Abstract

PEREIRA, João Carlos Vitorino. From the Conto de Amaro to the Tratado das Ilhas Novas or from Saint Brendan’s Isle to the Island of Seven Cities: world representation in the middle ages and the renaissance between myth and reality. Diacrítica [online]. 2014, vol.28, n.3, pp.144-170. ISSN 0807-8967.

We want to show, through the Conto de Amaro, inspired by the legend of the Saint Brendan’s Isle, and the Tratado das Ilhas Novas, how a mythical medieval narrative could contaminate a scientific text of the Renaissance, a period in which scientific thought was in the process of construction and the legends of the Middle Ages continued still vivid in people’s minds. Renaissance man, more than ever in search for an Edenic island, inherited medieval culture and imagination. At the time of the major discoveries of the 16th century, the geographical representation of the world oscillated between myth and reality. The Tratado das Ilhas Novas is of interest above all because it establishes a relationship between the legend of the Seven Cities and the legend of King Roderick and offers a variant of these two mythical narratives, proposing a very Portuguese, indeed nationalist, intrepretation of them.

Keywords : mythical narrative; utopia; Edenic island.

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