Vasco de Lobeira (died 1403) was a Portuguese

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

writer to whom is attributed the prose original of the romance '' Amadis de Gaula''. In the

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

''Chronicle'' of Gomes Eannes de Azurara (1454), the writing of ''Amadís'' is attributed to Vasco de Lobeira, who was dubbed

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

after the

Battle of Aljubarrota The Battle of Aljubarrota (; see Aljubarrota) was fought between the Kingdom of Portugal and the Crown of Castile on 14 August 1385. Forces commanded by King John I of Portugal and his general Nuno Álvares Pereira, with the support of Engli ...

(1385). However, other sources claim that in fact it was João Lobeira, and not the

troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairi ...

Vasco de Lobeira, and that rather than originating with him it was the

revision Revision is the process of revising. More specifically, it may refer to: * Update, a modification of software or a database * Revision control, the management of changes to sets of computer files * ''ReVisions'', a 2004 anthology of alternate hi ...

of an earlier work from the beginning of the 14th century. Another theory, postulated by the eminent scholar of Iberian literature, A. F. G. Bell, states that Vasco de Lobeira elaborated the work of his ancestor João Lobeira. Bell was of the opinion that Vasco had added romantic sections to the original text, which was mostly poetry written during the reign of King Dinis. The query as to who authored Amadis de Gaula is further complicated by the fact that Vasco de Lobeira's name crops up in fifteenth and sixteenth century sources. The texts mention a Vasco de Lobeira receiving knighthood from King João I on the field of Aljubarrota, around 1385. But the first reference to Amadis de Gaula appears thirty-five years earlier, which would make Vasco over sixty years old when knighted or that he wrote his masterpiece in his youth. The only other possibility that remains is that 1350 reference was in fact to the poetic version by

João de Lobeira João Pires de Lobeira (c. 1233–1285) was a Portuguese troubadour of the time of King Afonso III, who is supposed to have been the first to reduce into prose the story of '' Amadis de Gaula''. Carolina Michaëlis de Vasconcellos, in her ma ...

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* * * 14th-century births 1403 deaths 14th-century Portuguese writers Portuguese male writers Date of birth unknown {{Portugal-writer-stub