Luís de Camões

Luís Vaz de Camões (c. 1524–1580) was Portugal's greatest poet and author of its national epic Os Lusíadas. Probably born poor in Lisbon and likely educated by a clergyman uncle, he entered John III's court, served in Ceuta and lost his right eye in a Strait of Gibraltar battle.

Jailed for wounding a palace employee, he was pardoned in 1553 and went to serve in India. In the East he fought and was repeatedly imprisoned; tradition says he wrote part of the epic in a Macau cave and, shipwrecked near the Mekong, saved only himself and the manuscript.

He returned in 1570 so poor that friends paid his Mozambique debts. He recited it to young King Sebastian, who printed it in 1572 with a pension. He died in Lisbon on 10 June 1580, embittered by the defeat at Alcácer Quibir; that date is now Portugal's national day.