Searching for Rui Lopes of Chaves

Searching for Rui Lopes of Chaves:
in Jorge Forjaz’s Familias Macaense: 1996 and 2017 editions

Roy Eric Xavier, Ph.D,
Asian American Research Center,
Institute for the Study of Societal Issues,
U.C. Berkeley
December, 2025

Introduction

Among a growing number of cultural historians, the appearance of Jorge Forjaz’s genealogy, Familias Macaense, in three volumes in 1996, and six volumes that were expanded and revised in 2017, have been a revelation for those studying the origins of Luso-Asian communities, some of which have existed at least since the 12th century.[1] The nine combined volumes include a 70,000 Portuguese name index, 3000 images, and historical information on the descendants of almost 500 families. These volumes trace their histories from Portugal, Africa, Goa, Malaysia, Macau, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Japan, and scattered trading ports across Southeast Asia. As a result, Forjaz’s work has become an important resource for historical and cultural studies going forward.[2]

The importance of such research cannot be overstated. Genealogies often trace the migrations of large groups of people, providing information on individuals and families, where they settled, the types of work succeeding generations conducted, and provide hints as to why they moved on to other locations. Forjaz’s work, in particular, has allowed many racially-mixed families from Portugal to follow their ancestors across the global expanse to Asian colonies, and then to the west. Further analysis has led to an understanding of how their own cultures developed, and often confirms their personal identities.[3]

As many researchers will acknowledge, however, such broad based work touching so many fields is bound to have flaws and omissions. Such was the case discovered during a review of one family’s earliest history, which was revised in 2017 after Forjaz’s original publication in 1996.[4] The following remarks will be confined to this single chapter revision. There may or may not be others, but those will have to be addressed by future researchers.

The Search for Rui Lopes of Chaves

In the chapter entitled “Alvares” in the 1996 edition [5], Forjaz lists the lineage of this family beginning with Rui Lopes, a Portuguese solider and Sephardic Jew born around 1130, who distinguished himself at the battle of Chaves, the family’s hometown in northern Portugal, which they helped to recapture from the Moors in 1160.[6] Lopes descendants are then traced by Forjaz through thirteen (13) generations to Antonio Rafael Alvares, who was born in Lisbon in 1650, trained as an auditor and was assigned to Goa. In February 1698, he was promoted by Portugal’s Estado da India to Chief Magistrate of Dui’s “Factory”, an important port city near Goa.[7] As the chapter continues, Forjaz research shows that Antonio Alvares was the first family member to settle in western India, furthering a line of Alvares military men, courtiers, pharmacists, priests, doctors, educators, and researchers that continues in several countries into the 21st century.

In the 2017 revision of the Alvares chapter [8], however, Forjaz eliminated thirteen (13) previous generations of descendants listed in the 1996 edition up to Antonio Rafael Alvares, with only a short explanation in a footnote. Translated from Portuguese, Forjaz writes that he removed the introduction from the previous version because of the link to the Leite family who lived in Portugal “… quite simply because all of that was false, induced as I was by bibliography (inaccurate sources ?) concerning them, which, for purposes I do not understand, transformed this distinguished Brahmin family into a family of Portuguese descent.” [9]

This revision is unusual given the lack of further explanation, even when, as we discuss below, Forjaz used the same sources in both the 1996 and 2017 editions.[10] Some readers may note that Alvares descendants could only have become a “distinguished Brahmin family” in later generations by first migrating to Goa from Portugal, which Forjaz seems to acknowledge. Is the link to the Leite family valid enough for the revision ? If there is little question that Antonio Rafael Alvares was born in Lisbon in 1650 and then served in Goa and Dui in 1698, why is the earlier line of Portuguese descent now refuted ? We are only told that an “error” occurred.

This error apparently was identified by Pedro do Carmo Costa, who brought it to Forjaz’s attention. Unlike Forjaz, who is a well-regarded genealogist,[11] Costa identifies himself as a “London-based technology entrepreneur” and a board member (2022) of the Conselho do Diaspora Portuguesa (The Portuguese Diaspora Council).[12] The rest of the footnote provides no further details, or evidence, for the revision. Forjaz only notes that a “correction letter” was sent to the Portuguese archives in Lisbon, and added that the source of the remaining Alvares genealogy is the early 20th century Goan scholar, Fr. Francisco Xavier Gomes Catao.[13]

The lack of evidence to support the change certainly suggests a hasty decision. To look further into this potential error, we conducted a survey of the same research by Fr. Gomes Catao (1965) and Felgueiras Gaio (1873). We then reviewed the Portuguese heraldic and genealogical archive created by Sanches de Baena (1880), as well a Portuguese on-line genealogy platform, which used all three archival sources.[14] All the sources were provided by Forjaz in his footnotes. Our objective was to conduct a “peer review” in an effort to confirm or deny the descent from Rui Lopes of Chaves (1130-1180) to Antonio Rafael Alvares of Dui (1650-1720), and by extension, from Alvares to future generations into the present century, which Forjaz confirmed in 2017.[15] Here is what we learned.

Reviewing Links from Rui Lopes to Antonio Rafael Alvares

In the biographical notes written by Fr. Gomes Catao (one of Forjaz’s sources) for Antonio Rafael Alvares, the last descendant born in Portugal, an interesting, and circuitous, method is used to confirm the Portuguese nobility of Antonio Alvares’ great-grandson, Pedro Antonio Alvares (1720-1803), who was born in Margao, India. This may be the key to resolving the question of descent in the Alvares family.

Pedro Antonio Alvares rose from a Captain in the Estado da India’s colonial army in 1762, to Field Marshal in 1768, to Commander in 1794, and then to Colonel in 1797. He became a Portuguese nobleman with a coat of arms in 1798. Both Fr. Gomes Catao and Felgueiras Gaio confirmed Pedro Alvares’ nobility, each tracing his lineage back to Diogo Luis Alvares Leite (born between 1520-1580), a prominent native of Chaves in northern Portugal. We will recall that Chaves was the ancestral home of Rui Lopes.

Another historian, Sanches de Baena, then confirms Pedro Alvares was the son of Manuel Caetano Alvares.[16] Forjaz noted in 1996 and 2017 that this Manuel Alvares was also the grandson of Antonio Rafael Alvares. Pedro Antonio Alvares is, therefore, the great-grandson of Antonio Rafael Alvares. As Fr. Gomes Catao and Felgueiras Gaio indicate, Pedro and Antonio Alvares, three generations apart, were both descendants of Diogo Luis Alvares Leite. Thus, according to the archival work of Catao, Gaio, and Sanches de Baena, each used by Forjaz as sources in the 1996 and 2017 editions of his genealogy, Diogo Luis Alvares Leite was both the eleventh generation descendent of Rui Lopes of Chaves, and the ancestor of Antonio Rafael Alvares (Portugal) and his great-grandson Pedro Alvares (Margao, India). This is precisely the line of descent that Jorge Forjaz eliminated from the 2017 revision of Families Macaense.  

Despite the revision, we confirm the descent in the Alvares family from Portugal to Goa. This review corroborates Forjaz’s earlier 1996 Alvares genealogy, indicating an unbroken line from Rui Lopes, born in Chaves in 1130 AD, through Antonio Rafael Alvares, who was born in Lisbon in 1650, then served in Dui and died in Goa around 1720. Our conclusion, based on all known sources, is that the 1996 Alvares chapter is more historically accurate than the 2017 genealogy of the same chapter.

Conclusions and an Opinion

A final question to consider is why this “revision” was attempted in the first place, given the availability of source materials on-line that suggest it was unnecessary. Was this a poor decision ? Or was it an attempt to “cancel” historical information? We believe this revision was a serious error in judgement. An unintended consequence of this error, however, are the effects on readers and scholars in this area of study.

Cultural scholarship using genealogical research on Luso-Asians has been conducted for over a century. Led by C.A. Montalto in 1902, Edgar Prestage and Charles R. Boxer from the 1930’s through 1984, and continuing at U.C. Berkeley since 2012, the work now includes numerous on-line researchers. In the majority of cases, the work has accurately documented Luso-Asian and Macanese history. There is ample evidence that these collective efforts have improved over the years, and by all accounts, are read by a growing audience.[17]  

But to discover a possible attempt to censor some of that information as an “error”, perhaps due to Jewish ancestry, is disheartening and tragic. If true, this would be a disservice to the descendants of Rui Lopes, who may have been denied the knowledge about ancestors who played pivotal roles in Portugal’s history, or prevented them from passing this legacy on to future generations. Our roles as researchers, therefore, are quite clear: to correct these omissions regardless of the past, to present this history accurately, and to promote acceptance of this cultural heritage to those who come after us.

[1] Jorge Forjaz, Familias Macaense, 1996, and 2017 (revised) Fundação Oriente, Instituto Cultural de Macau, Instituto Português do Oriente (in Portuguese). Both editions are available here: Lusitano Club of California (1996), and 2017 at the following Lusitano Club link.

[2] In my own research, for example, Forjaz’s work provides historical background to document the Macanese diaspora. In a 2024 survey of descendants, we were able to locate an estimated 1.9 million living in 14 countries and 200 cities. We  also learned that the great majority of Macanese descendants use multiple social media platforms and tech devices to remain in contact with relatives and friends all over the world. See the final results here.

[3] In the same 2024 survey, we found that over 90% of the respondents identified as Macanese, Luso-Asian, or Eurasian.

[4] Dr. Xavier is a descendant of the family under review.

[5] Jorge Forjaz, Familias Macaense, 1996, Vol. 1: 143-159.

[6] Alfonso Henriques VI of León and Castile included the town of Chaves in the dowry of Princess Teresa of León and Castile when she married Count Henry of Burgundy (1093), integrating it into the domains of the County of Portucale. Local tradition states that around 1160, the brothers Rui and Garcia Lopes, knights of Afonso Henriques, conquered Chaves for the Portuguese Crown. For this victory they were rewarded with the domains of the town and its castle. The brothers’ bodies are buried in the Church of Santa Maria Maior near the center of present day Chaves.

[7] A factory is the name given for a combined habitation, warehouse, and commercial store used in European colonies. Forjaz’s listing for Antonio Rafael Alvares follows on-line genealogy sites, including Geni, as seen below.

https://www.geni.com/people/Ant%C3%B3nio-Rafael-%C3%81lvares/6000000004318189038

[8] Forjaz, 2017, Vol. 1: 171-182.

[9] Forjaz, 2017, footnote, p. 171. It is interesting to note that in Forjaz’s 1996 version there are two footnotes concerning the father of Antonio Rafael Alvares, who is listed as Antonio Leite. The citations are from sources used in 1996 and 2017: Manuel José da Costa Felgueiras Gaio (Gayo) (1873) and Augusto Romano Sanches de Baena (1872). Familias Macaense, 1996, p.144, notes 4, 5. As we shall see, each scholars’ work are used in both versions of Forjaz’s genealogy, despite the revision in 2017.

[10] The first was Fr. Francisco Gomes Catao, “Subsidios para a Historia de Chorao” (Contributions to the History of Chorao), Coimbra,1965, previously published in, Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu ; Roma Vol. 34, Jan. 1, 1959: 359.

The second source is Manuel José da Costa Felgueiras Gaio (1750 – 1831), a Portuguese judge, historian and genealogist of noble families, who wrote “Nobiliário de Famílias de Portugal” (Nobility of Families of Portugal), 1873, 33 volumes, and bequeathed to the Santa Casa de Misericórdia of Barcelos. https://archive.org/details/hg-40105-v_0000_capa-capa_t24-C-R0150.

The third source was Augusto Romano Sanches de Baena e Farinha de Almeida, visconde de, 1822-1909. Archivo Heraldico-genealogico: Contendo Noticias Historico-heraldicas, Genealogias E Duas Mil Quatrocentas Cincoenta E Duas Cartas De Brazao D’armas, Das Familias Que Em Portugal As Requereram E Obtiveram E a Explicacao Das Mesmas Familias Em Um Indice Heraldico. Lisboa: Typographia universal de T.Q. Antunes, 1872. Accessed on-line from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, (p. 634), #2153.

[11] Forjaz has published four studies of Portuguese descendants. https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL185219A/Jorge_Forjaz

[12] Costa is also is the Co-founder and Director of Pulsely, a Diversity & Inclusion analytics provider” as well as a member of The Portuguese Diaspora Council) https://www.diasporaportuguesa.org/en/profile/pedro-do-carmo-costa/#:~:text=Co%2Dfounder%20and%20Director,Institutional%20Partners

[13] Catao’s “Subsidios para a Historia de Chorao” first published in, Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu ; Roma Vol. 34, Jan. 1, 1959: 359.

[14] See Geni’s “Sources” and navigate through Pedro Esteves da Roda Chaves’s listing (a 7^th generation ancestor of Alvares), as well Chaves’ past and future generations. https://www.geni.com/people/Pedro-Esteves-da-Roda-Chaves/6000000020362072308. We also looked for references to Alvares descendants included in passages of Fernao Lopes’ 14^th century “Chronicles”.The results were unclear and not added to this review. The Chronicles of Fernão Lopes [5 volumes), editors, Professor Amélia P. Hutchinson and Teresa Amado, translated by Juliet Perkins, Boydell & Brewer, 2023.

[15] All dates of birth and death of early Alvares descendants are approximated based on current information.

[16] Sanches de Baena, ibid, p. 634, 2153.

[17] Annual readership on my own research sites, for example, indicates several thousand article views each month.