Chronicle of the King D. Pedro I
Chronicle / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Chronicle of the King D. Pedro I, or Chronicle of D. Pedro, is a historical record of the chronicle genre written by Fernão Lopes covering the period of time corresponding to the reign of D. Pedro I of Portugal, known as the Just, or the Cruel, which took place between 1357 and 1367.
Author | Fernão Lopes |
---|---|
Country | Portugal |
Language | Archaic Portuguese |
Genre | Chronicle |
The Chronicle of D. Pedro I is divided into forty-four chapters and begins with a Prologue. Of the many subjects treated throughout the Chronicle, the most noteworthy are Justice, to which he dedicates the Prologue and six chapters,[1] the organization of the State and the king's decisions,[1] Inês de Castro, to which he dedicates six chapters, reporting in particular Pedro's declaration about his marriage to Inês, the persecution of her murderers and the description of the transfer of Inês' mortal remains from Coimbra to Alcobaça,[2] a chapter dedicated to D. João I, the bastard son of D. João I, the bastard son of D. Pedro I. João I, bastard son of D. Pedro and future king,[3] and also the Kingdom of Castile to which he dedicates sixteen of the chapters, in this case dealing with decisions or undertakings of King Pedro I of Castile, nephew of the homonymous Portuguese king, and for whose history Fernão Lopes must have had access to the Chronicles about the same time of the Castilian chronicler Pedro López de Ayala.[4]
Fernão Lopes, who began by having the profession of notary, was in 1418 appointed keeper of the Torre do Tombo, i.e., head of the state archives, a position of trust of the court, and which allowed him access to important documentation for the preparation of his Chronicles.[5] Fernão Lopes probably starts writing the Chronicle of D. Pedro in 1434 because it was in this year that King D. Duarte awarded him for his future work the annual tença of fourteen thousand reals.[1]
It is the first of the three great chronicles of the precursor of Portuguese history, and also the first royal chronicle with characteristics close to those that defined the genre cultivated in the fifteenth century and in the two following, being the other two chronicles of Fernão Lopes the Chronicle of D. Fernando and the Chronicle of D. João I.[3]
"And the people said that there had never been such ten years in Portugal as these when the King D. Pedro reigned." Ending of Chronicle of the King D. Pedro I.[6]