Fernão Figueira de Lemos
Trovador medieval

Biographical Note:

Troubadour probably from the Galician Terra de Lemos (an important administrative division) but that may have established himself in Portugal from the decade of 80 of the 13th century on, as other confirmed members of the family did. Indeed, in 1285, a certain Fernão Figueira, probably the troubadour, witnesses along with Rui de Lemos, governor of Lisbon, a royal document in this city. The governor of Lisbon, most probably his relative, as his family name implies, is documented from 1281 to 1299, being known that he died in 1310. It may be then to this generation that Fernão Figueira belonged. As for his initial path, Resende de Oliveira1 supposes that the troubadour would be the same Fernão Figueira that, in 1258, possessed assets in Cerveira, in the high Minho, which leads him to put forward the hypothesis of his marriage there, precisely with Urraca Lourenço de Cerveira, a lady that according to the Nobiliaries, married a knight from Lemos, although they omit her husband’s name (but adding the curious note e nom casou em seu dereito [she didn’t marry rightly] - LD14AA8). It should be also added that Colocci, both in his Tavola and in the attributive note of the National Library Songbook (the only manuscript that relayed his two songs) appears to hesitate between the surname Figueira and Figueiró, transcribing both forms.

References

1 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.