a role in stiffening Henry's resolve to write to King Edward from Ceuta, recommending the Portuguese renege on the treaty he had himself signed.
But Henry's older brother, Peter of Coimbra, was set on fulfilling the treaty and securing Ferdinand release.
In 1440, after Edward died and Peter became regent of the realm, ambassadors were dispatched to Asilah to negotiate the logistics of the swap of Ceuta for the captive Ferdinand.
The Marinids' preliminary condition was that Fernando de Noronha be relieved from the office of governor of Ceuta- his reputation was such that the Marinid officials were certain Noronha would contrive to prevent the swap.
Peter agreed, and in April 1440( or 1441), he dispatched D. Fernando de Castro at the head of a Portuguese flotilla, with instructions and credentials to take the city from Noronha, and begin the evacuation of the garrison.
As it happens, before his arrival, Castro's flotilla was intercepted by Genoese pirates and Castro killed- an incident in which some suspected Noronha might have had a hand( Ceuta had long served as a corsair's nest).
Nonetheless, Peter of Coimbra hurriedly instructed Fernando's son, Álvaro de Castro, to take over his father's credentials and fulfill the mission.
As it happens, the logistics of the swap turned out to be more complicated than anticipated.
Abu Zakariya Yahya al- Wattasi, the vizier of the Marinid palace of Fez, promised to deliver Ferdinand only after Ceuta was evacuated and in his hands, but Castro( under the watchful eye and counsel of Noronha) rejected the proposal, demanding possession of Ferdinand first.
Negotiations dragged on fruitlessly for the next few months, and eventually broke down.
The swap was never undertaken, Ceuta remained in Portuguese hands and Ferdinand perished in Moroccan captivity in June 1443.
Fernando de Noronha died in Ceuta in June 1445.
Fernando de Noronha and Brites de Menezes had two sons:
Vila Real Airport
Vila Real Airport is an airport located southeast of Vila Real, Portugal.
Manuel de Menezes, Duke of Vila Real
Manuel of Menezes( born ca. 1530) was the second son of Pedro de Menezes( in English, Peter( III) of Menezes) 5th Marquis of Vila Real and of his wife, Beatrice of Lara( daughter of Afonso, 8th Constable of Portugal).
Initially, he was baptized Manuel of Noronha, but when his older brother( the 4th Marquis of Vila Real) died unexpectedly without issue in 1564, he inherited his house and changed his family name from Noronha to Menezes, once this was the name used by the Heads of the House of Vila Real.
He inherited all titles and honours, becoming 5th Marquis of Vila Real as well as all the subsidiary titles of this House: 7th Count of Vila Real, 4th Count of Alcoutim, 5th Count of Valença and 7th Governor of Ceuta.
When King Sebastian of Portugal visited for the first time Ceuta," Dom" Manuel, as Governor of the city, received the monarch with extreme magnificence.
In recognition of his strong support during the 1580 Portuguese succession crisis, Philip I of Portugal rewarded him the new title of Duke of Vila Real, on 28 February 1585.
Pedro de Meneses, 1st Count of Vila Real
Dom Pedro de Menezes Portocarrero, (1370 – Ceuta, September 22, 1437) was a 15th-century Portuguese nobleman and military figure.
Pedro de Menezes (sometimes modernized as 'de Meneses') was the 2nd Count of Viana do Alentejo, 1st.
Count of Vila Real and the first Portuguese governor of Ceuta.
Pedro de Menezes was the grandson of the powerful 14th-century nobleman João Afonso Telo, 1st Count of Ourém,
1st Count of Viana do Alentejo, and 4th Count of Barcelos, and his wife Maior Portocarrero y Silva, lady of Vila Real.
Pedro was the cousin of Leonor Teles, the scandalous but powerful consort of King Ferdinand I of Portugal.
During the 1383–1385 Crisis, Pedro's father, also called João Afonso Telo like his father, had supported Beatrice of Portugal against the pretender John, Master of Aviz (the future John I).
Nonetheless, unlike many other nobles, Pedro de Menezes had been allowed to inherit his father's title of Count of Viana
do Alentejo and proved himself a faithful loyalist of the usurper king
John I
He also inherited the Castilian lordships of Ayllón and Aguilar from relatives, but these titles were not recognized in Portugal.
Count of Alcoutim
Count of Alcoutim( in Portuguese" Conde de Alcoutim") was a Portuguese title of nobility, subsidiary to the one of Marquis of Vila Real, created by a royal decree, dated from November 15, 1496, by King John II of Portugal, and granted to" Dom" Fernando de Menezes, also known as Ferdinand II of Menezes, 2nd Marquis of Vila Real, 4th Count of Vila Real and 2nd Count of Valença.
Ferdinand of Menezes had married" Dona" Maria Freire de Andrade, Lady of Alcoutim, and through her wife he inherited these estates.

Question: Where was the place of death of Brites De Menezes, 2Nd Countess Of Vila Real's father?