Francisco Botelho de Morais e Vasconcelos, Iberian poet of Pre-Illustration and Founder of the Academy of the United

Abstract

Francisco Botelho de Morais e Vasconcelos (1670-1747), a Portuguese poet of Castilian language, lived and bonded with remarkable Spanish intellectuals of his time; he reached fame while still alive, he was raised to the status of Honorary Member of the Spanish Royal Academy, and he left us a legacy which includes a prolific and ground-breaking poetic and literary work. He set up a literary academy in his own hometown, an episode we will further explore, by including an unpublished manuscript authored by some of its members. He is, notwithstanding, an insufficiently celebrated author within the ambit of Iberian Studies.