Estêvão da Guarda
Trovador medieval

Biographical Note:

Portuguese troubadour active in the final period of the Galician-Portuguese poetry, Estevão de Guarda may have been born around 1280, very probably from a family coming from the city of Guarda, as his surname indicates. In 1299 we find him already in the court of King Denis, performing the functions of escrivão-mor (royal registrar). In the following years, mostly from 1314 on, his gradual proximity with the King, to whom he proclaims to be “vassal” and “servant”, is proven not only in the numerous documents that he signs in his name, but also by the positions that he collects as eichão and escanção-mor (sommelier in chief), and yet also by the donations and royal blessings bestowed upon him as retribution for his loyalty and good services, and that contributed to the significant fortune he amassed. He stood by the King’s side during the troubled final years of his realm, namely during the succession conflicts with Prince Afonso, being one of the witnesses appearing on the 1321 document in which the monarch lays the list of accusations against the Prince and his supporters1. After the death of Dom Denis, and although his name appears more sporadically, he continues to be mentioned as royal counsellor and solicitor in charge of Iberian affairs to King Afonso IV2. As part of his satirical compositions can be dated to this period, his troubadourean activity, certainly started still in the reign of King Denis, should have extended up until the mid-14th century. Still living in 1362, he may have died just before April 1364 (already in the reign of Pedro I), being buried in the São Vicente de Fora monastery.

References

1 Pizarro, José Augusto (1999), Linhagens medievais portuguesas: genealogias e estratégias 1279-1325, vol. II, Porto, Centro de Estudos de Genealogia, Heráldica e História da Família da Universidade Moderna, p. 1128.
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2 Oliveira, António Resende de (1994), Depois do espectáculo trovadoresco. A estrutura dos cancioneiros peninsulares e as recolhas dos séculos XIII e XIV, Lisboa, Edições Colibri.