[36] Garcia de Resende († 1536) was of opinion that it had no rival in Europe:
nam ha outra igual
na Christamdade no meu ver.
(Miscellanea, v. 281, ed. Mendes dos Remedios (1917), p. 97.)
It contained 5000 moradores (ibid.). In the days of King Duarte (1433-8) the number was 3000.
[37] Cf. the dedication of Dom Duardos (folha volante of the Bib. Municipal of Oporto, N. 8. 74) to Prince João: 'Como quiera Excelente Principe y Rey mui poderoso que las Comedias, Farças y Moralidades que he compuesto en servicio de la Reyna vuestra tia....'
[38] The date 1509 is not barred by the reference to the Sergas de Esplandian, which certainly existed in an earlier edition than the earliest we now possess (1510). A certain Vasco Abul had given a girl at Alenquer a chain of gold for dancing a ballo vylam ou mourysco and could not get it back from the gentil bayladeyra. Gil Vicente contributes but a few lines: O parecer de gil vycente neste proceso de vasco abul á rraynha dona lianor.
[39] It is absurd to argue that during the years of his chief activity as goldsmith he had not time to produce the sixteen plays that may be assigned to the years 1502-17.
[40] Gil Vicente (1912), p. 11-13.
[41] The dates in the rubrics are given in Roman figures and the alteration from MDV to MDIX is very slight.
[42] Cf. Bartolomé Villalba y Estaña, El Pelegrino Curioso y Grandezas de España [printed from MS. of last third of sixteenth century]. Bibliófilos Españoles, t. 23, 2 t. 1886, 9, t. 2, p. 37: 'Almerin, un lugar que los reyes de Portugal tienen para el ynvierno, con un bosque de muchas cabras, corzos y otros generos de caza.'
[43] See A. Braamcamp Freire in Revista de Historia, vol. XXII. p. 129.