Noted Portuguese vihuelist and composer. He played seven-course vihuela and was also known as a poet, singer and composer. He worked in the most prestigious courts on the Iberian peninsula, serving the Portuguese Kings Sebastián (1557-1578) and Enrique (1578-1581) and Spanish monarch Philip II after 1577.
He died by drowning between Talavera and Lobón in the province of Badajoz while returning to Portugal after a sojourn in Spain. He visited Spain on at least two occasions in 1576 and 1603, although the duration of these visits is unknown, nor is it possible to measure the fruit of his interchanges with Spanish musicians. Despite the reports of his presence in the court of Philip II, no evidence has been discovered to prove his membership of Philip’s chapel, and it is more probable that he served Philip in Portugal. None of his music survives.