The "Armas de Coimbra" in the "Imagem da vida cristã": reflections starting from the Castilian manuscript translation

Abstract

This contribution examines the manuscript translation into Spanish of the work Imagem da vida cristã by Frey Heitor Pinto, preserved in the Escorial Library in Madrid. In particular, it will analyse the last section of the manuscript, entitled Armas de Coimbra. Providing his own exegesis of the image represented in the Coimbra coat of arms, Pinto masterfully imposes himself in a debate that has given rise to the most varied interpretations in the imagination of many Portuguese writers of the 15th and 16th centuries (and later). Through the Armas de Coimbra, this contribution aims to draw attention to some of the many unresolved questions concerning the translation and circulation in the Iberian sphere of one of the most appreciated texts of the Portuguese moral literature of the 16th century.