Edgar Prestage

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Edgar Prestage (born July 20, 1869 in Manchester , England , † 1951 ) was an English historian , author , translator and expert on the history of Portugal .

Life

Prestage began learning the Portuguese language while attending Radley College near Abingdon, Oxfordshire . In 1886 he and his mother converted to the Catholic faith. In 1891 he graduated from Balliol College at Oxford University in modern history . In the same year he visited Portugal for the first time. From 1896 to 1907 he practiced as a lawyer in his father's office in Manchester.

As early as 1893 he was translating the letters of a Portuguese nun from French into English. In collaboration with CR Beazley , he translated the two-volume edition of the Chronica do descobrimento e Conquista da Guiné by the royal chronicler of Portugal, Gomes Eanes de Azurara . During the frequent visits to Lisbon for research purposes from 1891 to 1906, he got to know, among others, the members of the intellectual group Os Vencidos da Vida (Those Vanquished by Life). He was also introduced to the salon of the writer Maria Amália Vaz de Carvalho , widow of the Brazilian poet Gonçalves Crespo . In 1907 he married the couple's daughter, Maria Christina. Since the Prestages wife was not socially accepted in England because of her Brazilian descent, the couple from Southport , then Lancashire , returned to Lisbon. Maria Christina committed suicide in 1918.

Until 1919, when Prestage returned to England, he buried himself in libraries to complete his academic work. As a traditionalist and monarchist , he never made friends with the First Republic of Portugal and remained a friend of the exiled King Manuel II. In later years he supported Salazar's dictatorial regime .

In the following decades Prestage wrote several books about the Portuguese explorers, about writers and diplomats of the country and translated some texts into English.

honors and awards

  • 1895: Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in Lisbon.
  • 1940: Member of the British Academy .

Publications

  • 1896 to 1899: Translation into English: Gomes Eanes de Azurara: The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea , 2 volumes Hakluyt Society , London.
    • Reissued in two volumes: Franklin, New York City, 1964.
    • as an e-book at Project Gutenberg , 2011.
  • 1914: Don Francisco Manuel de Melo : Esboço biografico . Imprensa da Universidade, Coimbra, Portugal.
    • 1922: in English: Don Francisco Manuel de Mello . Milford, London.
  • 1926: as editor: Francisco de Sousa Coutinho : Correpondencia diplomatica , 3 volumes, the first of which is available online.
  • 1927: The Royal Power and the Cortes in Portugal , Watford.
  • 1928: as editor: Chivalry: A Series of Studies to Illustrate Its Historical Significance and Civilizing Influence by Members of King's College London . K. Paul, Trench, Trubner, London.
  • 1931: as editor of the 3rd edition: Franciso Manuel de Melo: Epanáphoras de vária história portuguesa . Imp. Da Universidade, Coimbra. The original from 1676 is available online.
  • 1934: Descobridores portugueses , Tipografia Civilisação, Porto, Portugal.
    • 1933: in English: The Portuguese Pioneers , Black, London.
    • 1936: in German: Die Portugiesischen Entdecker , Goldmann, Bern, Switzerland. As Goldmann Taschenbuch, Munich 1963.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Deceased Fellows. British Academy, accessed July 20, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Prestage, Edgar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English historian, author and translator
DATE OF BIRTH July 20, 1869
PLACE OF BIRTH Manchester , England
DATE OF DEATH 1951