Count of Torres Vedras
Count of Torres Vedras is a Portuguese title of nobility created by King Felipe III of Portugal (IV of Spain), possibly in 1626 (but verifiably so from 1637), for D. João Soares de Alarcão, 9th Alcaide-mor of Torres Vedras and Governor General of the then Portuguese enclave of Ceuta. There is some evidence that the title of Count of Torres Vedras was already used by his grandfather, D. Martim Soares de Alarcão who, as 6th Alcaide-mor of Torres Vedras, twice held the town for the king against the armies of the pretender D. António, Prior of Crato, bastard son of D. Luis, Duke of Beja, in 1580 and 1589.