Fernão Lopes (; – after 1459) was a
Portuguese chronicler appointed by
King
King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...
Edward of Portugal. Fernão Lopes wrote the
history of Portugal, but only a part of his work remained.
His way of writing was based on oral discourse, and, on every page, it revealed his roots among the common people. He is one of the fathers of the European
historiography
Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...
, or a precursor of the scientific historiography, basing his works always on the documental proof, and, as he said, on his pages "one cannot find the beauty of words but the nudity of the truth." He was an
autodidact. By the time of his death, a new kind of knowledge was arising, a Latinized scholasticism that involved imitations of the classics.
Life
It is assumed that he was born between the years 1380 and 1390, with a probable villainous family background. There is a chance that he was born and later buried in
Alandroal, in
Alentejo, based on the inscription of a tombstone, which may have belonged to him, and on the historical links between the village and the
Order of Avis.
He belonged to the generation that came of age after the
war with Castile and the
Battle of Aljubarrota. During his life, he knew many of the protagonists of the
Castilian crisis, including
John I of Portugal,
Edward of Portugal,
Nuno Álvares Pereira, and Dr.
João das Regras. He saw the reign of three monarchs: John I, Edward I, and
Afonso V, and he also lived during the regency of
Peter, Duke of Coimbra.
Portugal saw many social and political changes in his time, such as: the growth of the new nobility of the '
Illustrious Generation' (Ínclita Geração) (the children of John I and
Philippa of Lancaster); the
conquest of Ceuta
The Portuguese conquest of Ceuta took place on 21 August 1415, between Portuguese forces under the command of King John I of Portugal and the Marinid Sultanate, Marinid sultanate of Morocco at the city of Ceuta. The city's defenses fell unde ...
; the insurrection of
Lisbon
Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
against the Queen Mother,
Leonor of Aragon; the election of Pedro, Duke of Coimbra, to the regency; a civil war between Pedro and Afonso V; and the subsequent
Battle of Alfarrobeira, where Pedro died. At the end of his life, Lopes witnessed the beginning of
Portugal's maritime empire.
In 1418, Fernão Lopes was appointed by John I as the head (''guardião-mor'') of the royal archives ('
Torre do Tombo'). In 1434, King
Edward
Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”.
History
The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...
appointed Fernão Lopes as the first royal
chronicle
A chronicle (, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events ...
r (''cronista-mor'') of the realm, and commissioned him to write historical accounts of the reigns of the
Kings of Portugal. Lopes threw himself into the task. Fernão Lopes is acknowledged as the author of at least three chronicles: of the reign of king
Peter I (r.1357-1367), of the reign of
Ferdinand I (r.1367-1385) and the first two parts of the reign of
John I (1385 up to year 1412, his successor Gomes Eanes de Zurara would produce the third and final part). Fernão Lopes is believed by some modern historians to also be the author of an anonymous history of the
constable Nuno Álvares Pereira and, more contentiously, of a summary chronicle of the first several kings of Portugal (of which two drafts exist — one of the first five kings (Porto MS), another of the first seven (Cadaval or '1419' MS).
[Magalhães Basto (1959)]
Fernão Lopes held his official positions until around 1454, when he was forced to retire on account of his advanced age, and was succeeded by
Gomes Eanes de Zurara. Lopes died sometime after 1459.
The last known information about Fernão Lopes states that he was still living in 1459, when he challenged the rights of an illegitimate grandson to his inheritance. The date of his death is uncertain. According to information in the preface of the ''Chronica de El-Rei D. Pedro I'', written by Luciano Cordeiro, after leaving the role of chief guard, Fernão Lopes would still have lived for another five years, dying close to the age of 80.
Fernão Lopes was married to an aunt of the shoemaker Diogo Afonso's wife, leaving a son, Master Martinho, who was "physical" (doctor) of the infant D. Fernando. Martinho had a bastard son, Nuno Martins.
It has been controversially alleged by some historians (starting with
Damião de Góis) that later 16th-century chroniclers
Duarte Galvão and
Ruy de Pina composed their chronicles of the remaining reigns from draft manuscripts left behind by Fernão Lopes — not merely drawing upon them, but
plagiarizing them in whole or in part, to the point that Fernão Lopes is sometimes credited as their joint author. While there is some evidence that Galvão's chronicle of
Afonso I might have copied parts from Lopes's manuscripts, historians generally agree that the accusation against Ruy de Pina is largely unmerited and unjust.
[Magalhães Basto (1959)]
Works
Uncontested (written by Fernão Lopes in 1430s & 1440s; original manuscripts lost; first published in 17th and 18th centuries on the basis of draft copies produced in the early 16th century.)
*("Chronicle of king
Peter I") ''Crónica de el-rei D. Pedro (''
Chronicle of the King D. Pedro I'')'', first published 1816 in J.F. Correia da Serra, editor, ''Collecção de livros ineditos de historia portugueza, Vol.IV'' Lisbon: Academia das Ciências de Lisboa.
*("Chronicle of king
Fernando I") ''Crónica de el-rei D. Fernando'', first published 1816 in J.F. Correia da Serra, editor, ''Collecção de livros ineditos de historia portugueza, Vol.IV'' Lisbon: Academia das Ciências de Lisboa.
*("Chronicle of king
John I, Part I & Part II" ) ''Chronica del Rey D. Ioam I de Boa Memoria, e dos Reys de Portugal o Decimo, Primeira Parte, em Que se contem A Defensam do Reyno até ser eleito Rey & Segunda Parte, em que se continuam as guerras com Castella, desde o Principio de seu reinado ate as pazes '', first published 1644, Lisbon: A. Alvarez.
Contested:
* ("General Chronicle of the Kingdom") ''Crónica de Portugal ou Crónica Geral do Reino'' (reported existing in late 15th century, since lost; alleged by some to be the missing source text of
Duarte Galvão and
Ruy de Pina)
*''
Chronicle of 1419'':
** ("Chronicle of the first Five
kings of Portugal", Porto MS) ''Crónica dos Cinco Reis de Portugal'' (1945 title for manuscript cod.886 discovered 1942 in
Biblioteca Municipal do Porto)
**("Chronicle of the first Seven Kings or 1419, Cadaval MS.) ''Crónica dos Sete Primeiros Reis de Portugal'' (1952 title) or ''Crónica de Portugal de 1419'' (1998 title) (manuscript cod. 965, dated as begun in 1419, discovered in archives of
Casa Cadaval)
[Magalhães Basto (1959) argues strongly for identifying Lopes as the author of the 1419 MS. This is strongly doubted by Vasconcelos e Sousa]
*("Chronicle of
Nuno Álvares Pereira") ''Coronica do condestabre de purtugall Nuno aluarez Pereyra'', first published 1526, Lisbon: Germão Galharde (anonymous; probably used by Lopes rather than written by him.)
Notes
References
* Magalhães Basto, A. de, editor, (1959) ''Estudos: Cronistas e Crónicas Antigas. Fernão Lopes e a "Crónica de 1419"''. Coimbra
online* Vasconcelos e Sousa, B. "Medieval Portuguese Royal Chronicles.Topics in a Discourse of Identity and Power", retrieved at Brown Universit
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopes, Fernao
1459 deaths
Portuguese chroniclers
15th-century Portuguese historians
Portuguese male writers
1380s births
Writers from Lisbon