Gomes Eannes de Azurara (c. 1410 - 1474) was the second of the notable Portuguese chroniclers, after Fernão Lopes. Events December 12 - Upon the death of Henry IV of Castile a civil war ensues between his designated successor Isabella I of Castile and her sister Juana who was supported by her husband, Alfonso V of Portugal. ... Generally a chronicle (Latin chronica) is historical account of facts and events in chronological order. ...

He adopted the career of letters in middle life. He probably entered the royal library as assistant to Lopes during the reign of King Duarte (1433-1438), and he had sole charge of it in 1452. His Chronicle of the Siege and Capture of Ceuta, a supplement to the Chronicle of King John I by Lopes, dates from 1450, and three years later he completed the first draft of the Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea, our authority for the early Portuguese voyages of discovery down the African coast and in the ocean, more especially for those undertaken under the auspices of Prince Henry the Navigator. It contains some account of the life work of that prince, and has a biographical as a geographical interest. Events October - English troops under John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, land in Guyenne, France, and retake most of the province without a fight. ... Events March - French troops under Guy de Richemont besiege the English commander in France, Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, in Caen April 15 - Battle of Formigny. ... Infante Dom Henrique, duke of Viseu, generally known in English as Henry the Navigator, (March 4, 1394 – November 13, 1460), a prince of Portugal, looms large as an important figure in the early days of European colonial expansion. ...

On 6 June 1454 Azurara became chief keeper of the archives and royal chronicler in succession to Lopes. In 1456 King Alphonso V commissioned him to write the history of Ceuta, the land-gate of the East, under the governorship of D. Pedro de Menezes, from its capture in 1415 until 1437, and he had it ready in 1463. A year afterwards the king charged him with a history of the deeds of D. Duarte de Menezes, captain of Alcacer, and, proceeding to Africa, he spent a year in the town collecting materials and studying the scenes of the events he was to describe, and in 1468 he completed the chronicle. Alphonso corresponded with Azurara on terms of affectionate intimacy, and no less than three cominendas of the order of Christ rewarded his literary services. June 6 is the 157th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (158th in leap years), with 208 days remaining. ... Events February 4 - In the Thirteen Years War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederacy sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master. ... Alphonso V of Portugal -- (1432-?) Africano Alfonso V of Castile -- (999-1028) Alfonso V of Aragon -- (1416-1458) The Magnanimous This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Ceuta is a Spanish exclave in North Africa, located on the northernmost tip of Maghreb, on the Mediterranean coast near the Straits of Gibraltar. ... Events January 5 - Poet Francois Villon is banned from Paris Births January 17 - Friedrich III, Saxon elector (d. ... Events Births Charles I of Savoy February 29 - Pope Paul III Juan del Encina, Spanish poet, dramatist and composer Deaths February 3 - Johannes Gutenberg, publisher Gjergj Kastriot Skanderbeg, Albanias national hero Gennadius II, Patriarch of Constantinople Joanot Martorell, author of Tirant lo Blanc Categories: 1468 ...

Azurara has little of the picturesque ingenuousness of Lopes, and loved to display his erudition by quotations and philosophical reflections, showing that he wrote under the influence of the first Renaissance. Nearly all the leading classical, early Christian and medieval writers figure in his pages, and he was acquainted with the notable chronicles and romances of Europe and had studied the best Italian and Spanish authors. In addition, he had mastered the geographical system of the ancients and their astrology. As a historian he is laborious, accurate and conscientious, though his position did not allow him to tell the whole truth about his hero, Prince Henry. By Region: Italian Renaissance Northern Renaissance -French Renaissance -German Renaissance -English Renaissance The Renaissance was an influential cultural movement which brought about a period of scientific revolution and artistic transformation, at the dawn of modern European history. ...

His works include:

• Chronica del Rei D. Joam I. Terceira parte em que se contem a tomada de Ceuta (Lisbon, 1644)
• Chronica do Descobriniento e Conquista de Guin (Paris, 1841; Eng. version in 2 vols. issued by the Hakluyt Society, London, 1896-1899)
• Chronica do Conde D. Pedro (de Menezes), printed in the Ineditos de Historia Portugueza, vol. ii. (Lisbon, 1792)
• Chronica do Conde D. Duane de Menezes, printed in the Ineditos, vol. iii. (Lisbon, 1793).

The preface to the English version of the Chronicle of Guinea contains a full account of the life and writings of Azurara and cites all the authorities.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) in many ways represents the sum of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century. ...