He was appointed Commander of the Order of Santiago, an Honorary Citizen of Braga receiving the city's gold medal and an Honorary Canon of Braga Cathedral (1948). He also won an award from the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres.

Pierre David was the disciple and collaborator of the most eminent historians, linguists, canonists and scholars who revolutionized oriental history of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. He applied and developed topics and methodologies, cross-referencing knowledge and know-how, first in Rome, then in Poland and finally in Portugal. As he himself wrote (in A Sé Velha de Coimbra.), "the method and the tools of the historian are the same whether on the banks of the Mondego, the Rhône, the Tiber or the Vistula": history lives by comparisons and parallels.

In the studies he worked on during the many years he lived in Portugal, Pierre David took advantage (as he had done in Poland) of his extensive educational background (historical, archaeological, linguistic, liturgical...) using all these areas in pioneering studies which renewed Portuguese historiography, especially in relation to the process for affirming Portuguese national identity, the first years of the monarchy and the establishment of the ecclesiastical network in the peninsula north-east and in the north and centre of the country. Torcato de Sousa Soares writes that it was Pierre David's studies which gave Braga its properly deserved place as a great western metropolis. Also worth highlighting is Lopes de Almeida's opinion mentioned above: that his studies enable us to claim that the Portuguese are heirs to the "political conscience" and ethical values of the inhabitants of Portucale from the end of the 9th century.

He was responsible for encouraging young historians (like Avelino de Jesus da Costa) to undertake extensive archive work, which was carried out with the aid of study grants that the Instituto de Alta Cultura [Institute of High Culture] provided at his request. His integration into various Portuguese scientific societies and the honorary distinctions he received all speak to us of the public projection of his studies. The information, theses and hypotheses contained in his works remain intact but were continued by his friends, his disciples (Avelino de Jesus da Costa and Torcato de Sousa Soares among others) and their followers. This is perhaps because, as he himself wrote, he brought a critical sense to historical research “since the best critic will be the best informed historian, in both openness and depth” (A Sé Velha de Coimbra…).

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