Bertolotti dedicated himself totally to publication of a structured study of the history of Portugal, a country regarded with “ignorance” and “much maligned” which had been studied with a lack of both accuracy and knowledge. He relied on Adriano Balbi, the first writer who had shown “qu’il n’y a peut être pas un seul pays en Europe qui compte un plus grand nombre de mauvaises descriptions” (Essai Statistique, t. I, p. VII). And inasmuch as he was aiming at “travellers”, we could say that his work is a historiographical work of a clearly informative nature, a tool for travellers and tourists, great numbers of whom, as we know, were to be found in Portugal at the time. In other words, Bertolotti tried to direct his historiographical efforts (in the case of national histories) in such a way that they achieved a style very similar to that of travel literature with its pedagogic and pragmatic function. It is in his fondness for such literature that his critics discovered his passion and purity, his pictorial taste and his interest in historical memories and aspects of national folklore.

So how did Bertolotti view some of the most significant moments in Portuguese history? As a first example, take his narration of one episode with mystical and religious implications: the Battle of Ourique (t. I, pp. 49-57). Bertolotti considers D. Afonso’s “visions” and “miracles” as the result of the Portuguese sovereign’s creativity and cunning, thus calling into question something that other historians who had studied the topic considered to be true. He also shows how he was in favour of interpreting these supposed events as a result of the “cunning” of D. Afonso Henriques, who wanted to spur on his nobles in the struggle against the Moors (“sembri molto più naturale considerare Alfonso come un destro condottiero, anziché come un visionario”, t. I, p. 54). On the other hand, he does recognise as authentic a historical event that is considered fundamental to the establishment of Portugal as a nation: the Cortes of Lamego. In relation to this though, it should be said that the author, having published the work in 1824, had formulated a view inspired by a mythical tradition held for true. As mentioned above, in Bertolotti’s analysis the veracity of the Cortes of Lamego is not called into question; on the contrary, they are considered a founding moment of the Portuguese nation, but he locates them chronologically in the year 1145 (when they are usually placed in 1143). This is a mythical view that, along with others in the historiography of Portugal, would later be devalued and lose credibility especially after publication of Alexandre Herculano’s História de Portugal (History of Portugal) (vol.I, 1846).

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