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FALCAO, CHRISTOVAO DE SOUSA (? 1512-1...

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 138 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FALCAO, CHRISTOVAO DE See also:SOUSA (? 1512-1557) , Portuguese poet, came of a See also:noble See also:family settled at See also:Portalegre in the See also:Alemtejo, which had originated with See also:John See also:Falcon or See also:Falconet, one of the Englishmen who went to See also:Portugal in 1386 in the See also:suite of Philippa of See also:Lancaster. His See also:father, Joao Vaz de Almada Falcao, was an upright public servant who had held the captaincy of See also:Elmina on the See also:West See also:African See also:coast, but died, as he had lived, a poar See also:man. There is a tradition that in boyhood Christovao See also:fell in love with a beautiful See also:child and See also:rich heiress, D. Maria Brandao, and in 1526 married her clandestinely, but parental opposition prevented the ratification of the See also:marriage. Family See also:pride, it is said, drove the father of Christovao to keep his son under strict surveillance in his own See also:house for five years, while the See also:lady's parents, objecting to the youth's small means, put her into the Cistercian See also:convent of Lorvao, and there endeavoured to wean her See also:heart from him by the See also:accusation that he coveted her See also:fortune more than her See also:person. Their arguments and the promise of a See also:good match ultimately prevailed, and in 1534 D. Maria See also:left the convent to marry D. Luis de See also:Silva, See also:captain of See also:Tangier, while the broken-hearted Christovao told his sad See also:story in some beautiful lyrics and particularly in the See also:eclogue Chrisfal. He had been the See also:disciple and friend of the poets Bernardim See also:Ribeiro and SA de See also:Miranda, and when his See also:great disappointment came, Falcao laid aside See also:poetry and entered on a See also:diplomatic career. There is documentary See also:evidence that he was employed at the Portuguese See also:embassy See also:ill See also:Rome in 1542, but he soon returned to Portugal, and we find him at See also:court again in 1548 and 1551. The date of his See also:death, as of his See also:birth, is uncertain.

Such is the story accepted by Dr Theophilo See also:

Braga, the historian of Portuguese literature, but Senhor See also:Guimaraes shows that the first See also:part is doubtful, and, putting aside the testimony of a contemporary and See also:grave writer, Diogo do Couto, he even denies the See also:title of poet to Christovao Falcao, arguing from See also:internal and other evidence that Chrisfal is the See also:work of Bernardim Ribeiro; his destructive See also:criticism is, however, stronger than his constructive work. The eclogue, with its 104 verses, is the very poem of saudade, and its See also:simple, See also:direct See also:language and chaste and See also:tender feeling, enshrined in exquisitely See also:sounding verses, has won for its author lasting fame and a unique position in Portuguese literature. Its See also:influence on later poets has been very considerable, and See also:Camoens used several of the verses as See also:proverbs. The poetical See also:works of Christovao Falcao were published anonymously, owing, it is supposed, to their See also:personal nature and allusions, and, in part or in whole, they have been often reprinted. There is a See also:modern See also:critical edition of Chrisfal and a Carta (See also:letter) by A. Epiphanio da Silva Dias under the title Obras de Christov¢o Falco (See also:Oporto, 1893), and one of the Cantigas and Esparsas by the same See also:scholar appeared in the Revista Lusitana, vol. 4, pp. 142-179 (See also:Lisbon, 1896), under the name Fragmento de um Cancioneiro do Seculo X VI. See Bernardim Ribeiro e o Bucolismo, by Dr T. Braga (Oporto, 1897), and Bernardim Ribeiro (0 Poeta Crisfal), by Delfim Guimaraes (Lisbon, 1908). (E.

End of Article: FALCAO, CHRISTOVAO DE SOUSA (? 1512-1557)

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