Editing Luís de Camões (section)

===Origins and youth===
[[File:Luis de Camoes.jpg|thumb|Camões, early 20th century depiction]]
Much of the information about Luís de Camões' biography raises doubts and, probably, much of what circulates about him is nothing more than the typical folklore that is formed around a famous figure. Only a few dates are documented that guide its trajectory.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Minchillo |first1=Carlos Cortez |title=Sonetos de Camões ("Biografia") |year=1998 |publisher=Atelie Editorial |isbn=978-85-85851-62-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EqsX-ImEtXgC&q=cam%C3%B5es |language=pt-BR}}</ref> The ancestral home of the [[Camões family]] had its origins in the [[Kingdom of Galicia]], not far from [[Cape Finisterre]]. On his paternal side, Luís de Camões was descended from Vasco Pires de Camões, Galician [[troubadour]], warrior and [[fidalgo]], who moved to Portugal in 1370 and received great benefits from the king in positions, honours and lands, and whose poetry, of a nationalist nature, contributed to ward off Breton and Italian influence and to shape a national troubadour style.<ref name="Jayne">{{cite book |last1=Jayne |first1=K. G. |title=Vasco Da Gama and His Successors 1460 to 1580 |date=April 2004 |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |isbn=978-0-7661-9706-0 |pages=250–251 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c9SKjnHkRfwC&q=Ana+de+S%C3%A1+Macedo+%22vasco+da+gama%22&pg=PA250 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=Mourão|last1= Vasconcelos |first2=José Maria do Carmo de Sousa Botelho| last2=Morgado de Mateus |title=Os Lusiadas: nova edição segundo a do Morgado Matteus, com as notas e vida do autor pelo mesmo, corrigida segunda as edicoes de Hamburgo e de Lisboa, e enrequecida de novas notas e d'uma prefação pel C.L. de Moura |year=1847 |publisher=Didot |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dqg4AAAAYAAJ&q=%22camoes%22+lusiadas&pg=PA1 |language=pt-BR}}</ref> His son Antão Vaz de Camões served in the [[Red Sea]] and married Dona Guiomar da Gama, related to [[Vasco da Gama]]. From this marriage were born Simão Vaz de Camões, who served in the Royal Navy and did trade in Guinea and India, and another brother, Bento, who followed the career of a man of letters and entered the [[priesthood]], joining the [[Canons Regular of the Holy Cross of Coimbra|Austin friars]] at the [[Monastery of Santa Cruz (Coimbra)|Monastery of Santa Cruz]], which was a prestigious school for many young Portuguese gentlemen. Simão married Dona Ana de Sá e Macedo, also from a noble family, from [[Santarém, Portugal|Santarém]]. Her only son, Luís Vaz de Camões, according to Jayne, Fernandes and some other authors, was born in [[Lisbon]] in 1524. Three years later, the city was being threatened by the plague, the family moved, following the court, to [[Coimbra]].<ref name="Jayne" /><ref name="Fernandes">{{cite book |last1=Fernandes |first1=Manuel Bernardo Lopes |title=Memoria das medalhas e condecorações portuguezas e das estrangeiras com relação a Portugal |date=1861 |publisher=Typ. da mesma academia |pages=48–49 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gAAXAAAAYAAJ&q=Ana+de+S%C3%A1+Macedo+%22vasco+da+gama%22&pg=PA48 |language=pt-BR}}</ref> However, other cities claim the honour of being his birthplace: Coimbra, Santarém and Alenquer. Although the first biographers of Camões, Severin de Faria and Manoel Correa, initially gave his year of birth as 1517,<ref>{{cite book |title=Obras de Luis de Camões, Tomo I ("Breve Noticia da Vida de Luis de Camões") |date=1779 |publisher=Officina Luisiana}}</ref> records of the Lists of the [[Casa da Índia]], later consulted by [[Manuel de Faria e Sousa]], seem to establish that Camões was actually born in Lisbon, in 1524.<ref>{{cite book |title=Obras Completas de Luis de Camões, Vol. I. ("Vida de Luis de Camões") |date=1834 |publisher=Officina typographica de Langhoff}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Brewster |first1=David |title=Lives of the Most Eminent Literary and Scientific Men of Italy, Spain, and Portugal, Vol. III. |date=1837 |publisher=Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman |page=298}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Saraiva, Lopes |first1=António José & Oscar |title=História da Literatura Portuguesa (Porto Editora, 6ª edição) 3ª Época: O Renascimento, Capítulo IX: Luís de Camões |page=331}}</ref> The arguments for placing his birth outside of Lisbon are weak; but neither is it completely beyond doubt,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Soutto-Mayor |first1=Maciel |title=Archivo pittoresco, Volume 10. |date=1867 |publisher=Tip. de Castro Irmão. |pages=341–342 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p2w-AAAAYAAJ&q=camoes+coimbra&pg=PA342 |language=pt-BR}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Nabuco |first1=Joaquim |title=Camões e os Lusiadas |date=21 September 2009 |publisher=BiblioBazaar |isbn=978-1-115-23386-6 |pages=30–31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PpRcWSCp-jYC&q=camoes+coimbra&pg=PA28 |language=pt}}</ref> so the most recent scholarship considers his place and date of birth uncertain.<ref name="Fernandes" /><ref name="Spina">{{cite book |last1=Spina |first1=Segismundo |title=Os Lusíadas – Antologia |publisher=Atelie Editorial |isbn=978-85-85851-54-5 |pages=9–10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I_T9Fqq5A7cC&q=%22camoes%22+lusiadas&pg=PA7 |language=pt-BR}}</ref>

About his childhood much remains unknown. At twelve or thirteen he would have been protected and educated by his uncle Bento, who sent him to Coimbra to study. Tradition says that he was an undisciplined student, but eager for knowledge, interested in history, cosmography and classic and modern literature. However, his name does not appear in the records of the [[University of Coimbra]], but it is certain from his elaborate style and the profusion of erudite quotes that appear in his works that in some way he received a solid education. It is possible that his uncle himself, a chancellor of the university and the [[Prior (ecclesiastical)|prior]] of the Monastery of Santa Cruz, instructed him or that he studied at the monastery college. At about twenty years of age he probably moved to Lisbon, before completing his studies. His family was poor, but being noble, he could be admitted to the court of [[John III of Portugal|John III]] where he established fruitful intellectual contacts and began his career as a poet.<ref name="Spina" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Minchillo |title=Sonetos de Camões |year=1998 |publisher=Atelie Editorial |isbn=978-85-85851-62-0 |pages=211–212 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EqsX-ImEtXgC&q=cam%C3%B5es |language=pt-BR}}</ref><ref name="Gentil">{{cite book |last1=Gentil |first1=Georges Le |title=Camões: l'œuvre épique & lyrique |date=1995 |publisher=Editions Chandeigne |isbn=978-2-906462-16-8 |pages=13–14 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ApgtGMkV_DEC&q=cam%C3%B5es&pg=PP1 |language=fr}}</ref>

It was suggested that he earned his living as a [[tutoring|preceptor]] of Francisco, son of the [[Counts and dukes of Linhares|Count of Linhares]], D. António de Noronha, but this now seems hardly plausible.<ref name="Gentil" /> It is also said that he adopted a [[Bohemianism|bohemian]] lifestyle, frequenting taverns and getting involved in tumultuous love affairs. Several ladies are cited by name in late biographies of the poet as having been the object of his affection, but those identifications are currently considered apocryphal additions to his legend. Among them, for example, there was talk of a passion for [[Infanta]] [[Maria of Portugal, Duchess of Viseu|Dona Maria]], sister of the king, but that audacity would have earned him time in prison. Another was Catarina de Ataíde, with whom he allegedly had a frustrated love affair that resulted in his self-exile, first in [[Ribatejo]], and then by enlisting as a soldier in [[Ceuta]]. The reason for the latter trip is doubtful, but the trip itself is accepted fact; he remained there two years and lost his right eye in a naval battle in the [[Strait of Gibraltar]]. Back in Lisbon, he wasted no time in resuming his bohemian life.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Minchillo |title=Sonetos de Camões |year=1998 |publisher=Atelie Editorial |isbn=978-85-85851-62-0 |pages=212–213 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EqsX-ImEtXgC&q=cam%C3%B5es |language=pt-BR}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mourão e Vasconcelos |title=Os Lusiadas: nova edicao segundo a do Morgado Matteus, com as notas e vida do autor pelo mesmo, corrigida segunda as edicoes de Hamburgo e de Lisboa, e enrequecida de novas notas e d'uma prefaçao pel C.L. de Moura |year=1847 |publisher=Didot |pages=34–35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dqg4AAAAYAAJ&q=%22camoes%22+lusiadas&pg=PA1 |language=pt-BR}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gentil |first1=Georges Le |title=Camões: l'œuvre épique & lyrique |year=1995 |publisher=Editions Chandeigne |isbn=978-2-906462-16-8 |pages=20–21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ApgtGMkV_DEC&q=cam%C3%B5es&pg=PP1 |language=fr}}</ref>

A document dating from 1550 states that he had enlisted to travel to India: "''Luís de Camões, son of Simão Vaz and Ana de Sá, living in Lisbon, at Mouraria; [[squire]], 25 years old, [[red hair|ginger]] bearded, brought his father as guarantor; goes on the ship of S. Pedro dos Burgaleses ... among the men-at-arms''". As it turns out, he didn't board immediately. In a [[Feast of Corpus Christi|Corpus Christi]] procession, he got into an altercation with a certain Gonçalo Borges, employee of the Royal Palace, and wounded him with a sword. Sentenced to prison, he later received a letter of pardon and was released by royal order on 7 March 1553, which says: "''he is a young man and poor and he is going to serve in India this year''". [[Manuel de Faria e Sousa]] found in the registers of the [[Portuguese India Armadas|Armada of India]], for that year 1553, under the title "Gente de guerra" ("Men of war"), the following statement: "Fernando Casado, son of Manuel Casado and Branca Queimada, residents of Lisbon, squire; Luís de Camões, son of Simão Vaz and Ana de Sá, squire, took his place; and he received 2400 like the others".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gentil |first1=Georges Le |title=Camões: l'œuvre épique & lyrique |year=1995 |publisher=Editions Chandeigne |isbn=978-2-906462-16-8 |pages=19–21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ApgtGMkV_DEC&q=cam%C3%B5es&pg=PP1 |language=fr}}</ref>

Camões set sail on [[Palm Sunday]], the 24th of March 1553. His last words, he says in a letter, were those of [[Scipio Africanus]], “Ingrata patria, non possidebis ossa mea” (Ungrateful fatherland, you will not possess my bones).{{sfn|Prestage|1911}}