In the field of historiography, Pinheiro Chagas' presence was felt in a broad and uneven body of work, in which we can highlight his História de Portugal, the first work to provide a liberal and secular perspective on the national historic path up to the nineteenth century (in his magnum opus, Alexandre Herculano stopped at the thirteenth century). The first edition was published in instalments on behalf of a purported Society of Men of Letters in 1867 under the title, História de Portugal desde os tempos mais remotos até à actualidade (History of Portugual from the most remote times to the current day). The author justified this pseudonym, that would become the target of Queiroz's ridicule, invoking his initial intention to hire other collaborators. In multiple editions and abstracts, this work would contribute, however, like few others to the formation of the historical consciousness of national elites until the appearance of the History of Barcelos, directed by Damian Peres, starting in 1928. Vitorino Magalhães Godinho included it ("bulky but never boring") among other works by other authors in the awakening of his taste for history (“Palavras preliminares”, Os descobrimentos e a economia mundial, ‘The Discoveries and the World Economy’, vol.I, 1981, p.9).

It is a long and detailed historical narrative based on works by other historians from Portugal and abroad: Ferdinand Denis, H. Schaefer, Prescott, Coelho da Rocha, Herculano, Rebelo da Silva, as well as on various sources. The fundamental traits of liberal narrative mark the work: a political and proactive theory of the formation of Portugal, inspired by Alexandre Herculano; rejection of mythical foundation traditions still very common in the first half of the nineteenth century – the miracle of Ourique and the Cortes of Lamego and, in part, the school of Sagres; adoption of the thesis of the covenant of the crown with the popular classes against the privileged orders; absence of feudalism in Portugal (as maintained by Herculano); increased value given to municipalism and decentralisation along with a very critical opinion of absolutism, blaming the latter, together with the Inquisition and the Society of Jesus for decadence. On all these points, Pinheiro Chagas closely followed the philosophy of history of Alexandre Herculano, without forgetting his abstract providentialism, as well as his theory on the role of the individual in history.

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