The sudden death of the Dutch Commander-in-Chief
King Rajasinghe was keen to meet the Dutch Commander Gerard Hulft. He left Kandy and was nearing Colombo. Yet, he could not meet the Commander. He fell ill and the meeting was postponed. Later on, on April 8, 1656, both of them met.
Here Hulft promised the king that he will not besiege the city without informing the king. But the very next day on April 9, Hulft was inspecting the arrangements made to besiege the city. All of a sudden he got shot and died, then and there.
Thereafter, Adrian Van de Medan was appointed to take his place. Meanwhile, to the sheer misfortune of the Portuguese, the Viceroy of India died. There was a delay in appointing someone to take over. A letter came from Portugal asking the officers here to appoint someone temporarily.
Manuel Mascarenhas Homem was the person selected. He was a person who had once served as the General in Colombo. When he was serving as the General, the soldiers and the people in the city, were all against him. He was chased away from his post. Later, he had to return to Goa.
This temporary Viceroy had taken steps to delay the supplementary armies to be brought to Colombo. This had been done as an act of revenge. He had done it in a very secret manner, thinking that the people would revolt if they were to know.
By Halaliye Karunathilake
Edited and translated by Kamala Silva
Illustrated by Saman Kalubowila