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The Chronicle, which is at once a life of D. Duarte de Menezes and a history of Alcacer, supplements that of his father D. Pedro de Menezes, and carries the history of the Portuguese in North Africa down to 1464. We have no record of when it was finished, but the year 1468 seems the probable date. It is, if not the most important, yet the longest, as it proved to be the last, of the Author's historical works, and cost him more labour than any of its predecessors; but, through some mischance, no complete MS. exists, all having many and great lacunæ, as will hereafter appear. It presents the peculiarities common to all Azurara's writings—the same fondness for quotations, and the same reliance on astrology as explicative of character. Among the more interesting of the former, besides those from the Classics and the Fathers, are his references to Johão Flameno's gloss on Dante, Avicenna, Albertus Magnus, and the Marquis of Santillana. Speaking of this Chronicle. Goes notes and condemns the "superfluous abundance and wealth of poetical and rhetorical words" that are employed here and elsewhere by its author.

During Azurara's stay at Alcacer the King addressed him an autograph letter dated November 22nd, 1467 (?), which affords a striking proof of Affonso's superior mind, as well as of the esteem in which he held men of letters. He begins by saying that he has received the Chronicler's letter,⁶¹ and rejoices he is well, as he had feared the contrary, owing to his long silence, and proceeds:—

"It is not without reason that men of your profession should be prized and honoured; for, next after the Princes and Captains who achieve deeds worth remembering, they that record them, when those are dead, deserve much praise. … What would have become of the deeds of Rome if Livy had not written them; what of Alexander's without a Quintus Curtius; of those of Troy without a Homer; of Cæsar's without a Lucan? … Many are they that devote themselves to the exercise of arms, but few to the art of Oratory. Since, then, you are well instructed in this art, and nature has given you a large share of it, with much reason ought I and the chiefs of my Realm and the Captains thereof to consider any benefit bestowed on you as well employed."

Affonso then goes on to praise Azurara for having voluntarily exiled himself in his service, and says he would not have him stay in Africa any longer than he pleases, and winds up as follows:—

"I count it as a service that you wish for news of my health, and, thanks be to God, I am well in body as in other respects, though on the sea of this world one is constantly buffeted by its waves, especially as we are all on that plank since the first shipwreck, so that no one is safe until he reaches the true haven that cannot be seen except after this life, to which may it please God to conduct us when He thinks it time, for He is sailor and pilot, and without Him no man may enter there. … I have not a painting of myself that I can send you now; but, please God, you will see the original, some time, which will please you more."⁶²

Herculano truly says of this epistle: "Had it been from one brother to another, the language could not well have been more affable and affectionate";⁶³ but, more than this, it proves that Portugal was ahead of most European nations of that age in possessing a King who could value the pen as highly as the sword.

Henceforth little or nothing is known of the life of Azurara, except from the certificates he issued in the course of his official duties.

On May 25th, 1468, one of these documents was issued from the Torre do Tombo, and signed by a substitute, with the statement that the Chronicler was living at Alcacer, on the service and by command of the King. He probably returned to Lisbon to finish the Chronica de D. Duarte de Menezes in the autumn of this year.

On October 22nd, 1470, Azurara gave a certificate of the Charter of Moreyra. In their petition for the same, the inhabitants allege that their copy is so written, and in such Latin, that they cannot understand it; and they further wish to know how much of the present money they must pay for the three mealhas mentioned in the original as payable for the carriage of bread and wine—a question which Azurara seems to have experienced some difficulty in answering.⁶⁴

On April 20th, 1471, he issued a similar certificate to the dwellers in S. João de Rey.⁶⁵ In this same year took place Affonso's third African campaign, which resulted in the capture of Tangier, Arzila and Anafe.

On September 5th, 1472, in answer to a petition of the inhabitants of Cascaes, the Chronicler handed them a copy of the Charter of Cintra, in which district Cascaes is situate,⁶⁶ and on December 5th in the same year he issued copies of documents affecting the liberties of the Order of Christ and the couto, or "liberty", of Gordam.⁶⁷

This latter is the last existing document signed by Azurara, though he appears to have given another certificate on August 17th, 1473, nearly a year after, relating to the forged grant of D. Fernando to the Order of Christ, as mentioned by João Pedro Ribeiro.⁶⁸

There is no evidence to show when the Chronicler died, and tradition on the point varies. The oldest authority who refers to it is Damião de Goes, and, according to him, Azurara lived some years after 1472.⁶⁹ He never married, and was succeeded in his post at the Torre do Tombo by Affonso Annes d'Obidos; but the charter of this man's appointment has been lost, and his first recorded certificate only bears date March 31st, 1475.⁷⁰

* * * * *

We have now followed the life of Azurara step by step, and seen him honoured for his talents by his contemporaries, and rewarded for his services to King and country by numerous benefactions.⁷¹ We have also seen him on intimate terms with the Royal Family, and corresponding regularly with some of its members, as well as acquainted with the leaders of the explorations and the learned men of the time, and must conclude that this was chiefly due to his literary attainments and genial character. It is therefore pleasant to be able to record that, in our day, Portugal has marked her appreciation of him, as a man and a writer, by a statue, whilst recognising that his works form his greatest and most durable monument. In the Praça de Luiz de Camões in Lisbon there rises a noble statue of the "Prince of Spanish Poets"⁷², surrounded by eight of the most distinguished men of letters and action of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, his predecessors and contemporaries, and among them is a life-size figure of Gomez Eannes de Azurara.⁷³

1 In the Chronica de Guiné, ch. 97, he calls himself "Gomez Eanes de Zurara."

2 Barros, writing before 1552, says, "I know not how long he lived."—Asia, Dec. 1, liv. ii, ch. 2.

3 "De Bello Septensi," p. 27 (in the Ineditos de Historia Portugueza, vol. i, Lisbon, 1790).

4 Chronica de Ceuta, ch. 23.

5 This place is in Beira Alta, twelve kilometres east of Vizeu, famous (inter alia) for the great picture of St. Peter as Pope, lately reproduced by the Arundel Society.

6 The first to mention Azurara's birthplace was Soares de Brito (born 1611, died 1669), who, in his Theatrum Lusitaniæ Litterarium, p. 547, says: "Gomes Anes de Azurara ex oppido, sicuti fertur, cognomine in Diocesi Portucalensi," voicing the tradition of his time (MS. U/4/22 of the Lisbon National Library, dated 1645). The first who suggested Beira in place of Minho seems to have been Corrêa da Serra, editor of the Ineditos, ibid., vol. ii, p. 209.

7 Vide the articles on Azurara in the Instituto de Coimbra, vol. ix, p. 72, et seq., by Vieira de Meyrelles, and in the Diccionario Universal Portuguez, vol. i, p. 2151, by R. d'Azevedo.

8 Azurara is named in this document "Commander of Alcains and Granja de Ulmeiro".—Chanc. de D. Affonso V, liv. x, fol. 113, Torre do Tombo.

9 According to Azurara, Pisano was tutor (mestre) to Affonso V, and "a laurelled Bard, as well as one of the most sufficient Philosophers and Orators of his time in Christendom."—Chronica de D. Pedro de Menezes, ch. 1 (Ineditos, vol. ii).

10 De Bello Septensi, p. 27.

11 So says Corrêa da Serra—Ineditos, vol. ii, p. 207.

12 Vide Ruy de Pina, Chronica de D. Duarte, ch. 8.

13 Because Azurara is found to have been the son of a Canon, it does not necessarily follow that he was illegitimate, and, in fact, no letters of legitimation exist in respect of him.

14 Definiçoẽs e Estatutos dos Cavalleiros e Freires da Ordem de N. S. Jesu Cristo com a historia da origem & principio della. Lisbon, 1628.

15 D. Carolina Michaëlis de Vasconcellos, however, is of opinion that this, and the popular songs hereafter referred to, are pious frauds, invented in the first half of the seventeenth century to form materials for the canonisation of Nun' Alvares.

16 Chronica dos Carmaelitas, vol. i, pp. 469, 486. Lisbon, 1745.

17 Chronica de Ceuta, ch. 2.

18 Azurara's chief informants were D. Pedro, Regent in the minority of Affonso V, and D. Henrique, in whose house he stayed some days for the purpose by the king's orders; "for he knew more than anyone in Portugal about the matter" (Chronica de Ceuta, ch. 12). To this fact must be attributed the prominent place he gives D. Henrique in his narrative. The same circumstance is noticeable in the Chronica de D. Duarte, which was begun by Azurara and finished by Ruy de Pina, of which hereafter.

19 Diccionario Bibliographico Portuguez, vol. iii, p. 147.

20 Pisano testifies of Azurara, "scientiæ cupiditate flagravit".—De Bello Septensi, p. 27.

21 Chronica de Ceuta, ch. 38.

22 Vide Theophilo Braga, Historia da Universidade de Coimbra, Lisbon, 1892, vol. i, ch. 4, for the catalogues of these libraries and an account of the books they contained.

23 This letter defines the scope of the book, which was not meant to be a general history of the Portuguese expeditions and discoveries. It is printed in Santarem's edition of the Chronica de Guiné, and precedes his Introduction.

24 This charming old chronicle of the life of the noblest and most sympathetic figure in Portuguese annals was written anonymously, and first printed in 1526.

25 Azurara's laconism with reference to the history of the discovery of the Madeiras and Azores is really regrettable. In many respects his narrative needs to be supplemented from other sources.

26 The offices of Chief Chronicler, Keeper of the Royal Archives and Royal Librarian were, as a rule, held by the same individual and conferred at the same time, as in the case of Ruy de Pina, but Azurara had the position of Royal Librarian for at least two years before he obtained the others, namely from 1452, as already mentioned (p. v).

27 Chanc. de D. Affonso V, liv. X, fl. 30. Torre do Tombo.

28 Definiçoẽs e Estatutos dos Cavalleiros e Freires da Ordem de N. S. Jesu Christo, etc., p. 242.

29 Liv. XII de D. Affonso V, fl. 62. Torre do Tombo.

30 De Bello Septensi, p. 26.

31 Estremadura, liv. VII, fl. 255. Torre do Tombo.

32 Definiçoẽs e Estatutos, etc., p. 236.

33 Ibid., p. 263. The situations of these Commendas are taken from Portugal Antigo e Moderno, Lisbon 1873, and following years.

34 Chanc. de D. Affonso V. liv. X, fl. 113. Torre do Tombo.

35 Gav. 15, Maço 13, No. 21. Torre do Tombo. Azurara is here described as "Commander of Pinheiro Grande and Granja d'Ulmeiro, our Chronicler and Keeper" (of the Records).

36 Chronica do Conde D. Pedro de Menezes, ch. 1.

37 "Chóca" is an old-fashioned Portuguese game played with a stout staff and ball. The incident is referred to by Camöens in Eclogue I, in the lines beginning, "Emquanto do seguro azambugeyro", etc.

38 Particularly he "reformed" the Registers of the reigns of Pedro I, D. Fernando, João I, and D. Duarte; and J. P. Ribeiro, who gives a minute account of the state of these Registers and of Azurara's compilation, winds up thus: "Such is the state of the Chancellary books of the early reigns down to that of Affonso V; some are still in their original condition, while others are reformed or rather destroyed, by Gomez Eannes de Zurara."—Memorias Authenticas para a Historia do Real Archivo, p. 171. Lisbon, 1819.

39 Annaes Maritimos e Coloniaes, No. 1, Segunda serie, p. 34; and J. P. Ribeiro, Memorias Authenticas, etc., p. 21.

40 There is a reference to this claim of the Order in the Definiçoẽs e Estatutos, etc., p. 201, and to its defeat.

41 This must have been an adopted son of the Chronicler, to whom he had lent his name.

42 This forgery must be reckoned a very passable one, although the handwritings are obviously not the same, and the parchment differs in texture and colour from that of the rest of the book. The judgment of the Casa de Supplicação is printed in extenso by J. P. Ribeiro from liv. 1, "dos Direitos Reaes," fol. 216, in the Torre do Tombo.

43 Chanc. de D. Affonso V, liv. xxxi, fl. 76v^o. Torre do Tombo. For the signification and value of these "white milreis", see Damião de Goes, Chronica de D. Manoel, ch. 1.

44 Estremadura, liv. II, fl. 279. Torre do Tombo.

45 Terçeyro dodianna del Rey Dom Alfonso Quinto, fol. 57. Torre do Tombo.

46 The original of this certificate belongs to the famous novelist, Senhor Eça de Queiroz, whose wife claims descent from this de Castro. Doubtless others of the Chronicler's certificates, the contents—or at least the dates—of which would fill up some of the gaps in his biography, are in private hands, without any record of their issue remaining, either in the Torre do Tombo or elsewhere, as in the present case. Brandão mentions one such in his Monarchia Lusitana, Quinta parte, p. 177. Lisbon, 1650.

47 Liv. IX de D. Affonso V, fol. 94. Torre do Tombo.

48 Affonso V ordered Pisano to write the Chronicle in Latin, as he had previously done with the Capture of Ceuta.—Chronica do Conde D. Pedro de Menezes, ch. 1. The MS. is now lost.

49 Ibid., ch. 64.

50 Chronica do Conde D. Pedro de Menezes, chs. 2 and 3. The end of ch. 3 deserves perusal, for it shows how fully Azurara realized the difficulties of an historian's task.

51 Ibid., ch. 63. This is the first reference in all literature to the authorship of the famous romance.

52 D. Pedro, fils, was a distinguished poet, and to him the Marquis of Santillana addressed that famous letter which may be described as a history of poetry in the Peninsula. It is transcribed in extenso by Dr. Theophilo Braga, in his Poetas Palacianos, pp. 161–169. Porto, 1871.

53 The letter was first published in the Panorama for 1841, at p. 336. General Brito Rebello argues that the date 1406 is impossible, and should read 1466, or possibly 1460. The former has here been adopted. Other mistakes occur in the letter, as printed in the Panorama, besides that of date. Some of its expressions are ambiguous, and the subscript "From Aviz", an evident addition to the original, may be put down to the copyist, who, knowing D. Pedro to be Master of Aviz, concluded that the letter was written from there, though the contents disprove it.

54 Gav. 8, Maço 1, No. 17. Torre do Tombo.

55 Decimo de Estremadura, fol. 270. Torre do Tombo.

56 Chronica do Conde D. Duarte de Menezes (Ineditos, vol. iii), ch. 1. It would almost seem as though Azurara accompanied the King in his first expedition in 1458, when Alcacer was taken.—Ibid., ch. 34.

57 Ibid., ch. 1.

58 Ibid., ch. 2.

59 Ibid., ch, 2.

60 Ibid., ch. 60.

61 Azurara seems to have corresponded frequently with Affonso V; cf. Chronica de Guiné, ch. 7.

62 The letter is printed in the Ineditos, vol. iii, p. 3. According to Meyrelles, there are two copies of it in MS. No. 495 of the Coimbra University Library.—Vide Instituto, vol. ix.

63 Opusculos, vol. v, p. 14. Lisbon, 1886.

64 Maço 7 de Foraes Antigos, No. 3. Torre do Tombo.

65 Maço 3 de Foraes Antigos, No. 5. Torre do Tombo.

66 Maço 1 de Foraes Antigos, No. 11. Torre do Tombo.

67 Armario 17, Maço 6, No. 5. Torre do Tombo. It is worthy of note that the Eytor de Sousa, here referred to, is the same person that appears in the judgment of the Casa de Supplicacão of January 19th, 1479, as representing the Order of Christ.

68 Memorias Authenticas, p. 21.

69 Chronica de D. Manoel, quarta parte, ch. 38.

70 Memorias Authenticas, p. 21.

71 Padre José Bayam, in p. 5 of his Prologue to the Chronica del Rey D. Pedro I of Fernão Lopes (Lisbon, 1761), states that Azurara obtained the position of Disembargador da Casa do Civel, or Judge of Appeal of the Civil Court, on the authority of ch. 54 of Pina's Chronica de D. Affonso V, which mentions a certain Gomez Eanes as holding the office in question and being sent on an embassy to Africa; but João Pedro Ribeiro, in vol. iv, part 2, of his Dissertações Chronologicas e Criticas, Dissertação XVI, proves conclusively that Bayam is in error, and that the Judge had no connection with his namesake the Chronicler.

72 The word "Spanish" is here used, in its correct sense, to include all the peoples of the Peninsula. So the Archbishop of Braga bears the title "Primaz das Hespanhas", denoting his primacy over both Spain and Portugal.

73 No portrait of Azurara exists, and his signatures form the only relic of him that we possess.

Critical Remarks.

Azurara belongs to the line of Portuguese Chroniclers who rendered illustrious the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, a line that began with Fernão Lopes and culminated in Damião de Goes and João de Barros, both of whom were almost historians in the modern sense of the term, and at the same time masters of prose style. He is indeed the connecting link between the chronicler and the historian, between the Mediæval writers and those of the Renaissance; for, while he possesses much of the sympathetic ingenuousness of Lopes, yet he cannot resist displaying his erudition and talents by quotations and philosophical reflections, as quaint as they are often unnecessary, proving that he wrote under the influence of that wave of foreign literature which had swept in with the new monarchy.

Three literary tendencies may be said to have prevailed in Portugal during the fifteenth century—firstly, a monomania for classical learning; secondly, an increased taste for the mediæval Epics and prose Romances, due to the English influence that had entered with Queen Philippa, daughter of timeserving Lancaster, though it must be remembered that Amadis de Gaula, the most famous romance of the Middle Ages, was compiled in the preceding century and by a Portuguese hand; and lastly, an admiration for Spanish poetry, which had made wonderful strides since the great Italians, Dante and Petrarch, had become known in the Peninsula. In philosophy, Aristotle, as expounded by Averroes, was the chief authority—Azurara calls him "the Philosopher"—and following him Egidius and Pedro Hispano, the Portuguese Pope and scholar, enjoyed the widest influence. Platonic philosophy was introduced at a much later period, chiefly through the medium of Italian poetry, and it never took root.

To the reader of Azurara's writings, it often seems as though the author were overburdened by his knowledge, which was in truth very extensive, if at times somewhat superficial; and the Chronicles bear witness to the fact that Portugal had not remained foreign to the literary impulse of the Renaissance. Besides citations from many books of the Bible, the following classical writers appear in his pages:—Herodotus, Homer, Hesiod, Aristotle, Cæsar, Livy, Cicero, Sallust, Valerius Maximus, Pliny, Lucan, the two Senecas, Vegetius, Ovid, Josephus and Ptolemy. Among early Christian and mediæval authors he mentions Orosius, St. Gregory, Isidore of Seville, Lucas of Tuy, the Arabic astronomer Alfragan, Gualter, Marco Polo, Roderick of Toledo, Egidius, St. Jerome, Albertus Magnus, St. Bernard, St. Chrysostom, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine, and Peter Lombard; while he has heard the legend of the voyages of St. Brandan and knows the author of the Amadis de Gaula. He was acquainted with the Chronicles and Romances of the chief European nations,⁷⁴ and had studied the best Italian and Spanish authors. Added to this, he had mastered the geographical system of the Ancients,⁷⁵ together with their astrology, and his knowledge of the latter probably came from the pg xlviiifamous Opus Quadripartitum of Ptolemy. Although he obtained his education in the time of D. Duarte, or early in the reign of Affonso V, an age which had ceased to believe in sidereal influences, as appears from the Leal Conselheiro, his writings show that he possessed a fervent faith in astrology as explaining the character and acts, as well as governing the destinies, of man.⁷⁶ Various opinions have been emitted about his style; for, while such a good judge as Goes condemns his "antiquated words and prolix reasoning, full of metaphors or figures that are out of place in the historical style", Barros speaks of his "clear style" that, together with his diligence, rendered him worthy of the office he held.⁷⁷ But perhaps the most perspicuous criticism thereon is that of Corrêa da Serra, who declares, with reference to the opinions just cited:—"Both may well be right, for the style of Gomes Eannes is not uniform, and seems the work of two different men. As a rule his narrative is simple, full of sound sense, and not without elegance; but, from time to time, he remembers the rude rhetoric he had learnt so late in life, and writes (if I may say so) in a falsetto style. The first was what nature had bestowed upon him, the last came from his immature studies. But these very defects are of interest now, for they give an idea of the learning and taste of that age."⁷⁸ And, in spite of all his pedantry, Azurara rises at times to a true eloquence, some of his pages being equal to the best in Portuguese prose. The grandeur of chapter ii of the Chronica de Guiné, and the heartfelt pity of Chapter XXV, which relates the division of the captives, prove conclusively that he could accommodate the style to the subject like all writers worthy ofthe name. Had he lived a century later, he would have certainly been placed in the first rank of Portuguese prosists; while, as it is, his antiquated and at times inflated language has gone far to prevent him from being appreciated, or even read, by any save the studious.⁷⁹

As an historian he had an unbounded respect for authority, on his own confession, and the speeches he puts in the mouths of his heroes remind the reader at times of Livy, and make it clear that he was writing under the immediate influence of classical models.⁸⁰ The historical importance of his Chronicles is of the first order. They are contemporary with the events they relate, and contain the history of the Portuguese expeditions to and rule in Mauritania from the reign of João I down to that of Affonso V, and furnish a complete account of all the voyages of discovery along the African Coast, due to the initiative of D. Henrique, until 1448. True, the Chronica de Guiné omits to mention some other voyages that were the result of private enterprise, for Azurara wrote it in the capacity of Chronicler to the King and as a panegyric of the Prince, and never intended to relate discoveries unconnected with his hero and with the land that gives his book its title. The Chronica de Guiné must, of course, always take rank as Azurara's masterpiece. It was the first book written by a European on the lands south of Cape Bojador, and it restores to us, in great part, the lost work of Cerveira entitled a History of the Portuguese Conquests on the Coast of Africa, on which it is founded, besides making up for the regrettable disappearance of the naval archives of the early period of modern discovery.

Azurara's credibility as a narrator is both unquestioned and unquestionable, for his position enabled him to get at the truth, and he took pains to record nothing but the truth, thereby proving himself a genuine disciple of his master, Fernão Lopes. He was moved, as a rule, neither by human respect nor by petty jealousies, and accuracy seems with him to have amounted to a passion.⁸¹ So truthful was he that he preferred to leave the relation of facts incomplete rather than tell of them without having received exact information from eye-witnesses. He was quite conscious of what he calls his "want of polish and small knowledge", and his humility is shown by the declaration that he only regarded the Chronica de Guiné as material for some future historian who would perpetuate the great deeds of D. Henrique in "a loftier and clearer style".⁸²

His attitude towards the Moors, those hereditary enemies of Portugal, was only what we should expect, for, while he is strictly impartial in distributing praise and blame to them equally with Christians, he leaves us in no doubt on which side his sympathies lay. In the Chronica de Guiné, for example, after descanting on the universal praise of the Infant's life and work, he admits that a discordant note in the general chorus was struck by the Moors whom the Prince had warred with and slain, or, to quote his own words, "Some other voices, very contrary to those I have until now described, sounded in my ears, for which I should have felt a great pity, had I not seen them to come from men outside our Law".⁸³

It has been already noted that Azurara, though he wrote under the very shadow of the Palace, was anything but a flatterer of the great; indeed, he has been accused by some of insisting too much on the defects in his heroes.⁸⁴ On the other hand, it must be confessed that he shows a marked partiality, if not a blind admiration, for D. Henrique in the Chronica de Ceuta as well as in the Chronica de Guiné. In the former he attributes to the Prince the chief part in the capture of the city, while in the latter he shows himself ever ready to defend him from his dispraisers, and to convict of foolishness out of their own mouths the opponents of the voyages of discovery. Nay, more, he even finds an explanation for D. Henrique's neglect to defend his brother Pedro from being done to death at Alfarrobeira, a neglect which is hard to explain satisfactorily and must remain a blot on the Prince's fair fame. But this bias may readily be accounted for by the fact that Azurara passed much of his time in close intimacy with D. Henrique, and drew a great part of the information for his Chronicles of Ceuta and Guinea from that source, besides which he can hardly be blamed for the love he felt and displayed for a great and good man, the initiator and hero of modern discovery.

Finally, while no serious critic would admit Azurara within the circle of great historians, few would dispute his title to be named a great Chronicler. That he was a laborious and truthful writer his pages make clear; that he could tell a simple story vividly—nay, dramatically—and that he had at times flashes of inspiration, the Chronica de Guiné attests, though, even bearing this work in mind, it is easy to perceive his inferiority in the matter of style to Fernào Lopes, a point constantly insisted on by Portuguese critics. In a word, if, as Southey said, Lopes is "beyond all comparison the best Chronicler of any age or nation", it may well be that Azurara, "notwithstanding an occasional display of pedantry, is equal in merit to any Chronicler, except his unequalled predecessor".⁸⁵

74 Chronica de D. Pedro de Menezes, ch. 63, and Chronica de Ceuta, ch. 38.

75 Chronica de Guiné, chs. 61 and 62.

76 Chronica de Guiné, chs. 7 and 28; Chronica de Ceuta chs. 34, 52, and 57; Chronica de D. Duarte de Menezes, ch. 34.

77 Chronica do Principe D. João, ch. 6, and Asia, Dec. 1, liv. ch. 2.

78 Ineditos, vol. ii, p. 210.

79 Compare the remarks on Azurara's style by Sotero dos Reis in his Curso da litteratura Portugueza e Brazileira. Maranhão, 1866, vol. I, lição xiv.

80 Cf. Chronica de Ceuta, ch. 1.

81 Many passages from his Chronicles might be cited to prove this, but the following will suffice: Chronica de Ceuta, chs. 1, 2, 12, 51, 83, 91, and 95; Chronica de Guiné, ch. 30; Chronica de D. Pedro de Menezes, ch. 1, and Bk. II, ch. 18; Chronica de D. Duarte de Menezes, chs. 2 and 60.

82 Chronica de Guiné, ch. 6.

83 Ibid., ch. 2.

84 The Azorean scholar, Dr. J. T. Soares de Sousa, calls Azurara "a clever courtier rather than a severe and impartial historian" (quoted by Dr. Theophilo Braga, in his Historia da Universidade de Coimbra, vol. i, p. 138); but this is certainly unjust and even untrue. K. Manoel de Mello gives a fairer estimate in the witty phrase, "Chronista antigo, tão candido de penna, como de barba."—Apologos Dialogaes, p. 455, ed. Lisbon, 1721.

85 Quarterly Review, May 1809, p. 288.

Bibliography.

The following is a list of Azurara's works in the order in which they were written:—

(a) "Milagres do Santo Condestabre D. Nuno Alvres Pereira."

This volume, of doubtful authenticity, which was never printed, has now been lost. Senhor Oliveira Martins was unable to find a trace of it when engaged on his recently-published life of the Holy Constable,⁸⁶ and suggests that it may have perished, along with so many other literary treasures, in 1755, during the Great Earthquake. Jorge Cardoso, in his Agiologico Lusitano,⁸⁷ quotes a passage from Azurara's work, and Santa Anna gives the substance of it in his Chronica dos Carmaelitas, expressly declaring that he had seen the original MS., which was then preserved among the Archives of the Carmo Convent.⁸⁸

(b) "Chronica del rei D. Joam I de boa memória e dos reys de Portugal o decimo. Terceira parte em que se contém a tomada de Ceuta." Composta por Gomez Eannes D'Azurara Chronista Mór destes Reynos & impressa na linguagem antiga. Em Lisboa. Com todas as licenças necessarias. Á custa de Antonio Alvarez, Impressor del-rei N.S. 1644, pp. X−283 fol. Such is the full title of the Chronica de Ceuta as given in the one and only published edition.

Following the Chronicle come accounts of the death of King João and the translation of his body to Batalha, extracted from the Chronica de D. Duarte, as well as a copy, with translation, of the epitaph on his tomb, and then his will and a general Index. MSS. of this Chronicle exist in the Bibliotheca National in Lisbon, and in the Torre do Tombo. The former place contains a defective one, dating from the middle of the 16th century, as well as one of the second part of the same period apparently complete. The latter boasts a MS. (No. 366) of the 15th century, in large folio, written on paper in red and black, which derives importance from its early date, and exhibits a text practically identical with that of the book described above; while of the others, one may be attributed to the 16th century and two to the 17th. The Oporto Municipal Library has an 18th-century MS. of this Chronicle.⁸⁹

(c) "Chronica do Descobrimento e Conquista de Guiné, escrita por mandado de El-Rei D. Affonso V sob a direcção scientifica, e segundo as instrucçoës do illustre Infante D. Henrique pelo Chronista Gomez Eannes de Azurara; fielmente trasladada do Manuscripto original contemporaneo, que se conserva na Bibliotheca Real de Pariz, e dada pela primeira vez á luz per diligencia do Visconde de Carreira, Enviado Extraordinario e Ministro Plenipotentiario de S. Majestade Fidelíssima na corte da França; precedida de uma Introducção e illustrada com algumas notas pelo Visconde de Santarem. … . e seguida d'um Glossario das palavras e phrases antiquadas e obsoletas." Paris, 1841. Fol. pp. XXV−474, with frontispiece portrait of D. Henrique from this same MS.

The letter which Azurara addressed to King Affonso V, when he forwarded the Chronicle, is printed in facsimile and precedes the Introduction.

There are three separate impressions of this Chronicle—one on parchment, of which the Bibliotheca National in Lisbon possesses a copy, another on large paper, both of these being folio size, and a third on small paper octavo size.

Two early MSS. of the Chronicle exist: one, very handsome and perfect, in the Paris National Library, from which the printed edition was made; and the other, bearing date 1506, in the Royal and National Library at Munich. The latter belonged to Valentim Fernandes, a German printer, established in Lisbon from the end of the 15th century to past the middle of the 16th, who owned many MSS. of great value, which have been studied by Schmeller in his Ueber Valentī Fernandez Alemā und seine Sammlung von Nachrichten über die Entdeckungen und Besitzungen der Portugiesen in Afrika und Asien bis zum Jahre 1508. The imprint of this essay is 1845.

The Munich MS. is an abridgment; many of the rhetorical passages, ch. i, and nearly the whole of chs. iii-vii, being omitted. Valentim Fernandes, who transcribed, if he did not compile, this summary, which he finished on November 14th, 1506, commences his chapters at the eighth of the Paris MS., and reduces the original number of chapters from ninety-seven to sixty-two.

The text of the Paris MS. seems to have been added to at some later time, and, at any rate, is not in the state in which Azurara left it in 1453, the year the Chronicle was finished, because certain passages speak of D. Henrique as though already deceased, while he only died in 1460.⁹⁰ Innocencio thinks Azurara emended his work after the Prince's death, and inserted some reflections on his life and moral qualities, without continuing the narrative, or passing the limit he had at first marked out, namely 1448.

The history of the MS., and the discovery in 1837 by the Lusophile, Ferdinand Denis, of the Paris copy, together with a description thereof, is related by the Viscount de Santarem in his Introduction, and deserves perusal.⁹¹ Fragments of the Chronicle were known to Barros, who incorporated them in his Asia, but Goes never saw it at all, and it would seem to have disappeared from Portugal in the 16th century.⁹² Frei Luiz de Sousa, the great Dominican prose writer, met with a MS. copy at Valencia, in the possession of the Duke of Calabria, one of whose ancestors, a King of Naples, had received it, he was informed, from D. Henrique himself.⁹³ We know from another source that this MS. was still in Spain at the beginning of the last century, but how it reached its present resting-place, the National Library in Paris, remains a mystery.

(d) "Chronica do Conde D. Pedro (de Menezes) Continuada aa tomada de Cepta, a qual mandou El-Rey D. Affonso V deste nome, e dos Reys de Portugal XII, escrepver." Such is the title of this Chronicle, which was published in Vol. II of the Ineditos, and runs from page 213 to the end. It is there preceded by an Introduction of six pages, dealing with the life and works of Azurara, from the pen of the erudite Abbade Corrêa da Serra.

There exists a valueless MS. of this Chronicle in the Bibliotheca National in Lisbon of the end of the 17th century, and another equally devoid of interest in the Academia das Sciencias. Mr. Quaritch recently offered one for sale,⁹⁴ which derives importance from having been copied from another of early date, and was kind enough to send it for our inspection. It is a small folio, beautifully written on paper, containing 164 leaves with thirty-one lines to the page, and was transcribed from a MS. on parchment of 233 folios in a single column, which had been itself finished in Lisbon on July 24th, 1470, by João Gonçalvez, the scribe who copied the Paris MS. of the Chronica de Guiné. The copy belonging to Mr. Quaritch has some marginal notes without value, and must, to judge from the writing, have been made in Portugal at the very beginning of the 17th century, or, as he says, about 1620. The text is the same as that printed in the Ineditos.

(e) "Chronica do Conde D. Duarte de Menezes."

This was published for the first time in Vol. III of the Ineditos, and has there no separate title page, but the heading of the first chapter reads as follows:—"Comecasse a Historia, que fala dos feitos que fez o Illustre e muy nobre Cavaleiro Dom Duarte de Menezes, Conde que foi de Viana, Alferes Del-Rey e Capitão por elle na Villa Dalcacer em Affrica. A qual foi primeiramente ajuntada e escripta per Gomez Eanes de Zurara, professo Cavalleiro, e Comendador na Ordem de Christus, Chronista do mesmo Senhor Rey, e Guardador mór do Tombo de seus Regnos."

All the MSS. of this Chronicle are defective, and we know from the Royal Censor that they were in the same state as early as the reign of Dom Sebastião. In fact, more than a third of the work has disappeared, and is represented by lacunæ. The Bibliotheca National in Lisbon has three, the Torre do Tombo two, and the Bibliotheca da Academia Real das Sciencias one MS. of this Chronicle; all show the same gaps. The only MS. of value is one (No. 520) in the Torre do Tombo, dating from the end of the 15th century, written on parchment, with the headings to the Chapters in red and black, and an illuminated title-page. It must be pronounced a fine specimen of caligraphy, and, though incomplete like the rest, is otherwise in good condition.

* * * * *

The Writings attributed to Azurara consist of the following:—

(f) A Chronicle of D. Duarte.

There seems to be little doubt that Azurara wrote some sort of a Chronicle of this King which has not been preserved. The Chronicle we possess goes under the name of Ruy de Pina, but, according to Goes, it was begun by Fernão Lopes, continued by Azurara, and only finished by Pina.⁹⁵ Barros is more explicit, for he not only states that Azurara compiled the Chronicle in question, but adds that it was appropriated by Ruy de Pina, who succeeded him in the post of Chronista Mór.⁹⁶ Azurara himself does not help us much to a solution of the problem. In the Chronica de Guiné he refers twice to it somewhat vaguely, but in another place mentions it quite clearly as his own work, though in the future tense.⁹⁷ Again, in the Chronica de Ceuta there is a similar reference to it, also in the future tense.⁹⁸ Unsatisfactory as this is, we must perforce be content with it in default of any better information. It seems most unlikely that Affonso V would have employed the Chronicler on the lives of great nobles like Pedro and Duarte de Menezes, who, after all, were but private persons, without providing, in some way, for a history of his father to be written. All we can say is, that Azurara probably collected the material and possibly made a first draft—although it is noticeable that he nowhere speaks of the Chronicle as finished, but always as something that is to be done—then came Ruy de Pina and put it into shape, for the style is certainly his, and, while more smooth, is far less characteristic than the quaint rhetorical sentences of Azurara.

(g) A Chronicle of King Affonso V. Both Barros and Goes agree that Azurara wrote a Chronicle of this monarch, and carried it down to the death of D. Pedro in the year 1449, and that it was finished by Ruy de Pina, under whose name it appears.⁹⁹ More than this, Barbosa Machado actually cites it, as though it existed in his day, thus—Chronica del Rey D. Affonso V, até a morte do Infante D. Pedro; fol. MS.¹⁰⁰ It is true that, in the Chronica de D. Pedro de Menezes, Azurara declares that, in spite of entreaties, the King would never allow him to write a history of his reign; but this was in 1463, and Affonso may well have entrusted him with the work in later years, and another passage of the same Chronicle seems to imply it,¹⁰¹ though Pina, while confessing that he was not the first to receive a commission for the Chronicle of King Affonso, declares that he found it uncommenced.¹⁰² If we examine carefully the first 124 Chapters of Pina's Chronicle, we shall at first sight conclude the ideas to belong to Azurara and the phraseology to savour of Pina. Such prominence is given to the acts and character of the Regent that the work might well have borne his name, and he is treated with a fervent veneration and a love which might naturally be expected from Azurara, who must have known him intimately, as he certainly knew his son, but which could hardly be looked for in a later writer. Again, D. Henrique's neglect of his brother, a neglect which made Alfarrobeira possible, is reprehended in terms that bring to mind the stern and impartial Azurara rather than his more smooth-tongued successor, while, curiously enough, the incident is not touched on in Chapter cxliv, undoubtedly the work of Pina, where the character of the Prince is summed up after his death and receives unmixed praise. On the other hand, it must be remembered that D. Henrique's behaviour to his brother Pedro at the last is referred to in the Chronica de Guiné as a proof of his loyalty under difficult circumstances, and this fact certainly tells against Azurara's authorship of the Chronicle under consideration, though hardly enough of itself to discredit the express statements of Barros and Goes. To sum up. While it is certain that Azurara never wrote a complete Chronicle of Affonso V, for the good reason that he predeceased the King, it is impossible in the present state of our knowledge to measure his share in the first part, with which alone he has been credited, although one cannot help inclining to the opinion that the Chronicle as it stands is substantially the work of Ruy de Pina.

(h) A Romance of Chivalry, in three MS. volumes, existing in the Lisbon National Library. The title of the First Volume runs:—"Chronica do Invicto D. Duardos de Bertania, Princepe de Ingalaterra, filho de Palmeiry, e da Princeza Polinarda, do qual se conta seus estremados feitos em armas, e purissimos amores, com outros de outros cavalleiros que em seu tempo concorrerão. Composta por Henrrique Frusto, Chronista ingres, e tresladada em Portugues por Gomes Ennes de Zurara que fes a Chronica del Rey Dom AFonço Henrriques de Portugal, achada de novo entre seus papeis."

There are three MS. copies of this volume which differ somewhat inter se, the earliest dating from the second half of the 17th century. Two of these copies contain eighty chapters, the other but seventy-six. They are marked respectively U/2/100 B/10/6 B/10/7 in the Lisbon National Library.

The last, an 18th-century MS., though substantially the same work as the two former ones, bears a different title: "Chronica de Primaleão, Emperador de Grecia. Primeira Parte. Em que se conta das façanhas que obrou o Princepe D. Duardos, e os mais Princepes que com elle se criarão na Ilha Perigoza do Sabio Daliarte." Its composition is attributed to "Guilherme Frusto, Autor Hybernio", and the name of Azurara does not appear as translator, one "Simisberto Pachorro" being named as the copyist.

The Second Volume bears the title:—"Segūda parte da cronica do Princepe Dom Duardos. Composta por Henrique Frusto e tresladada por Gomez Enes Dazurara, autores da primeira parte." It contains eighty-six chapters and is marked U/2/101. Underneath the title is written in a flowing hand—"Podesse encadernar esta segunda parte da Chronica do Princepe Dom Duardos. Lx^a em Mesa. 21 de Outubro de 659", and signed with three names.

The Third Volume is headed:—"Terseira parte da Chronica do Princepe Dom Duardos, composta por Henrrique Frusto e tresladada por Gomez Ennes dazurara, Auctores da 1^a, e 2^a parte." It has thirty-five Chapters, and ends abruptly. Its mark is U/2/102.

All the MSS. described above are of relatively recent date, written on paper and of folio size.¹⁰³ A certain want of connection appears between Parts I and II, but this is not so as regards Parts II and III. A very unpoetical Sonnet closes Chapter XI. of the last Part, and, since it is not referred to in the text and its language is modern, may possibly have been interpolated. From the form it cannot be earlier than 1526 or 1530, while a competent judge holds it to have been probably composed after 1550.

From a cursory examination of the Chronicle under consideration, it would seem to be neither (1) a translation from the English, nor yet (2) by the hand of Azurara, as alleged, but an original composition by some anonymous writer. The value of the first statement may be estimated by remembering how Cervantes declared he had copied D. Quixote from the Cide Hamete Benengeli; and, again, how João de Barros introduced his Clarimundo as a version from the Hungarian; in any case, no such early English or Irish Chronicler as Frusto or Frost (?) can be shown to have existed. The Cycle of the Round Table, and other British Romances of Chivalry, which were known in Portugal early in the 14th century, became more popular after the marriage of D. João I with D. Philippa of Lancaster, and this accounts for the ascription to an English origin; while Azurara's knowledge of such books, as displayed in his various Chronicles, explains how this story of a mythical D. Duarte came to be fathered on him. The considerations that weigh most against Azurara's authorship of the MS. are those of date and style. It has been already proved that he died in or about the year 1473, so that, assuming the work to be his, it must have been written at least before that date, or even much earlier, say before 1454; since it cannot be presumed that he would have time for such an essay after his appointment as Chief Chronicler of Portugal and Royal Archivist. Perhaps he would have lacked the inclination as well, at least judging from the disdainful tone of his reference to the Amadis de Gaula in the Chronica de D. Pedro de Menezes. Now, the first of the Palmerin series—to which our MS. certainly belongs—the Palmerin de Oliva, was only printed in 1511; and though both it and its sequel, Primaleon, may have existed in MS. in the 15th century, contemporary literature has no record of the fact as in the case of Amadis, and there is nothing to favour the supposition. But, apart from this, a perusal of the first few chapters of Part I of the present MS., and especially the opening lines of Chapter 1, will convince most readers, without further proof, that it is nothing else than a continuation of the Palmeirim de Inglaterra of Francisco de Moraes,¹⁰⁴ for it not only takes up the story where Moraes had left off, but expressly refers to the Palmeirim on more than one occasion.¹⁰⁵ Now, the book of Moraes was only written about the year 1543, so that, as far as the dates go, they are enough of themselves to decide the question of Azurara's authorship in the negative. To come to the question of style—that of the MS. has nothing to correspond with the rhetorical expressions and the quotations, and none of the idioms, peculiar to Azurara; nor does it belong to the 15th century, but rather to the middle or latter part of the 16th, despite the slight archaic atmosphere, shown more especially in the orthography, that hangs about Part I, and ever and anon calls to mind the Saudades of Bernardim Ribeiro. The phrase "achada de novo entre seus papeis", on the title-page of the Romance, evidences nothing, although it is alleged, as already mentioned, that Azurara left MSS. behind him which were explored in the last century by Padre José Pereira de Sant' Anna.¹⁰⁶

Edgar Prestage.

"Chiltern", Bowdon,

Day of Camöens' Death, 1895.