View source for Miguel Pereira Forjaz, 10th Count of Feira

{{Short description|Portuguese General}}{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = [[Senhor|His Lordship]]
| name          = The Count of Feira
| image         = Gravura de D. Miguel Pereira Forjaz Coutinho, 10º Conde da Feira (1769-1827).jpg
| caption       =
| birth_date    = {{birth date|df=yes|1769|11|1}}
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1827|11|6|1769|11|1}}
| birth_place   = [[Ponte de Lima Municipality|Ponte de Lima]], [[Kingdom of Portugal]]
| death_place   = [[Kingdom of Portugal]]
| allegiance    = {{flagicon image|Flag of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves.svg}} [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]]
| branch        =
| serviceyears  = 1785–1820
| rank          = [[Lieutenant-General]]
| battles       = [[War of the Pyrenees]]<br/>[[War of the Oranges]]<br/>[[Peninsular War]]
| awards        =
| laterwork     =
| signature     = Assinatura D. Miguel Pereira Forjaz.svg
}}
[[Dom (honorific)|D.]] '''Miguel Pereira Forjaz Coutinho, 10th Count of Feira''' (1 November 1769 – 6 November 1827) was a Portuguese general and War Secretary in the [[Peninsular War]].<ref>[[Digby Smith|Pivka, Otto von]] (1977). ''The Portuguese Army of the Napoleonic Wars'', p. 17. "The chivalrous ardour of the marechal-de-camp, Marquis d'Alorne, the activity and firmness of Gomez Freire de Andrada, the analytical and cool mind of Colonel Don Miguel Pereira Forjaz, were highly extolled. There were but few veterans left ..."</ref>
==Life==
He was the son of Diogo Pereira Forjaz Coutinho (born 23 May 1726) and the great grandson of the 9th Count of Feira, [[D. Álvaro Pereira Forjaz Coutinho]] (c.1656–?) and his wife Inês Antónia Barreto de Sá (c.1670–?). He was married twice, to Joana Eulália Freire de Andrade and to Maria do Patrocínio Freire de Andrade e Castro who died at childbirth.
He entered the army in 1785, as a cadet in the Regiment of [[Peniche (Portugal)|Peniche]], in which he met many members of his family. In 1787 he was promoted to alferes (lieutenant) and served as chief of staff to the Count of Oeynhausen, inspector-general of the Infantry, fighting alongside him at Porcalhota in 1790. He was promoted to captain in 1791 and to major (sargento-mor) in 1793, and was made adjutant to [[John Forbes (general in the Portuguese service)|General Forbes]], commander of the Portuguese division then [[War of the Pyrenees|fighting in Roussillon]] and [[Catalonia]].
Having been promoted to colonel, in March 1800 he was appointed governor and captain-general of [[Pará]], but did not set out for [[Colonial Brazil|Brazil]]. In the [[War of the Oranges]], the following year, he served as quartermaster-general (chief of staff) to General Forbes in the [[Alentejo]]. In 1806 he was promoted to brigadier and appointed inspector general of the army. On the [[Transfer of the Portuguese Court to Brazil|royal family's flight to the Portuguese colony of Brazil]] in 1807, he became deputy secretary of the government, to replace, if necessary, the [[Manuel António de Sampaio Melo, Count of Sampaio|Count of Sampaio]].
When General [[Jean-Andoche Junot|Junot]] took over the government of the country, Forjaz withdrew to the provinces. At [[Coimbra]] he began the revolt against the French and went to [[Porto]], where he reorganised the army, under the orders of his cousin [[Bernardim Freire de Andrade]]. Accompanying Andrade as adjutant general of the army of the north on their march on Porto-Lisbon, Pereira was made secretary of the Regency, after the [[Convention of Sintra]], and was given the war and foreign affairs portfolios. He remained the Regency's executive official for military matters until 1820.<ref name=gaudencio/> In this capacity he took part in the reorganisation of the army under [[William Carr Beresford]] (who had been appointed commander-in-chief by the Portuguese Royal family), completing the implementation of the 1803 proposals in 1807. One of his initiatives was the creation, towards the end of 1808, of six new battalions of ''[[Caçadores]]'' in the north of the country<ref name=gaudencio>{{cite book|last1=Gaudêncio |first1=Moisés |first2=Robert |last2=Burnham |date=2021 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZFlVEAAAQBAJ |title=In the Words of Wellington's Fighting Cocks: The After-action Reports of the Portuguese Army during the Peninsular War 1812–1814 |chapter=Chapter 1: The Portuguese Army from 1793 to 1812|publisher=Pen and Sword Military |isbn=978-1-5267-6171-2}}</ref> and supporting Beresford in adapting the Portuguese Army to British training and tactics to better help the [[Anglo-Portuguese Army|Anglo-Portuguese Army's]] campaign during the Peninsular War. In 1815 he successfully opposed sending a Portuguese division to fight in the Low Countries against Napoleon during the [[Hundred Days]].
With the [[Liberal Revolution of 1820]] he left his post as regent and retired from public life. In 1826 he received the title of Count of Feira and was elected a Peer of the Kingdom on the occasion of the giving of the Constitutional Charter by [[Peter IV of Portugal]].
==Promotions and Units==
{| class="wikitable" width=50% |
|-
! Rank !! Unit !! Date
|-
| ''Member'' || Council of War || 24 July 1825
|-
| [[Lieutenant General]] ||  || 1812
|-
| ''Governor'' || [[Kingdom of Portugal|Kingdom]] || 2 January 1809
|-
| ''Secretary of the Regency'' || ''Affairs of the Navy and War'' || 2 January 1809
|-
| [[Major General]] ||  || 1808
|-
| ''Inspector General'' || Militias || 9 December 1806
|-
| [[Brigadier]] ||  || 9 December 1806
|-
| ''Interim Inspector General'' || Militias || 11 August 1803
|-
| [[Colonel]] ||  || 5 June 1798
|-
| [[Lieutenant Colonel]] || 22nd Infantry Regiment of Serpa || 17 December 1795
|-
| [[Captain (armed forces)|Captain]] || 10th Company, 13th Infantry Regiment of Peniche  || 22 June 1793
|-
| [[Captain (armed forces)|Captain]] ''graduated'' || 13th Infantry Regiment of Peniche || 24 September 1791
|-
| [[Adjutant]] || 13th Infantry Regiment of Peniche || 27 February 1790
|-
| [[Ensign (rank)|Ensign]] || 5th Company, 13th Infantry Regiment of Peniche || 27 April 1787
|-
| [[Cadet]] || 13th Infantry Regiment of Peniche || 1785
|-
|}
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Bibliography==
*{{in lang|pt}} FURTADO, Gregório de Mendonça (1809). ''Ordenança de Campanha destinada às Tropas Ligeiras e aos Officiaes que servem nos pòstos avançados'', Impressão Régia, Lisbon
*{{in lang|pt}} MARTELO, David (2007). ''Caçadores. Os Galos de Combate do Exército de Wellington'', Tribuna (editor), Lisbon
{{Napoleonic Wars}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forjaz, Miguel Pereira}}
[[Category:1769 births]]
[[Category:1827 deaths]]
[[Category:Portuguese military commanders of the Napoleonic Wars]]
[[Category:People of the Peninsular War]]
[[Category:Portuguese nobility]]
[[Category:18th-century Portuguese people]]
[[Category:19th-century Portuguese people]]
[[Category:People from Ponte de Lima]]