Álvaro de Brito Pestana

Courtly poet represented in Garcia de Resende's Cancioneiro Geral. Son of Mécia de Brito Pestana, wet nurse to King D. Afonso V, he was a supporter of the latter at the Battle of Alfarrobeira and later lived at court until the reign of King D. Manuel I. He is a poet of the old Castilian-Provençal school, like the vast majority of his contemporary courtly poets (he even wrote poetry in Castilian). According to Teófilo, he is the poet «who best represents the customs of Portuguese society at the end of the 15th century», both when dealing with courtly themes with great elegance and fluency, and when using satire against superstition, bribery, and usury, approaching the Gil Vicente style in that area. He is the author of the curious and famous alliterative poem «Forte, fiel, façanhoso / fazendo feitos famosos...»