Fernam Lopez

Hispanic Notes
& Monographs

HISPANIC

HISPANIC SOCIETY

PORTUGUESE SERIES

OF AMERICA

HISPANIC

NOTES & MONOGRAPHS

ESSAYS, STUDIES, AND BRIEF
BIOGRAPHIES ISSUED BY THE
HISPANIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA

PORTUGUESE SERIES
II

i&4

FERNAM LOPEZ

AUBREY F. G. BELL

73/ AS'.

Ik. a. as

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

HUMPHREY MILFORD

1921

PRINTED IN ENGLAND

AT THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

BY FREDERICK HALL

P R E F A C E

PREFACE

It is characteristic of Portuguese ' des-
leixo' that Fernam Lopez, 'the best
chronicler of any age or nation', cannot
be read in a good edition. That of the
Biblioteca de C las si cos Portuguezes is care-
less and unreliable, while the excellent
edition by Senhor Braamcamp Freire in-
cludes only the first part of one chronicle
and its retention of the original spelling
in every particular, e.g. naturall (natural),
escprevejn(escrevem)igeeracom(geracam\rre
comtamdo (recontando), makes it somewhat
difficult reading. The spelling will have
to be slightly modernized when Fernam
Lopez' chronicles are included in the de
finitive Biblioteca de Autores Portugueses
which is so long overdue. Fernam Lopez
wrote for the people {ao povd) and should
be read by hundreds of thousands. The
popular character of his chronicles was
appreciated by the author of the miniatures

HISPANIC NOTES

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vi

F E RNAM LOP E Z

in the manuscript of Part I of the Cronica
de D. Joam in the Biblioteca Nacional at
Madrid (V. 2. 2). They include crowned
kings but also many peasant types : two
men sawing, in green and blue ; a boy
leaning on a stout staff keeping the sheep,
a dog asleep at his side (black cap, grey
wallet, maroon smock, brown leggings,
black shoes);- a woman with distaff, spin-
ning (white kerchief, blue blouse, brown
skirt over green underskirt, black shoes) ;
a man in light green pouring red wine
from a small vat into a barrel, a negro
with red-pointed slippers and red shield ;
a peasant with a stick and huge black hat,
black shoes, tight-fitting red trousers, deep-
blue blouse, and green cloak ; another
similarly dressed, only that he has black
boots reaching above the knee ; another
with game and a basket of eggs (or cheeses)
in grey smock, loose yellow gaiters, black
shoes, and grey cowl-like cap ; a man in
the stocks ; a man rowing, with a black
kind of boina on his head. It was fitting
that the popular atmosphere of Fernam

II

HISPANIC NOTES

P R E F A C E

Lopez' chronicles should be thus expressed
Even more curious than the absence of
good Portuguese texts of Lopez is the fact
that he has not been translated. No doubt
his chronicles are long, but, while the need
in Portugal is not for selections but for a
good complete text of all the classics,
there is no reason why the story contained
in the chronicles should not be presented
to foreign readers in carefully chosen trans-
lated extracts. The neglect in modern
times of the writer of whom Herculano
said that ' adivinhou os principios da
moderna historia' is one of the most
interesting facts in literature. The follow-
ing are the existing

Editions: Cronica de D. Joam, Lisboa,
1644, 7 vols. Lisboa, 1897, 8 [Biblioteca
de Classicos Portuguezes]. Primeira Parte,
ed. A. Braamcamp Freire, Lisboa, 1915;
Cronica de D. Pedro, in Collecgao de
Livros Ineditos de Historia Portugueza,
vol. iv (18 1 6). pp. 1- 1 20, Lisboa, 1895
[Biblioteca de Classicos Portuguezes] ;
Cronica de D. Fernando, in Colleccjio de

Vll

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v i i i

FERNAM LOPEZ

Livros Ineditos de Historia Portugueza,
vol. iv (1816), pp. 121-535, 3 vols.,
Lisboa, 1895, 6; Coronica do Condes-
tabre de Purtugal, Lisboa, 1526, 2* ed.,
Coronica do Condeestabre de Purtugall,
Lisboa, 1554, Lisboa, 1563, Porto, 1848;
Chronica do Condestabre de Portugal
ed. J. Mendes dos Remedios, Coimbra,
191 1 [Subsidios para 0 Estudo da His-
toria da Literatura Portuguesa, vol. riv].

Works of Reference : F. M. Trigo/.o
d'Aragao Morato, Discurso preliminar e
introducQao as Chronicas de Fernam
Lopes, in Colleccao de Livros Ineditos,
vol. iv (1816), pp. vii-xxxvii ; Alexandre
Herculano. Historiadores Portugueses, in
OPanorama( 1 839), reprinted inOpusculos,
vol. v, 1907 ed., pp. 3-6 ; A. Braamcamp
Freire, Primeira Parte da Cronica de
D. Joao I (1915), Introducgao, pp. v-lxx;
F. M. Esteves Pereira, A Chronica do
Condestabre de Portugal, D. Nuno Al-
varez Pereira, in Boletim da Segunda
Classe da Academia das Sciendas de
Lisboa, vol. ix, fasc. 2 (19 15), pp. 380-9.

II

HISPANIC NOTES

F E RNAM LOP E Z

j

FERNAM LOPEZ

(r. 1380 — c. 1460)

I

Those who believe that the Renaissance
came bringing floods of light to put an
end to the pitch darkness of the Middle
Ages are inclined to date the beginning
of Portuguese prose from the stately
periods of the historian Joao de Barros.
Others, to whom the Renaissance seems
often as much destroyer as renewer, will
find powerful arguments to support that
view in the Portugal of the fifteenth
century. The prose of the Infante Pedro,
Duke of Coimbra, of his brother King
Duarte, of Fernam Lopez, Frei Joao
Alvarez, Lopo de Almeida, and others has
qualities of concision, vigour, and vivid

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FERNAM L 0 P E Z

directness which subsequently became

deadened, so that a Portuguese stylist to-
day must go for his models not only to
Frei Luis de Sousa or Frei Manuel
Bernardez and other sixteenth and seven-
teenth-century masters, but to the earlier
prose of the fourteenth and fifteenth ecu
turies. Fernam Lopez was successful and
honoured in his lifetime, but his fame
during the last four or five centuries has
suffered many eclipses. The influence of
the Renaissance in Portugal in the first
third and the conquest of Portugal by
Spain in the last third of the sixteenth
century could not but be fatal to so
national a writer, and the numerous ac-
counts of the Portuguese discoveries and
victories in Africa and India threw him
temporarily into the shade. Damiao de
Goes, as an independent scholar, cham-
pioned this ' copious and discreet writer ',
and Duarte Nunez de Liam spoke of his
' diligence and enthusiasm (fe) '. In the
eighteenth century an author of his
quaintness and individuality was naturally

II

HISP ANI C NOTES

FERNAM LOPEZ

3

neglected, but his opportunity came in
i the first third of the nineteenth century,
,with the advent of romanticism; in 1816
two of his chronicles were published by
Francisco Trigozo de Aragao Morat.o ; in
1826 the French critic Ferdinand Denis
spoke of him in terms of eulogy; in 1S39
the great Portuguese historian Alexandre
Herculano declared that ' in the chronicles
of Fernam Lopez there is not only history,
there is poetry and drama ; there is the
Middle Ages, with their faith, their
enthusiasm, their love of glory. In this
he resembles the almost contemporary
French chronicler Froissart, but in all
these qualities he clearly excels him.' Only
those who have not read Fernam Lopez
and do not know Herculano can look
upon this leasoned judgement as a piece of
patriotic boastfulness. Robert Southey had
already called Fernam Lopez 'the greatest
chronicler of any age or nation '. But by a
singular misfortune, just when the Romantic
movement might have helped to spread
knowledge and appreciation of Fernam

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F E R N AM L O V E Z

Lopez, in England the path was effectively
blocked by the sentence contemptuously
[Kissed upon him by the only available-
authority on Portuguese literature in
the English language: 'The narrative of
this diligent compiler is, indeed, quite as
dull and monotonous as that of the older
Portuguese chroniclers ; but he obviously
made efforts to express himself with a
certain degree of dignity. He neglects
no opportunity of making his historical
characters deliver speeches, after the
manner of the ancient writers ; and a
certain degree of energetic simplicity is
to be found in some of those harangues.'
Probably neither the author of these
words, Friedrich Bouterwek (i), nor their
translator, Thomasina Ross, had read the
chronicles of Fernam Lopez, but however
that may be this outrageous and inex-
cusable passage was no doubt respon-
sible for the fact that they remained
a closed book to English readers during
che nineteenth century. Nor did they in
Portugal receive the tribute of a good

HISPANIC NOTES

F E R X A M LOPEZ

5

and authoritative text till Senhor Braam-
camp Freire published that of the first
part of the Cronica del Rei Dom Joam
four and a half centuries after Fernam
Lopez' death.

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F E R N AM LO P E Z

II

Although it may be maintained that
Fernam Lopez is the greatest of the
chroniclers, he was certainly not the earliest
of the great chroniclers. He might not
have reached so high a pitch of excellence
had not Froissart (1337-r. i4ic)andL6pez
de Ayala (1332-1407) written before
him. Froissart died about half a century
before Fernam Lopez, and in the twelfth
century the cold restraint of Geoffroy
de Villehardouin (fi2i2) and in the
thirteenth the vivid ingenuous charm of
Jean de Joinville (1224-1319) had fore-
shadowed between them many of the
best qualities of the later chroniclers, while
another French chronicler of merit, Jean
Lebel, died in 1370. In English we have
nothing in this line so early as Fernam

II HISPANIC NOTES

F E R N A M LOPEZ

7

Lopez ; Italy had produced the pains-
taking, honest chroniclers Dino Compagni
( r 25 7?- 13 24) and Giovanni Villani(r. 1285-
1348). In Spain and Portugal there were
a host of brief anonymous chronicles and
the Cronica General 'of Alfonso the learned
had existed since 1268. It required,
however, the genius of two men, Lopez de
Ayala in Spain, Fernam Lopez in Portugal,
to give life to the dead bones. The debt
of Lopez to Ayala was obviously great.
The classical introduction of speeches,
which has been made a reproach to
Lopez, was derived from his Spanish pre-
decessor, and, as we shall see, he not
only imitated his methods but transferred
from him bodily such passages as suited
his purpose.

Fernam Lopez was born about the year
1380, about the time of Aljubarrota.
The first forty years of his life are plunged
in a darkness upon which the most care-
ful researches have been able to throw
no ray of light. We do not know exactly
when he was born nor where he was born

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F E R N A M LO P E Z

II

(at Lisbon, surely, his ' city famous among
cities'), nor the name of the father who
had witnessed the heroic events which
his son was destined to record and render
immortal. In the year 1418 Lopez was
appointed Keeper of the Archives in the
Lisbon Torre do Tombo. He was secretary
to King Joao I from 14 19, at least, till
the king's death in 1433, and subsequently
to his successor, King Duarte (1433-8),
whose secretary he had apparently been
in r4i8 ; while in 1422 he became private
secretary to another of the royal princes,
the unfortunate Dom Fernando, who in
his will left him 50,000 reis and a book.
On March 19, 1434, the serious and literary
King Duarte assigned him a yearly stipend
of 14,000 reis (2), to be a reward for his
services as chronicler : ' We have charged
Fernam Lopez, our secretary', runs the
decree, ' to set in chronicles the history of
the kings who reigned of old in Portugal
and of the great and noble deeds of the
most virtuous king my lord and father ' (3).
This salary was continued after King

HISPANIC NOTES

FERNAM LOPEZ

9

Duarte's death, and was increased to
20,000 by his successor King Afonso V
in 1449. For thirty three years Lopez
kept his official post in the Torre do
Tom bo, and only old age was the reason
of his being replaced in 1451 or 1452 by
another famous chronicler, Gomez Eanez
de Zurara, who became his official suc-
cessor by a decree of June 6, 1454, which
records that Fernam Lopez is ' so old and
weak that he cannot personally fulfil the
duties of his office'. Eleven years earlier
Lopez had lost his son Martini, who accom-
panied the Infante Fernando as physician
during his captivity in Morocco and died
there, as did the Infante, in prison.
He left an illegitimate son, Nuno Martins,
to whom we are grateful for affording us
proof that his grandfather was still alive
on July 3, 1459. On that date he ob-
tained a decree allowing him the free
disposal of his belongings, which he had
no intention of bestowing on his grandson,
against whose legitimation lie had pro
tested. Thus the approximate date of

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F E RNAM LOP E Z

his death is 1460, at the age of about
eighty. P'or his character his long tenure
of office, the trust placed in him by two
kings of high ideals, Joao I and Duarte,
and the scrupulousness of his historical
work speak clearly. No less favourable is
the impression made by his beautifully
distinct, strong, bold handwriting (+\ and
indeed by the fact that so little is known
of him although he occupied a high
position : he was too wrapped up in the
magic of his story to give us details about
himself; he was content to do his work
well and we abundantly reap the reward.

HISPANIC NOTES

FERNAM LOPEZ

1 1

III

Although Fernam Lopez wrote the
history of Portugal from the beginning,
all the chronicles of the kings, that is,
from the twelfth century to 141 r (5), only
three remain in the form in which he
wrote them : the short Cronica del Rei
Dom Pedro 1(b), the Cronica del Rei Dom
Fernando (7), and the Cronica del Rei
Dom Joam (S) in two parts. The rest
only survive in the work of later authors
who revised and renewed them. Even so
a glamour and interest is cast over many
a passage. The terrible system of white-
wash which has defaced so many ancient
buildings in Spain and Portugal was fatal
also to the chronicles of Fernam Lopez,
but ever and anon his genius shows
through the whitewash.

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FERNAM LOPK X

Lopez viewed the post and duties of
official chronicler as seriously as King
Duarte could have wished. With a truly
modern conception of the historian's art
he made the most careful scrutiny of all
available sources, inscriptions, and manu-
scripts. With ' great toil and diligence '
he turned over the leaves of many books.
'Who is there', he exclaims, and the sen-
tence has a modern ring, 'who is not
annoyed in turning over bundles of rotten
documents when their age and decay
refuse what one would fain know? '(9)
From 14 1 8 he had an official post in the
Lisbon archives, he had the run of the
king's library, and King Duarte had
manuscripts specially brought from Castille
for his use. For the next sixteen years he
collected and examined materials. ' O with
what care and diligence ', he delightfully
exclaims, ' we examined great volumes of
books of various lands and languages, and
also public documents of many archives
and other places, so that, after long
vigils and great labours, we could not

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HISPANIC NOT E S

F E R N A M LOP E Z

have arrived at greater certainty than is
contained in this work. And if in some
books be found the contrary of what is
here set down, consider that they wrote
thus not wittingly but certainly in error.
If ethers perchance seek beauty and
novelty of style in this chronicle and not
ihe truth of history, they may be dis-
pleased with what is so easy for them to
read, but has cost us so much labour to
compose '(10). This master of style is in
fact so sure of his hold on his readers that
he can refer again and again to his ' bare
prose ' and absence of rhetoric. But had
he been less well equipped with materials
and knowledge, had he schooled himself
less diligently, he might have been more
inclined to give the reins to his rhetoric
and have produced a work more showy
and less substantial. Lopez thus satisfies
the first test of a great historian : diligence
in search for and examination of the
materials for his work He possesses also
in a high degree a regard for truth and
accuracy and a judicial mind in weighing

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F E R NAM L 0 P E Z

evidence. He has no wish, he says, to
' deck, out history with foolish fairy tales '.
His ohject is a cert a verdadc anno se
passou. The chronicler must be ' very
sure in what he says ' and ' history must
be the light of truth '. ' Setting aside those
ornate and artificial sentences which
greatly delight the ear, we prefer the naked
truth to adorned falsehood, and be assured
that we assert nothing that has not proof
and documents to attest it, nay, we would
rather be silent than write that which is
false' (u). He wrote sine ira et studio
(posta adeparte toda afeicom). If he por-
trays the Master of Avis and his Constable
Nun' Alvarez with glowing enthusiasm, he
is surely justified by their great services to
their country, and he skilfully defends
himself beforehand against the critics (12).
Thirdly, he fulfils the demand that the
matter thus obtained, examined, and sifted
should be set forth in clear style and good
proportion. He gives the events ' plainly
without rhetoric ', 'in a good and clear
style '. Rarely indeed does he fall into

II

HISPANIC NOTES

FERNAM LOPEZ

15

the flowery phrases which were so dear to
his successor Zurara, who could combine
accuracy and sincerity with the most
pompous and inflated diction (13). He
boasts of the brevity of his style {l>revidade
do curto estyld). He is no less concerned
with the proportion and clear ordering of
his work. He will deal, he says in one
passage (14), with 'a matter which famous
historians have mentioned in their chroni-
cles, and will do so briefly, but more
clearly than they'. And in fact there is
not an obscure passage in his chronicles.
The sentences are sometimes long, or even
clumsy, but their sense is never doubtful.
There was evidently an ordered method
in his history of the kings of Portugal
covering three centuries. History, he
says, should be perfectly and well ordered.
He would have been glad, he declares, to
pass over the praises of King Joao I, so
afraid is he of not doing justice to his
subject, but to omit to give a summary of
his character would be to break with the
system followed in the rest of the work,

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F E R N A M L 0 P E Z

and that would be a fault (15). To all
these qualities must be added that without
which an excellent historian may iv
theless produce a lifeless work : the fervour,
enthusiasm, and unflagging zest which sur-
vived all his toil and accompanied him
into old age.

II

HISPANIC NOTES

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>7

IV

Was he original? The pedants may say-
that so industrious an author could hardly
be so, and will also point to the passages
copied from other authors. But genius is
justified of her children, who seem able to
confound their petty critics even when
they are discovered not only turning bricks
into marble but appropriating solid blocks
of pure marble prepared by others.
Fernam Lopez not only pointed the way
to modern serious and accurate historians,
but in his literary style is an original genius
of the first order. It is therefore with no
misgivings that we will draw attention to
one of the good marble blocks which he
worked into his great edifice. Lopez
often enlarges on his borrowings from
preceding writers, and in one place (16)

)

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F E R X A M L O P E Z

II

speaks openly of the large slices he has
taken from a single authority. If he had
only borrowed passages from obscure
writers and said nothing about it, we
might have judged him more severely, but
when he has recourse to a writer so famous
as the Spanish chronicler Ayala, it is
obvious that he had nothing to hide.
Let us take an example from the Cronica
de Dom Pedro, printing by its side the
passage of Ayala from which it is trans-
lated :—

Y el Maestre llego
a Sevilla el dicho dia
Martes por la mariana
a hora de Tercia. Y
luego como llego el
Maestre fue a hazer
reverencia al Rey y
hallolo que jugava a
las tablas en el su
Alcacar de Sevilla. Y
como llego besole las
manos y los otros
cavalleros que venian
con el. Y el Rey res-
cibiolo con buena vo-
luntad que le mostro
y preguntole que de

Km esto chegou
Dom Fradarique
amte de comer
huuma terca feira
vijmte e nove dias
de maio e como
chegou de caminho
fo logo veer el Rei,
que estava no alca-
car da gidade ju-
gamdo ds tavollas.
e beijoulhe a maao
emujtos cavalleiros
com elle, e el Rei
orescebeo muj bem.
mostrandolhe boa
voomtade, e per-

HISPANIC NOTES

V ]•: RNAM LOPEZ

donde partiera aquel
dia y si tenia buenas
posadas, y el Maestre
le dixo que de Canti-
llana que es a cinco
leguas de Sevilla y que
de las posadas aun no
sabia que tales las tenia
pero que bien cieia que
serian buenas. Y el
Key le dixo : Maestre
yd a sossegar a vues
tras posadas y que
despues se viniesse a
el. Y esto dezia el
Key porque avian en-
trado con el Maes'. re
mucha gente.

Y el Maestre se
partio del Key y fuese
a ver a dona Maria de
Padilla y a las hijas
del Key que estavan
en otro apartamiento
en el Alcagar que
dezian de Caracol. Y
dona Maria sabia bien
todo lo que estava
ordenado y acordado
contra el Maestre. Y
ella como vio al Mae-
stre hizo tan triste cara
que todos lo pudieran

guntoulhe domde
partira e que pou-
sadas tijnha.

O Meestre disse
quepartira deCam-
tilhana (17) que
som dalli cimquo
legoas e que as
pousadas cuidava
que seeram boas ;
e el Rei, porque en-
trarom mujtos com
o meestre, disse que
se fosse apousemtar
e depois se vijmria
pera elle.

O meestre par-
tiosse e foi ver
Dona Maria de
Padilha e as so-
brinhas que esta-
vom em outra parte
dos paqos.

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F E R X A M L O P E X

cntcndcr, ca ella era
duenamuy buena y de
buen seso y no se pa-
gava de algunas cosas
que el Rey hazia, y
pesavale mucho de la
muerte que al Maestre
le era ordenada de dar
esse dia. V el Maestre
desque vioadofiaMaria
y a las hijas del Rey sus
sobrinas, partio de alii
y fue al corral del
Alcacar donde avian
dexado las mulas, que
se queria ir a sus posa-
das y assossegar sus
companas. Y quando
llego al corral del Alca-
zar no hallaron ai las
bestias, ca los porteros
del Rey avian mandado
a todos desembargar el
Alcagar y el corral y
echaron todas las bes-
tias del corral afuera
y cerraron todas las
puertas, que assi les
era mandado porque
no estuviesse ai mucha
gente. Y el Maestre
desque no hallo las
mulas no sabia si se

e dalli se veeo ao
curral homde lei-
xara as bestas,

e nom achou hi
nenhuma, ca

assimforamanclado
aos porteiros. O
meestre nom sa-
bemdo se tornas-
se a el Rei ou
que fezesse,disselhe

HISPANIC NOTES

F E R X A M LOPE Z

tomasse al Rey o que
haria. Y un su cava-
llero que era ai con el,
que dezian Suer Gu-
tierrez de Navales, (jue
era asturiano, entendio
que algun mal era
aquello. Ca veia en
el Alcacar gran movi-
miento ; y dixo al
Maestre : Serior, el
postigo del corral est a
abierto, salid de fuera,
que no vos faltaran
mulas. Y esto le dixo
muchas vezes porque
bien creia que si el
Maestre saliera fuera
del Alcazar que por
ventura pudiera esca-
par o que no le pu-
dieran tomar assi solo
que no muriessen antes
muchos de !os suyos
delante del. Yelestan-
do en esto llegaron al
Maestre dos cavalleros
por mandado del Rey,
que eran hermanos y
dezian al uno Fernan
Sanchez de Tovar y
Juan Fernandez de
Tovar, que no sabian

huum seu caval-
leiro, sospeitamdo
mal de tal feito,

que se sahisse pelo
postigo do curral
que estava aberto,
ca lhe nom mim-
goaria besta se
fosse fora.

Elle cuidamdo se
o faria veeromlhe
dizer que

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FERNAM LOPKZ

nada desto. Y dixeron
al Maestre : Senor, el
Rey vos llama, y el
Maestre bolviose para
ir al Rey muy espan-
tado. Ca ya el se re-
celava del mal. Y assi
como yuan entrando
por las puertas del
palacio y de las cama-
ras toda via yuan mas
sin compana, ca los
que tenian las puertas
en guarda ies era man-
dado assi que no les
acogiessen. Y en esto
llego el Maestre donde
el Rey estaua ; y no
entraron en aquel lu-
gar sino el Maestre
don Fadrique y el
Maestre de Calatrava,
don Diego Garcia, que
esse dia acompanava
al Maestre de Sanc-
tiago, y no sabia cosa
deste hecho, y otros
dos cavalleros. (Pero
Lopez de Ayala, Coro-
nica del Serenissimo
Rey Don Pedro, ed.
Pamplona, 1591, afio 9,
cap. 3, f. 60 v.)

o chamava el Rei,
e el comec,ou de
tornar pera el Rei,
pero spamtado, re-
^eamdose mujto; e
como hia emtrando
pellas portas dos
paac,os e das cama
ras assi hia cada
vez mais desacom-
panhado, em guisa
que quarndo chegou
omde el Rei estava
nom hia com elle
salvo el meestre de
Callatrava.

(Fernam Lopez,
Cro?iica d'el Rei
Don 1 Pedro, cap. x 1 x ,
1 816 ed., pp. 55-6.)

II

HISPANIC NOTES

FERNAM LOPEZ

It was worth while, for several reasons, to
give these parallel passages from the
famous description of the murder of Don
Fradique, the memory of which still
lingers in the halls of the Seville Alcazar.
In the first place, although Senhor Braam-
camp Freire has pointed out that in the
Cronica de Dom Joam Lopez translated
twenty lines from Ayala, his indebtedness
to the Spanish chronicler has never been
sufficiently emphasized. Secondly, in this
passage, one of the few in which Ayala
may be said to be equal to Fernam Lopez
at his best, one feels that the translator
positively gloats over the dramatic touches ;
indeed, in the wonderful sentence describ-
ing how ' ever as they entered the doors
of the palace and its chambers they were
more alone', he improves upon the original
by altering the verbs from the plural to
the singular : ' ever as he entered'. One
notices, too, that Fernam Lopez, who has
been reproached with an excessive love of
detail (18), was evidently no blind slave
in this respect, since here in the case of

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F E R N A M LOP E Z

names and details which could have but
little interest for Portuguese readers, he
constantly omits them. Above all his
translation of Ayala in a passage so striking
and dramatic disposes of one of the chiel
arguments in the question of the author-
ship of the Cronica do Condestabre ( 1 9).
From the comparison of parallel passages
in this chronicle and in Fernam Lopez, it
follows, says Senhor Braamcamp Freire.
that ' either Fernam Lopez, as an unworthy
plagiarist, could not be the "notableperson,
a man of great learning and high authority'"
described by Zurara, or was the author of
the Cronica do Condestabre. One of the two
conclusions must necessarily be adopted,
and no one will hesitate before accept-
ing the second' (20). After reading the
passage translated word by word from
Ayala it is no longer possible to lay such
stress on this argument. The fact is that
too much of a modern atmosphere has
been breathed into this question of pla-
giarism. Clearly, if a modern private his-
torian were to translate without acknow-

II

HISPANIC NOTKS

1

F ERNAM LOP E Z

25

ledgement long passages of other authors,
a hue and cry would be raised, and he
would rightly be dismissed as an ' unworthy
plagiarist '. Very different was the position
of the official historian in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries. His business was to
compile a connected narrative of the
history of successive reigns, using his
judgement freely in the selection and in-
clusion of materials, anonymous or of
known authorship, and being careful to
give to the whole an ordered plan and
uniform style, that of the period in which
he wrote. If he believed that Ayala was
the best authority, it was his duty to work
Ayala into his history, of which he was to
think more than of himself .and his indi-
vidual reputation, and so present the King,
his master, with an official narrative or
general summary. In the case of a writer
whose genius is so constantly apparent as
is that of Fernam Lopez, it is impossible
to consider charges of plagiarism very
seriously.

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26

F E R N A M LOPE Z

V

Fernam Lopez mentions Ayala several
times (21) by name, and tells how he was
taken prisoner at Aljubarrota, and held to
ransom, but he says no word of the
chronicles or the literary bent of this re-
markable man. Without naming them,
with the exception of Martim Afonso de
Mello and a Latin chronicler whom he
calls Doctor Cristoforus, Lopez freely
refers to his predecessors in the art of
history. He makes his choice most care-
fully between them, and often has occasion
to criticize their shortcomings with some
asperity. Eager to set the truth before
his readers, he protests that if any one
writes of the matter differently, his words
must be rejected as untrue. ' Consider
such a version nonsense, and do not be-

II

ll ISPANIC NOTES

FERNAM LOPEZ

lieve it as being very contrary to the
truth ', or ' he who wrote thus misread the
text of this gospel ', ' say that he dreamed
it', 'let them kneel on the ground and
pray truth to pardon them '. Others ' are
astray in their reasoning'; 'greatly are we
displeased with those who have gone
searching for fictitious statements'. He
laments the mistakes (22) of some writers,
the laziness of others, their mistiness (tudo
nevod) or tinsel to deceive the ignorant.
Others err rather through ignorance than
malice. ' It was a great defect of some
authors who were minded to write history
that they should have written it in the
way they did, for some things needful to
be known they altogether omitted, and
others they touched upon lightly and left
full of doubt j and if they had written
briefly but truly, they would have deserved
praise, but rather than write briefly and
erroneously it would have been better to
have let the subject alone.' Of others he
says more laconically that ' they were not
well informed'. He is equally critical of

AND MONOGRAPHS

28

1

F E R N A M LOPK Z

those who write ' roughly ' and ' con-
fusedly ' or com desordenanca, and who com-
posed books, booklets {livrosinhos) which
give no clear understanding of how the
events happened. All these sources, how-
ever, furnished grist for Fernam Lopez'
busy mill. Until recently the Cronica do
Condestabre was considered an anonymous
work, but there is now a decided tendency,
under the authority of two eminent
scholars, Senhor Braamcamp Freire and
Senhor Esteves Pereira, to attribute it to
Fernam Lopez. Senhor Braamcamp Freire
gives a list (23) of some of the almost
identical passages in the chronicles of
King Fernando and King Joao and the
Cronica do Condestabre. As we have seen,
the argument based on plagiarism falls to
the ground. Nevertheless, there is good
reason to assign the work to Lopez. Who
else could have written it ? Who but the
copious and discreet chronicler of King
Duarte? Could there be two Fernam
Lopez in one generation ? Could any but
Fernam Lopez have exclaimed, when Nun'

II

HISPANIC NOTES

FKRNAM LOP E Z

Alvarez has charitably given the poor man
of Torres Vedras a ride, Oo que humano
e caridoso seizor.', although this exclama-
tion does not occur in the corresponding
passage of the Cronica de Dom Joam (24).
It may be objected that the style of the
Cronica do Condestabre is somewhat in-
ferior to that of the Cronica de Dom Joam,
and that tlwf reader is not addressed directly
and taken into the author's confidence as
in the later chronicle. But Fernam Lopez'
style improved with the years. One will
not find in the Cronica de Dom Joam a
sentence containing one eighteen times as
in the earlier Cronica de Dom Fernando
(cap. 4). Similarly, a long string of sen-
tences beginning with 'And' in the Cronica
do Condestabre (cap. 5) is remodelled in
better and less monotonous style in the
Cronica de Dom Joam. This improvement
is not confined to the style: unnecessary
details and repetitions are omitted (for
instance, the words ' thirteen years old, as
we have said above '), the essential is
added, dates being supplied. It may

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3°

FKRNAM LOP E Z

further be objected that, since in the later
version of the deeds of the Constable Nun'
Alvarez, Fernam Lopez frequently declares

that his work is based on that of previous
chroniclers, something had evidently been
written on the subject since 1431, and
that one of these sources may be the
Cronica do Condestabre. When, for in-
stance, Lopez gives in the Cronica de Dom
Joam (cap. 70) two versions, introducing
the first, which is that of the Cronica do
Condestabre(ca.p. 2 2), with the words : ( Now
here some say', and then quoting the
second at length with the prefatory words :
' But another historian, whose account
pleases us better, tells the matter very
differently ', it seems at first sight that we
have a strong argument against the attribu-
tion of the Cronica do Condestabre to Lopez
But a little thought shows that the argu-
ment is really in its favour. What evi
dently happened was that Lopez first, in
the Cronica do Condestabre, followed the
account of the ' some ' (a /gnus), and sub-
sequently found another version to which

II

HISPANIC NOTES

FERNAM LOPEZ

3*

he gives the preference in the Cronica de
Dom Joam (25). The approximate date
of the Cronica do Condestabre is known,
since Fernam Lopez tells us that nothing
was written about Nun' Alvarez during his
lifetime, and he died on December 1,
1431. He also tells us that he was writing
the First Part of the Cronica de Dom Joam
in 1443, and the Cronica do Condestabre is
earlier. Since it was only in March 1434
that Lopez was bidden poer em caronyca
as estorias dos Reys, we may narrow the
date yet further, to between 1434 and
M43-

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32

F E RNAM LOP E Z

II

VI

Fernam Lopez' natural genius for telling
a story, fastening on dramatic details,
delineating character, and describing the
emotions of a people, combined with a
magnificent and national theme, make of
the Cronica de Dom Joam a great epic.
The Cronica de Dom Pedro has not the
same unity : it is broken and episodic,
passes from Portugal to Spain, from
Pedro I of Portugal to Pedro the Cruel
of Spain (26). Yet it contains some of
the most memorable scenes ever penned
by Fernam Lopez or any other writer.
In the Cronica de Dom Fernando the story
still goes off to Spain, but it gathers
volume and national flavour. Indeed,
these chronicles must not be regarded as
separate works, but as chapters in the

HISPANIC NOTES

F E R X AM LOPEZ

33

national history, which reaches its climax
in the First Part of the Cronica de Dom
foam, the crown and glory of Lopez' life's
work, happily preserved for us as he
wrote it. Afterwards the interest dwindles,
although it is kept alive by the frontier
campaigns and great actions of Nun'
Alvarez; with a note of praise on this
national saint and hero, Lopez fitly ends
his splendid and splendidly accomplished
task, after bringing down the history to
the peace between Spain and Portugal
signed in the year 141 1.

We would give much to read the
chronicles written by Fernam Lopez in
the years 1434-42, to have his description
of the early warfare against the Moors, of
the deposition of Sancho 1 1, of the reign and
character of King Dinis(27),of the romance
of Ines de Castro. Yet we must not visit
our disappointment too harshly on Ruy de
Pina because, taking advantage of his
official position as Cronista Mor, and
following the custom of the period, he laid
sacrilegious hands on Fernam Lopez' in-

AND MONOGRAPHS

II

34

F E RNAM L 0 P E Z

valuable chronicles and dressed them up
in his own style for their beauty's heighten-
ing. In the words of Herculano, he was
' the poor crow of King Joao II who
wished to adorn himself with the peacock's
feathers of the Homer of King Joao I \
If Fernam Lopez was a great genius, and
Ruy de Pina was not, that is our loss and
Pina's misfortune, but we must at least
remember that their view on this matter
was essentially the same : that the official
chronicler of the day should take over
and work up what he considered best in
the material provided by his predecessors
and contemporaries (28).

II

HISPANIC NOTES

FERNAM LOPEZ

VII

The persons who stand out most
prominently in the great fragment of
Fcrnam Lopez which survives are King
Pedro, generous, popular, devoted to the
chase, stammering in speech, and im-
petuous in deed, fond of meting out justice
with his own hand ; King Fernando, gay,
gallant, and debonair, magnificent in
thought, grandioso de vontade, wavering
and feckless in action (29) ; Queen Lianor,
beautiful, charming, accomplished, bold
in word and deed, imperious, shrewd, but
rash of speech and vindictive (30) ; King
Joao I, ambitious, active, statesmanlike,
prudent and politic, with a peculiar gift of
ruling horse and hound, himself and
others; his chancellor Joao das Regras,
aquelle grio doutor, charged with all the

AND MONOGRAPHS

D 2

36

F£RNAM LOPEZ

authority of the University of Bolonia ;
Queen Philippa, noble and virtuous ;is
her husband, with even more than his
strength of will and character ; the chival-
rous Constable Nuno Alvarez Pereira,
fervent, outspoken, obstinate, vigorous,
saintly, true to the core. The sayings
and actions of the great are recorded, but
the deeds and very words of the common
people, \\\a poboo tneudo, arraia meuda, are
set forth as matters of no less importance.
It is in his presentation of the people that
consists one of Fernam Lopez' chief titles
to originality and fame. Enthusiastic,
ignorant, visionary, superstitious, cruel,
atrocious in its occasional outbursts of
savagery, generous in its patriotism, the
people become the real protagonist of his
history. Every now and then a man of
the people, anonymous or cited by name
(as Goncalo Ovelheiro of Beja) emerges
from the crowd in a brief speech or sen-
tence, which, as Professor Fitzmaurice-
Kelly remarks of Ayala, if not the actual
words used, seem so. Speech is even

II

HISPANIC NOTES

FERNAM LOPEZ

given without absurdity to the very city
of Lisbon. Numberless are the scenes
which live for ever in the pages of this
prince of chroniclers : King Pedro in fierce
rage thrashing the Bishop of Oporto ; the
people feasting in the Lisbon Rocio in the
golden time of this justice-loving king :
King Pedro dancing through the streets
of Lisbon with torches and long silver
trumpets (faraimenies se foi bom sabor) ;
the execution of two of the murderers of
Ines de Castro ; the escape of the third,
disguised as a peasant, to France ; the
body of Ines borne along seventeen
leagues of road fringed with men holding
burning torches ; King Pedro of Castille
at Coruche despondently throwing gold
doubloons over the roof of a porch ; the
murder of Don Fradique at Seville ; the
Infante Joao riding through the streets of
Coimbra before the dawn to murder his
wife, Dona Maria Tellez, sister of Queen
Lianor ; the Infante Dinis defiantly bidding
the upstart Queen kiss his hand since be
would not kiss hers ; the ambush laid by

AND M 0 N OGRAPHS

38

FERNAM LOPEZ

Nun' Alvarez at the bridge of Alcantara
near Lisbon ; the Archbishop of Braga in
armour on horseback, lance in hand,
urging on the work of building ships for
the defence of Portugal ; the storm which
overtook the Master of Avis between
Lisbon and Sintra ; the forebodings and
murder of Count Andeiro, his body lying
neglected in the palace, dressed in red
satin, covered with an old carpet ; the
people rushing through the streets of the
capital to save the Master of Avis ; the
murder of the Spanish Bishop of Lisbon,'
of the Admiral Lancarote Pessanha at
Beja, and the even more dastardly assas-
sination of the Abbess at Evora ; numerous
incidents of Nun' Alvarez' frontier warfare
south of the Tagus ; Nun' Alvarez riding
through the night to seize a town at
dawn ; the beacon-fires of Palmella an-
nouncing the capture of the town to the
people in Lisbon across the river, the fires '
round Lisbon when the King of Castille|
raised the siege, the sight of which filled
with dismay the watchers on the heights;;

II

HISPANIC NOTES

F E R N A M LOPEZ

39

Nun' Alvarez crossing the Tagus and
bidding his trumpeters blow defiance to
the Castilian fleet ; the Homeric fight for
a galley at the water's edge ; the entry of
the newly crowned King Joao into Oporto :
his marriage there to the English Princess
Philippa; the battle of Aljubarrota; the
arrival of the news of the victory at Lisbon ;
the victory of Valverde ; above all, the
siege of Lisbon, worthy of the account of
the siege of Plataea in the pages of Thucy-
dides. These, and a hundred similar
scenes, tumults, forays, assaults, and
skirmishes (St. George, St. George for
Portugal) place Femam Lopez among the
greatest of the world's writers. The ac-
count of the siege of Lisbon by the King
of Castille by land and river brims over
with vivid descriptions and moving inci-
dents in chapter after chapter. We see
the people crowding into the gates from
the outlying districts ; the besiegers' camp
filled with luxury and soon stricken by
pestilence ; the besieged driven to ex-
tremes of thirst and famine, manning and

A N 1) .MONOGRAPH S

II

40

F E R N AM L 0 P E Z

II

repairing the walls 'like Nehemiah rebuild-
ing the walls of Jerusalem ', and singing
in defiance :

This is Lisbon fair to view :

You may look at it, but it 's not for you.

If it 's a sheep for which you wish,

That was Count Andeiro's dish ;

Or perhaps you would rather a kid we

should dish up,
That was the fare they gave the Lord

Bishop;

or falling on their knees to implore the
mercy of Heaven, the mothers teaching
their babes to raise their hands in suppli-
cation to God; the battle of the fleets
before the city.

HISPANIC NOTES

FERN AM LOPEZ

VIII

A good example of the marvellous skill
with which the chronicler makes the people
live hefore our eyes is the chapter relating
the hopes and fears of the besieged people
in Lisbon : —

' As soon as Joao Ramalho had taken
leave of the Master [of Avis], although it
was the dead of night, nevertheless it be-
came known in the city that a message
had come from the fleet at Cascaes and
that on the following day it was to enter
the river and fight with the fleet of Cas-
tille, and it was immediately known
throughout the city, and what hope and
fear then filled the hearts of its inhabitants
is no easy matter to relate. And great
pleasure was theirs, as they hoped that, if
their fleet fought and conquered that of

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42

FERNAM LOPEZ

Castille, the city would be free on the side
of the sea, and they would be able to
receive provisions, of Which they stood in
sore need, and that they would obtain
possession of a great part of the vanquished
fleet and the loss of it might well cause
the King of Castille to raise the siege.
But, again, they were in doubt and fear
when they considered that the fleet of
Castille was far larger than theirs and
strongly equipped with men and could
receive much help from their camp so
near at hand, and they bethought them
of their great loss were the fleet of Por-
tugal defeated and of their sons and hus-
bands and others who would perish and
die, and moreover that the city would be
set in such straits that all hope of its
defence would end, and they then in a
few days would fall into the furious hands
of their mortal enemies to use them at
their will ; and these strong fears caused
them all to rise, men and women, for they
could no longer sleep. And as they spoke
one to another from their windows of this

II HISPANIC NOTES

FERN AM LOPEZ

thing and of the battle on the following
day, there arose through the city a din
and hubbub of conversation which lasted
for a long space of time and was the
cause of the bells being rung soon for
matins, more especially as the nights were
short. And then the people began to go
to the churches with lighted torches in
their hands, to order masses and other
devotions with many prayers and tears.
O what station or way of life was then
free from this anxiety ? Most surely none,
since not only lay persons but all the
priests were thrown by this news into
sudden expectation. For, as each must
suffer the consequences of victory or de-
feat, what heart could be so closed to pity
as not to be softened by gentle compassion
at the sight of the churches filled with
men and women, with their children in
their arms, all crying to God to come to
their assistance and save the house of
Portugal? Most surely none, none be-
longing to a true Portuguese, And thus
they spent a great part of the night until

AND MONOGRAPHS

44

F E RNAM LOP E Z

11

the morning, some in tears and devout
prayers, others in arming themselves and
making ready to meet the enemy' (31).

The account of the murder of Dona
Maria Tellez by her husband is equally
vivid, the actors in the drama being
now not a whole people, but a feu-
individuals : it helps us to realize how
great is the loss of Fernam Lopez' de-
scription of the death of Lie's de Castro.
The Infante and his attendants ride
into Coimbra in the night, and by the
time they have found the house where
D. Maria dwelt ' the dawn was beginning
to show in the sky and morning was
hastening on '. A woman going out to
wash clothes in the river unbolted the
door, and the Infante rushed in and broke
his way into D. Maria's chamber. ' 0 Sir,
what extraordinary coming is this ? ' But
he had not come to answer questions : ' I
am not here to bandy words with you,' and
as he stabs her she calls on the Mother of
God to have mercy on her soul. Then,
taking horse again, he did not draw rein

HISPANIC NOTES

FERNAM LOPEZ

45

for many a league. But the chronicler
pauses to say : ' O pity of the most high
God, if it had been Thy will to blunt that
cruel knife, it would not have torn her
white body, innocent of that shameful
charge ! ' (32). In scenes of rest or tur-
moil, peace or war, Fernam Lopez ever
preserves a charming air of leisure amid
the unfailing rapidity of his narrative.

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II

46

II

FERNAM LOPEZ

IX

And as if all these stirring events, so
delightfully narrated, were not enough, he
has a hundred devices for enchaining
attention. He is like the ancient mariner,
and you cannot choose but hear. ' Hear'
is, indeed, the right word, for his chronicle
was intended to be read aloud. He is the
most courteous of chroniclers. He scarcely
for a page forgets his reader, with whom
he never suffers himself to be on any but
the most cordial terms, captivating him
by his ingenuous reflections. Well might
he turn in his grave with righteous indig-
nation at the charge of being dull and
monotonous. Listen how cunningly he
twines his tendrils round the reader's heart.
He is ever as it were holding out a carrot for
the ass. ' Consider ', he says, ' if it was not

HISPANIC NOTES

FERNAM LOPEZ

a pleasant thing ' ; ' O what a terrible thing
and mortal war ' ; ' O what a sorrowful
thing it was to look and see by day and
night so many men and women flocking
into the city with children in their arms ' ;
1 O what a lovely thing it was to see so
noble and mighty a king as the King of
Castille with such a multitude of men by
sea and land set in great array in the siege
of so noble a city, and the city well manned
and equipped for its defence, so that
those who saw it say that so fair a siege
had not been known within the memory
of man.' He forces the reader to take
an active part in the story : Now con-
sider as though you were present ; or
What division think you there was then
between father and son, and brother and
sister, and wife and husband ; or Let us
first take the Queen to Santarem ; Let us
leave the King at Seville, killing and im-
prisoning ; Let us leave the Master at
Alenquer and the Queen at Santarem and
go and see what the King of Castille is
doing in his kingdom ; Let him there

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F E R N A M L 0 I' E Z

remain and we will cross the sea, for it is
summer, and see what the ambassadors
are doing in England, since they have-
now been there close upon four years
He expects the reader to share his own
enthusiasm : What shall we say of this
virtuous lord and of his great goodness ?,
or O fortunate, most fortunate the man
who deserved to have so loyal and brave
a vassal ! He natters the reader's intelli-
gence : Now after many arguments, such
as you can imagine would be used ; Let
your discretion judge ; It would not be
foolish but reasonable were the reader to
inquire. He gives various versions and
opinions, so that each may accept that
which seems best to him. He is most
thoughtful for his reader's comfort : We
will not speak more of these matters, for
we do not know how it might please our
hearers; We will omit this so as not to
detain you ; The day would not be long
enough to tell of this, and it would weary
you to hear and me to write ; See how it
was ; It seems to us well that you should

II

HISPANIC NOTES

FERNAM LOPEZ

49

know ; Let not your ears be displeased to
hear ; and he begs for patience if he can-
not content every one, since not all the
saints can be included in the litany.

Yet he is not only a quaint picturesque
chronicler, he is also a painstaking accurate
historian, a critic, and a philosopher. He
holds his reader under so powerful a spell
that he is not afraid to invite his attention
to serious matters, to refer to Tully and
Aristotle, ' that clear light of philosophy ',
to mention Eusebius' De Temporibus or
St. Augustine's book of the City of God,
and to give at length important documents
and speeches. With all the chronicler's
charm of style and many blandishments
the reader would be churlish indeed if he
complained or refused to ' listen' to a long
speech in council by Joao das Regras or
by King Joao or Nun' Alvarez, to Frei
Pedro's sermon after the victory of Alju-
barrota on the text ' This is the Lord's
doing and it is marvellous in our eyes ',
or the sermon after the raising of the siege
of Lisbon, or to the terms of the treaty

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II

5°

FERNAM LOPEZ

T

between Portugal and Castille. Fernam

Lopez found bald annals,and left living his-
tory, but although he constantly fascinates
his reader he will make no convenient
omissions of facts and documents requiring
to be known. He is a wizard who forces
his reader to accept all these interpolations
in inverted commas, and to delight and
acquiesce in his quaintly expressed wisdom.
He is often as rapid as Homer, yet he
never hurries, and even when most keenly
exercising his gifts of imagination or critical
insight he conveys an impression of in-
genuousness. He easily excels both Frois-
sart and Ayala, his humanity is so much
broader than theirs. Ayala, more austere,
has not his charm ; Froissart, more intel-
lectual, may have the charm and quaint-
ness, but is without his sympathy and
ideals. The scope of the adventures that
he relates may be narrower than Froissart's,
but within his limits he has a depth and
universality to which Froissart never
attains, and while the latter is content to
chronicle the deeds of lords and princes,

II

HISPANIC NOTES

F E RNAM LOPEZ

5i
>

Fernam Lopez shows us a whole nation
as it lives and acts and speaks. Both are
truthful, convincing, and marvellously
vivid, but Froissart is the court chronicler
of external shows and actions, Fernam
Lopez is the national historian of the
heart-beats of a people.

It was well that before the advent of
the elderly and sedate art of Commynes
(c. 1447-15 1 1) and the self-conscious
superior style of Zurara (c. 1410-74), a
writer of genius should have shown what
it was possible to achieve without refer-
ence to foreign lands or narratives of
Indian adventure, and without crowding
his pages with Latinisms and rhetoric.
Without sacrificing the dignity and truth
of history on the one hand nor charm
and individuality on the other, he raised
a most enduring memorial for the nation
to whose interests he was so deeply de-
voted. If Portugal has no early epics
like the Poevia del Cid, that wonderful
poem with the spirit of which Fernam
Lopez has so much in common, it can at

AND MONOGRAPH S

II

E 2

52

F E R N A M LOP E Z

least boast to have produced a chronicler
to whose fascination all who read him
inevitably succumb and whose pre-emi-
nence has only not been generally acknow-
ledged because he wrote in a less universal
language than French. Fernam Lopez is
the Middle Ages at their best. He is
one of their most splendid bequests to
humanity, and ranks with the great
Gothic cathedrals, like them the expression
of a whole people rather than a single indi-
vidual. His masterpiece, the Crofiica de
Dotn Jocwi, was, indeed, written for the
people (33) under the influence of a great
national enthusiasm with which he was
thoroughly identified.

II

HISPANIC NOTES

NOTES

53

NOTES

(i) Geschichtc der portngicsischcn 7'oesie
itnd Beredsamkeit. Gottingen, 1805. English
tr. London, 1823. Vol. 2, p. 22.

(2) In 1920 this = about 13^. 4//., in 1914
nearly £3. In the last third of the sixteenth
century 15,000 reis was the pension granted
to Camoes.

(3) For the text of this and other docu-
ments see Cronica del Rei Dom Joam, ed. A.
Braamcamp Freire (191 5), pp. xlv-lxx.

(4) A specimen page is given by Snr.
Braamcamp Freire (ibid., p. xlvi).

(5) There can be no doubt whatever on
this point. Damiao de Goes {Cron. de D.
Manuel, Part IV, cap. 38) is very explicit,
and several passages of the extant chronicles
of Fernam Lopez admit of no other inter-
pretation. In the Cron. de D. Fernando
(cap. 81) he refers to his account of the
thirteenth-century Conde de Bolonha. In

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II

54

II

F E R N A M L O P E Z

the first sentence of his earliest extant
chronicle he speaks of an eariier preface {no
primeiro prologo). When we consider the
value and extent of those chronicles that we
have we may well wonder at their author's
industry and genius.

(6) Coll. de livros ined. Vol. 4 (1816),
;>p. 1-120, and Lisboa, 1895.

(7) Ibid., pp. 121-525, and Lisboa, 3 vols.,
1895-6.

(8) Lisboa, 1644, and Lisboa, 7 vols.,
1897-8; Parte primiera, ed. A. liraamcamp
Freire, Lisboa, 191 5.

(9) Cron. de D.Joam, Part I, cap. 159.

(10) Ibid., Prologo.

(11) Ibid., Prologo. _^-

(12) Ibid., cap. 31.

(13) For one such phrase in Fernam Lopez
see Cron. de D. Pedro, cap. ^o : porque
razoadafe l/ies dera ousado acoutamento nas
fraldas da seguranca.

(14) Cron. de D. Fernando, cap. 107 .

(15) Cron. de D. Joam, Part II, Prologo
britavamos a nossa ordenatica de todo, que
era cousa de reprender ; por nam dizerem
que britamos a primeira ordenanga.

(16) Cron. de D. Joam, Part I, cap. 152,
ed. Eraamcarnp Freire (1915), p. 281 ad fin.

HISPANIC NOT E S

N.O TE S

(17) The 1895 edition reads Santillana, an
error worthy of the Torre de filhas (Torde-
sillas) of the 1897 edition of the Cronica del
Rci D. Joam or the Dureito (Diirer) and
Ortographia (Aulegrafid) of the 1900 edition
of Mello's Apologos Dialogues.

(18) Cf. F. de Figueiredo, Uistoria da
Liltcratura Classica (Lisboa, 1917), p. 45.

(19) Coronica do Condcstabre de Purtugal,
Lisboa, 1526; Lisboa, 1554; ed. Mendes
dos Remedios, Coimbra, 191 1 \Snbsidios,
no. xiv].

(20) Cron. de D. Joam (19 15), p. xxv.

(21) Cron. de D. Fernando, cap. 163;
Cron. de D. Joam, Part II, caps. 51, 62.

(22) O desvairo dos atitores ; sen desvai-
rado modo de escrever ; err ados ditos ;
erradas historias ; livros de pa/rannas.

(23) Cron. de D. Joam (191 5), p. xxiii.
For the question of the later additions in the
Cronica do Condestabre see Senhor Braam-
camp Freire's amusing and scholarly account,
ibid., pp. xxvi-vii.

(24) Part I, cap. 180; Cron. do Conde-
stabre, cap. 41, 191 1 ed., p. 102.

(25) A similar explanation holds good of
the passage Outros dizem (C. J. I. 170)
corresponding to C. C. 38 ; of the outro

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56

II

F E R N A M LOPEZ

hisloriador [C. J. I< 172) corresponding to
C. C. 40 ; and of the escrivdes of C.J. II. 53,
corresponding to C. C. 53.

(26) There is much confusion in the early
legends and anecdotes of Portugal nnd other
countries. The story of King Pedro and the
priest and stonecutter is told also of Pedro of
Castille ; the legend of Queen Isabel and the
roses is that of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. In
the same way later witticisms attributed in
Portugal to the Portuguese poet Chiado are
found recorded in Spanish collections as
examples of Spanish humour.

(27) The spelling of his name is very
various : Dionis, Donis, Denis, Dinis, Diniz.
If the Rei onde his of Cram, de D. Joam
(Part II, cap. 1 74) was a play on words (Rei
Dom Denis) ,it points to the form Denis, which
has survived in French and English.

(28) Garcia de Resende in his turn made
use of material prepared by Ruy de Pina for
the Cronica de D. Jodo II. Later Nunez
de Liam again (1600) ' renewed ' the chroni-
cles of the kings of Portugal.

(29) After promising his daughter in mar-
riage to the Duke of Cambridge he gave her
to the King of Castille, but could not even do
this whole-heartedly, and sent word to the

HISPANIC NOTES

NOTES

English Court professing to consider his
daughter dead to him and promising never
to fail in any matter plighted between him
and the King and the Duke ; whereupon the
King of England ' began to smile derisively '
(Cron. de D. Fernando, cap. 161).

(30) In her thirst for vengeance (she de-
sired a barrel full of the tongues of the citizens
of Lisbon) she gave herself entirely into the
hands of King Juan I of Castille. There is a
curious passage (Cron. de D. Joam, Part I,
cap. 83) in which in one breath she denies
and confesses the truth of the Jew's accusa-
tion : 'You lie like a treacherous hound, and
if what you say is true, I acted on your
advice.'

(31) Cron. de D. Joam, Part I, cap. 132.

(32) Cron. de D. Fernando, cap. 103.

(33) Part I, 1915 ed., p. 2 : ao f>oboo.

AND MONOGRAPHS

INDEX

INDEX

A

Afonso V . . . . .

Alfonso X, el Sabio ....

Almeida (Lopo de; ....

Alvarez (Joao) .....

Alvarez (Nuno , set Nun' Alvarez.

Andeiro. Count ..... 3&

Aragao Morato (Francisco Trigozo de) . 3

Aristotle .... ... 49

Augustine, Saint . . ... 49

Avis, Master of, see Joao I.

B
Barros (Joao de) ....
Bernardez Manuel).

Bolonha, Conde de . . . . 53

Bouterwek (Friedrich) .... 4

Braamcamp Freire (Anselmoj 5, 23, 24, 28, 55

Cambridge, Duke of
Camoes (Luis de)
Castro ^Ines de)
Chiado (Antonio Ribeiro)
Cicero (Marcus Tullius) .
Commynes (Philippe de) .

• 56
53

33, 37, 44

• 56
49
5i

HISPANIC NOTES

6o

F E R N A M LOPEZ

PABM

Compagni i Dino^ ..... 7
Coronica do Condestabrc, see Cronica.
Cristoforus, Doctor ..... 26
Cronica de D0111 Fernando . 1 r, 29, 32, 44-5
Cronica dc Dotn Joam 11, 23, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33,

41-4, 52
Cronica dc Dom Pedro . . . n, 18, 32
Cronica do Condestabrc . . .24, 28-31

D

Denis (Ferdinand ..... 3
Dinis, Infante . . . . . 37 1

Dinis, King 33, 56

Duarte, King 1, 8, 10, 11

E

Elizabeth. Saint, of Hungary ... 56
Elizabeth, Saint, of Portugal, see Isabel.
Esteves Pereira (Francisco Maria) . . 28

F

Fernando, Infante . . . . . 8, 9
Fernando, King . . . . 35
Fitzmaurice-Kelly (James) ... 36
Fradique, Infante ..... 23, 37
Froissart (Jean) . . . . 3, 6. 50, 51

G

Goes (Damiao de) . . . . . 2, 53

H

Herculano (Alexandre) .... 3

II

HISPANIC NOTES

INDEX

IsaocI, Queen .

Joao, Infante
Joao I

Joinville (Jean deN
Juan I

PAGES

56

37, 44

i, 10, 14, 15, 35, 38, 39, 49

6

57

Lebel (Jean) ...... 6

Lianor, Queen . . . • ' • 35» 37* 57

Lopez (Fernam\ birth, 7 ; official position, 8-9 ;
death, 9-10; character, 10; handwriting, 10;
his chronicles, 4, 6, 11, 32-45; style, 1, 13,
14, 15, 29, 45 ; conception of history, 12-16 ;
originality, 17-25 ; charges of plagiarism, 17
24, 28 ; his sources, 7, 17-25, 26-8; his criti-
cism of earlier historians, 26-8 ; authorship of
the Crouiai do Condtstabre, 28-30 ; its date,
31 ; attitude towards readers, 46-9 ; his en-
thusiasm, 16 ; truth and sincerity, 13, 14 ;
identification with the people, 36, 51, 52 ; his
reputation in the sixteenth century, 2 ; in
the eighteenth, 2 ; in the nineteenth, 34 ; com-
pared with Ayala, 50 ; with Froissart, 3, 50,
51 ; his pre-eminence as chronicler, 2, 3, 6, 39.

49. 52.
Lopez ^Martin). ..... 9

Lopez de Ayala (Pero) . 6, 18-25, 26, 36, 50

M

Martins (Nuno)

Mello Martim Afonso de)

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62

II

F E R N A M LO V E Z

Nun* Alvarez r4, 29, 30, 31, 33, 36, 38, 39, 49
Nunez de Liam (Duartc) . . . .2,56

Pedro, Infante ..... 1

Pedro I of Castille .... 32. 37, 56
Pedro I of Portugal ... 32, 35, 37, 56
Percira (Nun' Alvarez", see Nun' Alvarez

Pessanlia (Lanearote), Admiral
Philippa, Queen
Pina (Ruy de) .
Poem a del Ctd, El

33

R

Regras (Joao das) .
Resende Garcia dc
Ross (Thomasina) .

Sancho II of Portugal
Sousa (Luis de)
Southey ^Robert)

Tellez (Maria)
Thucydides

Villani (Giovanni) .
Villehardouin (Geoffroy de)

Zurara (Gomez Eanez de

38
36, 39
34,56

5i

35, 49
56

33

37, 44
39

9, 15, 24, 51

HISPANIC NOTES

HISPANIC

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