author
Maria de Lara e Meneses
1610–1649
A little-known 17th-century Portuguese poet, she is remembered for writing about one of Portugal’s most tragic love stories. Her surviving work brings feeling and drama to the legend of Inês de Castro.
1 Audiobook
Saudades de D. Ignez de Castro
by Maria de Lara e Meneses
About the author
Maria de Lara e Menezes was a Portuguese writer associated with the 17th century and is commonly dated 1610–1649. She is linked to Lisbon in modern reference works, though the surviving biographical record is very thin.
She is best known for Saudades de D. Ignez de Castro, a poem on the story of Pedro and Inês de Castro, one of the best-known legends in Portuguese history. The work was later printed in collections such as Fénix Renascida, and it has remained the piece through which readers still encounter her today.
Because so little is firmly documented, much of her life remains obscure. Even so, her name continues to appear in projects dedicated to recovering women writers in Portuguese, where she stands as one of the early female voices preserved in Portugal’s literary tradition.