BRITO, BERNARDO de. — A Portuguese Cistercian monk, born Balthazar de Brito de Andrade (1561–1617), who was a poet, historian, and scholar. His principal works are the *Monarquia lusitana* and the *Chronica de Cister*. The former spans from the origins of the world to 1098, the supposed year of the donation of the County of Portugal to Count D. Henrique (thus ending just where it should have begun), while the latter also remains incomplete, covering the period from the foundation of the Order of St Benedict to the life of St Juliana (6th–12th centuries). More than for their historical value, however, these two works are noteworthy as stylistic models and cultural documents: the *Monarquia* is an ample celebration of the Lusitanian race, replete with falsehoods and inventions of every kind, while the *Chronica* (which also devotes considerable space to national history) abounds in visions and miracles born of B.’s imagination and his unbridled desire to magnify his own Order.
An edition of the *Monarquia lusitana* was published at Alcobaça-Lisbon between 1597 and 1609 (a 2nd ed. in 1690), and more recently edited by Fr Joaquim de Foyos (Lisbon 1806–1809); the poetic collection *Sylvia de Lisardo* appeared in Lisbon in 1597; the *Chronica de Cister* in 1602. Various works by B. remain unpublished.