Professor Manuel Viegas Guerreiro was born in Querença in the Loulé council area on the 1^st of November 1912. He graduated from high school with a mark of sixteen and the Complementary Course with seventeen, before obtaining his degree in Classical Philology from Lisbon University’s Faculty of Literature (FLUL) in 1936. He passed the State Exam to become a teacher in the 1^st group of high school subjects, also with a mark of sixteen, and in 1939 was appointed to the first rung of the teaching profession, before becoming an ‘assistant teacher’ in 1940 and a ‘full teacher’ at Lamego High School the same year.

At some time in 1940 or 1941 he was granted equivalent grantee status in order to assist Dr. Leite de Vasconcellos with his literary work. This position eventually lasted for six years and, as he himself later said, Viegas Guerreiro did indeed help Mestre Leite "in every way I could". From 1941 to 1944 he was on the permanent teaching staff of the Military College (preparatory and high school for future officers), as well as that of Infante de Sagres College in Lisbon. He then occupied the same position at Faro High School (1945-1953), with a stint at Diogo Cão High School in Sá da Bandeira (1948-1950), and Oeiras High School (1953-1970).

From 1955 to 1970 Viegas Guerreiro was the recipient of an ‘in-country grant’ designed to enable him to order and publish Leite de Vasconcellos’ manuscripts, especially Etnografia Portuguesa [Portuguese Ethnography]. He worked on the 10-volume series (1948-1989) from volume 4 onwards.

In 1969 he received his PhD in Ethnology from Lisbon University, for which he was awarded a mark of 19. In November 1970 he completed the competitive exams for a position as Extraordinary Professor of Ethnology and in October 1971 became Full Professor of the same subject at FLUL. He was also a researcher at the Centre for Geographic Studies (CEG), which formed part of the same Faculty. He retired in September 1982 and died in Carnaxide on the 1^st of May 1997.

During the course of his university career he headed various missions, both in Portugal and abroad. He was also a member of various institutions, such as the Associação Brasileira de Folclore (Brazilian Folklore Association, from 1967) and the Academia das Ciências de Lisboa (Lisbon Academy of Sciences, where he held chair nº 27).

Prof. Viegas Guerreiro’s very wide-ranging interests included numerous different ventures – for example, the creation of the Estudos Gerais Livres (Free General Studies) and the Centre for Portuguese Popular Traditions (CTPP), the magazine Revista Lusitana - Nova Série and the organisation of two colloquies on "Popular / Oral / Traditional Literature" (Paris, 1986, and Lisbon, 1987) with backing from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (FCG).

A number of key vectors stand out in his published works. First of all we have those that possess a pedagogical/didactical purpose: Da Indispensabilidade do Latim na Leitura dos Nossos Clássicos [On the Indispensability of Latin to the reading of Our Classics], Lisbon, 1963; A Nossa Pátria [Our Motherland] – a Portuguese reader for the 1^st high school cycle (the only book used from 1961 to 1965); the Introduction to F. Adolfo Coelho’s Cultura e Anafalbetismo [Culture and Illiteracy, Lisbon, 1984]; and the paper A educação de adultos em comunidades rurais. Actividades comunitárias [Adult education in rural communities. Community activities], Braga, 1978.

In the field in which Viegas Guerreiro received his primary training – Ethnography and Anthropology – besides Etnografia Portuguesa, which, as we have already seen, he helped to write on the basis of the original manuscripts by Leite de Vasconcellos, whose Tradições Populares de Portugal [Portuguese Popular Traditions] he republished with an extended introductory text, he was responsible for the Sabedoria, Linguagem, Literatura e Jogos [Wisdom, Language, Literature and Games] (1966) volume of the collective work Os Macondes de Moçambique (The Makondes of Mozambique), Bochimanes !khu de Angola [The !khu Bushmen of Angola] (1968) and Pitões das Júnias. Esboço de Monografia Etnográfica [Pitões das Júnias. An Outline Ethnographic Monograph] (1981). In collaboration with Diogo de Abreu and Francisco Melo Ferreira, he also wrote Unhais da Serra. Notas Geográficas, Históricas e Etnográficas [Unhais da Serra. Geographic, Historical and Ethnographic Notes] (1982). It is also worth noting Povo, Povos e Culturas (Portugal, Angola e Moçambique) [People, Peoples and Cultures (Portugal, Angola and Mozambique)] (1997), which appeared posthumously and brings together a variety of articles and authors.

Thirdly, we should mention his interest in some particular aspects of History, Literature and Geography seen from an anthropologist’s perspective: articles on "Judeus" (Jews), "Mouros" (Moors) and "José Leite de Vasconcellos" in Dicionário da História de Portgugal [Dictionary of Portuguese History] (dir. Joel Serrão); the Introduction to the 1974 edition of Carta de Achamento do Brasil de Pero Vaz de Caminha [Letter by Pero Vaz de Caminha on the Discovery of Brazil]; A Carta de Pero Vaz de Caminha lida por um Etnógrafo [Pero Vaz de Caminha’s Letter read by an Ethnographer], 1985; "Gil Vicente e os motivos populares: um conto na Farsa de Inês Pereira" [Gil Vicente and the popular motives: a tale in the Farce of Inês Pereira], RL-NS, nº 2, 1981, pp. 31-60; Frei João de S. José e a sua Corografia do Reino do Algarve (1577) [Frei João de São José and his chorography of the Kingdom of the Algarve (1577)], 1980; Temas de Antropologia em Oliveira Martins [Anthropological Themes in the Works of Oliveira Martins], 1986; and Colombo e Portugal [Columbus and Portugal], 1994.

One area that was particularly close to Prof. Viegas Guerreiro’s heart was ‘Popular Literature’. He was a tireless collector of texts and the different versions that he gathered from all over Portugal and Brazil enriched works such as Maria Aliete Galhoz’s Romanceiro Popular Português [Collection of Portuguese Popular Novels] (1987, 1988), as well as his own anthologies Contos Populares Portugueses [Portuguese Popular Tales] (1956) and Adivinhas Portuguesas [Portuguese Riddles] (1957). He wrote two works that are indispensable in this field: the starter Guia de Recolha da Literatura Popular [Guide to the Collection of Popular Literature] (1976, 2^nd ed., 1982), and above all the history book Para a História da Literatura Popular Portuguesa [For the History of Portuguese Popular Literature] (1978).

His qualities as both a man and a scholar made Manuel Viegas Guerreiro a singular figure who left a lasting mark on his students and collaborators.

For more complete information, see: João David Pinto-Correia, "Evocação Afectiva de um Mestre e Amigo: o Prof. Doutor Manuel Viegas Guerreiro", Revista Lusitana - Nova Série, nº. 12, 1994, pp. 83-94; and Maria Lucinda Fonseca and Francisco Melo Ferreira, Manuel Viegas Guerreiro - Mestre da Sabedoria do Mundo, Centro de Tradições Populares Portuguesas e Instituto de Cultura Ibero-Atlântica, Lisbon, 1997.