Viaggio nell'Europa di Damião de Góis
Author(s)
Mechella, Fabio
Date Issued
April 15, 2011
Type
Doctoral Thesis
Abstract
The PhD thesis in object wants to highlight, in Italy, the personality of Damião de Góis,
Portuguese character of the sixteenth century, mainly treated abroad.
The thesis is structured following a path that traces the stages of the life of a man in continuous transformation, developing a versatile personality where the diplomat, the merchant, the thinker,the humanist, the religious, the collector and writer live together.
Damião de Góis was born in a difficult historical context dominated by the rivalries between the various kingdoms of Europe, by masses of homeless and destitute, by wars and by the Inquisition, while the reforming thought of Erasmus and Luther was taking place.
The conquest of the oceans by the Portuguese, the transformation of the idea associated to the sea of darkness, the development of a new world economy and the introduction of new products to European markets, are the scenarios in which Damião de Góis faces.
Fascinated by the world outside the Portuguese kingdom, Damião de Góis begins, in Antwerp, the adventure of his life as a sales representative of the Lusitanian crown, starting a business management for the Portuguese authorities and traveling between the major European capitals.
Using the direct printed sources, the letters sent by Damião de Góis from various European cities and unpublished documents found in the Torre do Tombo National Archives, I have attempted to reconstruct faithfully the trails and the difficulties encountered by the traveler during his travels, the characters he has known and the vicissitudes related to commerce and wars broken out during that period. He has a personality that transfers his lifestyle and attitude to diversity into travel. In addition, the consistency of the modus vivendi and operandi exalt his qualities of good businessman and astut diplomat in order to bring benefit to the beloved nation of Portugal.
Thanks to the recovery of a very often overlooked genealogy I have reconstructed the past and present of a man in love with life, a student spirit inclined to the procreation of illegitimate children.
Using the texts written by Damião de Góis as chronicler of the Portuguese kingdom, the main lines of the Lusitanian moments related to the expansion have been traced, giving a new light to the study of these facts.
The words the traveler uses to describe the beauty of Lisbon, exalted together with the Lusitanian kingdom, reveal the nature of a character who has conquered a new vision of the world.
The epilogue of a life, where as an old man he is convicted by the Inquisition for heresy, offers us the opportunity to understand the difficulty of a free born man in that Europe fettered in its dogmas and to highlight clearly one of the main hypotheses about his death.
Additional information
Dottorato di ricerca in Storia e cultura del viaggio e dell'odeporica nell'età moderna
Subjects
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