_ ERNAM LOPEZ), the patriarch of Portuguese historians, was appointed keeper of the royal archives, then housed in the castle of St. George in Lisbon, by King John I. in Nov. 1418. He acted as private secretary to the Infantes D. Duarte and D. Fernando, and when the former ascended the throne he charged Lopes, by a letter of March 19, 1434, with the work of "putting into chronicles the stories of the kings of old time as well as the great and lofty actions of the most virtuous king my lord and father" (John I.). King Al phonso V. confirmed him in his post by a letter of June 3, 1449, and in 1454, after 36 years' service in the archives and 20 as chron icler he resigned in favour of Gomes Eannes de Zurara. The modern historian Herculano says, "there is not only history in the chronicles of Fernao Lopes, there is poetry and drama as well; there is the middle age with its faith, its enthusiasm, its love of glory." Lopes has been called the Portuguese Froissart, and that rare gift, the power of making their subjects live, is common to the two writers: indeed. had the former written in a better known language, there can be little doubt that the general opinion of critics would have confirmed that of Robert Southey, who called Lopes "beyond all comparison the best chronicler of any age or nation." He had an excellent subject and his scenes are
full of dramatic detail. He is a picturesque chronicler and he is a national historian. Lopes composed a general chronicle of the kingdom, which almost certainly served as a foundation for the chronicles of Ruy de Pina. Lopes prepared himself for his work with care and diligence by a study of the archives be longing to municipalities, monasteries and churches, both in Portugal and Spain. He is usually a trustworthy guide in facts and charms the reader by the naïve simplicity of his style.
BismoGRAPHY.—Extant works of Lopes are: Chronica de D. Joao I. (1644 ; part I, ed. Braamcamp Freire, 1915) ; Chronica de D. Pedro I., in vol. iv. of the Collecccio de Livros Ineditos da Historia Portuguese (1816) ; Chronica de D. Fernando, published in the same volume.
See Damido de Goes, Chronica del Rei Dom Manoel, part 4, ch. xxxviii.; A. F. G. Bell, Fernam Lopez (1922) ; Ferndo Lopes in Antologia Portuguese (3 vols., 1921-22) ; E. Prestage, The Chronicles of Ferndo Lopes, etc. (Watford, 1928). (E. P.; A. B.)