The expedition to capture from the Moors the important town of Azamor in N. W. Africa consisted of over 400 ships (Luis Anriquez in his poem in the Cancioneiro Geral says 450) and a force of 18,000 soldiers, of which 3000 were provided by James, Duke of Braganza, who commanded the expedition. It set sail from Lisbon on the 17th of August, 1513. (Damião de Goes and Osorio say the 17th, Luis Anriquez the 15th, which was evidently the day (the Feast of the Assumption) fixed for departure.) It was entirely successful and the news of the fall of Azamor caused great rejoicings both at Lisbon and Rome. The play was evidently touched up afterwards, for it includes the sending of the elephant to Rome (1514) and the marriages of the princesses. It is barely possible that it was written after the victory, in which case the words na partida would be retrospective and the date given in the 1st edition was not a slip. Parts of the play suit 1514 better than 1513. Tristão da Cunha's special mission (cf. lines 195-6) to the Pope (with Garcia de Resende for secretary) left early in 1514 and entered Rome on March 12. One of the objects of the mission was to obtain a grant of the tithes (ll. 194, 224) for the Crown to use for the war in Africa. (The request was granted but King Manuel subsequently renounced them in return for 150,000 gold coins.) The exhortations of l. 351 et seq., l. 514 et seq., l. 559 et seq. are better suited to a time when more men and money were needed actively to continue the war than when an army of 18,000 was equipped and ready to leave. The Pope in 1514 promised indulgences to all those who should contribute money for the African war and also granted King Manuel a portion of church property in Portugal (cf. ll. 475-84 and 535-48) for the same object (l. 546: pera Africa conquistar). The King's aim is now to build a cathedral in Fez (l. 573-4). There is no mention of Azamor. This was the first of the great patriotic outbursts (cf. the Auto da Fama and other plays) in which Vicente appears not as a satirist or religious reformer but as an enthusiastic imperialist, and which still delight and stir his countrymen.
[18] Prince Luis (1506-55), one of the most gallant, talented and interesting of Portuguese infantes, was no doubt present at the serão and would be delighted by this reference. (The youngest princes, Afonso, born in 1509, and Henrique, born in 1512, are not mentioned. They both became Cardinals and the latter King of Portugal, 1578-80.) The princes are similarly addressed in the Cortes de Jupiter in 1521.
[46] Mercury opens the Auto da Feira with a similar string of absurdities (suggested by Enzina's perogrulladas), e.g. Que se o ceo fora quadrado Não fora redondo, Senhor; E se o sol fora azulado D'azul fora seu cor. (If square the sky were found then it would not be round, and if the sun were blue then blue would be its hue.) Os disparates de 'Joan de Lenzina' (Ferreira, Ulys. IV, 7) were well-known in Portugal.
[94], [113], [129] No meaning is to be squeezed out of these cabbalistic words.
[116] We have an even more detailed description in the Sumario da Historia de Deos:
A furna das trevas, ponte de navalhas,
o lago dos prantos, a horta dos dragos,
os tanques da ira, os lagos da neve,
os raios ardentes, sala dos tormentos,
varanda das dores, cozinha dos gritos,
Açougue das pragas, a torre dos pingos,
o valle das forcas.
[125] Vicente was more tolerant than most contemporary writers who inveighed against the blindness and malice of the Jews.
[132] The necromancer evokes spirits which he is unable to control. He calls them brothers but they answer in effect: 'Du gleich'st dem Geist den du begreif'st, nicht mir.'
[151] The almude = 12 gallons.