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Historiography


Cr�nica Geral de Espanha (1344), the General Chronicle of Spain, attributed to the Count of Barcelos.


In Portuguese historiography, we can distinguish three types of literary output, which correspond to successive periods and are centred on the following works:

The Books of Lineages (12-16C, genealogical records of noble families, in which Portuguese literature was given primacy, alternating history with legend). Three of these have survived: the first including the �Legend of Gaia�, and the third, written by D. Pedro, Count of Barcelos, the bastard son of D. Dinis, including a description of the Battle of Salado, which itself became quite famous. These books were published in the work Portugaliae Monumenta Historica by Alexandre Herculano;

The books written by the chroniclers. These included, amongst others the Cr�nica Geral de Espanha, written by D. Pedro, Count of Barcelos in 1344, the writers Fern�o Lopes, Gomes Eanes de Zurara, with the Cr�nica da Guin�, in 1453, Rui de Pina, with the Cr�nica de D. Jo�o II, in 1545, Jo�o de Barros, with D�cadas da �sia, as from 1552, Fern�o Lopes de Castanheda, with Hist�ria do Descobrimento e Conquista da �ndia pelos Portugueses, as from 1551, and Dami�o de G�is, with Cr�nica do Rei D. Manuel, as from 1566, amongst others. It was the chroniclers who brought the systematised written organisation of a discourse that was both concerned with the evolution of human events and aware of the importance of facts and personalities in determining the specificity of a civilisation and the need for its objective recording;

The written constitution of modern history, which began during the period of Romanticism, with Alexandre Herculano, the voluminous author, who wrote Hist�ria de Portugal - a History of Portugal until the reign of D. Afonso III. Here, the author used a conception of historical writing that respected the scientific concern for rigour and exactness, recording the evolution of events from a perspective that was based on the observation of social changes rather than the simple succession of personalities and occurrences.


Signature-autograph of Fern�o Lopes
National Archives/Torre do Tombo





Signature-autograph of Gomes Eanes de Zurara
National Archives/Torre do Tombo


Signature-autograph of Rui de Pina
National Archives/Torre do Tombo

Signature-autograph of Jo�o de Barros
National Archives/Torre do Tombo


Signature-autograph of Fern�o Lopes de Castanheda
National Archives/Torre do Tombo




Signature-autograph of Dami�o de G�is
National Archives/Torre do Tombo

Coming from a later generation was the writer Oliveira Martins (1845-1894), whose work, within the context of Portuguese literature, represents the blending of literary inspiration with historical objectives, as, for example, in such works as Portugal Contempor�neo, 1881, and Os Filhos de D. Jo�o I, 1891. The progressive and decisive diversification between historical sciences and literary creativity has meant that the most important figures in contemporary historiography have, generally speaking, moved away from anything that might be understood in its most restricted sense as a work  of literature.


� Instituto Cam�es, 2001