Álvaro Gonçalves Pereira, Prior

Prior

Prior is an ecclesiastical title, derived from the Latin adjective for 'earlier, first', with several notable uses.-Monastic superiors:A Prior is a monastic superior, usually lower in rank than an Abbot. In the Rule of St...

 of Crato, Portugal

Crato, Portugal

Crato is a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 398.0 km² and a total population of 3,995 inhabitants.The municipality is composed of 6 parishes, and is located in Portalegre District....

, was born to Gonçalo (Gonçalves) Pereira

Gonçalo (Gonçalves) Pereira

Dom Gonçalo Pereira, 97th Archbishop of Braga was a Portuguese clergyman, politician and audacious warrior.Raised at the palaces of King Denis of Portugal and student at the University of Salamanca, he returned to Portugal and was nominated Dean of the see of Porto and charged with negotiations...

, 97th Archbishop

Archbishop

An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...

 of Braga

Braga

Braga , a city in the Braga Municipality in northwestern Portugal, is the capital of the Braga District, the oldest archdiocese and the third major city of the country. Braga is the oldest Portuguese city and one of the oldest Christian cities in the World...

 (1326-1349) and Teresa Peres Vilarinho. at a very young age, he entered the Order of St. John of the Hospitallers. At Rhodes

Rhodes

Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...

, at the time seat of the Order, he fought the Turks

Turkish people

Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...

 in the galleys of the Hospitallers so proving his worth that the Grand Master

Grand Master (order)

Grand Master is the typical title of the supreme head of various orders of knighthood, including various military orders, religious orders and civil orders such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Orange Order...

 made him Prior of the Hospitallers in Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

. There he founded the Castle of Amieira, the palaces of Bonjardim

Cernache de Bonjardim

Cernache do Bonjardim is a parish in central Portugal. It is often wrongly spelled Sernache do Bonjardim ....

 and the Castle of Flor da Rosa, next to Crato, the seat of the Order in Portugal. He administered the Order with great zeal and won a brilliant victory at Salado. He was one of the eminent figures of the reigns of Kings Afonso IV of Portugal

Afonso IV of Portugal

Afonso IV , called the Brave , was the seventh king of Portugal and the Algarve from 1325 until his death. He was the only legitimate son of King Denis of Portugal by his wife Elizabeth of Aragon.-Biography:...

, Peter I of Portugal

Peter I of Portugal

Peter I , called the Just , was the eighth King of Portugal and the Algarve from 1357 until his death. He was the third but only surviving son of Afonso IV of Portugal and his wife, princess Beatrice of Castile....

 and Ferdinand I of Portugal

Ferdinand I of Portugal

Ferdinand I , sometimes referred to as the Handsome or rarely as the Inconstant , was the ninth King of Portugal and the Algarve, the second son of Peter I and his wife, Constance of Castile...

. He died at an advanced age ca 1375. He was the father of the Constable of Portugal

Constable of Portugal

Constable of Portugal or Constable of the Kingdom was a title created by the King of Portugal Ferdinand I in 1382, to substitute the title Alferes Mór do Reino. The constable was the second most powerful person in the kingdom, after the King of Portugal...

 Nuno Álvares Pereira

Nuno Álvares Pereira

Dom Nuno Álvares Pereira, O. Carm. , also spelled Nun'Álvares Pereira, was a Portuguese general of great success who had a decisive role in the 1383-1385 Crisis that assured Portugal's independence from Castile...

.

Offspring

Marriage was prohibited by his order, but he had 32 children, including: Pedro Álvares Pereira

Pedro Álvares Pereira

Dom Pedro Álvares Pereira was a Portuguese noble of the 14th century.He was the son of Iria Gonçalves do Carvalhal and Álvaro Gonçalves Pereira, to whom he succeed after his death as patriarch of the Pereira family and as Prior of Crato...

, Prior of Crato

Prior of Crato

The Prior of Crato , was the traditional title given to the head of the Order of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem in Portugal...

 and Master

Master (form of address)

Master is an archaic masculine title or form of address in English.- In English and Welsh society :Master was used in England for men of some rank, especially "free masters" of a trade guild and by any manual worker or servant employee to his employer , but also generally by those lower in status...

 of Calatrava

Order of Calatrava

The Order of Calatrava was the first military order founded in Castile, but the second to receive papal approval. The papal bull confirming the Order of Calatrava as a Militia was given by Pope Alexander III on September 26, 1164.-Origins and Foundation:...

 who died at the Battle of Aljubarrota

Battle of Aljubarrota

The Battle of Aljubarrota was a battle fought between the Kingdom of Portugal and the Crown of Castile on 14 August 1385. Forces commanded by King John I of Portugal and his general Nuno Álvares Pereira, with the support of English allies, opposed the army of King John I of Castile with its...

 fighting for King John I of Castile

John I of Castile

John I was the king of Crown of Castile, was the son of Henry II and of his wife Juana Manuel of Castile, daughter of Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena, head of a younger branch of the royal house of Castile...

 in 1385; Nuno Álvares Pereira

Nuno Álvares Pereira

Dom Nuno Álvares Pereira, O. Carm. , also spelled Nun'Álvares Pereira, was a Portuguese general of great success who had a decisive role in the 1383-1385 Crisis that assured Portugal's independence from Castile...

; Rodrigo Álvares Pereira, legimitized by King Peter I of Portugal

Peter I of Portugal

Peter I , called the Just , was the eighth King of Portugal and the Algarve from 1357 until his death. He was the third but only surviving son of Afonso IV of Portugal and his wife, princess Beatrice of Castile....

 and one of the most respected noblemen under Portuguese Kings Peter I, Ferdinand I

Ferdinand I of Portugal

Ferdinand I , sometimes referred to as the Handsome or rarely as the Inconstant , was the ninth King of Portugal and the Algarve, the second son of Peter I and his wife, Constance of Castile...

 and John I

John I of Portugal

John I KG , called the Good or of Happy Memory, more rarely and outside Portugal the Bastard, was the tenth King of Portugal and the Algarve and the first to use the title Lord of Ceuta...

, and Diogo Álvares Pereira, Prior of the Order of St. John