[140] 1867 ed., p. 333.
[141] Ibid., pp. 304-7.
[142] _Cronica de Cister_, Bk. VI, cap. 1, 1602 ed., f. 372. It has
been several times reprinted: cf. J. F. Barreto, _Ortografia_ (1671),
p. 23; Bellermann, _Die alten Liederbücher_, p. 5; _Grundriss_, p. 163.
[143] _Monarchia Lusitana_, 1609 ed., ii. 296 (also in _Miscellanea_,
1867 ed., pp. 25-6; Bellermann, pp. 3-4).
[144] See _Grundriss_, p. 205. D. Ramón Menéndez Pidal supports the
suggestion of Leonese authorship (_Revista de Filología Española_, I. i
(1914), pp. 90-2).
[145] See J. Fitzmaurice-Kelly, _Littérature Espagnole_, 1913 ed., p.
64.
[146] Cf. Rodriguez Lobo, _Primavera_ (1722 ed.), p. 369: _tinhão
os nossos guardadores por muyto difficultoso fazeremse em a lingoa
Portugueza, porque a tem por menos engraçada para os romances_. Sousa
de Macedo says that _Romance he poesia propria de Hespanha_, but
Hespanha here means Spain and Portugal and he instances Góngora and
Rodriguez Lobo (_Eva e Ave_, 1676 ed., p. 130).
[147] See _infra_, p. 258.
[148] _Obras_, 1834 ed., ii. 27.
[149] _Hist. da Litt. Port._, ii (1914), pp. 267-87.
[150] Ibid., pp. 280-5.
[151] _Estudos sobre o Romanceiro Peninsular. Romances velhos de
Portugal_, Madrid, 1907-9.
[152] Lucena (_Vida_, Bk. III, cap. 3) speaks of _romances velhos
em que elles_ [the natives of India] _como nos, por ser o ordinario
cantar da gente, guardam o successo das memorias e cousas antigas_.
The expression _romance velho_ in the sixteenth century may mean a
_romance_ that has gone out of fashion. Cf. Vicente, _Os Almocreves_:
_Hei os de todos grosar Ainda que sejam velhos._ _Antigo_ may similarly
mean ‘antiquated’ rather than ancient. Barros, _Grammatica_, 1785
ed., p. 163, mentions _rimances antigas_. D. Carolina Michaëlis de
Vasconcellos considers that the _romances_ came from Spain to Portugal
at the latest in the third quarter and perhaps in the first half of the
fifteenth century.
[153] See _Estudos sobre o Rom. Penins._ (the lines are _Polos campos
do Mondego Cavaleiros vi somar_).
[154] In later Portuguese his name was often written Mansias. So Moraes
transforms Mlle de Macy’s name into Mansi.
[155] _Nobleza de Andalvzia_ (1588), ii, f. 272 v.
[156] This and two other Macias poems (_Ai que mal aconsellado_ and
_Crueldad e trocamento_) are in C. G. C. (Nos. 33, 38, 41) ascribed to
Alfonso Alvarez de Villasandino.
[157] The _Cancionero de Baena_ contains poems addressed to Vasco
_Lopez_ de Camões, _un cavallero de Galizia_, and an answering poem by
him.
[158] For the name of this hitherto anonymous poet see _The Modern
Language Review_ (July 1917), pp. 357-8.
[159] Gil Gonzalez Davila, _Historia de la Vida y Hechos del Rey Don
Henrique Tercero_, &c. (Madrid, 1638), p. 173. The name was a common
one. The Spanish translator of Pero Menino’s _Livro de Cetreria_,
Gonçalo Rodriguez de Escobar, may have been a relation. There was also
a fourteenth-century poet called Ruiz de Toro.
[160] Another sister, D. PHILIPPA DE LENCASTRE (1437-97), lived in
retirement in the convent of Odivellas near Lisbon, and as a dedicatory
poem to her translation of the Gospels wrote the simple, impressive
lines beginning
_Non vos sirvo, non vos amo,
Mas desejo vos amar._
[161] Cf. Ribeiro dos Santos, _Obras_ (MS.), vol. xix, f. 205: _A
frente de todos os Poetas deste Seculo apparece como hum Ds_ [_Deus_]
_da Poezia o Infante D. Pedro, filho do Snr. Rey D. João I._ In reality
he was not gifted with greater poetical talent than his brothers.
§ 3
_The Chroniclers_
The father of Portuguese history, FERNAM LOPEZ (_c._ 1380-_c._ 1460),
had grown up with the generation that succeeded Aljubarrota, and from
his earliest years imbibed the national enthusiasm of the time. He
had himself seen Nun’ Alvarez as a young man and the heroes who had
fought in a hundred fights to free their country from a foreign yoke,
and he had listened to many a tale of Lisbon’s sufferings during the
great siege.[162] Since 1418, at latest, he was employed in the Lisbon
Torre do Tombo (the State Archives), for in that year he was appointed
keeper of the documents (_escrituras_) there. Sixteen years later,
King Duarte, who as prince encouraged him to collect materials for the
work,[163] entrusted him with the task of writing the chronicles of
the Kings of Portugal (_poer em caronycas as estorias dos reys_), and
at the same time (March 19, 1434[164]) assigned him a salary of 14,000
_réis_. His work at the Torre do Tombo covered a period of over thirty
years. He won and kept the confidence of three kings, was secretary to
João I (_escrivam dos livros_) and to the Infante Fernando (_escrivam
da puridade_), whose will exists in Lopez’ handwriting.[165] His son
Martinho accompanied the Infante to Africa as doctor, and died (1443)
in prison soon after the prince. The last document signed by Lopez as
official is dated 1451; in July 1452 he seems to have resigned his
position at least temporarily, and on June 6, 1454, he was definitely
superseded by Zurara as being ‘so old and weak that he cannot well
fulfil the duties of his post’. That he lived for at least five
years more we know from the existence of a document (July 3, 1459)
referring to the pretensions of an illegitimate son of Martinho which
Fernam Lopez rejected.[166] Of the chronicles of the first ten Kings
of Portugal written by Lopez[167] only three survive: the _Cronica
del Rei Dom Joam de boa memoria_, _Cronica del Rei Dom Fernando_,
and _Cronica del Rei Dom Pedro_. The latter is but a brief sketch,
and lacks the unity which the subject-matter gives to the other two.
His chronicles of the seven earlier kings disappeared in the revised
versions of subsequent historians. Although they no doubt incorporated
large slices of his work with little alteration, the freshness and the
style are gone, the good oak hidden beneath coats of paint. It was a
proceeding the more deplorable in that Lopez had been at great pains to
discover and record the truth, ‘the naked truth’.[168] His successor,
Zurara, represents him as ‘a notable person’, ‘a man of some learning
and great authority’;[169] he travelled through the whole of Portugal
to collect information and spent much time in visiting churches and
convents in search of papers and inscriptions, while King Duarte had
documents brought from Spain for his use. Whatever sources he utilized,
Latin, Spanish, or Portuguese, he stamped his work with his own
individuality. He himself frequently refers to previous historians, and
often expresses his disapproval of their methods.[170] He seems to have
drawn largely from a Latin work of a certain Dr. Cristoforus. Keenly
alive to the dignity and responsibilities of history, he was anxious
that his work should be well ordered and philosophical.[171] He has
been called the Portuguese Froissart, but he combines with Froissart’s
picturesqueness moral philosophy, enthusiasm, and high principles,
is in fact a Froissart with something of Montaigne added, and easily
excels Giovanni Villani or Pero López de Ayala. The latter must descend
from the pedestal given him by Menéndez y Pelayo,[172] since he only
occasionally rises to the height of Fernam Lopez, as in the account of
the murder of the Infante Fradique, which Lopez copies very closely
(although abbreviating it as really foreign to his history), evidently
appreciating such dramatic touches as the sentence which describes how,
as the murdered man advanced through the palace, ever fewer went in his
company. By the side of the laborious prose and precocious wisdom of
King Duarte this child of genius seems to give free rein to his pen,
but it is his greatness and his title to rank above all contemporary
chroniclers, not only of Portugal but of Europe, that he could combine
this spontaneity with the scruples of an accurate historian, and be
at once careful and impetuous, or, as Goes calls him, copious and
discreet. He assigns speeches of considerable length to the principal
actors, but they contain not mere rhetoric[173] but arguments such
as might well have been used; and the frequent shorter sayings of
humbler persons, often anonymous and as illuminating as _graffiti_,
have the stamp of truth and bring the scenes most clearly before us.
Indeed, every sentence is living; his unfailing qualities are rapidity
and directness. Sometimes the sound of galloping horses or the loud
murmur of a throng of men is in his pages. He ever and anon rivets the
reader’s--the listener’s--attention by some captivating phrase, by his
quaintly expressed wisdom, by his personal keenness and delight in the
‘marvellous deeds of God’ (_maravilhas que Deos faz_) or in the actions
of his heroes (_Oo que fremosa cousa era de veer!_). His chronicles
are not only a succession of imperishably vivid scenes--King Pedro
dancing through his capital by night, the escape of Diogo Lopez, the
punishment of D. Inés’ murderers, the siege of Lisbon, the murder of D.
Maria Tellez--but describe fully and with skilful care the character
of the actors, pleasure-loving King Ferdinand, cunning, audacious,
and accomplished Queen Lianor Tellez, wise and noble Queen Philippa,
even morose Juan I, and principally the popular Mestre d’Avis and
his great Constable, Nun’ Alvarez Pereira. And the Portuguese people
is delineated both collectively and as individuals, in its generous
enthusiasm, unreasoning impetuosity, and atrocious anger. That Lopez
paid attention to his style is proved by his modest disclaimer bidding
the reader expect no _fremosura e afeitamento das pallavras_, but
merely the facts _breve e sãamente contados, em bom e claro estilo_.
His style is always clear and natural, the serviceable handmaid of
his subject, admirably assuming the colour and sound of the events
described, and his longest sentences are never obscure. He wrote his
history on a generous scale, for in the rapidity of his descriptions
this inimitable story-teller preserved his leisure. His last chronicle
ended with the expedition to Ceuta (1415). The kernel of that chronicle
had been the illustrious deeds and character of Nun’ Alvarez, also
described in the hitherto anonymous _Coronica do condestabre de
purtugal_, of which the earliest edition is dated 1526. Large tracts of
this chronicle are included, with alterations, in Lopez’ Chronicles of
King Fernando and King João I. Dr. Esteves Pereira and Snr. Braamcamp
Freire have now independently come to the conclusion that it is the
work of Lopez, clearly an earlier work[174] written shortly after the
death of Nun’ Alvarez (1431), i. e. before he concluded the _Cronica de
D. Fernando_[175] and wrote the _Cronica de D. Joam_, at which he was
working in 1443.[176] We are forced to accept this view, although of
course it is no argument to say that the conscientious and scrupulous
Fernam Lopez could not be a plagiarist since it was the duty of the
official chronicler of the day to incorporate the best work of other
historians. Lopez’ authorship is borne out by two passages which
at a first glance seem to refute it. In chapter 55 of the _Cronica
de D. Joam_ (1915 ed., p. 120) he introduces the version given in
the _Cronica do Condestabre_ (cap. 22) with the words ‘now here some
say’ (_ora aqui dizem algũs_), and then cites _huũ outro estoriador,
cujo fallamento nos pareçe mais rrazoado_, i. e. he now rejects the
version (of _algũs_) which he had adopted in his earlier work. In
chapter 152 (1915 ed., p. 281) he similarly quotes what _dizem aqui
algũs_ and then the version of _huũ outro compillador destes feitos,
de cujos garfos per mais largo estillo exertamos nesta obra segundo
que compre, rrecomta isto per esta maneira_, a manner which is not
that of the _Cronica do Condestabre_. But indeed the style of the two
works is conclusive. A single age does not produce two Fernam Lopez
any more than it produces two Montaignes or two Malorys. Those who
read the continuation of the _Cronica de D. Joam_ (i. e. the _Cronica
da Tomada de Ceuta_, completed in 1450) by GOMEZ EANEZ DE ZURARA
(_c._ 1410-74) find themselves in a very different atmosphere. We are
told[177] that this soldier, turned historian, acquired his learning
late in life, and he parades it like a new toy. Aristotle, Avicenna,
and all the Scriptures are in his preface; Job, Ovid, Hercules, and
Xenophon, a motley company, mourn the death of Queen Philippa (cap.
44). Sermons extend over whole chapters, although, as he is careful
to state, the exact words of the preachers could not be given.[178]
Philosophy had been graciously woven into Lopez’ narrative, but here
it stands in solid icebergs interrupting the story. And if he wishes
to say that memory often fails in old age he must quote St. Jerome; a
date occupies half a page, being calculated in nine or ten eras;[179]
and the style is sometimes similarly inflated, so that ‘next morning’
becomes ‘When Night was bringing the end of its obscurity and the Sun
began to strike the Oriental horizon’ (cap. 92). He also delights in
elaborate metaphors.[180] But it must not be thought that Zurara is all
froth and morals: in between his purple patches and erudite allusions
he tells his story directly and vividly, and, what is more, he has his
enthusiasm and his hero. Nun’ Alvarez has faded into the background,
but in his place appears the intense and fervent spirit of Prince
Henry the Navigator. His partiality for Prince Henry appears in the
_Cronica de D. Joam_, and in his _Cronica do Descobrimento e Conquista
da Guiné_ it is still more evident.[181] In this chronicle, written
at the request of King Afonso V and finished in the king’s library
in February 1453, he made use of a lost _Historia das Conquistas dos
Portugueses_ by Afonso Cerveira, and profited by much that he had heard
from the Infantes Pedro and Henrique and other makers of history. For
Zurara was a sincere and painstaking historian,[182] and when the king
bade him record the deeds of the Meneses in Africa (the _Cronica do
Conde D. Pedro de Meneses_ was completed in 1463, and the _Cronica dos
Feitos de D. Duarte de Meneses_ about five years later) he was not
content with the ‘recollections of courtiers’, but set out for Africa
(August 1467) and spent a whole year there gathering material at first
hand. An affectionate letter[183] from King Afonso to the historian in
his voluntary exile shows the pleasant relations existing between the
liberal king and his grateful librarian. He praises him as well learned
in the _arte oratoria_,[184] and for undertaking of his own free will
a journey which was imposed on others as a punishment, and promises
to look after the interests of his sister while he is away. Zurara
was a Knight of the Order of Christ, with a _comenda_ near Santarem,
owned other property, and suffered himself to be adopted by a wealthy
furrier’s widow, an unusual proceeding for a person in his station. But
if, as this indicates, he had a love of riches (satisfied by the king’s
generosity and this fortunate adoption), this in no way interfered with
his work of collecting and verifying evidence nor affects the truth
of his chronicles. He had proposed to write that of Afonso V, but the
king, wisely considering that his reign was not yet over, refused his
consent,[185] and this chronicle was reserved for the pen of RUY DE
PINA (_c._ 1440-1523?).[186] Herculano’s ‘crow in peacock’s feathers’
has been somewhat harshly treated by modern critics. Not he but the
taste and fashion of his time was to blame if he laid desecrating hands
on the invaluable chronicles of Fernam Lopez, and thus became the
‘author’ of the chronicles of the six kings, Sancho I to Afonso IV. The
mischief is irreparable, but it is well at least that these chronicles
should have been dealt with by Ruy de Pina, and not, for instance, by
the uncritical DUARTE GALVÃO (_c._ 1445-1517); the friend of Afonso de
Albuquerque, who died in the Arabian Sea when on his way as Ambassador
to Ethiopia, and who as _Cronista Môr_ revised the _Cronica de D.
Afonso Henriquez_ (1727). Ruy de Pina has further been attacked because
the people no longer figures, and the king figures too prominently, in
the chronicles for which he was more directly responsible: _Cronica
de D. Duarte_, _Cronica de D. Afonso V_, and _Cronica de D. João II_.
That is to censure him for faithfully recording the changed times and
not writing as if he were his own grandfather. Pina was no flatterer,
but the chronicle of João II inevitably centred round the king, and, in
spite of its excellence and of the moving incident of Prince Afonso’s
death, is less attractive than those which are a record of freer,
jollier times. Born at Guarda, of a family originally Aragonese, Pina
served as secretary on an embassy to Castille in 1482 and on two
subsequent occasions, and in the same capacity in a special mission to
the Vatican in 1484. He became secretary (_escrivão da nossa camara_)
to King João II, and succeeded Lucena as _Cronista Môr_ in 1497.
Both King João II and King Manuel showed their appreciation of his
services, and Barros lent authority to a foolish story that Afonso de
Albuquerque sent him rubies and diamonds from India as a reminder, in
Corrêa’s phrase, to _glorificar as cousas de Afonso de Albuquerque_.
Ruy de Pina in his chronicles of King Duarte and Afonso V used material
collected by Fernam Lopez and Zurara, and he in turn left material
for the reign of King Manuel of which Damião de Goes availed himself,
while his _Cronica de D. João II_ was laid under contribution by Garcia
de Resende. It may be doubted whether the _Cronica de D. Afonso V_
contains much that is not Ruy de Pina’s own. It was poetical justice
that the interest of the story should be transferred from the Infante
Henrique to the Infante Pedro.[187] His death and that of the Conde de
Abranches at Alfarrobeira are told with the most impressive simplicity,
which produces a far greater effect than the long _exclamação_ that
follows. Lacking Lopez’ genius, but possessed of an excellent plain
style, which only becomes flowery on occasion, and on his guard against
what he calls the _vicio e avorrecimento da proluxidade_, Pina relates
his story straightforwardly, almost in the form of annals. He does not
attempt to eke out his matter with rhetoric and has chapters of under
fifty words. The _Cronica de D. Afonso V_ effectively contrasts the
characters of the weak and chivalrous Afonso, who is praised as man but
not as king, and the vigorous practical João II, and has an inimitable
scene of the meeting of the former and Louis XI at Tours in 1476. The
glow of Fernam Lopez is absent, but Pina none the less deserves to be
accounted an able and impartial historian.
To the fifteenth century belongs the _Cronica do Infante Santo_. It
is impossible to read unmoved the clear and unaffected story of the
sufferings and death (1437-43), as a captive of Fez, of this the
most saintly of the sons of King João I and Queen Philippa. It was
written at the bidding of his brother, Prince Henry the Navigator,
with the skill born of a fervent devotion, by FREI JOÃO ALVAREZ, an
eyewitness[188] of D. Fernando’s misfortunes and one of the few of his
companions to survive (till 1470 or later). A curious indication of
the writer’s accuracy in detail is the correct spelling of a Basque
name,[189] of the meaning of which he was probably ignorant.
The founder of the dynasty of Avis, KING JOÃO I (1365-1433), found
time in his busy reign of forty-eight years to encourage literature,
ardently assisted no doubt by English Queen Philippa, and was himself
an author. His keen practical spirit turned to Portuguese prose, and
while as a poet he confined himself to a few prayers and psalms, in
prose he caused to be translated the Hours of the Virgin and the
greater part of the New Testament, as well as foreign works such as
John Gower’s _Confessio Amantis_ (_c._ 1383), and himself wrote a
long treatise on the chase. This _Livro da Montaria_, which has little
but the title in common with Alfonso XI’s _Libro de Montería_, lay
unpublished for four centuries, but is now available in a scholarly
edition by Dr. Esteves Pereira from the manuscript in the Lisbon
Biblioteca Nacional. Valuable and interesting in itself, this book is
of great significance in Portuguese literature by reason of the impulse
thus given to Portuguese prose. It is impossible as yet to estimate
the full value of the prose works that followed: many are lost, others
remain in manuscript, as the _Orto do Sposo_ by Frei Hermenegildo de
Tancos, or the _Livro das Aves_. But with King João’s son and successor
Portuguese prose came into its kingdom.
Punctilious and affectionate, gifted with many virtues and graces, the
half-English KING DUARTE (1391-1438), _o Eloquente_, shared the high
ideals of all the sons of João I. Liable to fits of melancholy, and
of less active disposition than his brothers Henrique and Pedro, he
proved himself not less gallant in action than they at the taking of
Ceuta in 1415, and had even earlier been entrusted by his father with
affairs of State. His scruples as philosopher-or rather student-king
during his unhappy reign of five years may have hampered his decisions,
but his love of truth made the saying _palavra de rei_ proverbial.
The corroding cares of State prevented him from giving all the time
he would have wished to literary studies, but he was a methodical
collector of books[190] and papers written by himself and others, and
his great work, _Leal Conselheiro_ (_c._ 1430), consisted of such
a collection on moral philosophy and practical conduct, addressed
to his wife, Queen Lianor. It contains 102 chapters, often stray
papers, sometimes translated from other authors.[191] Besides a
detailed consideration of virtues and vices which are treated with an
Aristotelian precision, and always with preference for the Portuguese
as opposed to the latinized word, it has chapters on the art of
translation, food, chapel services, and other subjects.[192] The book
reveals a character of rare charm, combining humility with a clear
instinct for what was right, humanity with common sense. His literary
genius was akin to that of his father; he scarcely possessed poetical
talent, although he translated in verse the Latin hymn _Juste Judex_,
and possessed in his library a _Livro das Trovas del Rei_, in all
probability a collection of the poems of others. Wit and originality
he also lacked. But as a prose-writer he ranks among the greatest
Portuguese authors, and in style was indeed something of an innovator,
using words with an exactness and scrupulous nicety hitherto unknown
in Portugal. He gave the matter long and serious consideration, and
the directness of his style corresponds to his sincerity of thought.
His clear, concise sentences and careful choice of words show a true
artist of unerring instinct in prose.[193] King Duarte wished to be
read as Sainte-Beuve recommended that one should read the _Caractères_
of La Bruyère: _peu et souvent_ (_pouco ... tornando algũas vezes_).
The first part of the precept has been followed, but unhappily for
Portuguese prose the second has been neglected. In his youth the king
was noted for his horsemanship, and his _Livro da Ensinança de bem
cavalgar toda sella_ is a practical treatise based on his personal
experience (_nom screvo do que ouvi_, as he says) begun when he
was prince, laid aside after his accession, and left unfinished at
his death. It is remarkable, like the _Leal Conselheiro_, for the
excellence of its style and the manly, thoughtful character of its
author. But for his premature death, King Duarte might have done for
Portuguese prose what Alfonso X and Don Juan Manuel had done for
Castilian. An excellent translator himself, he encouraged translations
into Portuguese, in Portugal and Spain; the Bishop of Burgos, Don
Alonso de Cartagena, translated Cicero for him, and the Dean of
Santiago Aristotle. More active than King Duarte, more literary than
his younger brother Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460), D. PEDRO
(1392-1449), created Duke of Coimbra after the capture of Ceuta in
1415, became almost a legendary figure owing to his extensive travels
(1424-8)--_andou as sete partes do mundo_--and his equally exaggerated
reputation as a poet, through confusion with his son the Constable.
Regent from 1438 to 1448, he resigned when the young king, his nephew
and son-in-law, Afonso V, came of age. His enemies succeeded in
effecting his banishment from Court. Civil strife followed, and D.
Pedro fell in a preliminary skirmish at Alfarrobeira in May 1449. Had
he been granted a peaceful old age he would probably occupy a more
important place in Portuguese literature. Apart from the historical
value of his letters, his chief claim to be remembered literarily
consists in the translations from the Latin, principally from Cicero,
undertaken under his supervision or by himself personally, as the _De
Officiis_, which was dedicated to King Duarte and is still unpublished.
The _Trauctado da Uirtuosa Benfeyturia_ was originally a translation by
the prince of Seneca’s _De Beneficiis_. Except the dedication to King
Duarte (between 1430 and 1433), the work as it stands in six books is
properly not D. Pedro’s, since he had not leisure for the corrections
and additions which he wished to make, and accordingly handed over
his translation and the original to his confessor, Frei João Verba,
who made the necessary alterations,[194] and expanded the book from a
literal translation to a paraphrase of the _De Beneficiis_. The reader
who does not bear this in mind might be startled to find references
in a work of Seneca’s to St. Thomas, Nun’ Alvarez, the noble knight
Abraham, or the virtuous knight Cid Ruy Diaz. The work lacks King
Duarte’s gift of style which set the _Leal Conselheiro_ high above
contemporary prose.
LOPO DE ALMEIDA, created first Count of Abrantes in 1472,[195]
accompanied D. Lianor, daughter of King Duarte, on her marriage to the
Emperor Frederick III in 1451. In four letters written to King Afonso V
from Italy (February to May 1452) he displays a keen eye for colour and
much directness in description, so that the Emperor bargaining miserly
over the price of damask or the two wealthy Italian dukes so sorrily
horsed (_em sima de senhos rocins magros_) remain in the memory, and
the letters are more original than most of the Portuguese prose of the
century.
One of the most important early prose works is the _Boosco Delleytoso_
(1515). It consists of 153 short chapters,[196] and is dedicated (on
the verso of the frontispiece portraying the ‘delightful wood’) to
Queen Lianor, widow of King João II. It is a homily in praise of the
hermit’s life of solitude and against worldly joys and traffics, and
is marked by a pleasant quaintness, an intense and excellent style,
a fervent humanity and love of Nature. The hermit’s independent
and healthy life[197] is contrasted with that of the merchant in
cities.[198] In chapter I the repentant sinner is introduced in ‘a
very thick wood of very fair trees in which many birds sang very
sweetly’ near ‘a very fair field full of many herbs and scented
flowers’--_frolles de boo odor_. He prays to be delivered from this
darkness of death, and a very fair youth appears ‘clothed in clothes of
gleaming fire and his face shone as the sun when it rises in the season
of great heat’. His ‘glorious guide’, _grorioso guyador_, leads him to
a _dona sabedor_ and to _dom francisco solitario_, who in a _fremoso
fallamento_ praises the solitary life and condemns those who are puffed
up with the conceit of learning, in itself ‘a very fair thing’. He
tells of the lives of saintly hermits; St. Bernard, St. Thomas Aquinas,
Dom Seneca, Dom Cicero, _a mui comfortosa donzella_, and others exhort
the sinner to leave the world, and he ends by relating his frequent
raptures until his soul is carried to the _terra perduravil_. In its
main subject, praise of the solitary life, the book recalls the title
of the treatise ascribed to D. Philippa de Lencastre: _Tratado da Vida
Solitaria_, a translation or adaptation from the Latin of Laurentius
Justinianus.[199] The latter’s _De Vita Solitaria_ is, however, quite
different from the _Boosco deleytoso_, which was probably composed
before the birth of D. Philippa (1437).
Another remarkable early work is the anonymous _Corte Imperial_ (14th
or early 15th c.), the language of which often bears traces of a
Latin original.[200] Many of its sentences are veritable _dobres_ and
_mordobres_ in prose,[201] and to a superficial reader will have little
meaning; but in fact this mystic treatise is closely reasoned. It
may have some connexion with similar works by Juda Levi, Ramon Lull,
and Don Juan Manuel. In a _corte_ or parliament the Church Militant,
in the person of a ‘glorious Catholic Queen’ argues with Gentile,
Moor, and Jew on the nature of God and the Trinity. The Gentiles and
Moors gradually accept her doctrines, but the Jewish rabbis prove
more contumacious. Saints and angels and all the company of heaven
discourse sweet music in the intervals of the discussion. One of the
best known of the many other important translations of this time was
the _Flos Sanctorum_ (1513),[202] which begins[203] with extracts from
the Gospels and has a savour of the Bible about its prose. There were
many later versions of the Gospel story, as _A Paxã de Jesu Christo
Nosso Deos e Senhor_, &c. (1551); _Tratado en que se comprende breue
e deuotamente a Vida, Paixão e Resurreição_, &c. (1553); _Traatado em
q̃ se contẽ a paixam de x̃po_, &c. (1589?). But the earliest and most
splendid, an incunable of which Portugal has reason to be proud on
account of its beautiful print, is the _Vita Christi_ (Lixboa, 1495),
translated _em lingoa materna e portugues linguagem_ from the original
of Ludolph von Sachsen by the Cistercian monk Frei Bernardo de Alcobaça
(†1478?), at the bidding of Queen Isabel, sister of the Constable D.
Pedro, in the middle of the fifteenth century (1445).
Another notable translation for the same queen is the _Espelho de
Christina_ (1518),[204] from the French of Christine de Pisan:
_Livre des trois vertus pour l’enseignement des princesses_ (1497).
The Portuguese manuscript, translated from the French manuscript
nearly half a century before the latter appeared in print,[205] was
published at the bidding of Queen Lianor (wife of João II), who so
keenly encouraged Portuguese art, language, and literature. Her squire
Valentim Fernandez’ version of Marco Polo, _Marco Paulo_, was published
at Lisbon in 1502. The _Espelho de Prefeyçam_ (1533) was translated
from the Latin by the Canons of Santa Cruz, Coimbra, and edited by Bras
de Barros (_c._ 1500-59), Bishop of Leiria and cousin of the historian
João de Barros. A Portuguese version of a scriptural work entitled
_Sacramental_, originally written in Spanish by Clemente Sanchez de
Vercial, was published apparently in 1488 (it would thus be one of the
earliest books printed in Portugal), and was reprinted at Lisbon in
1502.