Diogo de Boitaca

Diogo de Boitaca (c. 1460 – 1528?) was an influential architect and engineer of some of the most important Portuguese buildings, working in Portugal in the first half of the 16th century. His name has been written in different fashions: Diogo Boytac, Diogo de Boytac, Diogo Boitaca, Diogo de Boitaca. The spelling of his name as Boitac (or Boytac) suggests that he is possibly of French origin. But, as so much in his life this is uncertain. His year of birth is equally unknown, but is estimated around 1460. He died in Batalha in 1528, but that date is also uncertain. His family name occurs for the first time in 1498 in a document of king Manuel I, who granted him an annual allowance for his work at the Monastery of Jesus of Setúbal. His signature occurs on a document of 1514. His name is mentioned in 12 documents, kept in the Monastery of Batalha and written between 1515 and 1521. His first name is only mentioned once : in 1515 on the list of the members of the ill-fated expedition to São João da Mamora (present-day Mehdya in Morocco) where the Portuguese lost 4,000 men. While working at the Monastery of Batalha, he married in 1512 Isabel Henriques, daughter of the Mateus Fernandes, architect at the same monastery. He settled in Batalha in 1516, where he died in 1528. He was buried in the Monastery of Batalha, close to the tomb of Mateus Fernandes. The Monastery of Jesus was founded by Justa Rodrigues Pereira outside of the city walls and sponsored by King John II, who in 1490 commissioned the building of the church of the monastery to Master Diogo de Boitaca. This is the first work where his name has been mentioned. This church is the first construction associated with the Manueline style. This specific architectural style brings the Late Gothic style to Portugal and mixes it with Early Renaissance principles, adding twisted columns and navigation symbols. In this church he introduces the concept of a nave and two side aisles of about the same height, unifying inner space as in a hall church, a characteristic that would be found in later Manueline spaces like the nave of the Jerónimos Monastery of Lisbon.