Keep your eyes peeled! Brazilian history is more violent and terrifying than we’re made to believe.
It was right here that Tiradentes was publicly hanged and then his body drawn and quartered by order of the Queen of Portugal. The fruits of that macabre ritual were displayed in different areas in the state Minas Gerais where he and other men had spread the idea of Brazilian independence.
The movement was known as the Inconfidência Mineira, and among its leaders, only Tiradentes was killed. The others were exiled to Africa as punishment.
Tiradentes was made an example of in order to scare citizens who dreamed of a Brazil without monarchy. For that reason, he was led on a march to his death through the streets in Rio’s city streets on the morning of April 21, 1792, leaving the public prison, which today is the Tiradentes Palace in the Praça Quinze, and large plaza lined with armed soldiers.
The royal Portuguese family, using his execution to boast the strength of the Portuguese crown, made his torture a public spectacle.
The order that sent Joaquim da Silva Xavier from Minas Gerais to his death, in the name of Queen Maria I, reads as follows:
“The JUSTICE that our Lady the Queen demands today is of the infamous Defendant Joaquim José da Silva Xavier for the horrendous crime of rebellion and high treason of which he was leader and mastermind in the Minas Gerais region, with the most scandalous affront to the Royal Sovereign and the Supreme Authority of Her Lady, whom God protects.
She ORDERS that he be led tethered and bound through the public streets of this City to the gallows where he may die a natural, final death and that, separated from his body, his head be brought to Vila Rica, where it shall be kept on a high post at the place where he lived, until time consumes it; that his body be divided in four and nailed to similar posts on the roads of Minas Gerais in the most public of spaces, especially in Varginha and Sebollas; that his home be destroyed, the earth salted, and in the midst of its ruins a standard be raised to preserve for posterity the memory of such an abominable Defendant and that the infamy of his crime remain for his children and grandchildren, whose goods shall be confiscated for the Crown and the Royal Chamber. Rio de Janeiro, April 21st, 1792.”
Now, picture the scene. The people watched that horrendous death in awe. And the monarchy continued to rule for another hundred years.