GOES, DAMIANO di. — Portuguese historian, born in Alenquer in 1502, died there in 1574. He held diplomatic posts in nearly all the European courts and traveled extensively, coming into contact or forming friendships with many prominent figures of his time, including Erasmus, Sadoleto, Luther, and Melanchthon.
In 1540, he was appointed by King John III as chief archivist of Torre do Tombo and devoted himself to historical research, composing a *Chronica do príncipe dom João* and his masterpiece, the *Chronica do rei dom Manuel*. A refined and objective writer with Erasmian tendencies, he conceived of history as the critical study of facts and historical sources. Though he did not embrace their ideas, he maintained relations with the German reformers, for which he incurred clashes and condemnations from the Inquisition.