José Ramos Coelho

Poet, translator, and historiographer. Beginning as (in 1864) conservator of the manuscripts and antiquities department of the National Library, he would go on to perform the same functions, for most of his life, at the Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo. His historiographical works are thus related to the direct consultation of documents that his professional activity would provide him, with particular emphasis on those that would materialize in his História do Infante D. Duarte, Irmão d' EI-Rei D. João IV [...]. Also notable was the critical edition of O Hissope by Cruz e Silva, while, as a translator, and showing the same Italianate taste that marks his poetry, the Portuguese version of Torquato Tasso's Jerusalém Libertada should be highlighted. He also translated, individually or in collaboration, Horace, Ovid, Dante, Miguel Ângelo, Lamartine, Victor Hugo, Byron, among others. He collaborated, with critical essays or poems, in various periodical publications, namely Revista Peninsular, Revista Contemporânea de Portugal e Brasil, Grinalda, Esmeralda Atlântica, from the Azores, Arquivo Pitoresco, Arquivo Histórico Português, Revista Universal Lisbonense, and Artes e Letras. He collaborated with Rebelo da Silva on Quadro Elementar das Relações Políticas e Diplomáticas de Portugal com Diversas Potências do Mundo. His poems were translated into Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Swedish.