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SOUSA, LUIZ DE

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 463 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SOUSA, LUIZ DE [MANOEL DE SOUSA COUTINHOl (1555-1632), Portuguese See also:monk and See also:prose-writer, was See also:born at See also:Santarem, a member of the See also:noble See also:family of Sousa Coutinho. In 1576 he See also:broke off his studies at See also:Coimbra University to join the See also:order of See also:Malta, on the See also:coast of See also:Aragon passed through See also:Valencia, where he made the acquaintance of the poet Jaime See also:Falcao, who seems to have inspired him with a See also:taste for study and a quiet See also:life. The See also:national disasters and family troubles increased this See also:desire, which was confirmed when he returned to See also:Portugal after the See also:battle of Alcacer and had the sorrow of witnessing the See also:Spanish invasion and the loss of his See also:country's See also:independence. Between 1584 and 1586 he married a noble See also:lady, D. Magdalena de Vilhena, widow of D. See also:John of Portugal, the son of the poet D. Manoel of Portugal, to whom See also:Camoens had dedicated his seventh See also:ode. Settling at Almada, on the See also:Tagus opposite See also:Lisbon, he divided his See also:time between domestic affairs, See also:literary studies and his military duties as See also:colonel of a See also:regiment. His patriotic dislike of an See also:alien See also:rule See also:grew stronger as he saw Portugal exploited by her powerful partner, and it was ultimately brought to a See also:head in 1599. In that See also:year, to See also:escape the pest that devastated Lisbon, the See also:governors of the See also:kingdom for See also:Philip II. decided to move their quarters to his See also:residence; thereupon, finding his protest against this arbitrary See also:resolution unheeded, he set See also:fire to his See also:house, and to escape the consequences of his courageous See also:act had to leave Portugal. Going to See also:Madrid, he not only escaped any See also:penalty, owing no doubt to his position and See also:influence at the Spanish See also:court, but was able to pursue his literary studies in See also:peace and to publish the See also:works of his friend Jaime Falcao (Madrid, 1600). Nothing is known of how he passed the next thirteen years, though there is a tradition that, at the instance of a See also:brother See also:resident in See also:Panama, who held out the prospect of large commercial gains, he spent some time in See also:America.

It is said that See also:

fortune was unpropitious, and that this, together with the See also:news of the See also:death of his only See also:child, D. See also:Anna de Noronha, caused his return See also:home about 1604. In 1613 he and his wife agreed to a separation, and he took the Dominican See also:habit in the See also:convent of Bemfica, while D. Magdalena entered the convent of the See also:Sacramento at See also:Alcantara. According to an old writer, the See also:motive for their act was the news, brought by a See also:pilgrim from See also:Palestine that D. Magdalena's first See also:husband had survived the battle of Alcacer, in which he was supposed to have fallen, and still lived; See also:Garrett has immortalized the See also:legend in his See also:play Frei Luiz de Sousa. The See also:story, however, deserves no See also:credit, and a more natural explanation is that the pair took their resolution to leave the See also:world for the See also:cloister from motives of piety, though in the See also:case of Manoel the captivity of his country and the loss of his daughter may have been contributory causes. He made his profession on the 8th of See also:September 1614, and took the name by which he is known as a writer, Frei Luiz de Sousa. In 1616, on the death of Frei Luiz Cacegas, another notable Dominican who had collected materials for a See also:history of the order and for a life of the famous See also:archbishop of See also:Braga, D. Frei See also:Bartholomew of the Martyrs, the task of See also:writing these books was confided to Frei Luiz. The Life of the Archbishop appeared in 1619, and the first See also:part of the See also:Chronicle of St See also:Dominic in 1623, while the second and third parts appeared posthumously in 1662 and 1678; in addition he wrote, by order of the See also:government, the See also:Annals of D. John III., which were published by Herculano in 1846.

After a life of about nineteen years spent in See also:

religion, he died in 1632, leaving behind him a memory of strict observance and See also:personal holiness. The Chronicle of St Dominic and the Life of the Archbishop have the defect of most monastic writings—they relate for the most part only the See also:good, and exaggerate it without See also:scruple, and they admit all sorts of prodigies, so See also:long as these tend to increase devotion. Briefly, these books are panegyrics, written for edification, and are not histories at all in the See also:critical sense of the word. Their order and arrangement, however, are admirable, and the lucid, polished See also:style, purity of diction, and See also:simple, vivid descriptions, entitle Frei Luiz de Sousa to See also:rank as a See also:great prose-writer. His metaphors are well chosen, and he employs on appropriate occasions See also:familiar terms and locutions, and makes full use of those charming diminutives in which the Portuguese See also:language is See also:rich. His prose is characterized by elegance, sweetness and strength, and is remarkably See also:free from the affectations and false See also:rhetoric that characterized the See also:age. In and shortly afterwards was captured at See also:sea by Moorish pirates addition to his other gifts, Frei Luiz de Sousa was a good Latin and taken prisoner to Arel where he met Cervantes. A poet. There are many See also:editions of the Life of the Archbishop, and it ag year appeared in See also:French (See also:Paris, 1663, 1679 and 1825). in See also:Italian (See also:Rome, later Manoel de Sousa Coutinho was ransomed, and landing 1727-1728), in Spanish (Madrid, 1645 and 1727) and in See also:English 462 SOUSA (See also:London, 189o). The Historia de S. Domingos may be, read in a See also:modern edition (6 vols., Lisbon, 1866).

End of Article: SOUSA, LUIZ DE

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