On May 25th, 1468, one of these documents was issued from the Torre do Tombo, and signed by a substitute, with the statement that the Chronicler was living at Alcacer, on the service and by command of the King. He probably returned to Lisbon to finish the Chronica de D. Duarte de Menezes in the autumn of this year.
On October 22nd, 1470, Azurara gave a certificate of the Charter of Moreyra. In their petition for the same, the inhabitants allege that their copy is so written, and in such Latin, that they cannot understand it; and they further wish to know how much of the present money they must pay for the three mealhas mentioned in the original as payable for the carriage of bread and wine—a question which Azurara seems to have experienced some difficulty in answering.[[64]]
On April 20th, 1471, he issued a similar certificate to the dwellers in S. João de Rey.[[65]] In this same year took place Affonso's third African campaign, which resulted in the capture of Tangier, Arzila and Anafe.
On September 5th, 1472, in answer to a petition of the inhabitants of Cascaes, the Chronicler handed them a copy of the Charter of Cintra, in which district Cascaes is situate,[[66]] and on December 5th in the same year he issued copies of documents affecting the liberties of the Order of Christ and the couto, or "liberty", of Gordam.[[67]]
This latter is the last existing document signed by Azurara, though he appears to have given another certificate on August 17th, 1473, nearly a year after, relating to the forged grant of D. Fernando to the Order of Christ, as mentioned by João Pedro Ribeiro.[[68]]
There is no evidence to show when the Chronicler died, and tradition on the point varies. The oldest authority who refers to it is Damião de Goes, and, according to him, Azurara lived some years after 1472.[[69]] He never married, and was succeeded in his post at the Torre do Tombo by Affonso Annes d'Obidos; but the charter of this man's appointment has been lost, and his first recorded certificate only bears date March 31st, 1475.[[70]]
* * * * *
We have now followed the life of Azurara step by step, and seen him honoured for his talents by his contemporaries, and rewarded for his services to King and country by numerous benefactions.[[71]] We have also seen him on intimate terms with the Royal Family, and corresponding regularly with some of its members, as well as acquainted with the leaders of the explorations and the learned men of the time, and must conclude that this was chiefly due to his literary attainments and genial character. It is therefore pleasant to be able to record that, in our day, Portugal has marked her appreciation of him, as a man and a writer, by a statue, whilst recognising that his works form his greatest and most durable monument. In the Praça de Luiz de Camões in Lisbon there rises a noble statue of the "Prince of Spanish Poets"[[72]], surrounded by eight of the most distinguished men of letters and action of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, his predecessors and contemporaries, and among them is a life-size figure of Gomez Eannes de Azurara.[[73]]
[1] In the Chronica de Guiné, ch. 97, he calls himself "Gomez Eanes de Zurara."
[2] Barros, writing before 1552, says, "I know not how long he lived."—Asia, Dec. 1, liv. ii, ch. 2.