Marquess of Santarém, Count of Alva, Marchioness of Atouguia
Extinction date
1759
Count of Atouguia (in Portuguese Conde de Atouguia) was a Portuguese title of nobility created by a royal decree, dated from 17 December 1448, by King Afonso V of Portugal, and granted to D. Álvaro Gonçalves de Ataíde.
The title was always associated with the Ataíde family.
It became extinct due to the 11th Count involvement in the Távora affair of 1759. The plot was discovered, the count was executed and his House and estates were confiscated.
The origin of the Ataídes can be traced documentally to Egas Duer, a 12th century County of Portugal nobleman, likely a member of the medieval House of Ribadouro, whose son Martim Viegas was the 1st Lord of the Honra and Torre de Ataíde, near present-day Amarante in Northern Portugal.
Martim Viegas' grandson, Gonçalo Viegas de Ataíde, had the lordship of the honra de Ataíde confirmed by King Dinis I, in the year 1290.[4]
Ths 1st Count of Atouguia, D. Álvaro Gonçalves de Ataíde, was Gonçalo Viegas' great-great-grandson.
^Freire, Anselmo Braamcamp (1921). Brasões da Sala de Sintra. Livro Primeiro (in Portuguese). Robarts - University of Toronto. Coimbra: Coimbra : Imprensa da Universidade. pp. 75–84.