Fernão Lopes



Fernão Lopes (c. 1385–1459), was a Portuguese chronicler appointed by King Edward of Portugal. Fernão Lopes wrote the history of Portugal as it was known at the time.

His writing was based on oral traditions, and, on every page, it revealed his roots among the common people. He even says that, in his pages, "one cannot find the beauty of words but the nudity of the truth." He was an autodidact, and he was one of the last examples of the historian as purveyor of popular knowledge. By the time of his death, a new kind of knowledge was arising, a Latinized scholasticism that involved imitations of the classics.

He was born sometime between 1380 and 1390, and 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 Pedro, 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 insurrection of Lisbon 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.

He wrote several chronicles, including:
 * Crónica de el-rei D. Pedro ("Chronicle of king Peter I")
 * Crónica de el-rei D. Fernando ("Chronicle of king Fernando I")
 * Crónica de el-rei D. João I ("Chronicle of king John I" ) in two parts
 * Crónica dos reis de Portugal ("Chronicle of the kings of Portugal")

He was succeeded as Chronicler of the Kingdom by Gomes Eanes de Zurara, and he died sometime after 1459.