Domitila (or Domitília) de Castro do Canto e Melo (27 December 1797 — 3 November 1867), 1st Viscountess with designation as a Grandee, then 1st Marchioness of Santos, was a Brazilian noblewoman and the long-term mistress and favorite of Emperor Pedro I.
Life Birth and family Daughter of João de Castro do Canto e Melo, 1st Viscount of Castro, and Escolástica Bonifácia de Toledo Ribas, Viscountess of Castro. Domitila belonged to an aristocratic family from São Paulo. Born on 27 December 1797, she was baptized three months later, on 7 March 1798 in the Church of Nossa Senhora da Assunção (Sé) in São Paulo. According to her baptismal record, her godfather was Ensign José Duarte e Câmara.
The Brigadier João de Castro do Canto e Melo was born in the Terceira Island in the Azores, and died in Rio de Janeiro in 1826. He was the son of João Batista do Canto e Melo and Isabel Ricketts, and descended from Pero Anes do Canto, from Terceira Island. He passed to Portugal, setting up a cadet square at the age of 15 on 1 January 1768, named Standard-Bearer on 17 October 1773. He was 21 when, in 1774, he went to Rio de Janeiro and months later to São Paulo. He was transferred to the Santos Infantry line Regiment, promoted to Ensign in 1775 and to Lieutenant in the same year, to Adjudant in 1778; he was Captain in 1798, Major in the same year, and in 1815 Lieutenant Colonel. Later, after his daughter's love with the emperor, he was made Gentleman of the Imperial Chamber and still received the noble title of Viscount of Castro on 12 October 1825.
Domitila's full siblings were: João de Castro do Canto e Melo (March 1786 – 11 September 1853), 2nd Viscount of Castro, Field Marshal and Gentleman of the Imperial Chamber; married with Inocência Laura Vieira de Azambuja, with whom he had issue. José de Castro do Canto e Melo (baptized 17 October 1787 – died ca. 1842), Brigadier of the Brazilian Army. Soldier at the age of five on 1 July 1792, Standard-Bearer in 1801, Ensign in 1807, Lieutenant in 1815, Commander of the Cavalry Squad of the Legion of São Paulo and in the Battle of Itupuraí, in the 1816 campaign. Captain in 1818, Sergeant Major of the 2nd Line Cavalry Regiment of Vila de Curitiba, then São Paulo Province, in 1824. Colonel of the Army Staff in 1827. He was licensed for health reasons in 1829. Brigadier retired from the Army. Gentleman of the Imperial Chamber, dismissed in 1842. Knight of the Military Order of Saint Benedict of Aviz in 1824 and was promoted to Commander in the same order in 1827. Officer of the Order of the Southern Cross in 1827; married with his niece Francisca Pinto Coelho de Mendonça e Castro, with whom he had issue. Maria de Castro do Canto e Melo (baptized February 1790; died in infancy). Pedro de Castro do Canto e Melo (baptized 26 May 1791; died in infancy). Maria Benedita de Castro do Canto e Melo (18 December 1792 – 5 March 1857), married to Boaventura Delfim Pereira, Baron of Sorocaba, with whom she had issue; her second son Rodrigo Delfim Pereira, although recognized by her husband, was in fact an illegitimate son of Emperor Pedro I, her sister's lover. Ana Cândida de Castro do Canto e Melo (January 1795 – 27 May 1834), married to Carlos Maria de Oliva, Veador of the Imperial Chamber and Colonel of the Army, with whom she had issue. Fortunata de Castro do Canto e Melo (baptized 12 January 1797; died in infancy). Francisco de Castro do Canto e Melo (5 April 1799 – 21 June 1869), Gentleman of the Imperial Chamber, Major retired of the Army; married firstly with Francisca Leite Penteado and secondly with Lina Pereira de Castro. He had issue from his second marriage.
In addition, Domitila had an older illegitimate half-sister, Matilde Eufrosina de Castro, born from her father's earlier relationship (in fact, betrothal later terminated) with Teresa Braseiro.
First Marriage On 13 January 1813, Domitila, at the age of fifteen, married an officer from the second squad of the Corps of Dragons in the city of Vila Rica (now Ouro Preto), Ensign Felício Pinto Coelho de Mendonça (26 February 1790 – 5 November 1833), cited by several historians as a violent man, who beat and raped her, and from whom she divorced on 21 May 1824.Nobreza de Portugal e Brasil. vol. III, p. 594, 701.Primeiras Famílias do Rio de Janeiro. Vol. I, p. 153.
After the wedding in São Paulo, Felício and Domitila left for Vila Rica. Three children were born from the marriage:
Name Portrait Lifespan Notes Francisca Pinto Coelho de Mendonça e Castro 13 November 1813 – 16 August 1833 Married on 24 May 1828 with her uncle, Brigadier José de Castro do Canto e Melo, whim whom she one daughter, Escolástica Pinto Coelho de Mendonça e Castro, who married Dr. José Soares de Gouveia. Felício Pinto Coelho de Mendonça e Castro 20 November 1816 – 15 July 1879 Gentleman of the Imperial Chamber, Commander of the Royal Military Order of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Midshipman (1827). He went to study in Paris (at the expense of the Brazilian government), returned to Brazil without satisfying his superiors, and was then released from active duty on 4 May 1838; owner of the Vacaria farm.Genealogia Paulistana. vol. IV, p. 334. About his progeny there was contradictory information: while the Genealogia Paulistana reports that he married and had 5 children, historian Sonia Maria Weinmann Collares Moreira mentions that he only had 3 natural children. João Pinto Coelho de Mendonça e Castro April 1818 – about 1819 Died shortly after being baptized on 6 August 1819 because during her pregnancy, Domitila was beaten by her husband, which caused a premature childbirth.
Due to her husband's mistreatment, Domitila obtained permission from his family in São Paulo to return to her father's home with her children. He arrived back in São Paulo at the end of 1816. Felício managed to transfer his post in the army from Vila Rica to Santos and settled in São Paulo, trying to reconcile with his wife and in 1818 they returned to live together. However, given his drinking and gambling problems, it did not take long for Felício to return with his old behavior, and began the beatings and death threats to his wife. On the morning of 6 March 1819, Felício surprised Domitila next to the Santa Luiza fountain and stabbed her twice, one stab caught in the thigh and the other in the belly. Felício was arrested and taken to Santos, next to his barracks, from where he left for Rio de Janeiro. Domitila spent two months between life and death. When she recovered from her injuries, she had to fight legally against her father-in-law, who wanted to take the couple's children to educate them in the Captaincy of Minas Gerais. Domitila asked for Felício's legal separation but only obtained it five years later, when she was already the Emperor's mistress. Domitila's detractors would accuse her after being assaulted because she betrayed Felício, when in reality, through documentation and witnesses in the divorce process, he had tried to kill her to sell the land that both, with the death of his mother, had jointly inherited in Minas Gerais.
Imperial Mistress Domitila met Dom Pedro de Alcântara, Prince-Regent of Brazil days before the Proclamation of the Independence on 29 August 1822. The Prince-Regent was returning from a visit to Santos when he received, on the banks of the Ipiranga Brook, in São Paulo, two missives (one from his wife, Princess Maria Leopoldina of Austria and another from José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva) that informed him about the decisions of the Portuguese Courts, in which Dom Pedro stopped being Prince-Regent and received orders to return to the continent. Outraged by this "interference with his acts as ruler", and influenced by whose defended the break with the metropolis—especially by José Bonifácio de Andrada—he decided to separate Brazil from the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves.
Domitila was not the only lover of Dom Pedro, but she was the most important and the one with whom he had the longest relationship. Before his marriage, the Prince-Regent had been involved with a French ballerina, named Noémi Thierry, with whom he had a son. During his relationship with Domitila he had other parallel ones, such as Adèle Bonpland (wife of French naturalist Aimé Bonpland) and the dressmaker Clemence Saisset (whose husband had a store on Rua do Ouvidor), with whom he had a son. In addition to these liaisons, Domitila's own sister, Maria Benedita de Castro do Canto e Melo, Baroness of Sorocaba, also had a son with Dom Pedro.
In 1823, the now Emperor Pedro I installed Domitila at the Barão de Ubá street (today the Estácio neighborhood) which was her first residence in Rio de Janeiro. One year later, and thanks to the support of her lover, Domitila was able to have her first marriage nullified. In 1826, she received as a gift the "Casa Amarela", as her mansion became known, at number 293 of the current Avenida D. Pedro II, near Quinta da Boa Vista, in São Cristóvão (where the Museum of the First Reign now operates). The Emperor bought the house from Dr. Teodoro Ferreira de Aguiar and ordered a renovation in a neoclassical style to the architect Pierre Joseph Pézerat. The internal mural paintings are the work of Francisco Pedro do Amaral, while the internal and external bas-reliefs by Zéphyrin Ferrez.
Domitila was being elevated by her lover little by little. In 1824 she was created Baroness of Santos; on 4 April 1825 she was appointed Lady-in-waiting of Empress Maria Leopoldina, on 12 October of the same year was created Viscountess of Santos with designation as a Grandee and, on 12 October 1826 she was finally created Marchioness of Santos. Besides all this titles, on 4 April 1827 the Emperor invested his mistress with the Order of Saint Isabel, who was solely granted "to women of irreproachable conduct". Although Domitila was not born in that city, the Emperor, in an attempt to attack de Andrada brothers, born in Santos, would have given the titles to his mistress. José Bonifácio de Andrada, upon learning of this fact in his exile in France, wrote to his friend Counselor Drummond: "Who would dream that the michela (prostitute) Domitila would be Viscountess of the homeland of the Andradas! What a brazen insult!". Domitila's family also received several imperial benefits: Her father became Viscount of Castro, her brother Francisco became the Emperor's Field Assistant and the rest of her siblings received Hidalgo precedence. Domitila's brother-in-law, Boaventura Delfim Pereira (husband of Maria Benedita), was made Baron of Sorocaba.
From her relationship with Emperor Pedro I, Domitila had five children: