Pires against Camargos

Pires against Camargo or the War of the Pires against the Camargo was a rivalry that took place in the town of São Paulo, between the 1640s and 1660s, in which the two families came into conflict for different reasons. Leading to assassinations between both sides. The Pires and Camargo had political and military leaders, owners of huge wheat farms in Serra da Cantareira, therefore they competed for supremacy in São Paulo. The rivalry in the dispute for command of the Chamber was the main reason for the conflict.

The dispute began around 1640, when Alberto Pires murdered Leonor de Camargo Cabral, his wife, and also António Pedroso de Barros, his brother-in-law. It is not certain whether Alberto wanted the murder or whether he had hit his wife by chance, and, without knowing how to justify his death, he also killed his brother-in-law and accused the dead of adultery.

The beginning of the rivalry
The historian Afonso de Escragnolle Taunay says about this war in Ensaios Paulistas, 1958:

The truncation and lack of documentation does not allow the narrative to be written, as the facts are obscure, but it should not be linked to the acclaim of Amador Bueno or the expulsion of the Jesuits. Says Taunay: "Such a prolonged struggle, in fact intermittent, was born from mere rivalry between clan leaders, for no reason other than personalism, family spirit and the gregarious tendency so vehement in small agglomerations." According to the genealogist Pedro Taques, the conflict began in 1640 in a true battle causing many deaths and injuries that took place in the streets of São Paulo, between the two factions whose leaders they were João Pires and Pedro Taques on one side and on the other Fernão de Camargo, nicknamed the Tiger. They had engaged in a singular duel, helped by their followers. The following year, Taques was murdered in false faith by the contender", it is said that behind his back and in a churchyard.

Many Taques supporters left, settling mainly in Parnaíba. Debalde Salvador Correia de Sá came to try to calm the situation, asking for peace from those living in São Paulo and for them to go into the backlands in search of mines. The situation worsened with the arrival on the scene of the town's bellicose new vicar, Domingos Gomes de Albernaz. He feuded with his parishioners and the Chamber and was visibly the agent in São Paulo of Salvador Correia de Sá and the Rio de Janeiro authorities committed to restitution to the Jesuits to his college. He would end up expelled from the village in 1646 and in May of that year he solemnly excommunicated his parishioners and the Chamber reacted in a daring letter in which he accused him of being a slave of the Jesuits.

The Murder of Leonor de Camargo Cabral
There were very turbulent years, says Afonso E. de Taunay, “the warring factions did not lay down their weapons. And as a consequence, the pace of Bandeirantism decreased noticeably, as was to be expected. Alberto Pires' crime unexpectedly occurred on Leonor de Camargo Cabral, his wife and, as was said at the time, on Antônio Pedroso de Barros, a great bandeirante who Alberto also killed in an ambush. Now, it was later proven that Antônio perished at the hands of his rebellious Indians. Alberto Pires was murdered by the Camargos, in reprisal.

The Pires, led by Fernão Dias, then opposed Fernão de Camargo's brother, José Ortiz de Camargo, taking office in the São Paulo ombudsman's office. There was later an agreement negotiated by the Pires, on 12 May 1653, by which the Jesuits returned to their college with a formal promise not to shelter runaway Indians nor to publish the papal brief of Urbano VIII about the freedom of the Gentile. The two factions continued their fight until the agreement

of February 9 of 1654, by which Ortiz took over the Ombudsman's Office, but did not fulfill what he promised, and also lost the support of the General Government with the departure of the Count of Castelo Melhor, replaced by a magistrate closely linked to Pires. The fight was reignited, but there are only details and details, largely obscure. An ecclesiastical intervention promoted yet another attempt at pacification, which resulted in representatives from both parties going to Bahia to come to an understanding with the new governor-general, Jerónimo de Ataíde, Count of Atouguia. From the mission came an ordinance on November 24, 1655 granting general amnesty.

Atouguia was succeeded in the government by Francisco Barreto de Meneses who requested an expedition designed to “suppress the rushes of the gentiles through the Bahian backlands”. It was organized under the command of Fernando de Camargo and Domingos Barbosa Calheiros, both leaders of the Camargos faction. They arrived in Salvador in October 1658 but the expedition had an unsuccessful outcome.

The riots in São Paulo were renewed in 1659, with Fernão Dias Pais facing off against José Ortiz de Camargo. Francisco Barreto even talked about personally going to accommodate the situation, he ended up dispatching the ombudsman and he was successful: with the parties exhausted, the two opposing leaders signed the agreement of January 1, 1660 and returned to the activity of the sertanista companies. Other sources point to January 25, 1660, as the date of signing of the peace agreement.

Marriage and posterity
Silva Leme studies his descendants in Volume I of his «Genealogia Paulistana».

The genealogist says:

«Captain Fernão de Camargo, nicknamed the Tiger, held the position of ordinary judge in S. Paulo (we find him in that position in 1653) and was already married in 1630, when his mother died, with Mariana do Prado, daughter of the Spaniard João de Santa Maria, born in Castile (who came to Brazil as secretary of D. Francisco de Sousa) and Filipa do Prado (Tit. Lemes Cap. 1 § 9.º). With his brother José Ortiz de Camargo captain Fernão de Camargo was the head of the Camargos party, which rose up against the Pires party, led by João Pires and his son-in-law Francisco Nunes de Siqueira (the Redeemer of the Fatherland (Tit. Pires Cap. 10th). The author of Nobiliarquia Paulistana Pedro Taques de Almeida accuses Fernão de Camargo as the murderer (the false faith) of Pedro Taques in Largo da Sé (then the main church of S. Paulo) in 1641. See what we wrote about this crime in Tit Taques. 1st., this is partly attenuated because it was the result of a conspiracy. We did not discover the date of death, nor the inventory of Captain Fernão de Camargo, however, we discovered the following 14 children;


 * 1) Captain Fernando Ortiz de Camargo o Moço who was captain under the orders of the captain-general Domingos Barbosa Calheiros «in the expedition against the gentile barbarians of the backlands of Bahia in 1658 . He married Joana Lopes, daughter of Gonçalo Lopes, born in the parish of Santa Marinha, Portugal, and Catarina da Silva, born in São Paulo, paternal granddaughter of Pedro Lopes and Ana da Costa, maternal granddaughter of Cosme da Silva and Isabel Gonçalves. He died in 1690 leaving 13 children. Reminded by the governor-general to fight the Anaiós Indians in the backlands of the São Francisco River, in 1677, he did not follow, due to agitated political issues.
 * 2) Captain Francisco de Camargo Santa Maria; he was an ordinary judge by ordination in 1696 in São Paulo, and was married to Maria de Siqueira e Albuquerque, daughter of Captain Duarte Pacheco de Albuquerque, from Portugal, and Simona de Siqueira, by this granddaughter of Aleixo Jorge and by Maria Nunes de Siqueira (Tit. Jorges Velhos). Bandeirante with Francisco Pedroso Xavier against Paraguayan reductions. He died in 1714, leaving six children.
 * 3) José Ortiz de Camargo married Maria das Neves Pires f.ª of Antonio das Neves and Messia Pires Rodrigues.
 * 4) João Ortiz de Camargo was married to Messia Rodrigues, † in 1687, daughter of João Pires and Messia Rodrigues.
 * 5) Manuel Ortiz de Camargo died in 1699 and was married to Maria Bueno de Siqueira f.ª of Lourenço de Siqueira de Mendonça and Maria Bueno.
 * 6) Colonel Lucas de Camargo Ortiz was baptized in 1642 in S. Paulo, and married Izabel Rodrigues, daughter of Balthazar de Godoy and Antonia Preto.
 * 7) Father Domingos de Camargo
 * 8) Ana Maria de Camargo who was married to Captain Manuel da Costa Duarte, who died in 1701, who held the position of captain in command of the group destined to discover gold mines and other metals in the southern backlands in 1679
 * 9) Gabriela Ortiz
 * 10) Maria de Camargo was married to Manoel das Neves Gil † in 1659.
 * 11) Leonor Domingues de Camargo was married to Matheus de Leão, who held honorable positions in his time, † in 1698
 * 12) Captain Pedro Ortiz de Camargo killed in 1698 in

position of ordinary judge, murdered by Lieutenant General Gaspar de Godoy Collaço because of the insolence he practiced in the exercise of his position. Pedro Ortiz was empowered by the dominance he had over a large number of armed Indians, whom he conquered in the backlands. He was married to Maria de Campos.


 * 1) Mariana, baptized in 1640 and
 * 2) Filipa de Camargo, baptized in 1642