24 This charming old chronicle of the life of the noblest and most sympathetic figure in Portuguese annals was written anonymously, and first printed in 1526.
25 Azurara's laconism with reference to the history of the discovery of the Madeiras and Azores is really regrettable. In many respects his narrative needs to be supplemented from other sources.
26 The offices of Chief Chronicler, Keeper of the Royal Archives and Royal Librarian were, as a rule, held by the same individual and conferred at the same time, as in the case of Ruy de Pina, but Azurara had the position of Royal Librarian for at least two years before he obtained the others, namely from 1452, as already mentioned (p. v).
27 Chanc. de D. Affonso V, liv. X, fl. 30. Torre do Tombo.
28 Definiçoẽs e Estatutos dos Cavalleiros e Freires da Ordem de N. S. Jesu Christo, etc., p. 242.
29 Liv. XII de D. Affonso V, fl. 62. Torre do Tombo.
30 De Bello Septensi, p. 26.
31 Estremadura, liv. VII, fl. 255. Torre do Tombo.
32 Definiçoẽs e Estatutos, etc., p. 236.
33 Ibid., p. 263. The situations of these Commendas are taken from Portugal Antigo e Moderno, Lisbon 1873, and following years.
34 Chanc. de D. Affonso V. liv. X, fl. 113. Torre do Tombo.
35 Gav. 15, Maço 13, No. 21. Torre do Tombo. Azurara is here described as "Commander of Pinheiro Grande and Granja d'Ulmeiro, our Chronicler and Keeper" (of the Records).
36 Chronica do Conde D. Pedro de Menezes, ch. 1.
37 "Chóca" is an old-fashioned Portuguese game played with a stout staff and ball. The incident is referred to by Camöens in Eclogue I, in the lines beginning, "Emquanto do seguro azambugeyro", etc.
38 Particularly he "reformed" the Registers of the reigns of Pedro I, D. Fernando, João I, and D. Duarte; and J. P. Ribeiro, who gives a minute account of the state of these Registers and of Azurara's compilation, winds up thus: "Such is the state of the Chancellary books of the early reigns down to that of Affonso V; some are still in their original condition, while others are reformed or rather destroyed, by Gomez Eannes de Zurara."—Memorias Authenticas para a Historia do Real Archivo, p. 171. Lisbon, 1819.
39 Annaes Maritimos e Coloniaes, No. 1, Segunda serie, p. 34; and J. P. Ribeiro, Memorias Authenticas, etc., p. 21.
40 There is a reference to this claim of the Order in the Definiçoẽs e Estatutos, etc., p. 201, and to its defeat.
41 This must have been an adopted son of the Chronicler, to whom he had lent his name.
42 This forgery must be reckoned a very passable one, although the handwritings are obviously not the same, and the parchment differs in texture and colour from that of the rest of the book. The judgment of the Casa de Supplicação is printed in extenso by J. P. Ribeiro from liv. 1, "dos Direitos Reaes," fol. 216, in the Torre do Tombo.
43 Chanc. de D. Affonso V, liv. xxxi, fl. 76vo. Torre do Tombo. For the signification and value of these "white milreis", see Damião de Goes, Chronica de D. Manoel, ch. 1.
44 Estremadura, liv. II, fl. 279. Torre do Tombo.
45 Terçeyro dodianna del Rey Dom Alfonso Quinto, fol. 57. Torre do Tombo.
46 The original of this certificate belongs to the famous novelist, Senhor Eça de Queiroz, whose wife claims descent from this de Castro. Doubtless others of the Chronicler's certificates, the contents—or at least the dates—of which would fill up some of the gaps in his biography, are in private hands, without any record of their issue remaining, either in the Torre do Tombo or elsewhere, as in the present case. Brandão mentions one such in his Monarchia Lusitana, Quinta parte, p. 177. Lisbon, 1650.
47 Liv. IX de D. Affonso V, fol. 94. Torre do Tombo.
48 Affonso V ordered Pisano to write the Chronicle in Latin, as he had previously done with the Capture of Ceuta.—Chronica do Conde D. Pedro de Menezes, ch. 1. The MS. is now lost.
49 Ibid., ch. 64.
50 Chronica do Conde D. Pedro de Menezes, chs. 2 and 3. The end of ch. 3 deserves perusal, for it shows how fully Azurara realized the difficulties of an historian's task.
51 Ibid., ch. 63. This is the first reference in all literature to the authorship of the famous romance.
52 D. Pedro, fils, was a distinguished poet, and to him the Marquis of Santillana addressed that famous letter which may be described as a history of poetry in the Peninsula. It is transcribed in extenso by Dr. Theophilo Braga, in his Poetas Palacianos, pp. 161–169. Porto, 1871.
53 The letter was first published in the Panorama for 1841, at p. 336. General Brito Rebello argues that the date 1406 is impossible, and should read 1466, or possibly 1460. The former has here been adopted. Other mistakes occur in the letter, as printed in the Panorama, besides that of date. Some of its expressions are ambiguous, and the subscript "From Aviz", an evident addition to the original, may be put down to the copyist, who, knowing D. Pedro to be Master of Aviz, concluded that the letter was written from there, though the contents disprove it.
54 Gav. 8, Maço 1, No. 17. Torre do