Portuguese nobility in the context of "Ferdinand Magellan"

A hidalgo (/hɪˈdælɡoʊ/; Spanish: [iˈðalɣo]) or a fidalgo (Portuguese: [fiˈðalɣu], Galician: [fiˈðalɣʊ]) is a member of the Spanish or Portuguese nobility; the feminine forms of the terms are hidalga, in Spanish, and fidalga, in Portuguese and Galician. Legally, a hidalgo is a nobleman by blood who can pass his noble condition to his children, as opposed to someone who acquired his nobility by royal grace. In practice, hidalgos enjoyed important privileges, such as being exempt from paying taxes, having the right to bear arms, having a coat of arms, having a separate legal and court system whereby they could only be judged by their peers, not being subject to the death sentence unless it was authorized by the king, etc.

Contrary to popular belief, hidalguía (i.e. the condition of being a hidalgo) is not a nobility rank, but rather a type of nobility. Not all hidalgos lacked nobility titles, and not all members of the titled nobility were hidalgos. For example, the Kings of Spain are hidalgos, because their nobility was acquired by blood from time immemorial. In modern times, hidalgos are represented through various organizations, such as the Real Asociación de Hidalgos, the Real Cuerpo de la Nobleza de Madrid, and the orders of chivalry.

Fidalgo (Portuguese: [fiˈðalɣu], Galician: [fiˈðalɣʊ]), from Galician fillo de algo and Portuguese filho de algo—equivalent to a nobleman, but sometimes literally translated into English as "nobleman" —is a traditional title of Portuguese nobility and Brazilian nobility that refers to a member of the titled or untitled nobility. A fidalgo is comparable in some ways to the French gentilhomme (the word also implies nobility by birth or by charge), and to the Italian nobile but having a higher rank to the British baronet as being a part of the aristocracy, not a commoner. The title was abolished after the overthrow of the monarchy in 1910 by the republic and is also a family surname.

The Portuguese Renaissance was the cultural and artistic movement in Portugal during the 15th and 16th centuries. Though the movement coincided with the Spanish and Italian Renaissances, the Portuguese Renaissance was largely separate from other European Renaissances and instead was extremely important in opening Europe to the unknown and bringing a more worldly view to those European Renaissances, as at the time the Portuguese Empire spanned the globe.

As the pioneer of the Age of Discoveries, Portugal flourished in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, with voyages to India, the Orient, the Americas, and Africa. This immense trade network would create an extremely wealthy Portuguese nobility and monarchy, that would become patrons for an immense flourishing of culture, arts, and technology in Portugal and all over the world.

Cascais (European Portuguese pronunciation: [kɐʃˈkajʃ] ) is a town and municipality in the Lisbon District of Portugal, located on the Estoril Coast. The municipality has a total of 214,158 inhabitants in an area of 97.40 km. Cascais is an important tourist destination. Its marina hosts events such as the America's Cup and the town of Estoril, part of the Cascais municipality, hosts conferences such as the Horasis Global Meeting.

Since the 1870s, Cascais has been a popular seaside resort after King Luís I of Portugal and the Portuguese royal family made the seaside town their residence every September, thus also attracting members of the Portuguese nobility, who established a summer community there. Cascais is known for the many members of royalty who have lived there, including King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, when he was the Duke of Windsor, King Juan Carlos I of Spain, and King Umberto II of Italy. Former Cuban president Fulgencio Batista was also once a resident of the municipality. The Casino Estoril inspired Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel, Casino Royale.