Documental Anthology

TREATISE ON GLORY*

Dom Jerónimo Osório

[INTRODUCTION]

Dom Jerónimo Osório [°1514-†1580] in one of the most well known Portuguese humanists from the sixteenth century. He returned to Portugal in 1542 after an extended period of travel and study overseas and after having carried out different ecclesiastical and lay duties, he ended up being named as bishop of Silves in 1564. He prepared an extensive history in Latin for printing during the reign of Dom Manuel I [°1469-r.1495-†1521], [Olyssippone, Apud Antonium Gondi∫aluũ Typographum, Anno Domini. M. D. Lxxj] (Lisbon, 1571) based on a chronicle written during the same monarchy by Damião de Góis' Crónica de D. Manuel [...] (The Chronicle of [King] Dom Emmanuel [...]), (Lisbon, 1566-1567), and on other sources to which he had access. Among his previous works was the Tratado da Gloria [...] (Treatise on Glory [...]), published in Coimbra in 1549, where Jerónimo Osório introduced a brief but enthusiastic description of China and which had the peculiarity of being the oldest Portuguese account printed dealing with the far away Asiatic empire.

This Portuguese humanist seems to have been truly impressed with the important role Chinese scholars played in the Middle Kingdom's administration, quite distinct from that which European powers granted their intellectuals. In Jerónimo Osório's laudatory words, China, who was just being discovered by European readers, assumed characteristics of a real republic of literature. The only blot on this apparently idyllic picture would have been the Chinese peoples' lack on knowledge about Catholicism. Jerónimo de Osório's informers must have been Fathers from the Society of Jesus with their headquarters in Coimbra, as throughout these years they were already receiving the first detailed accounts from their colleagues about the cultural and social reality of China (See: Text 4 - Cristóvão Vieira).

Mandarin ruling in a tribunal hearing

In: CRUZ, HINO, Hiroshi, trans. [into Japanese], Tratado das Cousas da China [...](Treatise in which Things of China are related at great length[...]), Tokyo,1989, p.274.

* First edition: Coimbra, 1549.

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