BARRÓS, João de. - Portuguese writer and historian, b. at Viseu in 1496, d. near Pombal in 1571.
In 1520 he published the *Crónica do Imperador Clarimundo*, conceived as a chivalric romance of adventure, alternating prose and verse, rich in characters and episodes, which already revealed that intent to glorify the fatherland that forms the purpose of his greatest work, namely the *Décadas da Ásia*, most useful for understanding the history of the Portuguese Empire in the East. BARRÓS proceeded by selecting from the best documents, but his desire to exalt his country led him to gather only those elements suited to that purpose; hence the history of the conquest is presented from a decidedly tendentious viewpoint, lacking proportion and objectivity, and it is his admiration for Livy’s histories that inspired the impassioned speeches of his heroes. The work, which was to become one of the sources for CAMÕES, was intended to consist of four sections, each devoted to one of the parts of the world that had been the theater of Portuguese activity, but this vast design could not be realized. Of BARRÓS’s work only four decades of the *Ásia* remain, the last of which was published posthumously; eight others were written by Diogo do Couto and a thirteenth by António Bocarro. BARRÓS is also the author of moralistic and didactic writings (the *Ropica pnefma*, a *Diálogo da viciosa vergonha* in which Christian morality is combined with heroic exaltation and love of glory, etc.), a Portuguese grammar for the use of indigenous peoples with prayers and precepts of Christian doctrine, and various dialogues and discourses.
Recently (Lisbon 1921) a selection from the first decade was published in the *Antologia portuguesa* edited by A. de Campos, and R. Lapa has prepared an edition of the *Panegíricos*.