1556. Carta de Rodrigo de Freitas, escrivão da coroa em Salvador da Bahia, para Leonor de Vada, uma sua familiar que tratava por mãe.

Instructions letter from Rodrigo de Freitas, a royal official, to Leonor de Vada, a relative whom he called «mother».

The author tells the addressee what to say, whom to speak to and what to do in order to help him being acquitted of an accusation in court. He is being unjustly prosecuted and complains about all the ones that have been doing him wrong. He also advises the addressee on matters concerning her journey between Brazil and Lisbon, where she will act on his behalf.

Rodrigo de Feitas served as a royal official in Brazil between 1548 and 1560, when he became a Jesuit. He was an ally of the Bishop of Brazil, Dom Pero Sardinha, and of the secretary of finance in Brazil, António Cardoso de Barros, who had conflicts with the governor of Brazil, Duarte da Costa. Both these two men were on a ship of 100 opponents of Duarte da Costa, the Nau Senhora da Ajuda, that sailed in 1556 to Lisbon and sank on the Paraíba coast. The Caeté Indians are reported to have captured and eaten all passengers. The addressee of this letter was probably one of them.