Gil Vicente was born in 1470 in the town of Guimarães. He came to Lisbon as a boy. He studied law but did not take any scholarly degree. In 1493 he was prince Manoel's teacher of rhetorics. Some of his poems were included into Cancioneiro Geral by Garcia de Resende. He wrote plays. He was an actor, too. He was married to Branca Bezerra and had four children. His daughter Paula was known a learned woman at the court.