Henrique (ou Anrique) da Mota

Poet and playwright. Author of five dialogued farces [Lamentação (ou Pranto) do Clérigo, Farsa do Alfaiate, Farsa do Hortelão, Lamentação da Mula, and Processo de Vasco Abiul] and several verse compositions included in Garcia de Resende's Cancioneiro Geral (1516). The "trovas a um clérigo sobre uma pipa de vinho que se lhe foi pelo chão", "a um alfaiate sobre um cruzado que lhe furtaram no Bombarral", "a um hortelão que a rainha tem nas Caldas", and "uma mula muito magra e velha" are brief dialogued scenes of manners, with concise and schematic action, preluding Vicentine satire not only in its critical mordancy but also in the typification of characters. In Processo de Vasco Abiul, Gil Vicente intervenes with an opinion, with Anrique da Mota playing the role of judge. In 1528 he addressed a "carta sobre a morte de D. Inês de Castro" to King D. João III, combining lyrical, narrative, and dramatic elements. He was likely born in Bombarral between 1470 and 1480, was a squire to King D. Manuel in 1499, graduated in Law, served as a judge of orphans in Óbidos, and was a court clerk. He died after 1545.