His father, Damião Ribeiro, was implicated in a conspiracy against King John II in 1484, and had to flee to Castile, while young Bernardim and his mother took refuge with their relatives António and Inês Zagalo at Quinta dos Lobos, near Sintra.

When he obtained his degree in law, the king showed him further favour by appointing him to the post of Escrivão da Câmara, or secretary, and later by bestowing on him the habit of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword.

There he met, and earned the friendship of the poets Sá de Miranda and Cristóvão Falcão, who became his literary comrades and the confidantes of his romance, in which hope deferred and bitter disappointment ended in tragedy.

[1] Ribeiro poured out his heart in five eclogues, the earliest in Portuguese, written in the popular octosyllabic verse; and now, hopeless of the future and broken in spirit, he decided to go to Italy, for a poet the land of promise.

He started early in 1522, travelling widely in the peninsula, and during his stay he wrote his moving knightly and pastoral romance Livro das saudades, mostly known as Menina e moça (taken from its incipit), in which he related the story of his unfortunate passion, personifying himself under the anagram of "Bimnarder," and Dona Inês under that of "Aonia.