J. is probably not the same as the man of the same name, but possibly slightly older, who wrote a treatise on navigation. If that is correct, then J’s only known work is the Tractatus de primogenitura (TUI 1584, t. 10.1). He is identified in the Paris edition of 1551 as ‘eques Lusitanii’, which must be the correct version of ‘aequitis’ in TUI 1584. The treatise is devoted to what in England is called the ‘casus regis’, whether the grandson by the elder son (Arthur of Brittany) should succeed by primogeniture in preference to the younger son (John). The same Paris edition, which seems to be the first, also has a dedicatory epistle to João III of Portugal, some indication that S. was alive at that date. Despite the fact that S. makes no claim to university degrees, the work displays considerable learning. More about him we have not been able to discover.

Source: CERL Thesaurus.

Entry by: CD 23.iv.2019

TUI database