from an independent source that Azurara had a sister, for she is mentioned in the letter which Affonso V wrote him whilst he was living in Africa and engaged on historical investigations. The fact, recorded by Pisano, that the Chronicler began his studies relatively late in life, unless it be ascribed to his adoption of a military career at first, seems to show that he had passed his early years under a cloud, and that his father, from one cause or another, lacked the power to provide him with an education at the customary age. It is, however, impossible to proceed beyond conjectures, and since the matter cannot claim to be one of historical moment, we may leave it unsolved without much regret.

On June 14th, 1463, Azurara issued a certificate of documents in the Torre do Tombo relating to land of one D. Pedro de Castro,^[46] while yet another proof of the influence he possessed with his royal master is afforded by two grants, dated respectively June 22nd and 23rd of the same year. By the first of these the office of Judge of Excise in the town of Almada was conferred on a certain Pero d'Almada, servant of Gomes Eannes, and the grant is expressed to be made at the latter's request. The second appoints the same individual Judge and Steward of the gold-diggers at Adiça, near that town.^[47]

The Chronica de D. Pedro de Menezes, which had been commenced by Azurara in or about the year 1458, was finished on St. John the Baptist's Eve, June 23rd, 1463, at his Commenda of Pinheiro Grande. It relates the history of Ceuta, from the capture of the city in 1415 until the death of D. Pedro de Menezes, the first governor, in 1437, and gives evidence of the author's progress in historical methods.^[48] While it contains less moralising and more matter than any of his previous works, at the same time he appears surer of his own powers, and no longer feels the same need of supporting every remark by a citation. Of course this Chronicle has not as deep an interest for us as that of Guinea, but this is due to the subject, not to any shortcomings in the narrator, whose contemporaries were probably of a different opinion, for many of them looked askance at the voyages of discovery, though there were few that doubted the importance of the possession of Ceuta.

Azurara confesses that he felt at first somewhat diffident of putting pen to paper, so marvellous seemed the deeds he was called on to relate; and he would never have persevered with his task had he learnt them on hearsay evidence, or from the mouths of one or two witnesses; but he found their truth confirmed on a perusal of the official reports sent to the King from Ceuta, and this encouraged him to proceed. He appears to have been assisted in his task by D. Pedro himself during his lifetime,^[49] and to have written out the book twice, while his impartiality and the care he took to arrive at the truth are everywhere visible.^[50] Of course he cannot abstain altogether from citations, and these have an interest as showing the measure of his literary knowledge: witness his mention of Dante's Divina Commedia, Cinó da Pistoia and The Book of Amadis, which he ascribes to "Vasco Lobeira, who lived in the time of D. Fernando."^[51]

For three years contemporary records are silent respecting the Chronicler, and it is not until 1466 that he comes before us again. On June 11th of that year, D. Pedro,^[52] King of Aragon, son of him who was Regent in the minority of Affonso V, and fell at Alfarrobeira, wrote Azurara a short but familiar autograph letter, which affords another proof of the intimate relations that existed between the Chronicler and the great personages of the age. In this letter, which is in response to one sent by Azurara, D. Pedro addresses him as "friend", refers to his "old kindness and sweet nature", and goes on to accept his offer to keep him informed of the progress of events in Portugal. He then takes [pg xxxvii]the Chronicler into his confidence, and complains of the difficulties of his position as King of Aragon—difficulties which were aggravated by an illness that ended in his death less than a month after he had penned this epistle.^[53]

On July 27th, 1467, in answer to a petition of the inhabitants, Azurara issued a certificate^[54] of the "foral" of Azere (Azár), virtute officii, and on the very next day he met with another piece of good fortune. From the deed of grant it appears that, some ninety years previously, a certain Gonçalo Estevez of Cintra had died, after having built a chapel in honour of St. Clare in the Church of St. Mary Magdalen, in Lisbon, where he desired to be buried, and had left his property with the condition annexed that masses should be regularly said there. This condition, the document goes on to declare, had been broken by his heirs for about seventy years, in spite of judgments obtained against them, and many had died excommunicate because of their neglect and disobedience. Finally, the goods had been declared forfeit to the Crown, [pg xxxviii]and they were now granted out to Azurara, on condition that he should provide for the masses and generally carry out the instructions contained in the will of the founder.^[55] A gift of this nature was considered an extraordinary grace in those days, and it affords clear evidence that the Chronicler stood high in the royal regard.

In August of this same year Azurara went to Africa, and, to explain the journey, some introductory remarks are needed. On returning from the fruitless African expedition of 1464, the King had written to him from Aveiro, with instructions to leave all his other occupations—which the Chronicler naïvely assures us were very important and profitable to his countrymen—and forthwith to collect and put in writing the deeds of D. Duarte de Menezes, late Captain of Alcacer.