A visão do Outro nas Cartas de Itália de Lopo de Almeida

Abstract

In November 1451 departed from Portugal to Italy the accompaniment entourage of Eleanor, second daughter of King Duarte and sister of Afonso V, for confirmation of her marriage to the Habsburg Emperor Frederick III.

Notable diplomatic initiative and unique opportunity for affirmation and internationalization of the Portuguese monarchy, this marriage is the result of an ambitious project of King Afonso V which aims to legitimize in the eyes of the great international powers a dynasty that was born slightly according to the law of succession.

Headed the delegation Fernandes da Silveira and Lopo de Almeida (first count of Abrantes), the latter having sent to Afonso V four letters giving news of events that marked the journey as well as how the group was welcomed. The fact that the ambassador focus all their attention on the action and the description of the ceremonies and the players' behavior, makes such epistolary records a source of undeniable historical and anthropological value.

The vision and evaluation of the european Other is constant in the Letters and operates always through a comparative analysis with the Portuguese. In other words, the cultural references of Lopo de Almeida up as a code under which he performs his anthropological assessment.

Always insightful, and quite often ironic and satirical, Lopo de Almeida provides pictures sometimes collective, like the Germans, sometimes individual, such as the Emperor Frederick III. Of note is that in any case we are dealing with cold pictures. Instead, representations are always extremely rich in terms of feeling, emotion and the human element, one that most clearly excites the author of the narrative.

In summary, by its content but also by the context in which they were produced, the four letters sent from Italy by Lopo de Almeida to King Afonso V are a privileged witness, on one hand, of the portuguese way of looking at the european Other and, on the other hand, the way they looked at themselves by reaction to that same european Other in the mid-fifteenth century.