António de Gouveia (c.1505 – March 1566) was a Portuguese

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

and educator during the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

. Gouveia was born in Beja. After graduating in Paris he taught at the Collège de Guyenne in Bordeaux, and then at Toulouse, Avignon, Lyon, Cahors, Valence, Grenoble, Turin and Mondovi. His controversy with Pierre de la Ramée about

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

became famous. He wrote literary and philosophical works, having correspondeded with most of the writers of his time. He was brother to André de Gouveia and nephew of Diogo de Gouveia the elder.

Biography

He was the seventh child of Inês de Gouveia and Afonso Lopes de Ayala. In 1527 he went to study in the University of Paris along with 28 other Portuguese students, who were granted scholarships by King John III of Portugal advised by his uncle Diogo, then rector of Collège Sainte-Barbe. Circa 1534, he moved with his brother André to the College of Guienne in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

. Shortly after he departed to Toulouse, then Avignon and Lyon, where he studied law, having published several works. After returning to the College of Guienne in 1543 he engaged in a defense of Aristoteles against the views of Pierre de la Ramée (Ramus), having published ''Pro Aristotele responsio aduersus Petri Rami calumnias'', which gained him the approval of

Francis I of France Francis I (; ; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once removed and father-in-law Louis&nbs ...

. He died in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. His works dealt mainly with law, but also poetry, fruit of time he spent editing and translating classical sources in search of the original meaning. Although sympathetic to

Lutheranism Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

and once accused of being an atheist by

John Calvin John Calvin (; ; ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French Christian theology, theologian, pastor and Protestant Reformers, reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of C ...

, he returned to Catholic orthodoxy.

References

External links

WorldCat page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gouveia, Antonio De 1500s births 1566 deaths 16th-century Portuguese writers 16th-century Portuguese male writers University of Paris alumni Portuguese Renaissance humanists Portuguese Renaissance writers Year of birth uncertain People from Beja, Portugal Portuguese expatriates in France