SALVADOR, VICENTE DO

The religious name of Vicente Rodrigues Palha, first Brazilian historian; b. near Salvador, Bahia, c. 1564; d. before 1639. Salvador was educated by the Jesuits in Bahia and then went to Coimbra, Portugal, where he graduated in Canon Law. On his return to Brazil, he was ordained in Salvador and was soon a canon of the cathedral and vicar-general. He entered the Franciscan Order in Brazil on Jan. 27, 1599. He was the first superior of the Convento de San Antonio in Rio de Janeiro (1607) and in 1612 was elected custos of the Franciscans. During the following decade he traveled extensively in northeastern Brazil and was called to Lisbon. On his return (1624), he was captured by the Dutch, who were then occupying Bahia, and imprisoned on board a ship for six months. By 1630, he was again superior of the friary of Bahia, as he had been in 1612. Of his subsequent life, very little is known except that he was a missionary among the native peoples in Parahiba, that he was still alive in 1636, and that he had died by 1639.

Salvador's claim to fame is based on his História do Brasil, which he completed in 1627. He gave the manuscript to his friend, Severim de Faria, to have it published, but for some unknown reason it was not published at that time. The manuscript was discovered in the Torre do Tombo in Lisbon in the second half of the 19th century and was then published for the first time. In a felicitous style, Salvador tells the history of Brazil from its discovery in 1500 to 1627 with witty observations and prudent judgments. He was also the author of a history of the Franciscan custody in Brazil, but this work was not published and the manuscript has not yet been located. Salvador, despite his education and the high positions that he held, was a man of simplicity and humility, who enjoyed the esteem of his contemporaries for his wisdom, pastoral zeal, and personal virtues.

Bibliography: vicente do salvador, Historia do Brasil, rev. ed. Capistrano de Abreu (São Paulo 1918).

[t. beal]