Francisco de Moraes

Who was Francisco de Moraes?

Francisco de Moraes Cabral was a Portuguese writer. Born in Bragança, he served as personal secretary to the Portuguese ambassador in France, and composed, during two voyages to Paris, a chivalric romance called Palmerin d’Angleterre, a "spin-off" of the popular Amadis de Gaula series.

Moraes' work would also obtain considerable success across Europe. Because of its title, it was particularly successful in England, where it was reprinted several times. A Spanish translation was made by Luis Hurtado in 1547, preceding the actual publication of the Portuguese text in 1567. It was translated from the Portuguese by Eugène-François Garay de Montglave and can be found in E. Renduel, Bibliothèque portugaise Warnier, 1829, Paris, 4 vol.

He also wrote an autobiographical work called Desculpas de uns amores, set in France, which was published posthumously in 1624. He died at Évora.