Portuguese literature
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