Birth and Death of Manoel Botelho de Oliveira: City of Salvador da Bahia, 1636-1711

Abstract

Manoel Botelho de Oliveira forms part of the history of Brazilian literature, amongst other reasons, for being the first poet born in Brazil to publish a literary work: a play in Spanish and a book of poetry in four languages: Hay amigo para amigo (Coimbra, 1663) and Música do Parnaso (Lisbon, 1705). According to information provided by Barbosa Machado in Biblioteca Lusitana (1741-1759), it is believed that Botelho de Oliveira was born in Salvador da Bahia, in 1636, which is also where he eventually died in 1711. The aim of the article, drawing on philological research methods, is to critically discuss the likelihood of this information. Due to a biographical reading of his “À Ilha de Maré”, some critics such as José Veríssimo have arrived at the conclusion that this island must have been his place of birth. Drawing on documents preserved in the National Archive of Torre do Tombo (Lisbon) the present article points to the locality of Sergipe do Conde as Botelho de Oliveira’s possible birthplace. Nevertheless, taking into account known information and other unpublished documents, also preserved in the Torre do Tombo National Archive and presented here, it still seems to be reasonable to continue to consider Manoel Botelho de Oliveira a native of the City of São Salvador da Bahia de Todos os Santos.