The inscription of António Vieira in Histories of Portugal (19th and 20th centuries): memory and legitimacy

This article examines, for the first time in the historiography, the logic behind various intellectual approaches to the significance of the historical role played by padre António Vieira. These approaches are rooted in the different worldviews of the Portuguese writers who wrote Histories of Portugal for a broad public audience in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the sample chosen, the historical discourses produced reveal a wish to contribute, by way of historiography as a broad civic intervention of varying political and ideological stripes, to the construction of Portuguese identity representations within a framework of nationalism construction and transformation.

Keywords:
Portugal; António Vieira; historiography; politics; nationalism