GARCIA DE RESENDE (1474)

Born c. 1470 Évora.
Died Feb. 3, 1536 Évora.

Poet, chronicler and editor whose life was spent in the service of the Portuguese court during the period of splendour and achievement under John II, Manuel I and John III.

He began to serve John II as a page at the age of ten becoming his private secretary in 1491.

He continued to enjoy royal favour under King Manuel and later under John III.

In 1498 he accompanied Manuel to Castilla and in 1514 went to Rome with the admiral Tristâo da Cunha, as secretary and treasurer of the famous embassy sent by the King of Portugal to offer the tribute of the East at the feet of Pope Leo X.

Resende´s Crónica de D. Joao II (1545) though largely plagiarized from a work by Rui de Pina (c. 1440-c. 1523), contains personal anecdotes that give it special interest.

Much of his work provides insight into the social life and manners of the period.
In the 300 stanzas of his Miscelánea he surveys with wonder and pride -and not without social criticism- some of the notable events (including the great Portuguese discoveries) of the age in which he lived.

The Cancioneiro Geral (1516), a vast anthology edited by Resende also containing compositions of his own, is the chief source of knowledge of late medieval Portuguese verse.