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BERNARDIM RIBEIRO (1482-1552)

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 284 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BERNARDIM See also:

RIBEIRO (1482-1552)  , the See also:father of bucolic See also:prose and See also:verse in See also:Portugal, was a native of Torrao in the See also:Alemtejo . His father, Damiao See also:Ribeiro, was implicated in the See also:conspiracy against See also:King See also:John IL in 1484, and had to flee to See also:Castile, whereupon See also:young Bernardim and his See also:mother took See also:refuge with their relations See also:Antonio Zagalo and D . Ignez Zagalo at the Quinta dos Lobos, near See also:Cintra . When King Manoel came to the See also:throne in 1495, he rehabilitated the families persecuted by his predecessor, and Ribeiro was able to leave his See also:retreat and return to Torrao . Meanwhile D . Ignez had married a See also:rich landowner of See also:Estremoz, and in 1503 she was summoned to See also:court and appointed one of the attendants to the Infanta D . Beatriz . Ribeiro' accompanied her, and through her See also:influence the. king took him under his See also:protection and sent him to the university of See also:Lisbon, where he studied from 1506 to x 5I2 . When he obtained his degree in See also:law, the king showed him further favour by appointing him to the See also:post of Escrivao da Camara, or secretary, and later by bestowing on him the See also:habit of the military See also:order by Sao Thiago . Ribeiro's poetic career commenced with his coming to court, and his See also:early verses are to be found in the Cancioneiro Geral of See also:Garcia de See also:Resende (q.v.) . He took See also:part. in the historic Seroes do Paco, or See also:palace evening entertainments, which largely consisted of poetical improvisations; there he met and earned the friendship of the poets Si de See also:Miranda (q.v,) and Christovao See also:Falcao (q.v.), who became his See also:literary comrades and the confidants of his See also:romance, in which See also:hope deferred and See also:bitter disappointment ended in tragedy . Ribeiro had early. conceived a violent See also:passion for his See also:cousin, D .

See also:

Joanna Zagalo, the daughter of his protectress, D . Ignez; but, though she seems to have returned it, her See also:family opposed her See also:marriage to a See also:singer and dreamer with small means and prospects, and finally compelled her to wed a rich See also:man, one Pero Gato . When the latter met a violent See also:death shortly afterwards, D . Joanna retired to a See also:house in the See also:country, and it is alleged that Ribeiro visited her, and that their amour resulted in the See also:birth of a See also:child . All we know positively, however, is that in 1521 the See also:lady went into seclusion in the See also:convent of St See also:Clare at Estremoz, where she See also:fell a victim to a violent See also:form of See also:insanity, and that she died there some years later . It is further alleged that Ribeiro's conduct had caused a See also:scandal which led the king to deprive him of his See also:office and See also:exile him. lout the loss of position and income can have added very little to the poignant grief of such a true See also:lover and profound idealist as Bernardim Ribeiro . He had poured out his See also:heart in five beautiful eclogues, the earliest in Portuguese, written in the popular octosyllabic verse; and now, hopeless of the future and broken in spirit, he decided to go to See also:Italy, for a poet the See also:land of promise . He started early in 1522, and travelled widely in the See also:peninsula, and during his stay he wrote his moving knightly and See also:pastoral romance Menina e Moca, in which he related the See also:story of his unfortunate passion, personifying himself under the See also:anagram of " Bimnarder," and D . Ignez under that of " See also:Aonia." When he returned See also:home in 1524, the new king, John III., restored, him to his former post, and it is said that he paid a last visit to his love at St Clare's convent and found her in a See also:fit of raving madness . This no doubt preyed on a mind already unhinged by trouble, and hastened the decline of his See also:mental See also:powers, which had already commenced . About 1534 a See also:long illness supervened, and the years that elapsed between that See also:year and his death may be described as the See also:night of his soul . He was quite unable to fulfil the duties of his office, and in x549 the king bestowed upon him a See also:pension for his support; but he did not live long to enjoy it, for in 1552 he died insane in All See also:Saints See also:Hospital in Lisbon .

The Menina e See also:

Mop was not printed until after Ribeiro's death, and then first in See also:Ferrara in 1554 . On its appearancethe See also:book made such a sensation that its See also:reading was forbidden, because, though it contained nothing heterodox, it disclosed a family tragedy which the See also:allegory could not hide . It is divided into two parts, the first of which is certainly the See also:work of Ribeiro, while as to the second See also:opinion is divided, though Dr Theophilo See also:Braga considers it genuine and explains its progressive lack of lucidity and order by the mental illness of the author . The first part has been ably edited by Dr Jose Pessanha (See also:Oporto,1891); Ribeiro's verses, including his five eclogues, which for' their sincerity of feeling, See also:simple diction and chaste form are unsurpassed in Portuguese literature, were reprinted in a limited edition de luxe by Dr See also:Xavier da Cunha (Lisbon, 1886) .

End of Article: BERNARDIM RIBEIRO (1482-1552)
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