
Portugal Dantesque Encyclopedia
Until the century. XI the Portugal did not have an autonomous life within the Iberian regions being under the government of the king of León. During the Christian ‘reconquista’ the county of Coimbra was formed (1064), which was invested with Sisenando, one of the generals of Ferdinand the Great of León; and this, combined with the territories liberated under Alfonso VI, gave rise, at the end of the century, to the county of Portugal whose government was entrusted to Henry of Burgundy, son-in-law of the king. These, taking advantage of the civil strife that broke out in León at the death of Alfonso VI, consolidated his independence from Raymond of Burgundy, husband of the heir to the throne Urraca. On his death, his wife Teresa, the illegitimate daughter of Alfonso VI, openly rebelled against Leonese sovereignty, and so did his successor Alfonso Henriques, who, after various events, he was recognized king of Portugal by Alfonso VII (1143). Henriques, who took the name of Alfonso I di Portugal, successfully led the struggle with the Muslims, greatly expanding its territories; the conquest continued under the following kings and finally in 1297 the Portugal reached the current borders. In this period, however, there was no lack of internal revolts, so much so that Pope Innocent IV in the Council of Lyons (1245) deposed King Sancho II, replacing him with Alfonso III. Under his successor, Dionigi (1279-1325), the seafaring policy of Portugal began and great development was given to the economy and agriculture. On the death of Ferdinand I (1383), the last of the house of Burgundy, he was to be succeeded by the king of Castile, his son-in-law; but an internal revolt put Giovanni Aviz, bastard of King Peter I, on the throne, whose house reigned in the country until the end of the 16th century.
Portugal in Dante’s work. – It is to be thought that Dante’s knowledge of P: and of people and things concerning this country was very limited; moreover, before the sixteenth century in Italy little was generally known about Portugal. D. did not consider in the right light the great figure of his contemporary king Dionigi l’Agricola (that of Portugal, Pd XIX 139), included in the severe review of the eagle perhaps because he was too busy in the economic and especially maritime fields, careless like the other Iberian sovereigns of memorable war feats. Another person of Portuguese origin remembered in Paradise is the famous Pietro Ispano, Pope John XXI (who is lighted in twelve pamphlets, XII 134), but perhaps D. did not know of him was born in Lisbon. In Cv III VIII 12 and in Mn II V 3 two passages from a work of s. Martino (born in Pannonia in the 6th century and bishop of the Portuguese diocese of Braga), the first time without the author being named, the second under the name of Seneca, as usually happened in the Middle Ages. As regards the western part of the Iberian Peninsula, we find some hints to Galicia, to the famous pilgrimage of Compostella, to the tomb of the apostle James.
If we think of the three languages of the Ibero-Romance group and their literatures, it is somewhat surprising not to find any reference to Castilian and its literary production, to Portuguese and to the Galician-Portuguese lyric flourishing. Yet, D. knew that there were other languages in the peninsula, besides Occitanic (VE II XII 3), and Galician is remembered, for example, alongside other novel idioms, in the Regles de trobar of the Catalan Jofre de Foixà, composed in Sicily probably in 1289-1291 (see ed. Li Gotti, Modena 1952, 220-240). For the Yspani who speak the language d’oc, of the well-known passages of VE I VIII 6 and II XII 3, the geographical limits cannot be precisely specified, but D. was probably referring to the Catalan linguistic domain or to the lands of the Catalan confederation- Aragonese.
Fortuna of D. in Portugal. It cannot be said that Dante’s influence in ancient and modern Portuguese culture is very important and fruitful, equal to that of other Italian authors, such as Petrarch or Tasso. With some exceptions, these are mostly sporadic citations, episodic traces and general admiration.
There is news of the existence in the fifteenth century of a Dantesque code in the important cultural center of the Alcobaça monastery. The chronicler Gomes Eanes de Zurara shows that he knows Italian literature well and mentions Dante’s Inferno: this is perhaps the first explicit mention of D. in Portuguese literature. Among the numerous Portuguese who stayed in Florence in that century we remember Gomes Ferreira da Silva; some traces of the Comedy can be found in one of his treatises, the Virtuosa benfeitoria. Even among the disputable Pedro de Portugal to whom the Marquis of Santillana addressed the well-known epistle, we note, alongside the important influence of the Latin Boccaccio, some reminiscence of Dante. In the ascetic literature of the time the anonymous author of the Bosco delleytoso,
At the end of the fifteenth century, various Italian personalities were present at the court of King John II, and relations with Italy were close. In the important bilingual collection (Portuguese and Castilian) of Cancioneiro Geral or de Resende (1516) there are various traces of Italian authors, especially Petrarca and D., in various poets (such as João Manuel and Luís Anriques) and particularly in the two most notable of the collection, Diogo Brandão and Duarte de Brito. As is natural, Hell is the canticle that these poets above all show that they know; but these alleged influences are to be traced back to modest limits. It is very probable that this limited presence of Dante in the lyric is due for the most part to the medium of Castilian literature which knew Italian well, also through various translations. The first canticle was then translated for the first time also into Portuguese, according to the nineteenth-century scholar José Maria da Costa e Silva, but nothing is known of this version. In Bernardim Ribeiro’s famous Menina and moça, alongside the technique of the Fiammetta and various Petrarchian memories, echoes of Dante can be seen, especially the episode of Francesca da Rimini, who is particularly fortunate in Portuguese literature. The notable figure of Francisco de Sá de Miranda, who lived in contact with the Italian Renaissance (he stayed in Italy from 1521 to 1526), constitutes the most important moment for the introduction of Italianism, which in opera is Petrarchism in the first place, but also here and there Dante’s influence: the Italian meters are used (the ‛medida nova ‘) and also the third rhyme. Sa de Miranda prided himself on possessing a copy of the Commedia, which he had bought in Venice, and mentions D. in his poems. Gil Vicente’s great theater is certainly not of an Italian type, but we wanted to see the memory of Dante’s journey in the Trilogia das barcas. The acquaintance of D. with Luis de Camões is more interesting: the great poet D. is familiar, and Cioffari has shown that Paradise is in various places a sure source for the ordering of the skies of Os Lusíadas and that they can sometimes be established punctual comparisons of verses. Among historians, Diego de Couto reveals the knowledge of various Italian authors, including Dante. but we wanted to see the memory of Dante’s journey in the Trilogia das barcas. The acquaintance of D. with Luis de Camões is more interesting: the great poet D. is familiar, and Cioffari has shown that Paradise is in various places a sure source for the ordering of the skies of Os Lusíadas and that they can sometimes be established punctual comparisons of verses. Among historians, Diego de Couto reveals the knowledge of various Italian authors, including Dante. but we wanted to see the memory of Dante’s journey in the Trilogia das barcas. The acquaintance of D. with Luis de Camões is more interesting: the great poet D. is familiar, and Cioffari has shown that Paradise is in various places a sure source for the ordering of the skies of Os Lusíadas and that they can sometimes be established punctual comparisons of verses. Among historians, Diego de Couto reveals the knowledge of various Italian authors, including Dante.
In the seventeenth century there is no lack of news of Dante’s vision in epic poetry, eg. in the biblical-inspired poem Novissimos do homem by Francisco Child Rolim de Moura, in which the imitation of the Comedy is noteworthy. For Portugal 2010, please check programingplease.com.
Although D. was known by the poets of the Lusitanian Arcadia, the Portuguese eighteenth century obviously could not see him in the right light. In D.’s limiting interpretation of the value, a good connoisseur of Italian culture, Francisco Bernardo de Lima, does not accept, as Rossi notes, the extremist position of Bettinelli.
Romanticism is the era in which Dante’s presence in leading figures is most significant, alongside the other, much more notable, of Tasso. D. is felt above all as a poet of love and as an indomitable and suffered human personality (and in this D. and Tasso are approached in Camões): the reason for the exile and the love for justice also become political elements of this sincere admiration. In Almeida Garrett’s Viagens na minha terra, the enthusiasm for D. a strong and suffering man in exile shines through; and a similar attitude can be seen in Herculano, a good connoisseur of Italian literature. João de Deus turns into Portuguese three times, adapting it, the episode of Francesca da Rimini, which is also translated by José Ramos Coelho. Then there are two full versions of Hell, one commented by Joaquim Pinto de Campos (Lisbon 1886) and the other by Domingo Ennes (Lisbon 1887- [89]), with a prologue by Xavier da Cunha. Antero de Quental translates Pg VI’s invective against Italy and entitles one of his sonnets Divina Comédia. During the last three decades of the century the interest and admiration for D. is evident in notable figures such as the narrator Camilo Castelo Branco, the great novelist Eça de Queiroz, the historian Oliveira Martins. António Carneiro then illustrates the first canticle in about forty interesting drawings. interest and admiration for D. in notable figures such as the narrator Camilo Castelo Branco, the great novelist Eça de Queiroz, the historian Oliveira Martins. António Carneiro then illustrates the first canticle in about forty interesting drawings. interest and admiration for D. in notable figures such as the narrator Camilo Castelo Branco, the great novelist Eça de Queiroz, the historian Oliveira Martins. António Carneiro then illustrates the first canticle in about forty interesting drawings.
More recently, two complete translations of the Comedy are published, one in prose by Marques Braga (1955-58) and another in non-rhymed triplets by various authors, initially directed by Francisco Vieira de Almeida (1960-65). On the occasion of the seventh centenary, a Vida de D. (translated from the work of M. Barbi) was published (Lisbon 1965) on f. by A. Fiorilli, with an introduction by A. Chiari and with a selection of Dante’s texts translated by G. Manuppella and E. Reali, and the ediz. of 1576 of the Life of D. del Boccaccio. There are more numerous translations into the Portuguese of Brazil (v.), Among which that of José Pedro Xavier de Pinheiro (1888, but published in its entirety in 1907) is very noteworthy. The translation of Dante’s complete works has also been published in Brazil (San Paolo 1957-58, 10 volumes).