Francisco Rodrigues Lobo

Who was Francisco Rodrigues Lobo?

Francisco Rodrigues Lobo was a Portuguese poet and bucolic writer.

He was born of rich and noble New Christian parents in Leiria, reading philosophy, poetry and writing of shepherds and shepherdesses by the rivers Liz and Lena. He studied at the University of Coimbra and took the degree of licentiate about 1600. He worked for the Duke of Vila Real, probably being his sons' teacher. He visited Lisbon from time to time, and tradition has it that he died by drowning on his way there. Though his first book, a little volume of verse published in 1596, and his last, a rhymed welcome to King Philip III, published in 1623, are written in Spanish he composed his eclogues and prose pastorals entirely in Portuguese, and thereby did a rare service to his country at a time when, owing to the Philippine Dynasty, Castilian was the language preferred by "polite society" and by men of letters. The characteristics of his prose style are harmony, purity and elegance, and he was one of Portugal's leading writers. A disciple of the Italian school, his verses were free from imitations of classical models.