Born in Bragança, he served as personal secretary to the Portuguese ambassador in France, and composed, during two voyages to Paris (1540 and 1546), a chivalric romance called Palmeirim de Inglaterra; Palmerin of England), a "spin-off" of the popular Amadís de Gaula series.
Moraes' work would also obtain considerable success across Europe.
A Spanish translation was made by Luis Hurtado in 1547, preceding the actual publication of the Portuguese text in 1567.
It was translated from the Portuguese by Eugène-François Garay de Montglave and can be found in Eugène Renduel, Bibliothèque portugaise Warnier, 1829, Paris, 4 vol.
He also wrote an autobiographical work called Desculpas de uns amores, set in France, which was published posthumously in 1624.