Portugal Banknotes 500 Escudos banknote 1942 Damião de Góis
Bank of Portugal - Banco de Portugal
Obverse: Portrait of Damião de Góis at right. At center: Cherubs from Azulejo in cloister of Monastery of Santa Cruz, Coimbra.
Reverse: Renaissance Pulpit in the Church of the Monastery of the Holy Cross (Santa Cruz Monastery) 1522, Coimbra, Portugal.
Watermark: Dom Afonso Henriques.
Printer: Waterlow & Sons Ltd, London, England.
Old Portuguese banknotes
1941-1959 "Chapa 6 & 6A" Issue - 1942 "Chapa 1 & 7" Issue
Damião de Góis
Damião de Góis (February 2, 1502 – January 30, 1574), born in Alenquer, Portugal, was an important Portuguese humanist philosopher. He was a friend and student of Erasmus. He was appointed secretary to the Portuguese factory in Antwerp in 1523 by King John III of Portugal. He compiled one of the first accounts on Ethiopian Christianity.
Góis (also Goes) was born in Alenquer, Portugal, into a noble family who served the Portuguese kings – the grandfather, Gomes Dias de Góis, had been in the entourage of Prince Henry the Navigator. Around 1518 Góis joined the court of King Manuel I of Portugal. Under Manuel I’s successor, King John III of Portugal, in 1523, he was sent to Antwerp, as secretary and treasurer of the Portuguese feitoria (factory, trading post and commercial office). Henceforth, Góis travelled intensely (Poland, Lithuania, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, France, England, Italy), entering into contact with a number of important figures, like Sebastian Münster, Erasmus (who hosted him in Freiburg), Ramusio, Philipp Melanchthon, Thomas More and Martin Luther. Among the many Portuguese acquaintances, Góis was friend of the writers João de Barros and André de Resende. A humanist and an open mind, Góis followed courses at the Universities of Padua and Leuven, wrote on various topics, like the condition of the Sami people (Lapps), and translated some classic works – among them, Cicero’s Cato maior de senectute – into Portuguese. He was also a composer of some musical pieces and kept a private collection of paintings.
Góis translated into Latin a Portuguese opuscle on the Ethiopian embassy of the Armenian Mateus (the representative of the Negus Dawit II) to Portugal (1532), which also included the famous "Letter of Prester John" written by the Ethiopian Queen Eleni (1509) and a "Confessio illorum fidei".
In 1538 he published a translation of the Biblical book Ecclesiastes in Portuguese, though it was not widely circulated. In the same year, he took a Dutch wife, Joana de Hargen. In 1540 he published the famous Fides, religio, moresque Aethiopum. The book received a widespread diffusion in Europe, in both Catholic and Protestant circles, and enjoyed of successive editions (Paris-1541, Leuven-1544, Leiden-1561, Cologne-1574). It also earned the author, however, the criticisms of the powerful Portuguese Cardinal Henry of Portugal, who, as Grand Inquisitor of the Portuguese Inquisition, banned its circulation in the kingdom. The Jesuit order proved equally critical, as he was accused by the Provincial superior Simão Rodrigues of Lutheranism, and of being a disciple of Erasmus, before the Inquisition.
He was settled at Louvain, then the literary centre of the Low Countries, when the French besieged the town in 1542. He was given the command of the defending forces, and saved Louvain, but was taken prisoner and confined for nine months in France, till he obtained his freedom by a heavy ransom. He was rewarded, however, by a grant of arms from Charles V. He finally returned to Portugal in 1545, with a view of becoming tutor to the king's son, but he failed to obtain this post, owing to the accusations before the Inquisition.
In 1548, Góis was named Guarda Mor (High Guardian) of the Torre do Tombo (Royal Archives) and ten years later was entrusted by the same Cardinal Henry to write the chronicle of Manuel I’s reign. The task has been previously confided to de Barros, but relinquished by him. The work was completed in some seven years and became his major achievement; nonetheless it was widely attacked and parts of it were significantly censored. He also published a description of the city of Lisbon – Urbis Olisiponis Descriptio (1554).
In 1570 the inquisitorial process opened again, sending Góis to reclusion in the monastery of Batalha. He died shortly after in Alenquer under mysterious circumstances (apparently, murder), free but sick, and was buried in the church of Nossa Senhora da Varzea. Góis had eight sons.
Monastery of Santa Cruz (Coimbra)
The Santa Cruz Monastery (English: Monastery of the Holy Cross, Portuguese: Mosteiro de Santa Cruz), best known as Igreja (Church) de Santa Cruz is a National Monument in Coimbra, Portugal. Because the first two kings of Portugal are buried in the church it was granted the status of National Pantheon. Founded in 1131 outside the protecting walls of Coimbra, the Santa Cruz Monastery was the most important monastic house during the early days of the Portuguese monarchy. St. Theotonius founded this community of canons regular and served as their first prior. The monastery and church were erected between 1132 and 1223. The monastery was granted numerous papal privileges and royal grants, which allowed the accumulation of considerable wealth, at the same time as it consolidated its position on the politico-institutional and cultural scene.
Dom Afonso Henriques - Afonso I of Portugal
Afonso I, also called Afonso Henriques, byname Afonso the Conqueror, Portuguese Afonso o Conquistador (born 1109/11, Guimarães, Portugal — died December 6, 1185, Coimbra), the first king of Portugal (1139–1185), who conquered Santarém and Lisbon from the Muslims (1147) and secured Portuguese independence from Leon (1139).
Alfonso VI, emperor of Leon, had granted the county of Portugal to Afonso’s father, Henry of Burgundy, who successfully defended it against the Muslims (1095–1112). Henry married Alfonso VI’s illegitimate daughter, Teresa, who governed Portugal from the time of her husband’s death (1112) until her son Afonso came of age. She refused to cede her power to Afonso, but his party prevailed in the Battle of São Mamede, near Guimarães (1128). Though at first obliged as a vassal to submit to his cousin Alfonso VII of Leon, Afonso assumed the title of king in 1139.
By victory in the Battle of Ourique (1139) he was able to impose tribute on his Muslim neighbours; and in 1147 he further captured Santarém and, availing himself of the services of passing crusaders, successfully laid siege to Lisbon. He carried his frontiers beyond the Tagus River, annexing Beja in 1162 and Évora in 1165; in attacking Badajoz, he was taken prisoner but then released. He married Mafalda of Savoy and associated his son, Sancho I, with his power. By the time of his death he had created a stable and independent monarchy.