FROIS (Froes), Luis. - Jesuit, missionary, and historian, b. in Beja (Portugal) in 1532, or more probably in 1528, d. at Nagasaki on 1 July 1597. Sent to India while still a novice, he completed his studies at the College of St Paul in Goa; he was then sent to Japan, first in 1554, and later definitively in 1563. He worked extensively on the island of Kuchch, in Miyako (Kyoto), and in the kingdom of Bungo, also accompanying the Visitor Fr. A. Valignano on his inspection of the various houses of the Order.
In addition to important letters and reports on Japan and East Asia, widely circulated in Europe and fruitful in vocations, his fame is chiefly bound up with the *Historia do Japão*, in three parts: a general introduction; the history of the years 1549–78; and the history of the years 1578–83. The work, long considered lost, was rediscovered in 1894–95 in the Ajuda Library in Lisbon by Fr. G. M. Cros, who was able to extract only a few excerpts; later, the introduction and the history of the years 1549–78 were published in German by G. Schurhammer and A. V. Rezsch, *Die Geschichte Japans (1549–78) von V. L. F. nach der Handschrift des Ajudabibliothek in Lisbona übersetzt und kommentiert* (Leipzig 1926). The final part (1578–89; in fact carried by the author down to 1593), long untraced, was more recently discovered by Fr. D. Schilling, partly in the Colonial Archive of Lisbon and partly in the Biblioteca Paulo Sarda (cf. D. Schilling, *Neue Funde zur Historia do Japão von p. L. F.*, in *Zeitsch. für Missionismus und Religionswiss.*, 23 [1931], pp. 337–341); but it has not yet been published in full. Lastly, Fr. R. Geldos found the Castilian text on the 26 Japanese martyrs, bearing the author’s autograph signature: *L. F. Relazione dei martiri de los 26 cristianos crucificados en Nagasagui el 5 de febrero de 1597* (Rome 1935).
The historical and critical value of the work is unparalleled, for the author, according to information from the Order, «ad historiam aptus atque natus», employs first-hand documentation, minute and diligently studied; moreover, he was an eyewitness to many of the events.